Bangkok to Bali - Ao Nang and the birthday

We arrived in Krabi, a southern province on Thailand's Andaman seaboard after a good nights sleep.  Well for me anyway.  After the uncomfortable sleep I had on both China trains I slept liked a baby on this one, most of the group however just couldn't settle - perhaps excited about the adventure, or constantly checking that Eric was nearby.

We left the station and hopped onto two mini buses - one with air conditioning and one without. I sadly got the one without.  And boy was it warm.  After a couple of hours of driving, a roadside check by the police, and a break to cool down we arrived in the beautiful seaside location of Ao Nang.

Ao Nang offered our group the opportunity to head out on boat tours of Phi Phi islands and SCUBA diving sessions.  I declined to join them having already been there a month previous, so I decided to relax, take a massage (or three), relax on the beach and do some Skype calls.

View from the beach 

On the 3rd August Nin throughout the day kept asking for my passport as she wanted to check something.  It wasn't until the evening, before we planned to go out for dinner as a group, that I gave Nin my passport.  Her usual cheeky smile spread across her face and then her hand went to her head 'oh no', she exclaimed.  Unbeknown to me, she had been sending a birthday card around the group getting them to sign it; for my birthday (which was in fact on the 3rd September, a month later).

We all had a laugh about it and that was the end of that; or so I thought.  

When we finished our lovely meal, some birthday music came on.  I began looking around to see who's birthday it was.  And to my surprise, it was mine.   Nin decided to continue with her original plans and organised the party with the restaurant.  She had personally made a decorative cake and sweet collection and had already prearranged another cake from the restaurant.  Boy was I embarrassed.

Other tables were clapping and offering me their congratulations, which I gracefully accepted.  It was an incredibly sweet thing that she did, and it certainly started what turned about to be an amazing night of partying, monkeys, and carrying people home (I wasn't the one being carried). 

A day later we discovered, thanks to the owner of our hotel, that it was Nin's birthday.  She tried to hide it from the group, but we managed to throw her a surprise party too at another restaurant.  Ending with Nin drinking one bottle of beer - which made her incredibly giddy and great fun to watch!