My final days on Ko Jum were fairly uneventful. It did seem for some reason though that the entire ecosystem on the island wanted to get cosy with me. I had a little nature walk back after a delicious curry dinner at Woodland Lodge, shining my torch in all the pitch black nooks and crannies. 

I managed to find a large praying mantis swaying on a leaf. Then I came across some of the largest hermit crabs I have ever seen. They were meandering hopelessly, falling in holes and getting stuck on branches. Every time I got close to one it would quickly hide in its shell, but it was so obvious when doing so I thought ‘what’s the point!?’. It would be better off just sitting there and not bringing bloody attention to itself! Anyway I have no idea how an animal the size of my fist that has such a low level of common sense manages to survive. They are kind of endearing though. Maybe the rest of the animal kingdom leave them alone for this reason.

Anyway I then had a frog jump out of nowhere and land on my foot. This would normally give me a only a little shock but having spent the last hour looking in holes for spiders and snakes I was already on edge. And this goddamn frog sprang from the darkness like a streak of ominous slippery ectoplasm. I flailed like a madman and shouted likewise. The frog was not impressed.

So finally asleep in my bed I thought I’d gotten away from the creatures of the world. But little did I know I would wake up to find not one but TWO wasps nest inside my beach hut! Suddenly, inexplicably my hut was overwhelmed with flying insects, getting right in my grill. I had to carefully extract each nest at arms length and place them outside. In doing so coming across the bloody bees nest on my steps! Where did all these stinging insect civilisations spring from!? By this point I didn’t have the energy to move the bees. We became friends.

But sadly this was the day I left Ko Jum. A lovely island. Super quiet and very beautiful, but something for me was lacking. I can’t quite put my finger on it….

So anyway I returned to Krabi where I was soon to be joined by my good friend Freddie. I got a moped driver to pick me up from the ferry port because I wanted to avoid paying for an expensive minibus and be a ‘proper traveller’. I couldn’t explain where my hotel was, which isn’t surprising considering I didn’t know its name or location, and so he dropped me in the centre of town. I got off and walked in a random direction for what felt like a millennia, then gave up and tried another moped driver. Somehow my explanation of the hotel ended up in him taking me on a 30 minute drive back to the bloody ferry port I started at! But there it was ok cos I worked out a way to explain where I was meant to be going. In the end it took twice as long as the minibus and cost the same. But I felt satisfied anyway.

As I awaited Freddie I explored Krabi, coming across yet more exciting animals. There was a group of tigers hanging out in a cave. A snake hanging out on a rock. And some chickens on their way to worship.