Relaxation in Thailand

Hello all!
I am writing to you in an internet cafe right on the beach road in Ao Nang, Thailand just outside of Krabi. It is beautiful here. We got in today and before that we were in the jungle.
We made our way out of Phuket on Monday and little did we know, the last bus to Khao Sok National Park left at 1:30 PM. We got there at 2. We searched desperately to find another way there that did not involve spending 3000 B on a taxi (or like almost $100 US). We finally found a trval agent that had a minibus leaving at 3 for Surat Thani and it would drop us off somewhere where we would get picked up by another bus to go to Khao Sok. We took our extremely bumpy, fast minibus ride ( I was so nauseous, duh, praise Jesus for Dramamine) and got dropped off at this ghetto restaurant for almost two hours waiting for our next bus. The lady running the place apperently did some travel agent work herself. We saw so many minibusses go by and finally ours, the only thing going to Khao Sok, picked us up. We got to the place in the jungle that we were staying called Our Jungle House. It was awesome, the reception and restaurant are in this open air room right on the edge of the river. It has dim lighting and candles. I almost feel like I am sitting in the restaurant at Disneyland inside Pirates but it is the real thing!!!!
We got dinner, our first Phad Thai in Thailand, and it is different. It is almost cheesy....? We also got Thai iced tea...AMAZING!! The ambience is so great. We sign up for the elephant trek and head off to bed.
Our room is really cool up in a treehouse. It has lots of openings for critters and bugs which I never really noticed that night. We had a mosquito net and thank goodness for that. The next morning we got up early to get breakfast before we left for the elephant farm at 7:45. I got banana stuffed pancakes (i could have died...so good) and a sickningly sweet iced coffee with no milk (cuz my malaria pills wont let me have dairy within an hour of taking them). We drove off along with a young German couple to go to the elephants. We got there and one was getting a bath in the river!! It was sprawled out relaxing as a man washed him. We got put onto a two person bench on top of the elephants back and we were off. Our guide walked behind us yelling out commands to our dumbo. The German couple and their guide was behind us. It was so amazing. We were bouncing around giggling trying to take pictures. We walked through rivers and up hills and through thick jungle. It got a little scary when we went downhill because even though we had a seatbelt on, Em and I slid forward really fast and struggled to stay on. We stopped for a break after like half an hour and the guides showed us the biggest spider I have ever seen in real life. It was a bit bigger than my hand stretched out. Yuck!!! At least is was way up high away from us.
We got back on to head back and this time we got to one at a time ride on dumbo's shoulders, our legs on eigther side of his head. This was one of the coolest moments of my life thus far. It was like it was just me and dumbo here just walking through the jungle.
We got lots of pics and I am excited to show everyone. After that we fed him bananas an said goodbye. Sad. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and relaxing in the restaurant area right next to the river. It was so nice cuz they had a smallish library where you cann just read books or take one on your travels. We sat around snaking on different menu items and drinking cokes and reading for hours on end. It was so relaxing and I almost finished a whole novel in that time. We went to bed and this is where the night turned sour for me. I got into bed and we both were reading more of our books by flashlight, safe in our mosquito net. But I start getting really itchy and uncomfortable and Emily is scraed because there are tons of creepy weird buugs and buzzy bugs all over her side of the outside of the netting. Yuck! I got sleepy and dozed off and woke up an hour later to the sound of someone coming up the stairs trying to get into our room. I wake up more and don't hear anything but now I am awake wide eyed. I am itchy everywhere. We have bedbugs and they bit! Grr I am so tired but cannot relax. I fall asleep again and later I wake up to what sounds like something falling from way up high crashing down on the floor by the bed. Wow, I am scared. I toss and turn and notice Emily is doing the same but at least she is still somewhat asleep. I fall asleep and this time it is good till morning but once I get up I am too scared to get out of the netting to see what large creature fell out of the rafters....or to see if my legs are covered in bites. I peek out and find nothing except a small bag of candy I had near my pillow that must have been the loud sound dropping to the floor.....Or the huge evil monkey found a way out. I have no bites either.
We get up have breakfast and I get crepes stuffed with Papya, bananas and pineapple. Amazing but the honey inside attracts a swarm of bees. We have to move and leave a plate of honey to distract them.
We took a minibus to Krabi this morning and then a cheap public taki to Ao Nang. Our hotel is awesome with AC and an actual bathtub. We went to the beach and it is amazing. The water is so warm, warmer than Hawaii by far and the beach is great. We can see tons of other islands and large rock formations sticking out of the water around the islands. We swam a lot. My shoulders burned and Emily is okay but more freckly. We bought a ferry ticket to Phi Phi Island for tomorrow morning and we are just gonna go try and find a market now.
I cannot wait to come home and see everyone....especially at my mom's wedding!! Also, I think things are better now but please be praying for a safe smooth travel home because there have been problems with the Phuket airport and political protestors. Pray that we get to come home on time!!
I love you all very much and I will write back from Bangkok in two days!!
~Michelle