Vacation Down South

The last of my travels in Thailand was spent down south at a few different islands. First was Ton Sai Beach in Krabi. Katie and I met Connor, Steph and Lee at this beach for one day and night. The scenery was much more beautiful than the actual sand of the beach with massive limestone walls surrounding the beach.  Ton Sai was a rock climbers’ heaven. I was shocked to see people rock climbing extremely high up the rock wall. I wish I had the guts to do something like that. I’m sure the view was incredible! Later that afternoon I enjoyed an amazing Thai massage right on the beach.  It was a great start to my relaxing beach travels J We had a fun night playing some fun drinking games; however I think every one of us would have taken back the fun we had for how we felt the next morning being  on boats all day. Lee and Connor felt the worst; As we were transferring from the long tail boat on to the larger ferry that  took us to Ko Phi Phi, both Lee and Connor started to “toss their cookies” off both sides of the long tail boat. It was quite the sight. Once we got on the larger ferry both of them instantly curled up on the ground and fell asleep. It took about 2 hours to get to Phi Phi. When we got there we decided to sign up for the Maya Bay Camping Adventure. Our adventure began with a visit to Monkey Island. I had visited this island when my mom and Beau were here; however, we didn’t get a chance to get off on the island and actually feed the monkeys. I was timid at first because of my past encounters with monkeys; but after watching others just hold the food out for the monkey to grab, it looked safe so I did it too.  Next we went snorkeling where we saw the most colorful fish along with a shark! I still can’t believe I was swimming so close to a shark. It wasn’t that big, but still it was a shark….pretty creepy! After snorkeling, we attempted to go cliff jumping. I was game to try it since it didn’t look like that high of a jump but unfortunately it was really rough so it was difficult to climb unto the rocks without getting pushed away from the waves. It was actually pretty dangerous; I’m surprised they allowed us to even try. One of the girls I swam over to the rocks with got a little nervous after being swooped in to the rock by a wave; she was definitely startled but was fine once we got back on the boat. Poor Lee was not enjoying the waves or the long tail boat ride at all. He got really sick, so we headed for Maya Bay. We arrived to Maya Bay later in the afternoon around 4:30. There weren’t nearly as many tourists as there were when I was there with mom and Beau. We enjoyed our late lunch on the beach. Later the campers from our group which included Katie, Connor, Lee, Steph, and myself along with two other girls who we got to know pretty well throughout the night, Sarah from Canada and Malene from Denmark, were introduced to Art, one of the camp guides. He came off as a little goofy.  Right after we were introduced to him he was like, “Yeah so I won’t be staying with you guys tonight. I’m going back to Phi Phi.” We weren’t really sure if that was a good or bad thing. Mai pen rai. There were other people heading the camp and staying with us so we weren’t too worried. Right before sunset, Katie, Steph, Lee, and I decided to attempt to walk to the smaller beach where we could view the sunset. The walk over to the beach was a little bit more rocky than we expected so we turned back early. But then of course pretty much as we get back two of the camp guides say, “Come on! Come watch the sunset with us!” We didn’t want to be anti-social with the group so we attempted again. My feet sure are getting used to walking on hard surfaces. We walked on the coral that was above the water to get to the beach to see the sunset. It definitely was worth it! We made it just in time to watch another gorgeous Thai sunset. After sunset, we were introduced to the “special rock” with a special shape boys think the girls appreciate…. ha think again. It was pretty funny though. Later on before dinner we got to know all the other campers a little bit better. We went around the circle introducing ourselves by saying our name and what country we are from. I thought the group I came with would be the only Americans on the island, but I was wrong! As I said, “America” I hear someone yell, “yay, America!” I later found out he goes by the name, Nooch and he’s from Grand Rapids, Michigan! He was hilarious!! I loved hearing that accent again in Thailand. It was great! The camp guides served us a delicious meal along with a free bucket coupon which was used for the round of ring of fire we played. That was quite difficult playing with a large group but it was really fun. M, the entertainment for the evening/camp leader, and his brother put on a fire show for us. I don’t think M really knew what he was doing considering he burned himself a few times, but his brother did a good job. After the fire show, M got out the guitar! It was so fun! We were all sitting on the beach under the stars singing songs together. Malene kept the beat going strong. She has a beautiful voice! Continuing with the music theme, Connor introduced his new hit, “Mai Pen Rai”. It’s a song he made, each verse having to do with different things in Thailand including school, students, bus rides, ordering things at restaurants, ferry rides, other transportation, et. It was hilarious! I really wish I would have recorded him singing this song because every verse hits what everyone’s Thailand experience has been like to a T. The beat is great as well! I really need to be sure to have him send me those lyrics. It was so cool falling asleep on a mat and a sleeping bag right on the beach under the stars. It was gorgeous! This was the first time I had ever slept outside like that in my life. Waking up to the beauty of Maya Bay was unbelievable. This definitely was one of my favorite experiences in Thailand. The other campers we met were so fun and interesting too especially Malene aka Denmark (the name she gave herself later that night) and Sarah.

In the morning, we had breakfast and enjoyed the last hour or two on the beach without any other tourists. It was great!! Before heading back to Phi Phi, we went snorkeling one more time. I followed Nooch, he seemed to know where all the cool, exotic fish were included some puffer fish, and just because he was hilarious. We said our good-byes to everyone we met on the camping trip and headed to find a place to stay on crazy Phi Phi Island for the next two nights. The town center of Phi Phi reminded me a lot of a dream spring break location. There were tons of shops, restaurants, and bars all within walking distance of each other and the beach.  The beach itself was also packed with bodies and bars. It was a bit overwhelming actually. Good Thai food was hard to come by on Phi Phi, so Friday night we went to an Italian restaurant and had pizza which was really good. Made me realize how much I miss pizza! On Saturday, Steph, Lee, and Connor had to head back to Bangkok. So we had to say our good-byes. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to meet back up in the States. Katie and I then met up with Sarah and Malene and hiked up to Phi Phi’s View Point. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to. It was quite the hike. A lot of stairs!  I am soo out of shape. My legs were shaking by the time I made it to the second view point; but it was definitely worth the trek! You could see the town center which is a skinny strip of land that connects the two larger mountainous areas of the island. It was also the part that was destroyed by the Tsunami in 2004.

The view was gorgeous! We decided we’d be strong and head to the third viewing point. It wasn’t much further and we got to see another very gorgeous sight. Our last night in Phi Phi, Katie and I had dinner with Malene and Sarah which was followed by a drink on the beach while we watched a fire show. On our way back from dinner, what do you know we run in to M on his only night off, he’s out on the town haha that kid is crazy! Coincidentally and oddly we run in to him AGAIN the next morning walking back from breakfast…so strange. Katie and I had enough of Phi Phi. Next, we boarded the ferry to Koh Lanta. We said our good-byes to Malene and Sarah and hoped to see them again on Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party!

Katie and I decided we wanted to spend this trip relaxing at a nice resort so that’s what we did. We had a room with air con, a large swimming pool overlooking the beautiful, blue Andaman Sea with no boats or many tourists around, lounge chairs, a restaurant and a bar.  It was amazing!! Every night we were able to watch a beautiful sunset. Life was good…no worries, just sun and fun! We really didn’t do much on Koh Lanta besides read, sun tan, swim, and eat. It was a nice few days of relaxation!

Our next trip was to Khao Sok National Park. We left early Wednesday morning and finally arrived at the park that afternoon. Khao Sok is located near the Surat Thani province in between Phuket and Koh Phangan, Samui, and Tao. The drive to the park was beautiful, very mountainous and jungle-y. It was really cool to see coconut palm trees planted evenly in long rows for what seemed like miles on end. Katie and I were meeting Jenna and some of her friends she was travelling with from California. We ended up seeing them sitting at a restaurant as were in search for a place to stay. They told us the place they were at, so we headed there. We didn’t do much that evening because it rained pretty hard for a while and we were getting up early the next day for our day trip to the National Park. We woke up in the morning to a beautiful morning fog/mist over the mountains. It was really pretty. There were six of us girls on the tour. We had an hour song-tau ride before we made it to the Park. Our guide stopped the truck to get some food and water for us and once he tried starting it back up it wouldn’t start. We ended up having to get out and push the truck as he started it. I’m sure the Thai people passing by got a kick out of the “farang” pushing the truck. It started pretty much instantly so it wasn’t bad at all pushing, just funny. Once we arrived at the park, we loaded in to a long tail boat and cruised through the beautiful lake that was surrounded by large mountainous limestone structures. It was really pretty.

After about an hour ride on the lake we made it to the floating restaurant and jumped in some kayaks. I haven’t kayaked in a while, so I don’t know if it was me or if it was just that Katie and I could not get synchronized to kayak straight. Somehow we managed to do a million circles, ha ha. It was quite the work out for the arms too. We ended earlier than the other girls because of the lack of coordination. Oh well, it was entertaining to say the least. Lunch that was served was very good! After lunch, we entered in to the jungle for a three hour trek. None of us girls really knew what we were getting ourselves in to. The trek throughout the jungle wasn’t bad; very natural and beautiful. The only thing that was a little frustrating was wearing flip flops trekking through the jungle. Even though our guides tied string to the back of our flops for better support and said, “Flip flops are fine, I promise”, we still had difficulties completing the trek.  Because the jungle was still pretty wet from yesterday’s rain, our flip flops would frequently get stuck in the mud and/or end up breaking. I was handling the jungle trek fine, but then it came time to enter in to the cave. Lek, our guide, told us we’d spend about 45 minutes trekking through the cave. I knew we would be going in a cave on this trek but didn’t really know what to expect. I still couldn’t figure out how cave trekking could be enjoyable and I’m sticking with my opinion. As we got further in to the cave someone flashed their flash light on the ceiling and we all instantly shrieked from all the bats that were hanging. It was rather difficult walking through the cave due to lack of lighting, the unevenness of the rocks, and our flip flops. I fell a few times, nothing too serious though. I think everyone might have fallen at least once, thank goodness no one got hurt. There was one point of the cave trek where Lek began rock climbing over an opening of neck high water. I was like, “we are NOT doing that! I did not pay to rock climb as well!” Instead to get across we had to swim holding on to a rope. We definitely couldn’t touch the ground at this point. But the guides were both helping us. I was so happy to finally see day light! Come to find out it’s just starting to down pour. We still had to hike back to the boat in the pouring rain. Ha ha. The rain and the mud didn’t help the flip flop situation. It was actually pretty funny. Katie fell behind us for a bit until all of a sudden she runs up to us wearing one of the guide’s pair of shoes and he was wearing hers. Then, it was me who fell behind. My flip flops kept getting stuck in the mud and breaking, so frustrating. The last stretch there was a hidden mud hole that if you stepped in you were all of a sudden knee deep. Well, I did and had to be pulled out but my flip flops got stuck. I just kept going towards the boat without any shoes. Only a few feet away from making it into the boat I slipped down the mud hill and slide right into the water. At this point, every slip and fall was hysterical.  And it was still pouring rain. My muddy flip flops were returned to me thanks to Lek.  After all of us made it on the boat, we ventured back to the restaurant to wait out the rain a bit. It finally stopped but since we were soaked it was a chilly ride back; however, it was really pretty with the fog resting over the mountains. It made for a different view on our way back. It was quite the St. Patrick’s Day spent in the jungle. I did see a lot of green J I also had green curry later that night! Lek told us to stop by their shop after dinner; he braided each of us a ring made out of bamboo. We were all pretty exhausted from our long day of trekking so we headed to bed early.

Friday, March 18^th

We woke up early as usual and headed to Koh Phangan for the legendary Full Moon party. It was a long day of travelling. We took a van from Khao Sok to Surat Thani; a bus from Surat Thani to Donsok where we caught a car ferry to Koh Phangan. The weather was not so good today, making it rough seas and a not so fun 3 hour ferry ride. There were numerous kids who were getting sea sick. One boy tossed his cookies all over himself and on the ground; the “cookies” started to slowly flow towards our belongings on the ground. We up and moved rather quickly. Another man had to lay down napkins at two different spots to stop the flow from reaching him. I felt bad for the kid; I mean it was all over him! Poor thing L It was such a blessing when we finally arrived to Koh Phangan. Worst ferry ride ever….

We made it to our bungalows on Baan Thai Beach and met up with all the other girls. It was great to see everyone J It was a bit overwhelming being with sooo many girls at once though. I think there was about 15 of us. That night a few of us ventured to the Full Moon beach on Had Rin to check things out before tomorrow’s festivities. We ate dinner there as well and did some Full Moon Shopping. I bought a ridiculously bright neon yellow shirt to wear with my neon pink shorts I got on Phi Phi.  We walked on the beach and saw the almost “Full Moon” along with all the beach bars and bucket stations. 

 There were some fire shows going on already, but not nearly as many people on the beach as to be expected for the actual Full Moon party.  Saturday was spent soaking up some rays as much as possible.  I was expecting Jaci and Stacey to be arriving sometime during the day, but not sure when.  All of a sudden I’m sitting on the beach and hear Jaci’s voice, “CHELS!?”! Yay! She made it! I was worried with the weather not being the greatest and with the change of plans she had due to Japan’s earthquake if she was going to still make it or not, but she did! It was so great to see a familiar face from home. But I still can’t get over that I actually spent time with her in Thailand. Unfortunately, we were only together for 2 days so it doesn’t really even seem like I saw her. It was fun hearing about your trip to Micronesia and Guam though! A small group of us girls went out to dinner pre-Full Moon party.  After everyone dressed in their full moon attire, we headed down to Haad Rin for the madness. And boy was it madness. There were soo many people there. I think I heard the number was 10,000 or something ridiculous like that. It was a really fun night though, filled with dancing, translucent body paint, fire shows, a fire slide, and staying up till sunrise and watching many people still going strong at 7 a.m. It was officially my first all-nighter, no sleep at all! It was so crazy watching the sun rise over the Andaman Sea, so beautiful!

Shortly after 7, Chelsea ,Jenna and her two friends from Cali, and myself headed for breakfast. Along the way we ran in to Liz and Lily who joined us. Sitting and waiting for my breakfast made me realize how exhausted I was. It was time to go rest. I wanted to spend my last day not travelling on the beach, Liz was the only one who joined me for a little bit until ours naps were so rudely interrupted by the Guest House’s puppy. He was the cutest lab I’ve seen in Thailand and oh so friendly, but he was crossing the line. I was sleeping on my back when all of a sudden a feel a wet slobber on my face. The dog was licking me! He then moved over to Liz to aggressively bite her hair and fist. I tried to get up and shoo the dog away but he wouldn’t leave. All he wanted to do was play, I could tell, but he chose the wrong people to ask. We were way too tried.  It was pretty funny though because he was so persistent. He didn’t want to give up. It was cute. I ended up falling back asleep for a longer period of time on the beach while everyone else was sleeping in beds. Later in the afternoon the girls woke up and we chillaxed in the shade overlooking the calm water. I wanted to enjoy every minute of that beautiful beach and view that I could get. I would be leaving the next day to go back to Bangplama to get my last pay check and my luggage and eventually head back to the States.  Chelsea, Jess, and I walked the beach for sunset. Unfortunately, the sunset wasn’t as beautiful as those in Koh Lanta.  All 15 of us girls went out for dinner one last time together. L It was going to be one of my last Thai meals so I had to make sure  I ordered somethin’ good. I had a Thai Spicy Red Curry that was very good and spring rolls and of course a mango shake.  After dinner we had a slide show of the Full Moon pictures. I provided my computer and Allie busted out Gianda, the Panda Bear loud speaker that connects to iPods. We had to name her since she attends all of our get togethers. Shes known for having temperamental issues or being crabby if the sound doesn’t come out right. The slide show ended and everyone was saying good-nights. It had been a great last weekend spent with great friends.  I was getting really sad to leave them as well as Thailand. But all fun has to come to an end eventually. My experience in Thailand has been one that I will never forget. The people and experiences I’ve had here will always be special in my heart. I definitely have a new appreciation for Thailand after this trip. I am so lucky and happy to have had such great life changing experiences!

I love you Thailand and all my friends I met along the way!