We visited 3 places
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| Krabi |
Krabi - a jumping off point so to speak. Stayed 2 nights here at a hostel and then a hotel. Great street food! Decent night life. Awesome day trip to Kayak through mangrove forests and Limestone cliffs and caves. As if that wasn't enough we then got to ride on some Asian Elephants through an elephant park. Pretty fantastic day especially considering we had no itinerary and called the place 15 minutes before they started picking people up for the tour! We checked out the night markets both nights and got some great food. Listened to some Pretttty bad Thai stage performance (though oddly high budgeted stage lighting and sound). All in All Krabi was a chill pretty touristed spot after the orphanage. Good transfer point.
We then Ferried to...
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| Koh Jum "Island" |
Koh Jum - The photos here pretty much speak for themselves. We all agreed we could have lived on this island for months. A small island with only one real "road" on it (almost all dirt except in the "Town"). We were picked up at sea from the ferry by a Thai long-tail boat that motored us right onto the beach of our bungalow. The island had the most positive vibe. Definitely a change from the other two islands in that it was touristed but never felt overwhelming. We had so many moments and beaches to ourselves. We rented two motor bikes the second day and putt putted around the island. Found some cool deserted beaches and some some not. Ate lunch on the road and basically just lived it up on the bikes. The food and drink at the Bungalow was second to none (other than maybe the "mama's" cooking at the orphanage). Fresh caught fish and massive prawns displayed and cooked as you like? Too easy! We met up with a younger British couple and they dined with our group and provided fun and interesting conversation (as well as the impetus for a lesson in American Drinking games... we happily obliged).
We then hopped on another long tail boat (two technically, our first one spun a prop!) which promised to ferry us to our last island AND give us a day long Snorkel trip on top of it. It was only slightly more expensive than the ferry and way cooler so we booked it! Got some cool underwater pics and even some video! I'll have to find another time or day to upload the video... just takes too long.
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| Koh Phi Phi |
Koh Phi Phi - Our last and most touristy / crazy / fratty stop of the trip. This is the island we spent New years on. TEEMING with tourists (mostly overly tanned Scandinavians!?) and we got all the service and quality that accompanies that... Not so good. Def our lower end of the spectrum meals and we really did no sight seeing here (thus the lack of photos). The island itself is absolutely stunningly gorgeous as the snorkel trip photos show you. White sand beaches and limestone abounded. This island was remarkable for a couple reasons though:
1) We stayed in easily our nicest "hotel" rooms. We had AC for the first time (though both girls and guys could not figure out how to shut the darn thing OFF so we slept in Antarctica the first night...). Marble floors, a pool, free breakfast and security... definitely a different experience
2) James left us for Vietnam... so then we were 3... very sad BUT!
3) I met up with my longtime friend from college and Bruin Woods, Natalia Hurt! We lived together in the dorms, she dated one of my best friends all through college and we worked together at the ropes course for a year. We only had one day to catch up but it was great! She has been living in Germany for a little over a year but recently left on a 3 month trip that has taken her through a Buddhist monastery in Nepal, through Myanmar/Burma, into the Himalayas and all over southern Thailand. She was traveling with a Luxembourgian friendshe met in Nepal who was a total riot the whole night. We all ate dinner together and prepared for...
CRAZY EFFING BLOW YOUR FACE OFF SO EXTREME WHAT'S GOING ON OH MY GOD New Years Eve.
Koh Phi Phi's Northern beach is literally the Las Vegas strip of Thailand except no Gambling (they substitute Fireworks EVERYWHERE) and its on a beautiful beach.
This evening was fun and probably a mother's worst nightmare. Every bar had multitudinous fire dancers and twirlers and fire spitters and pretty much anything on fire and human you can think of. There were so many you couldn't even keep track. On top of that they had tables selling fireworks (like the big aerial ones) to rando's on the beach who lit them without cease (and I mean this) from 6pm until well after midnight. On top of that there were different dj's playing BOOMING music at every "club" bar on the beach and so many people that a lot of the dance floors spilled into the knee deep water. People from all over the world... just a crazy night and a lot of fun.
Boarded a ferry back to Krabi. Boarded a plane back to Bangkok. Slept on Bangkok airports marble floors. Got on a Chinese flight that made one unessential and unplanned stop in Shanghai, put me through customs 4 times (literally) and got me hom just in time for the last train. 8am flight and I walked in my door at 2am the next day... Ahh travel.
Anyway, there's your update on two weeks of my life. The two months you missed were even more jammed packed. How ever will you find out what is going on?!
I'm going snowboarding in Niigata tomorrow for the long weekend. Photos and the like will someday be posted or shown to my children. Love you all and miss you. The world is small... come visit me!
-Dane
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