Peace, Love and a FULL MOON

February Part 2

For Valentine’s Day this year I was lucky enough to spend it with a handful of teachers and about another thousand handfuls of partying tourists. Koh Phangan was one spot I actually didn’t see myself visiting, but with a long weekend and a full moon that fell on a Saturday night, what better way to celebrate Valentine’s. It was also planned to be a huge teacher trip, and if I didn't go, well I knew I would have been missin’ out. So, we bought our tickets, boarded the bus, hopped on the day boat, and headed to Haad Rin beach for a weekend full of neon shirts, face paint, special balloons, crazy boat rides, Eden, and lots of LOVE!! <3

We stayed in BT Hostel, which is right in the middle of all the action. It’s not a good spot if you want peace and quiet, but it’s a great spot if you want a quick drunk walk home at night and a safe place to stay. Teacher Emily’s friend owned the hostel and gave us a nice deal, and her restaurant was right across the street from the hostel and they had the most amazing breakfast food and yogurt smoothies!! My favorite was the strawberry-banana one! :) 

We arrived Friday afternoon, on Valentine’s Day, and had the best breakfast by the pier at Nira's Bakery. After hailing a taxi, we made it to BT Hostel, dropped our stuff and went straight to the beach for lying out and sunset. We had a nice Valentine’s Dinner at an Italian joint. The food was great and HUGE might I add. I ate a calzone that was the size of my right leg. Emily’s boyfriend was our suga-daddy for the night and treated all of us girls to dinner. Thanks Tam!!

On Saturday, Maggie and I had one h-e-double hockey sticks of an adventure. Literally, we thought we weren’t going to make it at one point and another. Our mission was to take a taxi boat two beaches over and then hike back through a trail we should have easily found. It was nothing like this. We were literally traveling vertical in the taxi boats to the other beach. The waves were so huge we had to put on life vests and hold on for our dear lives. At one point I just shut my eyes because I couldn’t watch. I was mentally preparing how to escape when the waves flipped the boat over and we were trapped underneath. It was terrifying. We couldn’t pull into the beach where the trail started because the shore break was too knarly. Luckily a traveling hippie/sex instructor from South Africa knew the way to go. After visiting her commune for a half a second we ventured on.

To make a long story short, we basically spent two hours looking for the trail, another two hours hiking with two other adventurers we meet who were looking for a trail that led to a lookout point (which we thought would probably be the same trail we were looking for), and then another hour figuring out we were lost and deciding whether to put our lives in the hands of crazy truck taxi drivers or crazy taxi boat drivers with against 10 foot high waves (we were really hoping there was another option).

The taxi boat driver ended up winning and, actually, the ride back was just as terrifying, but I really enjoyed it. The Thai driver knew what he was doing and we ended up “surfing” the whole way back to Haad Rin Beach. *On a side note we saw the biggest Komodo Dragon I’ve ever seen on our “hike”. It looked like a dinosaur. It was unreal and scared the shit out of us.

After an amazing two hour nap; we put on our neon gear, painted our faces, had an amazing Mediterranean dinner (I tried falafels for the first time = DELICIOUS) and meet up with the other teachers to begin our Full Moon Partying extravaganza. I’m not really sure about the rest of the night but, I know it included hula-hooping, balloons, and lots of drinks. Surprisingly, when I woke up in the morning I didn't feel too horrible. So, cheers to our Full Moon experience, it will defiantly be a once in a lifetime kinda thang. :S

XoXo

'Phu-Ket' It's a Girls Weekend

February
 

As I’m looking back at my day planner, I am noticing that I only have two trips down for the month of February. This does not seem normal to me because we literally are traveling somewhere every month, but, February was a short month, and just like all of the others, I’m sure I was on a tight budget.

On the 1^st of February, Annika, Maggie and I traveled to Phuket. It’s not a location that we were passionate about traveling too and it wasn’t on my “travel list”, but Annika had friends who had an apartment there, so we decided to try it out. *I am so glad we did because it was one of the most memorable trips that I will have from Thailand, and it is where I saw the most beautiful sunsets one can even imagine.

We left early Saturday morning, taking a bus all the way from Surat to Phuket Town. It was a long journey and in one of Thailand’s infamous taxi buses as well. I almost lost my sh**t a few times and had to hold back from spewing all over everyone. We finally arrived to Phuket island, but were met with about an hour long wait in traffic to Phuket Town. (Honestly, I loved that the driver couldn’t go above 20 km/hr.) The apartment was in a cute little area right on the outskirts of the little old Phuket Town. It was close to dinner time when we arrived, so we decided to head straight to Patong Beach for dinner. Why Patong Beach you ask? It’s the worst beach in Thailand you've heard. Well, we were told the same, but of course, had to see it for ourselves. As it turns out, it was defiantly a complete waste of time to visit. If you’re looking for someplace where every square inch of the beach is covered by lounge chairs and umbrellas, the sea is filled with wave runners, boats, parasailers, etc… , the streets are covered with people and neon signs, then Patong is the place for you. The only good thing that came out of the venture there was our Subway dinner. Mmmmmmmm how I missed a good Subway sandwich. After sunset, we decided to head back to the apartment and call it an early night. Our focus was on the adventures we were about to have the next day.

We started by walking into the little old Phuket Town to meet a friend to rent motorbikes for the day. On the walk there we stopped to ogle over the Portuguese inspired architecture, and we found the most beautiful house, well mansion, hidden away from the street. It was amazing. As one of my favorite hobbies to house hunt, I loved our morning adventure.

Next, we found the quaintest little coffee and breakfast restaurant owned by the nicest Chinese family. We could have spent hours just sitting in the little shop. The breakfast and coffee were delicious as well.

After renting our motorbikes, we headed to the closest waterfall we could find on the map. It ended up not being much of a “waterfall” mostly because it had not rained in awhile, but it was still very beautiful and it was nice to get in a morning hike. After finding the waterfall with ease, our confidences of riding the motorbikes in an unknown town were growing stronger. Annika and Maggie manned the driving, while I recklessly, with the map blowing in different directions, kept us heading the right way. Thanks Annika for putting up with my terrible passenger riding skills.

We didn’t want to go anywhere near Patong Beach again, but as it was, we had to drive through the overpopulated area to find the nicer, more secluded beaches. I absolutely loved the drive, but I’m sure the girls were pretty drained from concentrating and the many turns and steep hills. Laem Sing Beach became our new favorite spot for laying out, swimming and watching the most vibrant and colorful sunsets. I literally snapped a picture every minute because that's how fast the colors were changing.

After sunset, we headed over to Angsana Laguna Phuket (http://www.angsana.com/en/phuket/  Check it out!!) where Annika's friend from university was staying for the Chinese New Year. It was amazing, a little community all to itself. I only wish we could have stayed longer and took advantage of the 1st class amenities. Maybe on another vacation...after I win the lottery! :)

XoXo

To Beauty from Devastation

January

January was a slow month for me in Thailand. I was working on a very small budget after purchasing an iPad and and catching up from all of my spendings the previous month. One trip we did take though was to Khao Lak, which resides on the West coast of Southern Thailand in the Phang Nga Province. It is situated right on the Adaman Sea, and it is defiantly in my top 10 of favorite Thailand places. The trip to Khao Lak was bittersweet. Just shy of ten years prior, much of Thailand's coastline was hit by a tsunami that decimated the area, hitting the town of Khao Lak the worst.

 

Let me start by explaining our "adventure" before the adventure. Our itinerary for getting to Khao Lak included catching a charter bus from the bus station on Talad Mai Rd all the way into the town of Khao Lak. It seemed simple. But, as I have now learned, nothing in Thailand is a simple as it seems. Our tuk tuk dropped us off at a small bus departure area away from the actual bus stop, where a woman proceeded to tell us that there was not a charter bus to Khao Lak until later in the afternoon. When you only have a weekend to travel to different places around Thailand you start to value every hour that you have. Apparently, the scheduled buses were not there because of the protests in Bangkok, and there was no way for us to get one any earlier.

So, she offered for her driver to take us in his personal 4-door Honda Civic, but for a price. After several bouts of negotiating, we all decided the price was worth getting there as early as we could. So we all hopped in his little car with our fingers crossed.

I think we spent the majority of the three hour ride on the wrong side of the road or nearly flying off the cliffs on either side. I had to lookout the window the entire time so I didn’t spew my breakfast all over the girls. I also pretend that I was a nascar driver and moved my body with each jerk the driver made. It was terrifying! We were so glad to finally arrive, safely, and stand on our own two feet. Never again, please!

Khao Lak was beautiful. The town was my favorite of all the places we’ve visited. It wasn’t crowded, but there was enough people for it to be exciting. The roads and sidewalks were huge, and you didn’t feel like you were constantly bumping into someone or falling in a pothole like other overcrowded tourist areas we have visited. It was great! Our hostel was really nice too. At Seaweed Hostel the rooms were big and the price was small. It was a great deal! Four of us shared a room and became creative with the divider curtains during our pregame session and 90’s dance show.

My goal for the trip was to find a surf spot or at least somewhere to rent a SUP board. I quickly realized surfing wasn’t going to happen due to the lack of waves. I eventually found a really nice Aussie guy who had SUP boards I could rent from him. I was so nice to finally get in a paddle, and all of the other teachers enjoyed the experience as well.

Khao Lak was also where I saw my first amazing sunset in Thailand. We sat on the beach for over an hour just watching the sun slowly disappear behind the endless sea. It was beautiful!

Our night out was defiantly one for the books. It started with a great Mexican meal and then endless hours of playing the song/artist guessing game. It’s the little things that will keep us entertained for hours! I am sad to say I probably will not be back to Khao Lak before I head back to the states, but hopefully, one-day, I will be able to bring family and friends back to share these great experiences (and awesome food :)

January ended with the much anticipated and planned Beer Olympics. On a side note, it’s March 14 and my house still has a hint of beer smell to it. Gross! It was a great night, and I’m pretty sure my team, should have, won!! J O well, next time. The last weekend of January also introduced us to Dieter and his amazing hospitality and German food!! It was a perfect 'low-key' weekend filled with activities around Surat, including; finding a lake and a swimming hole, hitting a few balls, 'off-roading' and divulging in loads of sausages and sauerkraut. 

XoXo