The Islands

When we arrived in Bangkok I was exhausted. At customs we discovered Wil had been detained because of links to drug smuggling. Not really but it sounds more exciting, he was detained though. We did, however, find that the people had stolen things from our bags. Nothing to important but it still sucked.

On the way to the hostel I fell asleep in the cab and slept for most of that day. I was just so tired that I could no longer keep my eyes open. The next few days were a blur of massages, tourist shops, and curry. We booked a bus to Ko Tao and waited for Laura (LD) to arrive. The night she arrived we had gone out for buckets (island drink of sangsom, coke, and soda water served in a bucket). When I got to the hotel to meet her I was drunk. She commented on my being such a good friend that I came drunk and late to meet her.  In response I suggested we go down for a beer at a street stall. We talked and then she got a foot massage at 1 am on the street and then went to bed.

The next day we left for Ko Tao at 8 pm on a bus and arrived in to Chumpon at 3am and had to wait 3 hours for the ferry. None of us were that happy. We thought we would get into the ferry dock when the ferry was leaving and we could sleep on the bus and not have to wait. That was not the case we had to camp out next to the ferry and try and sleep. When the ferry did come we almost missed it because we had all fallen asleep. Luckily Christina happened to wake up just in time to notice everyone else was gone and quickly woke us just in time. Then there was a never ending ferry ride where we did not have seats. Let’s just say that there were quite a few people who vomited over the side before we arrived. We got in to Ko Tao at 12 in the afternoon, 3 hours later than they had told us. We went to the nearest restaurant and sat down for a late breakfast and tried to get some energy back and discussed our options. With the New Year fast approaching we decided to make a move to the other side of the island and find a hostel there. It was calmer and quitter but just a five minute walk to bars.

New Year’s Eve we bought a bunch of beers, a bottle of rum, and snacks and started drinking in the room. We played some drinking games and when we were all buzzed we went to the town to see were the parties were happening. I don’t know how it happened but we ended up thinking that hiking up the mountain to a 3 day trance festival and breaking in would be a good idea. Everyone was intoxicated at this point and hiking up dirt roads in the dark. When we got there I think everyone had just about sobered up but we still weren’t in the party. First we tried just walking in…that didn’t work. Then we thought we could sneak around back and walk through the jungle until we got to the party. Magically it worked and we were in (they need security like this in the States). It was a great idea. Though I think at midnight we were stumbling around in the jungle following our fearless leader Wil. The party was so much fun and crazy trippy with glow in the dark decorations of various neon colors. We danced and danced and after a while everyone was worn out except Shalom and I so they left and we stayed. This is where I made a big mistake. I should have gone home with everyone else but I decided to stay and had a great time while I was at the party but when we left we missed our turn to go back to our hotel. In a sense, you could say that we were lost. So for an hour we wandered around in the dark and at one point Shalom wanted to head into dense jungle with no path and had I not put my foot down, I think that we would have been lost until the morning had I not forced him to go back to the road.

The next few days were spent relaxing and eating. LD went diving one day and had an interesting experience in true LD fashion.  Then Shalom left us to go to a 10 day Thai Yoga massage course. Now it was just Christina, LD, Wil and I headed for Ko Phi Phi.

Ko Tao

Me on one of the buses to Ko Tao, approximately 3:00am

Our lodging for New Year's in Ko Tao

Fire show on the beach in Ko Tao, NYE

LD, Lulu, Christina, Wil, and Shalom at the Trance Party, NYE

Ko Phi Phi is the opposite of what we were looking for. Yes it is beautiful and yes there is great snorkeling and diving but it is over crowded with tourists and tacky souvenir shops. There was no space to relax, plus there weren’t any rooms available. We searched all over one entire end of the island and there was nothing. We made a snap decision and got on a ferry to Phuket. It was the best decision we could have made. Phuket was what we were looking for, despite the large amount of prostitutes, it was perfect. We found a great guesthouse, Kata On Sea, and a charming little restaurant down a side street with delicious food. I can’t remember the name of it but it was French owned and played American and Thai music videos.   We will see how the rest of Phuket goes, but as of now it looks good.

Limestone cliffs of Ko Phi Phi

On the ferry, headed to Phuket