Today I left Koh Phangan to head to the final island in the string of three, Koh Tao.
My companions at Echo tried to get me to stay, but I had already been there for 5 days; I needed to move on and see some new sights. It was with a heavy heart that I left my beach boys behind. I will always remember you, #echo4life.
Manuel was also leaving so we went to the pier together. Once there, we boarded separate boats, mine to Koh Tao and his to Krabi. After sailing for a few hours I got off the ferry and took a truck to my hostel. On first glance I would say it was definitely nowhere near as nice as Echo Beach and it was way more expensive. I began to wonder, was leaving Echo the right decision?
Just then a group of guys walked up to check in, so I started chatting with them. We ended up grabbing dinner together-- chicken gyros from a kart two doors down from the hostel. Everyone in our lobby had been raving about how cheap and delicious it was. As we ate, we walked down to the beach. We stopped for a fire show- it didn't even hold a flicker of a flame to the ones on Koh Samed ;) -and sat on the pier with our toes dangling in the water enjoying a beer. The guys took off to explore some more of the beach. I planned to stay and sip the rest of my beer while listening to the crashing of the ocean waves, but a wave of different sort overtook me. I left my beer and headed back to the hostel just in time to throw up. Yuck.
Did I mention in order to throw up I had to squat on the ground around the toilet because it was sitting on a raised pedestal? Did I also mention that this was one of those bathrooms where the showers were right next to the toilets so when I sat down on the floor to give my legs a break I was sitting in a puddle of water? In addition, did I mention there were only two bathrooms on my floor, one of which had a big hole in the door? Did I mention that my room for the evening had a sliding door that creaked EVERY SINGLE TIME it was opened, yet there was a sign on the door that said it MUST be kept closed unless entering or exiting? By morning my poor roommates were probably ready to strangle me. Oh, did I also mention that the A/C in the rooms gets shut off during the day?And that my bed in said room was the equivalent of a yoga mat? Yep. I was lying on a yoga mat, on the third floor, in a boiling room with a door that couldn't be opened except to allow me to practice my squats while vomming in a raised toilet, all the while fearing my legs would give out and leave me in a puddle of shower water, or worse, someone would see my sorry state through the hole in the door and assume for sure that I was a newb who couldn't handle her hangovers. I wondered REAL hard, was leaving Echo the right decision?
This continued for all of Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Finally, by Wednesday afternoon, I was starting to feel a bit better. I headed to a restaurant down the street. A real, indoor restaurant, and ordered the blandest thing on the menu. I brought my book to do some reading. While there, I noticed another guy, sitting at a table alone, much like myself. He smiled at me once or twice, so on my way out, I stopped by his table. What was there to lose? "Wondering if you're traveling alone like I am?" I asked. Nope. He wasn't traveling. He lived here. He had just gotten off of work and was waiting for his to go order. Woops. So much for nothing to lose.
He was still incredibly friendly though. We chatted for a bit, then exchanged numbers. He told me he worked at a dive shop that also owned a bar. He asked if I'd come by for a bit later in the evening... I started to think maybe leaving Echo was the right decision.
When I got back to the hostel my roommates started in right away trying to convince me to go out. Maybe they thought if I went out I would get lost and not come home and then they could all sleep in peace? Who knows. Either way, there was a pub crawl scheduled for this evening and they had already bought me a ticket for it. I decided to go to the first bar to appease them. I also decided to give them all of the free drinks that came with my pub crawl ticket.
When they left for the next bar, I made my escape. I took off the other way and headed to meet up with Daniel, the guy I had chatted with earlier at the restaurant. The one who wasn't traveling alone. The one who lived here. Yeah. He was super nice and offered to take me diving the next day, however I declined because I was not about to head underwater prematurely and vomit all over in my scuba mask while a good looking male looked on. We chatted for awhile until my roommates headed back to the last bar-- it was on a raised platform in the ocean. I met them there and we danced for a little while before heading to bed. Sober Sally enjoyed her night just fine and didn't have to practice anymore squats after heading to bed :) She closed her eyes thinking, maybe leaving Echo was the right decision after all.
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