Probing Pretty Phangan

Fri 29 Jul 2016

The half moon party took quite a bit out of us, so relaxing for a day was a necessity. We were back at it again though, just one day later. Today's excursion consisted of renting motorbikes (not one for me of course) and driving through the mountains. We had made a few friends since arriving at Echo, so our fabulous threesome had turned into a fearsome fivesome. Today Jack and Julia were accompanying us. Julia was German and Jack was british so it worked out quite well for all involved. I had gotten used to not meeting many americans while traveling because we don't subscribe to the idea of a gap year (we're totally missing out!!)
After looking at the map, we decided that we definitely wanted to hit up the chocolate house. Tom and I were super stoked! We hadn't had anything good and sweet since being on the islands. Upon arrival however, we noticed that not only was the chocolate house not open, but that it was also not really a thing. It was literally a black house nestled in the mountains... #fail.

We continued to ride around for a bit and then stopped at a beautiful beach. Swimming in the water in front of our hostel wasn't really a thing, and after visiting this beach I could totally see why. The stretch of beach today was absolutely gorgeous- it wasn't rocky or polluted and there was tons of room. The boys opted for beers in the shade while I sunned myself and enjoyed a good book. After posting at the beach for as long as they could handle (did I mention my male companions are a bit squirrely?) We hopped back on the bikes to explore famed viewpoints around the island. The viewpoints are absolutely breathtaking and for the most part fun to get to. Tom continued to give me a hard time about having it so easy-- all I had to do was hop on the back of his bike. Little did he know I was gripping the bike with all of my strength and exhaling a thank god everytime we were safely parked. I'd say it's a lot harder letting someone else be in control, but what do I know? :)

On our way home we couldn't help passing by Cats in Space, the hostel that Tom was obsessed with staying at prior to getting to the island. He hopped off the bike and we took an honorary guest photo of him out front of his "favorite" hostel.

That evening we stayed in and hung out with the friends we'd made at our hostel. There was always a good crowd in the lobby for happy hour so we posted up and chilled. Being able to walk a few feet from my barstool and have my toes in the sand and the ocean breeze blowing my hair was the perfect way to end a fun day!

Can I Get a Hell Yeah for the Half Moon

Wed 27 Jul 2016
The plan was to spend two nights on Koh Samui.
Check. Check.
After that I was thoroughly Koh Samui-ed out, so heading to Koh Phangan for the half moon party was the perfect next step. The boys decided to come along with me.
We took a songthaew to the pier and then boarded a boat to Koh Phangan.

After a long, heated discussion in our bunks the night before, we decided to stay at echo beach hostel. I had read rave reviews and had heard from almost all of the backpackers in our current hostel that Echo Beach was the BEST place on the island. Tom wanted to stay at a hostel called Cats in Space (I think just for the sake of the name) and Manuel insisted upon staying at a hostel with computer access and a camera cable so he could upload his photos.

After not even 5 minutes at Echo the boys were singing my praises for choosing it.
For starters, the lobby of Echo is ON THE SAND. It walks right out onto the beach and into the ocean. In the lobby (aka on the beach) there's a bar, couches, hammocks, pool tables and a restaurant. There's a swanky loft with totally rad staff. Did I mention there's free breakfast and happy hour beer specials? To top it off, you get all of this for the amazingly low price of 3 US dollars/night. #ThailandILoveYou #PinchMeI'mDreaming

We were in dorm rooms with communal bunks that opened into communal bathrooms with cold water showers-- the rationale- thailand's hot as hell and cold showers are super eco-friendly. I loved this place even more.

The three of us headed out to do some exploring and found a local pop up for lunch. We dined in the sunshine while a little thai boy did his english lessons next to us. It was perfect. On our way back to the hostel we happened upon a coconut collection site. We weren't sure who ran it, why it was there, or what they used the coconuts for, all we knew was that there were hundreds and hundreds of coconuts.

The moon parties are renowned all over Thailand. If you go to the islands, then there's no question that you're going to a moon party. In preparation for our big night, we took afternoon naps so that we were rested and ready for our famed right of passage.

The bar at our hostel had drink specials and had organized songthaews to take us to the jungle for the party. We made a lot of friends pre-partying who we then boarded the songthaews with at midnight. We made it to the jungle by 12:15-12:30. It was decked out with multiple stages, trippy light displays, and tons of different bars. The specialty was definitely buckets, but you could get beers if you really wanted to. We spent the entire night dancing, going from one stage to to the next. Tom and I took a motorbike home in the early morning hours, just in time to pass out before the sun came up. Partying at the half moon was definitely a great time :)

i'm a motherfuckin trexpert

Tues 26 Jul 2016

Today was my first full day on Koh Samui. I decided to spend it exploring with Tom, a british friend I'd made, and Manuel, a German friend I'd met. We had breakfast at 9 and then the boys rented two motorbikes for our excursion-- I would not rent my own motorbike, so I made Manuel promise to drive really, really safely with me on the back of his bike.

We rode to the base of our trekking spot, which was out of the town and up into the hills. We got pretty turned around because if you've seen one twisty, turny dirt road, you've seen them all, especially when there aren't street signs designating this curve from that one.

The sun was beating down and it was H-O-T, HOT. We were also walking straight up (it sure felt like it anyway). The climb was hard because the dirt road was uneven and rocky so it was really easy to loose your footing and start to slide. I started to panic a bit-- I was trekking with two guys that I didn't really know-- how good of shape were they in? did they do this all the time? what if I couldn't keep up? So, to curb my panic, I started asking my questions aloud, which in hindsight maybe wasn't such a good idea. Turns out, Manuel is an AVID hiker who loves trekking alone for DAYS at a time. How did I not see that one coming? And wait, it gets better. Not only does he hike alone, but when he encounters stray dogs on his hikes, he invites them to trek along too. Thank God I hadn't met Manuel in Cambodia or we'd have had an army of stray dogs trekking with us. I wonder if he knows how laden that country is with wild animals. Anyway, he continued to tell us about his adventures in the mountains of Germany, on one of which he encountered a stray dog who stayed by his side and eventually ended up saving his life. CRAP. So now he's relying on stray animals to save him from dangers out in the wilderness? So much for curbing my panic by asking questions. I decided I didn't want to hear anymore from Manuel and moved on to questioning the british pretty boy walking beside me. Luckily for me, Tom's mouth was just as agape as mine while Manuel was talking, so I figured maybe I had a chance with him. Turns out, Tom doesn't do the whole lost in the wilderness, hiking alone for days thing either. Cha-ching.

One of the positives here was that Tom and I were able to convince Manuel relatively easily that we needed to stop fairly often to "enjoy" our hike (because we were novice hikers and didn't get to experience things like this every day) while we climbed. This led to gorgeous views of the island beneath us, multiple failed attempts at knocking coconuts out of the treetops and a shady photo shoot on a fallen tree trunk.

Five hours later, we arrived at the beautiful waterfall we had been searching for. The water was cool and refreshing and we were the only people around. The tiers of the waterfall really were breathtaking and we spent a decent amount of time just revelling in the beauty of nature.

However, my revel was interrupted by yet another question. How were we going to get back? It had taken us the better part of a day to complete this trek; not only would it be getting dark soon, but we also hadn't had anything to eat. This was starting to seem like a situation that needed a stray dog and to me, that was not a good thing.
So what did I do? I started asking my questions aloud. You think I would've learned.
For Manuel, the answer was easy. We walk back.
Excuse me? We what?
Five more hours of walking. He couldn't be serious. I needed Tom on my side for this one.
I'm not one for dangerous situations, but desparate times call for desparate measures. I decided our best bet was to hitchhike down the mountain, so I stuck my thumb out and we did just that. Not literally (I think the thumb thing is an Americanized version of hitchhiking, but I did manage to flag down a pickup). This was going to be a breeze. I let Tom and Manuel know that I could speak thai so that I would take care of the communication with the guys in the truck. There was only one problem. They didn't understand me. Not at all. Not one word. I may as well have been speaking German. At least then Manuel and I could be on the same page. Why didn't they understand me? This was the first of many times I encountered this while traveling in the south. Later, I found out that different dialects of thai are spoken in different areas- most thais on the southern islands aren't educated with the same standard thai that is taught in Bangkok, nor are they used to hearing farang speak thai on a regular basis. Shit. Where was the stray dog when we needed it?

We managed to get pretty far along in the truck, but when it stopped we still had a mile to go before the next town. And once we got to the town, we were still going to have to find a way back to our bikes. Manuel suggested  we bypass the town altogether and instead cut a quarter of a mile through the jungle to get to our bikes on the other side. Well... he did have a mapsme app on his phone. And it was starting to get late. And the sun was starting to go down. And we were really hungry. So... Tom and I agreed.

Manuel pulled up the app on his phone and started leading us through the jungle. There was no path, so we were tackling tree limbs, branches, tall grasses and bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. To pass the time, Tom and I started singing. In unison. Any song we could think of. We did this for the better part of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears' careers, but we were still not to our bikes.

The questions in my head jumped out again.
"Manuel, where are we?"

He didn't know. His mapsme app wasn't working.

"So you're just leading us through the jungle, in the dark, with no food, no path and no sense of direction?"

Screw the dog. I was taking matters into my own hands.
"Manuel, you take us back the way we came right this very minute. We will walk a mile into town and then we will take a songthaew back to our bikes." Manuel didn't like this idea one bit, but he could tell I meant business so he conceded. A half hour later I was in a convenience store with a yogurt, power bar and juice box. Thank fucking god.

I flagged down a songthaew for us, bargained with the driver and paid the fee for the three of us. There was no way Manuel was getting out of this one. We had to make a few other stops before we started the climb into the rocky hills, but the higher we went the more reluctant the driver became. Finally, he stopped the songthaew and told us to get out. He would not be going any farther.

But... but.. you told us you'd take us to our bikes!

Too bad. The terrain was too rocky and he was not going to be able to get his songthaew up, much less back down the hillside. We would have to walk. By this time it was dark and we were exhausted.

While walking we encountered a tourist family in an SUV who clearly felt for us, so they opened up their back hitch and allowed us to hop in. The A/C was amazing. Our stench was disgusting.

The time was 8pm and we had finally reached our bikes.
We whizzed back to the hostel to drop the bikes off and walked straight to the night market-- I wouldn't even allow the boys to stop for showers beforehand-- because I was so hungry. We had thai streetfood for dinner and got fried ice cream for dessert.

                                                                        What. A. Day.

"We don't have to return the bikes until 10am tomorrow. Who's up for some early morning exploring?"

Was this guy serious?

Sorry Manuel, but tomorrow is the half moon party on Koh Phangan. I will be going and I am fairly confident I will not be doing any exploring on my way there :)

Island Bound. First Stop: Koh Samui

Mon 25 Jul 2016
Welp.
Yikes.
Here goes.
Tash has left.
I'm officially traveling on my own now, and I'm pretty nervous to be doing so. I know this sounds completely ridiculous, because didn't this entire journey start with me traveling alone? And while that's true, I was traveling to Cambodia to meet a bunch of people who were also traveling alone. We were all alone, so it made being alone not so lonely. The loners had each other. This time around however, I'll be hopping from hostel to hostel trying to meet people who maybe aren't alone, who maybe already have "their" people, who maybe aren't doing the same thing as me at all. Then what?

Luckily I had lots of time to mull it over. A whole day to be exact.
The van picked me up at my hostel at 8am. The driver told me we would be full ('would be' being the key words here) so I'd have to sit in the front middle seat of the van. Considering the van was competely empty at the moment, bar for one passenger in the front seat, couldn't I sit in the back until it filled up? Nope. Not an option. I had to be in my seat for the entirety of the ride. Alrighty then. In I climbed. My knees were in my armpits and I was in the middle of a pretty thick shoulder sandwich, but hey, at least I wasn't alone, right?
Thankfully as we stopped for another pickup a family with small children inquired about boarding the van. I was relieved of my duty as keeper of the middle seat and was permitted to crawl in back. Although I was still a key ingredient in the shoulder sandwich, my knees were not in my armpits and I still wasn't alone. Things were really looking up for me.

The van drove for about 2 hours before stopping for lunch. I ordered some soup-- thank god because little did I know I wouldn't be eating again for another seven hours. The van finally let us off at a bus station where we sat for about an hour before boarding a large bus. The bus took us to the ferry dock where we boarded the boat that would take us to Koh Samui. After spending forty five minutes on the boat we were able to see the island. After exiting the boat we took yet another van to get to our hostel. Over the course of my nine hours of travel, I had met some really nice people. Maybe traveling alone wasn't so lonely after all.

I finally checked in to my hostel. I was totally exhausted, and starving. I needed to eat. The girls in my room were super nice. They had already eaten, but offered for me to hang out with them later. On my way downstairs, I ran into a few guys who invited me to join them for dinner. One of the german guys offered to take me to a really good place down the road so I accepted. Minutes later, I was eating a super yummy dish, listening contentedly while my new friend told me about his travels.
Maybe I could do this whole traveling alone thing.

On our way back from dinner we stopped at the Sev to pick up some beers and headed back to a lively party in the lobby. Cards, beers and a little live music were what kept our hostel going that night. A group of us decided to head to the beach to check out the bar scene and believe it or not I actually ran into one of the guys I had spent numerous hours of travel with earlier in the day. By the end of the night I already had an invitation to go hiking for the next day.
I don't know what I was worried about. Traveling alone has actually turned out to be super fun, and not even a little bit lonely after all.

Phuket was Packed with Pros...titutes

Fri, Jul 22, Sat, Jul 23, Sun, Jul 24, 2016

Tash and I had heard mixed reviews about Phuket so we decided to go and check it out for ourselves. I flew from Bangkok and arrived at our hostel earlier than she did, so I headed out to do some exploring. The streets were alive with people. Tash met up with me around 10:30. We walked all around Phuket, and finally headed down a sidestreet to a pop up tiki bar for drinks. The girls working at the tiki bar were super friendly and wanted to chat with us in english, which is what we ended up doing for most of the night-- minus me trying to get a few thai phrases in here and there.
The girls were really fun and kept playing games with us and betting our drinks on them. Lucky for us we got multiple free drinks out of it :)

Phuket is known for its surf, so Tash and I were planning on surfing while there. However, because we weren't able to get bamboo tattoos like we had originally planned, but instead had to get traditional needle tattoos a week prior, we weren't yet cleared to go in the water. We were initially pretty bummed about this, however, the weather on Saturday was quite gloomy-overcast and rainy for most of the morning- so it wasn't conducive for surfing anyway. Instead, we opted to sit in a mexican restaurant overlooking the beach while eating tacos and drinking margaritas.

Once the rain finally let up, we made our way to the beach where we rented chairs and read in the sand.

That evening, we experienced the "patong nightlife" (bar after bar after bar of young thai prostitutes on display beckoning anyone and everyone to come inside) This definitely was not our scene, so we kept wandering and finally came to a bar with live music. This was more our style. We played our signature game, 'what're the odds', which led to Tash taking test tube shots, rubbing limes under her armpits and eating a whole bowl of peanuts in one gulp. It also led to me having to allow a stranger to apply my lipstick in the middle of the road... who had it worse? I'm not quite sure.

After the band finished, we decided to check out a Phuket night club. It was huge. But the thing I remember most: suckers. There were a bunch of people eating suckers. Maybe this was code for something? A new drug perhaps? I never did get the answer. To this day, I still believe Phuket is just riddled with an exceptionally high population of dum dum enthusiasts.

Sunday was our last day together in Phuket. The weather was overcast but we headed to the beach one last time to soak up the [not so sunny] sun and the sand. Tash and I were saying goodbye for the last time. A girl I had known for less than a year but had shared enough experiences with to last a lifetime. She was one of the first people I had to say goodbye to on my journey, and it was a pretty weird feeling. Maybe because I didn't know if I'd ever see her again? Maybe because I knew that this was the beginning of the end of my time in Thailand? Maybe because I relied on her to plan most of my travels and now was going to have to go at it on my own for the next month? Who knows. Either way, I'm better off having met this left of center, small town, big personality, texan.

These Ruins Ain't Gonna Ruin Our Style

Thursday 21 July 2016

Well we decided to do it. We decided to plan an excursion to the "ex" capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. We'd heard mixed reviews but mostly that it was hot (shocker) and that it was old (tell me something i don't know, people) and that it required a lot of walking. Our van was scheduled to pick us up at 6:30am at Terminal 21. Anyone who knows Jenna knows that getting up early is NOT her thing. Like not even a little bit. Like not even at all. Anyway, Term 21 is minutes from my apartment and multiple MRT stops from Jenna's. See where this is going? Jenna assured me she'd be there and that she didn't want to spend the night at my place the night before. Ok...
Fast forward to 6:30am the next morning. I was there. Jenna wasn't. But... neither was the van. Fast forward to 6:35am. I was there. Jenna wasn't. But... the van was. Thais are rarely ever on time so I double and triple checked with the van driver that he was actually the man who would be bringing me to Ayutthaya and not some stranger picking up a floral delivery or a thai tea or a thai prostitute. He assured me he was my main man and that yes, he would be delivering me to Ayutthaya. However, he assured me that he would not be waiting for my friend. WHAT? Usually thais are so friendly and accomodating. Please sir? Please? No dice. Jenna was literally minutes from getting off the MRT but my man was putting the pedal to the metal. Was I going to have to go on this day long excursion by myself? Oh hell no. I worked my charm-- broken thai sentences work like a dream-- and managed to get our stop itinerary out of the driver. I called Jenna and gave her the rundown. We devised a plan. She would get back on the MRT and try to catch us at our next stop. Did it work? No. New plan. Hop on a moto. Thais haul ass through the city on motos, especially during rush hour. Bobbing and weaving are practically their middle names. Anyone who knows Jenna knows that riding a moto is NOT her thing. Like not even a little bit. Like not even at all. (Ok, maybe riding a moto is slightly more her thing than getting up early... but barely.) If this plan ended anything like the last one, I would be going to Ayutthaya alone. As Jenna drove I was giving her real time updates of our van's location. (If google maps is hiring then I should be seriously considered.) The van dumped us at our last pickup spot before Ayutthaya. Please let Jenna be here. Please let Jenna be here. 2, 3, 4 minutes went by. Our new driver- I had been abandoned by my main man, but this is commonplace in Thailand- got us all in the van. But my friend, she isn't here yet. He assured me we'd be stopping at the police station to retrieve her. Yeah, just like the last guy who assured me he'd be delivering me to Ayutthaya. Anyway, I got in because what choice did I have? As we drove I saw Jenna.  "puan, puan" I yelled. At this point, the whole group was invested in the saga of the overtired american risking life and limb to get to our van. They all cheered when the van stopped and Jenna got in. Anyone who knows Jenna knows that rushed, made it by the skin of my teeth moments, are NOT her thing. Like not even a little bit. Like not even at all. So she put her earbuds in and for the next hour found her zen place. And me? I was just glad to have someone to take selfies with.
An hour later we came upon the ruins that are Ayutthaya. It's amazing to see rubble so old and know that it was once an ornate temple or palace. I wonder if Bangkok's biggest and brightest will ever deteriorate to this level?

Our takeaways- it was hot. it was old. and it was a lot of walking. But, it was also really awestriking to experience the beauty of rubble (kind of an oxymoron I know, but check out my photos and you'll understand what I mean).

What was even more awestriking? Jenna and I were walking near a half intact brick wall when we came across this amazing, epitome of mother earth, pocahontas style grandmother willow tree. All of a sudden the weather started to turn, the clouds started to form and the tree was illuminated against a sky that was hot with lightning but cool with the downpour of raindrops. We ran and ran- although at this point we were already soaked- to a small shelter with an overhang. We waited and waited, because midday rain is commonplace in July in Thailand, but it didn't let up. I caved first. I went splashing and sloshing through the flood because it was imperative that I find a bathroom. Ten minutes, a few botched sentences in thai, and a secret passage through a pop up market later, I found a bathroom.

We then boarded the van and headed back to Bangkok. Although, instead of being dropped at Terminal 21, we were dropped on Khao San Road. In the light of day. What? Is this really what this place looks like? I had never, ever experienced this road during daylight hours. Much less stone cold sober. Is Khao San even a thing during the day? Jenna and I decided to stick around and find out.

We wandered up and down the streets looking at vendors, and then settled down at an outdoor bar. We started playing 'what're the odds'- our most favorite game in Thailand- when we were approached by two travelers much like ourselves. They asked if they could sit so we invited them for a beer. What occurred next was.. well.. I'm not quite sure what to call it. A grown man's tweak, melt down, freak out followed by obnoxious over apologizing. What? Maybe Khao San Road wasn't totally different during the day than it was at night...

Jenna and I decided to hit up another outdoor spot, one with a two seater table so we wouldn't be approached by any innocent looking travelers. After a few more beers, we decided we were going to make a night of it, but certainly not on Khao San Road.

Jenna and I worked opposite schedules in Thailand so we never got to 'go out, go out' together. Because tomorrow was a holiday for Jenna, and because I had already finished working, we were able to spend a night out on the town. We went to one of Jenna's favorite spots for drinks and dancing. Anyone who knows Jenna knows that dancing is TOTALLY her thing. Like definitely more than a little bit. Like totally a lot :)
It was the perfect end to the perfect day!