Quit Dreaming and Go Somewhere

I’m here!

I made it through the long flight, but it wasn’t so bad since it was super empty and I got to lie down on the entire row of the plane. The food was uncharacteristically bad, though.

The Sydney airport actually has a “backpackers board” with tons of brochures and even a phone to make FREE calls to hostels and most will pick you up. I called and got picked up as the same time as another American and he is very nice and we’ve been hanging out.

The weather is GLORIOUS, coolish and windy. Unfortunately I didn’t bring any warm clothes (Jim has them.) The Opera House and big bridge are a beautiful sight and the city seems laid back and quaint, at least the tiny bit I’ve seen. Nice!

Hope all is well back home!! Bye!

To get out of Thailand, I flew to Bangkok from Phuket, stayed in Bangkok for a night, then the next steps were to fly to Singapore then Sydney.

THAT SOUNDS SO EASY.

If you haven’t traveled independently before, and you only took tours and stuff like that, you have no idea how much work it is. Backpacking is a ton of WORK.

Let’s examine.
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I’m in Bangkok!

What? You might be saying. Or if you don’t know the geography of Thailand and where Bangkok is, and where I was, you probably don’t think it is weird.
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So I told you about the hotel and what it was like in Ko Phan-gan. We made our way down to Hat Rin the day before the party and found that the beach was actually pretty nice! The waves were quite big and we had a ball standing in the water and getting hit by waves and jumping through them.

There were tons of big bars along the beach and we could only imagine how crazy it got on party night!

We watched quite a few movies there (in cafes), since we were just waiting for the dang party. Jim watched one while I got my second Thai massage. It was good, but I need a deeper one, one where they push so hard it almost hurts.

The night of the party, we headed to Hat Rin around 10 o’clock. Everyone was buying these small plastic buckets that came with some bottles of alcohol, like a rum, coke, and Red Bull, for example.

Anyway, there really isn’t much to tell. Several of the big bars on the beach blasted crappy music (2 played bad techno, another had like speed garage, and another played random stuff that was ok, including an ABBA medley, obviously for the Swedes, and then Men At Work….you get the idea. Cheesy.)

Lots of people were dancing and drinking and some were lying on the sand and the waves went over your feet sometimes and there were tons of bottles and garbage everywhere. And that was it. The Full Moon Party wasn’t that big of a deal, just a ton of people on the beach, drinking. I’ve sure if you wanted to do or see more crazy stuff, it would be easy… but we didn’t see any of that.

See what happens when your friends don’t take care of you when you’re drunk? This guy was right in the middle of everyone on the beach. Ha!

The best part of the night was when we first got there and walked down the beach to where it was more empty, we found a little stretch of nice sand under a palm tree and laid down, since we were both sleepy. The weather was perfect and the sand was nice, and I think we actually both fell asleep for a little while, outside on the nice sand. That part was really neat.

The next day we took a boat to Ko Tao.

Did I mention the bungalow had AMAZING club sandwiches!

Ok, got some time in hot and boring Samui. Still need to tell about the Full Moon Party, Ko Tao, Ko Samui, and what’s next….

Jim on a beach with some interesting scenery.

Maya Bay, on Ko Phi Phi Ley (or is it Don? I forget.)

A nice view of Monkey Bay.

View from the longtail on our way to Maya Bay.

This gives you some idea of the water clarity… and that’s not real shallow water, either. (Phi Phi)

Us kayaking through the mangrove in Krabi (I think)

Me in a cave with old wall drawings on the mangrove trip.

Another shot of kayaking in the mangrove.

Jim got this picture of me right before I bought a cheap necklace in Chiang Mai.

After the mangrove trip, they took us to this stunningly crystal clear mountain stream through a forest… this is a pic of Jim in it. (Too cold for me!)

Jim snorkeling off the boat on our 5-island tour from….from…Krabi (I’m starting to forget.)

Misty mountains in the distance in Burma

Burmese Immigration Office

The little boy who sat on our longtail to Burma.

After the Full Moon Party on Ko Phan-gan, we went to Ko Tao. It is the smallest of the 3 islands and the least developed. We rented a motorbike and cruised down the main road, and by main, I mean, the ONLY paved road on the island.

As the end of the road was a pretty neat view of an island that is connected to Ko Tao by a sandbar. But then it was just a steep dirt trail and we couldn’t go any farther. I remember there were lots of cool butterflies around.

So we drove back and tried to make it to another beach. But the road turned into dirt and we tried to make it, but it was becoming evident that the bike was a big pain. These roads were either too steep, to sandy or too rocky to possibly drive over with two people without dying.

We left the bike on the top of a hill and walked the rest of the way to a tiny and quite secluded beach, with waves crashing on the rocks. It was also becoming clear that we weren’t going to be using the snorkels we had rented since the waves we crazy. This was a big disappointment because Ko Tao is supposed to have awesome underwater sights.

Jim went on a dive the next day and had the same problem with the water and he didn’t see much. While he was gone I read an entire book called “Thai Lite’ and it wasn’t very funny like it was supposed to be.

We did have a great meal at a place called Del Sol. It cost more than normal but I had a bunch of meats with melted mozzarella cheese and potatoes and bread. Very unusual and not Thai at all. They hardly ever eat cheese.

Ko Tao was very cute and nice and I wish the weather had been better since it rained a bit. There were all sorts of beautiful restaurants by the water, made out of wood and bamboo, but they didn’t look rickety or dirty. Very rustic, but also hip and clean. And at night it is very dark and they lights in the restaurants light up the places and it just looks so cool.

I have to go, but remind me to tell you about the BBQ dinner with the dogs.

[ *Note from months later. Ok, I finally got to tell the story. We went to eat BBQ at an outdoor restaurant. Even though it was outdoor, it was a wooden floor and had a roof and wasn’t like, completely open. There were a bunch of the NASTY, disgusting, diseased and so-skinny-the-bones-are-showing dogs walking around everywhere RIGHT next to everyone’s tables. It was revolting and actually made me lose my appetite because you can’t even understand how sad and gross these dogs are. I literally had to put a bottle on the table in front of me in the line of sight to the dog. Don’t get me wrong, it is sad that these dogs are starving, but I AM TRYING TO EAT. We were very upset that the owners didn’t even attempt to get these dogs away. So finally Jim tried to shoo one away. THEN, we saw a girl and guy sitting at a table next to us, dirty hippies, and the girl reached down and started FEEDING one of the dogs!!! I could NOT believe it! Seriously, I can’t explain I was so pissed. She totally saw us trying to get them to go away. Grr!!]

Jim and the dogs.

Hi everyone. Currently we are in Koh Samui (yeah, we weren’t planning on coming here until yesterday. And I am not ashamed to say we just ate at Burger King and IT WAS AWESOME.)

Anyway, I never told you about the Full Moon Party which was March 6. First of all, there is one every month (duh). It is known as an absolutely crazy, out of control party and is considered to be the biggest beach party in the world. I was a little concerned since I am NOT a big crazy party person, but it is one of those things you just gotta do once in your life, I guess.

So we went to Koh Phan-gan (I can’t pronounce it either) from a little town called Chumphon on the boat. Now, on the days before the Full Moon, the island is practically booked solid. We got there 2 days ahead and went towards the beach and EVERYTHING was full. There were backpackers everywhere.

So we hopped back onto a sawngtaew (don’t even care about spelling that right) which is, as you remember, like a pickup truck with two rows of seats on the sides and a metal top with some bars to hang on to. The drivers pack in as MANY people as they can, oftentimes to the passengers vocal dismay…

The main road on the island to the main beach (Hat Rin) has got to be the most narrow, rocky, HILLY piece of concrete in the world. Two cars can’t even hardly pass each other. So it is astop and go, STEEP up and down, holding onto the inside of the cab.

We tried one more bungalow and it was extremely expensive, but had an astonishing view and we were tired of looking, so we got it. We complained a lot that we were spendning $50 a night there, but for a room like that back home would have literally cost hundreds of dollars. There was a beautiful pool with a view of the sea/ocean/whatever. I can’t wait to put pictures up.

So the only problem then was that we were pretty isolated, since we were up the hill in our beautiful bungalow, and the bus-thingy was sort of expensive and super uncomfortable. We spent a lot of time lounging in the nice pool.

This is a view of the sun setting by the pool. Pretty nice picture, eh? If I do say so myself.

The room was nice although there was no TV, which you would expect for an expensive place. You are thinking, why in the hell do you care about TV? Well, like I said, we were isolated with NO where to walk to and basically just waiting for the party in two nights.

Then another problem became evident. The room was infested by tiny ants. I forgot exactly how I found out, but I think I left a food wrapper or an empty can of coke or something out and they were ALL over it. I don’t mean, a few ants. I mean, they were ABSOLUTELY INSANE and EVERYWHERE. For example, I pulled out my underwear bag, and they were crawling ALL over a pair of BRAND NEW underwear I’ve never even worn.

WHY??????????

Once I grabbed my purse and noticed they were all over my purse. I was so annoyed I shook the entire thing out and out fell a tiny crumb of chocolate or something that they had somehow found.

On our towel, they were bundled together on some microscopic spec of something, maybe a tiny piece of food or who knows??

They were EVERYWHERE. They covered my backpack. And they confusing part was that they were on stuff that MADE NO SENSE!! We started putting ALL food garbage outside but it didn’t matter.

Have I mentioned that I had DEET, which is a very powerful and unhealty bug spray. It smells and is sticky but it totally repels bugs. Well, I discovered that if you spray in on ants, they die INSTANTLY.

Score!

So I was DEETing those ants all over the place. There was scads of them on a crumb on the floor, so I got them and they were dead. I found the hole in the wall where they lived and BAM, dead. They were no the tabletop, **pssshhttt**!! (Sound of spraying). Then I had to wipe it off quickly because it was eating through the varnish, heh heh.

So anyway, it became a constant battle between me and the ants, me crouching in corners, spraying DEET, Jim off doing whatever and not caring about the ants at all. Seriously, though, they were WAY worse than was imaginable.

Ok, I didn’t get to the Full Moon Party yet. I will use the net later and put up some pics and tell you ’bout it and also Ko Tao.

Internet costs a fortune here, so I only have a minute. I’ll have to write about the Full Moon Party later. We are currently on Ko Tao, a tiny little island by Ko Samui and Ko Phan-gan. Tomorrow Jim is going scuba diving and I’m going along and maybe I’ll snorkel. Diving is supposed to be fantastic here. We rented a motorbike today and that was fun. Anyway, got to go!

We got a room in Ranong for like 300 baht or something. It is just a small little town, with the regular markets and all. We went to “Pon’s Place,” a travel agency listed in the guidebook, to arrange the visa run. It wouldn’t be too tough to do it ourselves, but we didn’t want the hassle.

So the next day, we woke up early and Pon drove us to the Immigration Office, where we got a stamp to exit Thailand. Then he drove us to the bustling pier, where we got on a longtail boat and boated to Burma. The ride itself was fascinating… we passed by houses on long stilts, people going by on boats, and gorgeous mountains rising in the distance.

Pic: Our boat boy

“Gorgeous Mountains in the Distance”

We passed a little island with a Thai flag and some military offices standing there. Finally we got to a tiny office and went in, where we paid our $5 US “visa fee” (really just $5 that goes straight to the evil military regime, I guess) and they stamped us to enter Burma.

Burmese Immigration Office

Then we got on the boat again for a few minutes and got off at a dock actually in Burma (taa daa!) and two boys there started talking to us, asking us where we were from, etc etc. We went into yet ANOTHER office and got a stamp to LEAVE Burma. One of the boys said to Jim, “NBA good, no?” And I thought it was the craziest thing that kids from Burma know the NBA, and it was one of the first things they know, since they asked about it. As we walked back to the boat, one of them gave Jim a small Burmese currency, “as a souvenir.” Burmese writing is SO strange, it just looks like a series of “o” and “c.” Like cccoocoooc but with a few more lines thrown in.

So we boated BACK and then drove to the first immigration office and got another stamp to enter Thailand. It sounds hard and complicated, but it only took about 1 1/2 hours and was pretty fun.

As soon as we got back, we went to the train station and got on a train for Chumpon, a town from which we could get to Ko Tao and Ko Phan-Ngan. The Full Moon Party is on the 6th, so we have to decide if we will even go to Ko Samui, and which days we will be where in order to be on the middle island by the 6th and be there a few days early to get a hotel room, since everyone and their brother will we trying to get one!

So. We stayed on Ko Phi Phi. The beaches and scenery from the island is just incredible.
Walking on the path along the coast. Lots of touristy shops…
The first day we decided we wanted to go to a beach called Long Beach, but we didn’t want to pay for the boat ride so we tried to walk. We started on the beach, then had to crawl over huge, huge rocks. It was tons of fun. So we kept going and going, and we could see crabs scurrying on the rocks. We went really far and then there was a trail up a hill, and it was SUPER steep, I mean we were holding on to tree branches and stuff trying not to fall. Then we rounded the corner and there was the beach!! We rented snorkels (The tube on mine was held on with a rubber band!) and the snorkeling was ok. After a long time we took a boat back and debated where to have dinner.
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