It's been almost a year to the day that I was touching down on the sunny island of Phuket, Thailand in the middle of my two month backpacking adventure! The thing is with all of the travels and life since then, I never got to share the highlights of my trip. So here's to reminiscing of past adventures but also gearing up for new ones because this week I set off for 10 days on the wonderous island of Bali, Indonesia!
Phuket - - - say it with me "poo-ket" (not "f---ket" ...unless that's your current mood then, well, your choice)
Phuket is a pretty big island, international airport and all, serving as a gateway for the thousands of visitors from backpackers to luxury resort goers searching for the stunning beaches and endless sunshine that is the south of Thailand. Because of its size though and the number of people, I chose to make Phuket a quick two night stop. In that amount of time, I soaked up the sun on Patong Beach, the first of many beaches where I would enjoy the sunshine, and took a stroll down Bangla road at night. While the Patong Beach and Bangla Road area may seem quite tame and normal for a passerby during the day...that changes drastically at night. Known for the endless party that it is - Bangla road comes alive with hordes of unique, eccentric bar goers, party all nighters, lady boys, club promoters eagerly and persistently trying to steer you inside their establishment (be that a night club, open air bar with ladies...or boys?...dancing on poles, or a ping pong show) and then people like myself that just like to go to say they saw it and that was enough. I did have a free drink in Tiger night club and maybe one from the 7/11 and can I just say how wonderful the 7/11s are in Thailand..the grilled ham and cheese sandwiches that they toast for you behind the counter and then you just add hot sauce..so cheap and delicious I probably had more of those than any other food in Thailand...but anyways back to the madness of Bangla road...that was the extent of my partying that night and the next morning I set sail for the next island.
[Note: I'll choose to not spend my time typing away about a ping pong show. No, I did not and would never choose to go to one but no judgement on those that feel this is something they must see while visiting Phuket...actually F---ket seems more appropriate in this case...if you're curious you can google ping pong show Phuket and get an idea of what it is and make your own call on whether this would be on your Thailand bucket list. I personally think even the thought is quite degrading and I can't be convinced that everyone that is in the profession is there by choice.]
Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand
Koh Phi Phi - - - the little party island that never sleeps.
I'm not huge into the party scene unless I'm with a great group of friends and the music is right and then I'll have the occasional up til dawn kind of night. Or almost dawn anyways because I really like my sleep. Koh Phi Phi is that kind of atmosphere...minus the..um trashy?..atmosphere of Bangla road in Phuket. But you also have to go mentally prepared to not really sleep while you're there...why, once again, I chose to only stay a short and sweet two nights. The island really is tiny, about a 5 minute walk from one side to the other and the music..all different kinds..is bumping and thumping all night long. Literally the walls of my hostel were shaking with the beat of the music so sleep isn't really going to happen unless your intoxicated enough first. Thumping music aside, I had a great time on Phi Phi. Found a wonderful little (everything is little there) bar playing live music, all the good songs from current hits to past ones by Bon Jovi, Journey, and more of the kind that you can't help but sing along to, and made a new travel friend, Ria from India. Koh Phi Phi by day was spent on a boat, sailing and snorkeling, meeting some monkeys, and visiting Maya Bay, made famous as the setting of the movie The Beach starring a young Leo DiCaprio. Two nights of live music and vibrating walls and it was onward yet again, this time to a more chilled destination and one of my very favorite in Thailand.
The reason it takes a whole five minutes to get from one side to the other.
Maya Bay!
Koh Lanta - - - where I went from total beginner to total pro on a scooter in two days time! (Disclaimer: the latter use of the word 'total' could be an overstatement)
Now with Koh Lanta as with most of the places on my 2 month journey, I didn't have much of a plan going but I did research things to do and places to see at each stop along the way. The actual schedule of events just happens as you go, depending on your mood, the weather, the people you meet along the way. In Koh Lanta, I met a 19 year old Dutch girl that was also traveling solo and with prompting from our friendly hostel host and free practice time going back and forth along the road at approximately 3 mph on a scooter practicing stops and turns and balancing...all of equal importance...I gained enough courage to commit to the $6 daily rental fee and hit the open road. These open roads also happened to have monkeys, elephants, curves, hills, and breathtaking island views. Hence, the total pro title. I think if I managed all of that without ending up with road rash, wrapped in bandages like is the case for every one in five backpackers traveling in Thailand, that I did pretty good. And I had loads of fun along the way. There is one sense of freedom that comes with packing a bag and setting out on your own and there is another when you're out on your own, beneath the sunny, blue skies of a beautiful foreign land, and have your own set of hot pink wheels. Like an adult-ish version of a Barbie Jeep...which come to think of it, I was a total pro at that, too.
See! Like a Barbie Jeep! Take a ride with me! Click here or watch below!
While on Koh Lanta, I also visited Lanta Animal Welfare where I walked with the pups and cuddled with the kitties. Lanta Animal Welfare helps to control the island's dog and cat population and they even do international adoptions! Visit their website at lantaanimalwelfare.com!
When I wasn't scootering around on my hot pink super hot wheels or hangings with pups at the animal shelter, I was on a boat sailing the blue seas. And that boat brought me here. To get 'here' I had to swim through a dark tunnel..life jacket was required..and once inside it's a nice natural swimming pool surrounded by cliffs on all sides! Also funny was watching the gigantic group of Chinese tourists that couldn't swim form a chain and hold on to one another for dear life while their poor guide swam his heart out dragging them all. I waited til they were gone to take my photo!
From the inside looking up!
Butt pic! But imma post it anyway! The water was amazing and this is the pose you make when you find yourself in this beautiful of a setting...note the Maya Bay pic above. ...But my butt is probably in better shape currently as I live 5 stories up with no elevator...anyways...
Delicious Thai curry (I can't remember which kind but they're all good) and a watermelon fruit shake!
The beach across the road from the hostel where I stayed on Koh Lanta!
Ao Nang/Railay - - - food boat paradise.
Sun, sand, blue sea, and food boats. What more do you need? I spent my one full day enjoying those four things on Railay Beach. And, I was super, incredibly surprised and excited to meet a fellow Okie in my hostel dorm room after about 13 months abroad at this point. Turns out we both went to OSU and graduated the same year. Small world!
Food boat.
More food boats.😋
Koh Tao - - - cue the music ♪ ♫ ♬"just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor, such wonderful things surround you, what more is you looking for...under the sea, under the sea..."♪ ♫ ♬
Koh Tao has this reputation and that reputation is - the place you go to fulfill your scuba diving dreams. Thing is, I honestly never had that dream. Or maybe it was a dream I didn't know I had. I know how to swim but I'm by no means a fish in the water. Maybe when I was a child but somewhere along the way I lost the ability to jump in with my eyes open and without plugging my nose. But, for whatever reason, maybe it was the magic that is Koh Tao, and maybe because that's the life of the whole island, but I found myself strolling from dive shop to dive shop (there are only about 60 as Koh Tao is one of the two cheapest places in the world to get PADI open water certified) asking for prices and just generally getting a feel for the atmosphere of each one.
By the end of the day, I had enrolled for my PADI open water course with Simple Life Divers and was feeling excited about what was to come. Fast forward past the theory part of the course (you actually have to sit in a classroom and do some reading/watch videos) and get me all geared up and in the pool with a depth of a whole 4 feet of water for the first day and that excitement is now fear. And stress. And worry. Not joking, I lasted less than a minute under the 4 feet of water the first time I went under. Breathing under water is not natural, does not feel natural at first, and is not what my mind thought was okay to be doing. I was freaking out. My thoughts were something along the lines of "...I've just wasted so much money...there is no way I'll be able to make it 60 feet under if I can't handle 4...just quit who cares about the money it's your vacation and you shouldn't spend it stressed." But, I did. Or at least for the first day in the pool. One of the instructors told me to simply sit and breathe and not to worry about the tasks...removing and replacing your regulator and taking your mask off which meant exposed nostrils!...so that's what I did. I went back into the 4 feet of water and sat and breathed and watched the bubbles that I was blowing escape to the surface wishing that I could do the same. I powered through, felt defeated although I had made it through the 4 hours of tasks in the 4 feet of water, was so stressed that I didn't eat dinner, and almost didn't even sleep. If you're not a diver but have thought about becoming one and you're reading this hopefully I haven't lost you already...stick with me!
The next morning my group and I were up early and out for our first two dives. Despite the natural, beautiful scenery around me, I was still feeling pretty pessimistic and scared about the whole ordeal. We stopped for our first dive, got geared up with weight belts and all and one by one took our giant steps off the boat and into the water. This time it was more like 15 feet of water instead of 4. Snorkels out, regulators in and down we went. My initial thoughts...wow. The bottom was fine, white sand, coral out in front of us and huge, brightly colored parrot fish swimming so close you could reach out and almost touch them. It's true what they say. You forget about the breathing part once you're in the open water. It's nothing like the pool and I suddenly felt like my money wasn't wasted at all but probably the best I had spent on my trip thus far.
3 days total, four dives, and a bunch of required accomplished skills later (my least favorite being removing and replacing my mask at 60 feet under), I came to the surface in the Gulf of Thailand as a certified open water scuba diver and the sense of achievement that I felt after those 3 days is hard to describe. I was on a scuba diving high. I finished out my week on Koh Tao by celebrating the Thai New Year known as Songkran (a.k.a. Thailand's nation wide water fight) with my two super fun British roomies and completing a couple of fun dives where I got to take my camera along. After 3 weeks on Thailand's picturesque islands, I had to set of for Bangkok and for the next leg of my journey.
I haven't dived since but that is about to change in Bali!
Breakfast views from Koh Tao!
Certified PADI open water divers! We did it!
Surviving under the sea!
Amazing doesn't cover it. And the size of that school of fish is much more telling in the video!
Jess and Jazz and Songkran! Shortly after this photo we all screamed/sang 'Wannabe' by Spice Girls!
I shopped and shopped in Thailand for the perfect tie dye dress and then I found this one. Almost three weeks into my time island hopping. Snapped this picture and then left the dress on the dive boat the next morning never to be seen again. I wonder if Bali has tie dye dresses?
"She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of water. She belonged to no man and to no city." - Roman Payne
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