Back in Korea. Back in action.
My 17 glorious days in Thailand have unfortunately come to a close; but, what a truly wonderful adventure they were. Monday evening found yours truly in China, frantically checking my watch and sprinting through Guangzhou International Airport, trying to make my connecting flight. Said flight was scheduled to board in 1 minute but, unknown to me, was running a bit late. Slightly frazzled, and more than slightly out of breath, I made it to my gate with time to spare. I even had a few minutes to rifle through my bulging messenger bag for some Yen I knew I had stuffed in some pocket, of some bag, somewhere.
Sadly, I have yet to find those elusive eight dollars, which will probably surface sometime 3 years down the road, in an utterly perplexing fashion. For the present, my coffee fix went unanswered; but, more importantly, I made it onto my flight. At about 5:50pm China time, I settled into my go-to airplane fetal position and fell into a deep sleep, intent on dreaming my way back to Seoul.
Rewind 17 days.
My bags are slightly lighter and significantly less bulgy. I am exhausted (as made clear by the canyon like bags under my eyes), a little unkempt, and buzzing with excitement. Moments earlier I touched down in Guangzhou International Airport and checked my watch. I am now sprinting through the terminal and security rechecks, trying to catch my connecting flight. I am one member of a small, hastily formed, possy including a middle aged Australian man and a young Canadian/American couple. We are all English teacher's in Korea headed to The Land of Smiles for a few weeks respite. We have never met before and will likely never meet again; but, for thirty minutes in China, we are united in our drive and determination to make it to Bangkok without delay.
Fast forward 10 hours.
It's been 5 hours since I landed in Bangkok and collected my pack. There is still about an hour until I can check in for my early morning flight to Koh Samui. I have wedged my bag in the smallest, and what I deemed safest, space possible (between the fire extinguisher box and glass balcony overlooking the lower floors.) My passport is around my neck and under my shirt, I am laying on top of my purse, and there is about 1000 dollars in Thai Baht in my bra. I have been snoozing under my sarong for the past few hours, along side countless other backpack toting travelers. The sheer number of people napping in the airport between late night and early morning flights is my first reminder that Thailand has become somewhat of a backpacker Mecca. I survey my fellow travelers for a few moments and register that, short of a few amused passers by, the airport seems to have finally fallen asleep. I take this as my cue to collect my things and begin my search for Amanda, who has arrived on a later flight.
Five more hours, a plane, bus, and ferry later. Miss Win and I hopped off the boat and planted our feet on Koh Phangan, an island off the East coast of Thailand. The sun is shining, there is a rainbow of fishing and longboats floating on crystal turquoise water, and there are Thai taxi drivers basically screaming at us from all directions. We push our way past these drivers and find the correct van taxi to bring us to our guest house. We are informed that we can leave right away because the rain will come, but it will be more expensive because we wont wait for a full car. While that sounds like an offer we can refuse, it was really more like, "We are leaving now because I don't want to stand in the rain and I will be charging you three times the price." At this point we are so antsy we don't care. Emily - 0 Thailand - 1. This is the first of many times I will get ripped off by taxi drivers over the next 17 days.
After a probably the safest taxi ride I had in Thailand (seriously) Amanda and I arrived at our guest house and found our suntanned friends relaxing in the common area/reasturant/bar bungalow on the beach. Despite Asian airlines outstanding service and practice of providing it's travelers a meal even on 50 minute, non-meal time flights, at this point we hadn't eaten in hours and were about ready to eat one of our friends. No problem. Gay, our spectacular guesthouse operator, whipped up some of the best masaman curry and padseaeuw I had the whole trip, which we proceeded to scarf down, while lazing on floor mats, catching up on our friends adventures, and appreciating the general warmth. After satisfying our hunger, and fending off a bit of food coma, we were informed the preferred method of transportation and the best way to really see the island was by scooter, which Ali, Mike, Gerri and Whitney had rented days prior. Amanda and I changed into some lighter clothes, called up the scooter rental guy and, in 20 minutes, were the proud owners of two shiny scooters and helmets (safety first) all for about 6 dollars a day. After a bit of practice, we grabbed our bags and were off. We made a quick pit stop at a roadside stand, to fill up our tanks with gasoline sold out of recycled liquor bottles, and were ready to go.
Anndddd cue torrential downpour.
With initial plans to ride up the coast to a Northern beach, we made it as far as the next largest town, Surrat Tani, before being forced indoors by the rain. Said rain proceeded to fall for a large portion of the next four days, during which time we ate inappropriate amounts of Thai food, drank gallons of Thai iced coffee (after our third time to the same place, the guy would see us and just say, "Ice coffee?) shopped more than was really necessary, and indulged in daily amazing Thai massages (again... 8 dollars... love.) I'd say I've had worse problems in my life.
During a few dry moments, and more than a few requiring the use of the emergency poncho my dad gave me before I went to Europe which has remained folded in my backpack for the last four years, we were able to scoot our way around the island to various beautiful beaches and sandbars. We spent a few hours lying on warm beaches, soaked up what precious vitamin D was available, and obviously sampled more of what Thailand had to offer in terms of cuisine and beach-side massages. There were seashells to collect, guesthouse puppies and small children to play with, photos to be taken, and books to be read. During those precious dry moments, life was good. And, even when it was raining, it wasn't so bad.
After an often soggy scooter ride bake to our guesthouse, one of which included riding straight into a flash flood, having to ditch our scooters at a higher altitude guesthouse and hike down the beach to our powerless bungalows, the early evenings brought delicious guesthouse dinners and a few Changs. Full bellies, and sometimes clean hair, were followed up with alternating low key nights of movies and Bananagrams, and the fire spitting, flame jump roping, dayglow painted, black light lit trans music fest that is the Koh Phangan night scene. On our first clear night, my friends and I decided to hop in a taxi (by which I mean red pickup truck with benches in the back, obviously) and head to Haad Rin, the party beach home to the famous Full Moon Party. While I'm told we showed up on a pretty low key night for Haad Rin, the beach was full of people ready to play with fire, drink out of buckets, and dance their face off to 4x4 beats. It was at this point, I think, that we realized the perpetual soundtrack to our adventures would be a remix of
this song. Needless to say, it made for an interesting vacation. The next night out brought us to Full Moon's little sister, the Half Moon party. Imaging hearing, living, and breathing that lovely 4x4 beat, in the middle of the jungle, in a open air club of sorts, where 80% of people (ourselves included) look like Miami Ink threw up dayglow all over their bodies, and you're basically at Half Moon. I will say it was not the kind of place I never expected to find myself, and a place I am not sure I ever need to return; but, it was a damn good time while it lasted.
After four days of rainy rain, we were really ready for some significant sunshine and beach time; so, the morning after Half Moon, Ali, Whitney, Amanda and I stuffed everything back into our packs, returned our scooters, and hopped on a ferry to the next island North, Koh Tao.
Upon docking on Koh Tao, I was for a moment transferred through time and space to my first few moments in Cinque Terre, Italy. Maybe it was the mish-mosh of brightly painted shops, restaurants and family homes all piled together right up against the coast. Maybe it was all the happy, rottee eating tourists, clad in sunglasses and sundresses, or maybe it was the ultra saturated fishing boats lined up along the shore. One thing is certain, it was definitely NOT the screaming, guesthouse hawking taxi drivers, that assaulted our senses the moment we stepped off the dock. Ali, Amanda, Whitney and I, once again shoved our way past any taxi driver trying to take us to a guesthouse, from which they would most certainly receive a kick back, and found someone to take us to our next bungalow for a seemingly reasonable price. For the second time that day, we tossed our bags into the back of an old truck, and sped off up and over the hill to Sariee Beach. We checked into our slightly less rustic new home, dropped our bags, and headed to the beach.
Some of our teacher karma must have finally registered because Koh Tao was absolutely beautiful. The crystal clear water and white sand beaches were like nothing I have seen before and a 3 dollar mask rental allowed you to snorkel right off the shore, in some of the best diving waters in the world. Koh Tao actually SCUBA certifies more people than anywhere in the world besides the Great Barrier Reef. Each day we grabbed a quick breakfast (eggs and toast actually exist in Thailand!) and made the all important decision of which section of the beach to plant ourselves on. We explored up and down Sariee beach, snorkeled to our hearts content, and one afternoon took a longboat out to Koh Ma, an even smaller island, and enjoyed a few hours of brilliant sun, on a practically private slice of heaven. Said paradise was only interrupted by another foreigner, who seemed to be staying in one of the few huts situated on the even tinier island we had waded to form Koh Ma and who, after wading his way across the sand bar, proceeded to throw a cat at Ali and I and yell (while running back into the ocean) "Hey, can you guys watch my cat for a second?!" As if we could actually say no at that point? Apparently this waygook and his wife/girlfriend/female life partner were attempting to cross the sand bar (tide in) with their cat and two small dogs, one of which didn't quite seem to grasp the finer points of swimming. Why this was a good idea? I'll never know. What I do know is when, 30 minutes or so later, we made our way back across to Koh Ma to catch our longboat, the two dogs burst out of nowhere and followed us back to the other island, their owners nowhere in sight. We did what we could to get them to head back to the other side, but when a dog is determined, your best only goes so far... As you read this, those little doggies may or may not still be running free on Koh Ma, adopted into one of the packs of puppies patrolling the island beaches.
After three and a half days of sunshine, snorkeling, and tasty Thai barbeque, it was time for me to leave Koh Tao and the islands behind. While I would surely miss the sunshine and the guilt free laziness the islands were made for, I knew it was time to see a bit more of what Thailand had to offer. The beaches were beautiful, and a week of relaxation was just what the doctor ordered; but, I'd be lying if I said I had thus far been immersing myself in true Thai culture. Koh Phangan and Koh Tao were more of a tourist/resort destination than anything else and while, as American's we were somewhat of a novelty, there were far more foreign faces and tongues than Thai. I was relaxed, recharged, and ready for a new adventure; which meant it was again time to snap the buckles on my pack, hop in the back of a rusty truck, and set off in a new direction.
This time my journey would be made solo and, for my solo adventures in Chaing Mai, you will just have to wait.
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
에밀리
To see all my photos from Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, click the button on the right hand side of the screen, enjoy :)
