This past week has been all islands, beaches, and new friends. We went to three islands - Phuket, Koh Samui, and Koh Phangan.
Phuket
We flew from Bangkok to the Phuket airport in the morning last Tuesday. Once we landed, we saw many signs for mini bus services taking passengers to different areas of Phuket. Our hostel was in a town called Karong and every sign said a taxi there would be over 1,000 Baht but a bus service was only 200 per person. We decided to go with the bus, and it was definitely the right choice because it was over an hour bus ride! We did not realize how big this island was, and we also didn't think to check how far our hostel from the airport was. Whoops.
We stayed at a hostel called Kata Villa near Kata Beach for three nights. Really, though, it was like a motel. No dorm beds, only private rooms, which meant it was mostly families and not solo travelers our age. But, it was less than $10 a night, and was literally across the street from the beach, so we were alright.
On our first day there - Wednesday - we took a half day trip to Coral Island, where Charlie and I did some parasailing and spent time on the beach. There are many very small islands you can take day trips to here, but we chose a half day trip with only one island because we knew there would be plenty of beaching in our future!
That night we set out to find a barber to cut Charlie's hair and a massage place for a full body massage. We ended up walking for almost an hour trying to find a barber, and we finally found one that was connected to a massage place. Even through the language barrier and cultural barrier (the barbers had clearly never cut black hair before) Charlie was able to coach them through what to do and he turned out pretty cute in my opinion ;)
We then got a full body hour-long massage next door for 400 Baht each ($13). As we set out for dinner, we were bombarded with people standing in front of their restaurants telling us to "come inside" and "see menu" - it reminded me of Brick Lane in London, where every single Indian restaurant is begging for your patronage. We chose a place randomly, had some super yummy food, and went to bed.
Thursday morning I woke up early to watch game 5 of the NLDS (as I had been doing most mornings in Thailand). Thankfully the spotty wifi was working, but... well... the game didn't go so well. I was pretty upset. Actually, I still am pretty upset. I'M ACTUALLY REALLY REALLY UPSET!!! But... I guess I'll continue on with the Thailand stuff. UGH!
Thursday consisted of walking around the town of Karong, shopping, getting another massage (you can really never have too many), and a nice dinner. Phuket seemed really touristy and expensive (a taxi going any distance was minimum 200 Baht which is way too much), so we were excited to leave for Koh Samui.
But first, check out two of the sweetest animals we met: Lucky and Tiger!
Koh Samui
We got in a taxi Friday morning to take us to the bus station to start our day long journey to Koh Samui - a smaller island off of the mainland, north of Phuket. We told the taxi driver we were taking the bus from the Lompraya station, and he said "Okay Lompraya, Bus Terminal 2" and we said "sure" and headed out. I have limited abilities on google maps on my phone, so when it had been over an hour in the taxi (and we were getting dangerously close to the time the bus was departing) I checked where we were and saw we had driven past the station! It was fifteen minutes until the bus was departing and I had to make the taxi driver stop and look at my phone and try to explain that we had gone too far. I guess the Lompraya station is different than Bus Terminal 2, but obviously we didn't know any better! We pulled up in our taxi at 10:01 (for the 10:00 trip!) and thankfully it hadn't left yet.
Then, we sat on a bus for about 6 hours, and then transferred to a ferry, which took nearly 2 more hours before we got to Koh Samui. It was a long journey, but that's what we were expecting. And it was significantly cheaper than flying to the island!
We got a taxi to the hostel, called Lub d, were completely blown away by how incredible it was.
Lub d is by far the best hostel I have ever stayed in! They actually call it a "social resort", which is just right - it is fancy and resort-y but also super social like a hostel and has tons of activities and travelers to meet! It was so beautiful - two pools, two bars, beachside and air conditioned and a live DJ every night... it goes on and on. By the time we got there, they had started their Full Moon Warm Up Party, so we put our bags down and joined the fun. Check it out:
We payed about $13 a night each (we were staying in dorm style beds) and we booked three nights there, so for under $90 we got to have three of the best nights ever! On Saturday we didn't even leave the hotel - just stayed lounging in the pools with new and old friends, napping in the hammocks on the beach, and partying at night. It was true luxury.
Then, on Sunday, our last day on that island, we took an excursion to Pig Island.
Yes. Pig Island.
For less than $50 per person, the hostel took a group of us on a speedboat to three stops (plus lunch! and water! yay!). Stop number one was snorkeling, and it was pretty incredible. There were TONS of fish everywhere, and we were on top of a gorgeous coral reef. Plus, we look oh-so cute in snorkeling gear.
Stop number two was to a tiny tiny island where - we learned - hundreds of people used to live and make their money selling coconuts, but then a virus hit the island and all the coconut trees died, and now less than thirty people live there. There is no school on the island anymore, so the few children who were born on the island post-virus will have to stay with relatives on the mainland to go to school (or just not go to school), and the hospital is only used when one doctor visits the island for a day at a time every two weeks. We walked through a thick, tangled web of mangroves, saw the ruins of the old school, and just sort of marveled at the way things had changed so quickly after the virus hit. (I didn't take pictures of the old school or other ruins because it felt disrespectful).
Stop number three was, drum roll please, PIG ISLAND!!! The tiny island (actually called Koh Mudsum) is overrun by about 15 pigs, and while there is a restaurant on the island for people to eat at when visiting only one person lives on the island full time! He is apparently like the pig wrangler, and he lives in a hut with no electricity or running water. Here's some pictures of me freaking out about the pigs:
We also did some kayaking after lunch:
I was pretty devastated when we had to leave Pig Island, aka my version of heaven, but alas we had to go home. Once back on Koh Samui, Charlie and I went to get a foot massage and a mani pedi in order to get ready for the big Full Moon party happening the next day on Koh Phangan - our final destination on our Thai Island tour!
Koh Phangan
So, the main reason we didn't just stay at Lub d on Koh Samui (trust me, we really wanted to) was the Full Moon party, which happens every month on a beach on the island Koh Phangan. So, on Monday we took the ferry (about a 40 minute trip) and went to our hostel called Phangan Arena (it has a mini basketball court, full size soccer field, and beach volleyball court!). As we checked in, they told us they had overbooked their dorm beds (which is what we booked) and had to give us a private room instead, plus they were giving us an extra night for free because they felt bad! We clearly didn't mind, and we went to our room to get ready.
Friends of ours from previous stops were also on the island for the Full Moon party and met at our hostel to pregame. We had heard lots of stories of pickpocketing at the Full Moon parties, so we decided to leave our phones at home and just take cash. Therefore, I have no pictures or videos from the party! To give you an idea, though, the Full Moon party happens on a massive stretch of beaches on the southern tip of Koh Phangan. Ten or so different stages are set up along the island, each playing different kinds of music, and there are bars everywhere selling buckets of mixed drinks for 300 Baht ($10) each. Tens of thousands of people come every month, and even though October is the start of the low tourists season in Thailand it was still just as packed. It was quite an experience, and somehow we stayed out until past 4 am! The entire town clearly thrives off of this monthly money-maker. It was fun and exciting, but it was also a lot to handle. It's one of those once-you-do-it-you-never-need-to-do-it-again experiences.
Tuesday we spent pretty much the entire day in bed nursing our hangovers. It was to be expected, after the night we had.
So, that brings me to today (Wednesday), our last day on the islands and our last day in Southern Thailand. We went to the "Secret Beach", which isn't totally a secret but is still really beautiful. I got a tip from someone who had been there to go to the restaurant in the resort on the beach (called Koh Raham) and order the chicken with lemon, and it was SO good! After lunch, we lounged in hammocks for a few hours reading and napping before coming back to our hostel.
We've booked a flight from Surat Thani Airport (on the mainland) to Chiang Mai (way up north) for tomorrow afternoon, so we will have to take a ferry again to the mainland and then make it to the airport. We are pretty much halfway through our time in Thailand, and we are shifting gears from beaching and partying to exploring the jungle of Northern Thailand and, hopefully, taking time to dive deeper into the culture of Thailand. Both of us are interested in finding a meditation retreat either in Thailand or in Vietnam, so we will keep our eyes out for those as we travel through the temples. Oh, and an elephant excursion is in our future, too.
On to more adventure!
Phuket
We flew from Bangkok to the Phuket airport in the morning last Tuesday. Once we landed, we saw many signs for mini bus services taking passengers to different areas of Phuket. Our hostel was in a town called Karong and every sign said a taxi there would be over 1,000 Baht but a bus service was only 200 per person. We decided to go with the bus, and it was definitely the right choice because it was over an hour bus ride! We did not realize how big this island was, and we also didn't think to check how far our hostel from the airport was. Whoops.
We stayed at a hostel called Kata Villa near Kata Beach for three nights. Really, though, it was like a motel. No dorm beds, only private rooms, which meant it was mostly families and not solo travelers our age. But, it was less than $10 a night, and was literally across the street from the beach, so we were alright.
On our first day there - Wednesday - we took a half day trip to Coral Island, where Charlie and I did some parasailing and spent time on the beach. There are many very small islands you can take day trips to here, but we chose a half day trip with only one island because we knew there would be plenty of beaching in our future!
That night we set out to find a barber to cut Charlie's hair and a massage place for a full body massage. We ended up walking for almost an hour trying to find a barber, and we finally found one that was connected to a massage place. Even through the language barrier and cultural barrier (the barbers had clearly never cut black hair before) Charlie was able to coach them through what to do and he turned out pretty cute in my opinion ;)
We then got a full body hour-long massage next door for 400 Baht each ($13). As we set out for dinner, we were bombarded with people standing in front of their restaurants telling us to "come inside" and "see menu" - it reminded me of Brick Lane in London, where every single Indian restaurant is begging for your patronage. We chose a place randomly, had some super yummy food, and went to bed.
Thursday morning I woke up early to watch game 5 of the NLDS (as I had been doing most mornings in Thailand). Thankfully the spotty wifi was working, but... well... the game didn't go so well. I was pretty upset. Actually, I still am pretty upset. I'M ACTUALLY REALLY REALLY UPSET!!! But... I guess I'll continue on with the Thailand stuff. UGH!
Thursday consisted of walking around the town of Karong, shopping, getting another massage (you can really never have too many), and a nice dinner. Phuket seemed really touristy and expensive (a taxi going any distance was minimum 200 Baht which is way too much), so we were excited to leave for Koh Samui.
But first, check out two of the sweetest animals we met: Lucky and Tiger!
Koh Samui
We got in a taxi Friday morning to take us to the bus station to start our day long journey to Koh Samui - a smaller island off of the mainland, north of Phuket. We told the taxi driver we were taking the bus from the Lompraya station, and he said "Okay Lompraya, Bus Terminal 2" and we said "sure" and headed out. I have limited abilities on google maps on my phone, so when it had been over an hour in the taxi (and we were getting dangerously close to the time the bus was departing) I checked where we were and saw we had driven past the station! It was fifteen minutes until the bus was departing and I had to make the taxi driver stop and look at my phone and try to explain that we had gone too far. I guess the Lompraya station is different than Bus Terminal 2, but obviously we didn't know any better! We pulled up in our taxi at 10:01 (for the 10:00 trip!) and thankfully it hadn't left yet.
Then, we sat on a bus for about 6 hours, and then transferred to a ferry, which took nearly 2 more hours before we got to Koh Samui. It was a long journey, but that's what we were expecting. And it was significantly cheaper than flying to the island!
We got a taxi to the hostel, called Lub d, were completely blown away by how incredible it was.
Lub d is by far the best hostel I have ever stayed in! They actually call it a "social resort", which is just right - it is fancy and resort-y but also super social like a hostel and has tons of activities and travelers to meet! It was so beautiful - two pools, two bars, beachside and air conditioned and a live DJ every night... it goes on and on. By the time we got there, they had started their Full Moon Warm Up Party, so we put our bags down and joined the fun. Check it out:
We payed about $13 a night each (we were staying in dorm style beds) and we booked three nights there, so for under $90 we got to have three of the best nights ever! On Saturday we didn't even leave the hotel - just stayed lounging in the pools with new and old friends, napping in the hammocks on the beach, and partying at night. It was true luxury.
Then, on Sunday, our last day on that island, we took an excursion to Pig Island.
Yes. Pig Island.
For less than $50 per person, the hostel took a group of us on a speedboat to three stops (plus lunch! and water! yay!). Stop number one was snorkeling, and it was pretty incredible. There were TONS of fish everywhere, and we were on top of a gorgeous coral reef. Plus, we look oh-so cute in snorkeling gear.
Stop number two was to a tiny tiny island where - we learned - hundreds of people used to live and make their money selling coconuts, but then a virus hit the island and all the coconut trees died, and now less than thirty people live there. There is no school on the island anymore, so the few children who were born on the island post-virus will have to stay with relatives on the mainland to go to school (or just not go to school), and the hospital is only used when one doctor visits the island for a day at a time every two weeks. We walked through a thick, tangled web of mangroves, saw the ruins of the old school, and just sort of marveled at the way things had changed so quickly after the virus hit. (I didn't take pictures of the old school or other ruins because it felt disrespectful).
Stop number three was, drum roll please, PIG ISLAND!!! The tiny island (actually called Koh Mudsum) is overrun by about 15 pigs, and while there is a restaurant on the island for people to eat at when visiting only one person lives on the island full time! He is apparently like the pig wrangler, and he lives in a hut with no electricity or running water. Here's some pictures of me freaking out about the pigs:
We also did some kayaking after lunch:
I was pretty devastated when we had to leave Pig Island, aka my version of heaven, but alas we had to go home. Once back on Koh Samui, Charlie and I went to get a foot massage and a mani pedi in order to get ready for the big Full Moon party happening the next day on Koh Phangan - our final destination on our Thai Island tour!
Koh Phangan
So, the main reason we didn't just stay at Lub d on Koh Samui (trust me, we really wanted to) was the Full Moon party, which happens every month on a beach on the island Koh Phangan. So, on Monday we took the ferry (about a 40 minute trip) and went to our hostel called Phangan Arena (it has a mini basketball court, full size soccer field, and beach volleyball court!). As we checked in, they told us they had overbooked their dorm beds (which is what we booked) and had to give us a private room instead, plus they were giving us an extra night for free because they felt bad! We clearly didn't mind, and we went to our room to get ready.
Friends of ours from previous stops were also on the island for the Full Moon party and met at our hostel to pregame. We had heard lots of stories of pickpocketing at the Full Moon parties, so we decided to leave our phones at home and just take cash. Therefore, I have no pictures or videos from the party! To give you an idea, though, the Full Moon party happens on a massive stretch of beaches on the southern tip of Koh Phangan. Ten or so different stages are set up along the island, each playing different kinds of music, and there are bars everywhere selling buckets of mixed drinks for 300 Baht ($10) each. Tens of thousands of people come every month, and even though October is the start of the low tourists season in Thailand it was still just as packed. It was quite an experience, and somehow we stayed out until past 4 am! The entire town clearly thrives off of this monthly money-maker. It was fun and exciting, but it was also a lot to handle. It's one of those once-you-do-it-you-never-need-to-do-it-again experiences.
Tuesday we spent pretty much the entire day in bed nursing our hangovers. It was to be expected, after the night we had.
So, that brings me to today (Wednesday), our last day on the islands and our last day in Southern Thailand. We went to the "Secret Beach", which isn't totally a secret but is still really beautiful. I got a tip from someone who had been there to go to the restaurant in the resort on the beach (called Koh Raham) and order the chicken with lemon, and it was SO good! After lunch, we lounged in hammocks for a few hours reading and napping before coming back to our hostel.
We've booked a flight from Surat Thani Airport (on the mainland) to Chiang Mai (way up north) for tomorrow afternoon, so we will have to take a ferry again to the mainland and then make it to the airport. We are pretty much halfway through our time in Thailand, and we are shifting gears from beaching and partying to exploring the jungle of Northern Thailand and, hopefully, taking time to dive deeper into the culture of Thailand. Both of us are interested in finding a meditation retreat either in Thailand or in Vietnam, so we will keep our eyes out for those as we travel through the temples. Oh, and an elephant excursion is in our future, too.
On to more adventure!
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