Chinese New Year Travel – Week 2 – Tropical Islands of Thailand
(2.03.07-2.10.07)
Have you ever been somewhere that was so great it was hard to tell others about? That might not sound like it makes sense. If some place is great don't you want to tell everyone about it? Well, Thailand is great and I tell everyone about it, but it's hard to talk about because it is so much fun. Also I feel there is no way that I can do justice to how cool it actually was. I do believe that when you look up 'paradise' in the dictionary you will see this place...
After my first week in Thailand up north in Chiang Mai (which was amazing: see here ) I took a flight to Bangkok and met Bracha in the airport. From there we flew to Phuket. Phuket is a maybe the most popular place for people to go when they want to go to the islands of Thailand. It is a giant island that is extremely close to the mainland. There are so many beaches there you lose count. There are also so many tourists there that you have no room. I was told by some good friends to skip Phuket and go right to Koh Phi Phi. We stayed in Phuket one night and left early in the morning for Phi Phi.Phi Phi is an island about 2 hours away from Phuket by boat. There are no cars on Phi Phi, which means no one drives on the wrong side of the road and no one honks their horn! It’s a wonderful concept! (I especially say this because school is getting out right now for the weekend. See the picture from the blog a few weeks ago. The honking won't stop for about another 30 minutes).
Phi Phi is so laid back. Everyone is so friendly and the food is delicious. It is one of the most beautiful tropical islands in the world, and yet the prices for everything are still very reasonable. The 'downtown' of the island is very small and if you spend a few days there you begin to see familiar faces and make many friends. Most people that travel to Thailand don't plan how or where they are going and will change their plans as they go. The majority of the people that land in Phi Phi extend their stay. Many of the friends I made there ended up staying there almost 2 weeks.
The first day we arrived we found a place to stay then went straight to the beach. I've been to some beaches before, but nothing compares to these beaches. There are not a ton of people there, but there are enough that you can play volleyball or other games with friends you make. The sand was beautiful and the water was clear. It was more than clear; it had a beautiful blue green shine to it that just said this is untouched unpolluted water. The way it should be.We quickly made some friends with an American who was working there. I was searching the whole island for a place to watch the Super Bowl and I figured he might know. I'm on a tropical island but that doesn't mean I'm going to miss the biggest game of the year! With time change the game started at 7 am. Most of the people who own bars and restaurants are European and could careless about the NFL and who Peyton Manning is or about singing a song "Da Bears, da Bears, da Bears," while wearing a hula skirt and coconut bra. I did find.
The Sports Bar on the island was owned by a Canadian and an American, and luckily they were showing it. I woke up very early, only to have missed the first quarter which was the most exciting thing about the whole game. The bar was filled with people who had stayed up all night. It was one of the most interesting breakfasts, as they brought out chicken wings, casserole, chips and salsa, and other great football watch'n treats. These were things I had dearly missed in China, and needed some good food to clog my arteries. There I met the rest of the Americans on the island. I love traveling and meeting people from many other countries. Thailand is filled with Swedes, Fins, and Norwegians and all those folks from those cold European countries. After being in China for so long and in Thailand it was nice to meet up with some fellow Americans. Many were also teaching in China.
Note about the Super Bowl: What the heck! I mean, we've gone from Britney Spears wearing a sock on her arm like a puppet to the whole Oops I did what with Janet and Justin to now bringing "&" or whatever his name is… "the ar… tist formerly know as Prince." The guy is a musical genius yes, but he's also a fruit! And with all those crazy dancers. I don't know how many of you remember the Super Bowl halftime show, but two other Americans and I spent the whole 30 minutes going "NO NO! What is this!!!" and trying to convince all the people from the rest of the world that this is NOT American football. There was a girl from Finland sitting next to me who had never seen football, and I think it scared her eyes forever!The rest of my time on the island I spent scuba diving (the best thing ever!). I went to days. The first time you go you are just trying to get used to everything; wearing the whole outfit, breathing through the mask, swimming next to tropical fish you usually only see on TV. It is such a different feeling than swimming. Also, if you come up to quickly or go down with out popping your ears you can make your head explode, that or turn in to Fran Drescher, "ehhhhhh he he he …. Who wants to be the Nanny?" So it is a very dangerous thing.
Like I said, the water there is amazing which allows you to see everything. I swam next to two sharks. I swam with a giant sea turtle, puffer fish, amore eels, a seahorse, giant schools of radiant fish, and walls and walls of coral. I went on a total of 4 dives. After I got used to the strangeness of being underwater it was one of the most relaxing and at the same time awe inducing activities I've ever done. Our dive crew was awesome and made it easy to see amazing things even as a beginner.
Our nights were filled with fire shows and Thai boxing. They had a few actual Thai boxing matches but it was mainly foreigners boxing for free alcohol, which was entertaining as well. The fire shows are amazing to watch. Almost every bar has them. The skills seem to be fairly easy but I really don't want to be swinging flaming sticks around my body. I'll let them keep that job.The island just had an awesome feel to it. There was a place to watch the sun rise and set. On nights there were soccer games you could here the whole island cheer and jeer, knowing exactly what was happening. At about the same time every night you could hear a few Muslims saying their prayers. It gave the island a relaxing and solemn feel.
We left the many good friends we had made and headed back to Phuket so we could get our flight to Bangkok and then China. When I was back at the hostel I figured out I had made a huge mistake. We left Phi Phi a day early. We had a whole 'nother day before our flight left. I felt horrible, giving up a day in paradise. Things got much better though the next day. I met up with an Australian and we toured Phuket on motorbikes. It ended up being a great enjoyable surprise. I learned that anytime I travel and have the chance to rent a motorbike, I will have to do it. It is so cheap, and it gives you a great freedom. Just to take a taxi to the beach would have cost me 300 baht. For the cost of renting the bike and paying for gas, I spent a little over 300. I got to see the whole island and enjoy the beautiful weather.
Later that night we met up with a Canadian and South African. The four of us went to check out the famed "Phuket night-life." Our first stop however was to go to a pharmacy. I had cut my leg on some coral while scuba diving. There were no problems until it started turning purple and hurting every time I walked. Luckily there was a 24 hour pharmacy right next to all the bars. How convenient!!!! We walked in and asked for stuff to prevent infections. She knew exactly what we needed. I was so happy I showed her my cut. She quickly grabbed the box and said, "NO NO NO! You need this!" I suppose we should have asked for something to kill infections. I'm really happy I showed her my leg. That’s what I get for being really happy!The whole month before I went to Thailand all of my friends in China kept saying, "Thailand, that’s where they have those boys… that look like girls." I was always so thankful they brought that up. It seemed to be the only thing they knew about Thailand. Up until that last night I had never seen a "lady-boy." That night… I saw way too many. I could never look at a Thai lady again. I was scared. There were sooo many of them!!! I don't like lady boys!!!!
Well that seems to be a good note to end this on. In Review: Thailand – Awesome!!! : Lady Boy – BAD!!!! : Prince and Superbowl - Why!?!? : Prince - Lady Boy?
I arrived a little late in Chiang Mai due to my plane sitting on the runway for about an hour before takeoff. I really didn't mind, more time to nap. Katie came to pick me up with her motor bike. I had never ridden on a motorcycle or motorbike or anything like that. I should have gotten a picture of me with big backpacking bag sitting on the back with Katie driving. I felt like some of the folks I see driving around on motorbikes in China holding TV sets or bookshelves. Even with my big backpack, the ride was amazingly calm. Katie was being careful since her roommate had gotten in an accident two days before I arrived. But the amazing thing was that no one was honking!!!! It was so quiet. It was sonice to be in quiet traffic with non crazy drivers. You'll see my love of motorbikes and the Thai traffic grow throughout the trip. My first meal in Thailand was of course… Mexican Food! Hey I can only get Chinese food in China. Chiang Mai and all of Thailand have a great variety of ethnic foods, which was a great treat!!!!
After church I had my first taste of real Thai food, a great spicy soup with a Chicken leg. Maybe my favorite Thai meal during my trip, since I ate two huge bowls of it. Afterwards we journeyed to the Royal Flower Show. An enormous area set up for the Kings 80th birthday. You have to travel 30 minutes from the city just to get there. This was the largest flower show I've ever seen. Countries from all over the world pitched in to make it an unbelievable sight. And all of it was setup up to run for only 3 months! It was incredible. And for supper of course we had… GREEK FOOD. Delicious!
Now I had a little bad fortune. Tuesday I scheduled a Thai cooking class, but my stomach wasn't feeling great. How sad!!! Imagine being able to cook some of the best dishes in the world, and only being able to take a few bites of it! It truly was a sad day. The class starts at 9 am and goes until 4 pm. You cook 8 dishes, all enough to be a meal themselves! I got a cookbook, so I can practice at home, as long as I find the ingredients.
After relaxing in the steaming water, we began our hike. We hiked several hours, and arrived at our first village pretty early in the afternoon. We had plenty of time to relax and see what the village was like. The villagers then cooked us several amazing dishes. After our meal we sat around the fire until we were tired and went to our five star hotel (in the words of Mr. Kan). Our five star hotel was a wooden/bamboo hut. We had blankets and a thin mattress type thing to lie on. Even with my sweatshirt and my jeans, and about 5 blankets I still got pretty cold. The jungle was in the foothills of the Himalayas. The hardest thing about village hotels though, Roosters! 4 am, and non stop!!! And there's not just one or two of them but about 10 of them, all right beneath you. Around 7 am the villagers herded the cattle through, right underneath our hut. Who needs an alarm clock when you have roosters and stampeding cattle!
dollars, ride an elephant in a circle for 10 minutes. We took these elephants on an hour and half journey to our village! So riding an elephant is pretty exciting, what would be more exciting? I know, seeing an elephant fly. But other than that, how about riding on his neck! Most people sit up on a seat on their backs. I got to ride on his neck! You can feel every step and movement as his shoulders go up and down. It's also fun as you see the steep declines you have to go down, and feel like you are going to fall off and get stepped on by this gigantic animal, very fun! The elephant I was on was the mommy elephant. During the whole trip we got to see the baby elephant in front of us, messing with the other elephants' tails. Also, halfway through the trip, mommy had to stop to feed the baby. Pretty amazing!
Day 3 the last day of our journey was a day of riding down the river. Our ships were bamboo rafts completely made out of bamboo. Even the pieces used to tie the big bamboo trunks together were bamboo. The trip was like nothing else. No touristy places, no loud cars, no nothing, just the beautiful jungle. At one point we passed a few people riding elephants through the water, near a small village, with a rope bridge crossing the river. I couldn't have taken a picture, it wouldn't have been able to capture the beauty and serenity of this place. The boat ride was a lot of fun, as we were the ones who actually steered the ship. We had no problems, except the one time when we ran head on into a rock. Other than flying about 5 feet in the air, I was fine. I stayed on the boat, and we didn't sink, no problem. Luckily, Mr. Kan was on the other ship, making it his job to try and pull as many people in the water as possible. He was pretty small so he was unsuccessful most of the time. This was a perfect end to our trip. Floating down a beautiful river 4 hours, how could you beat that?