This weekend I spent some time in the gorgeous country of Thailand. We flew to Phuket on Thursday night attempting to get a bus that would allow us to take the night ferry to Koh Samui or Koh Phangnan. Our intention was to save money and stay up, arriving the next morning to enjoy the full day of sunlight. We didn't however, anticipate getting in a slight disagreement and miscommunication with our driver. Leaving the Phuket airport we met three other girls, two from England and one believe it our not from Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto. (She even went to Glenview, my middle school).
The small budget plan
The van we paid to take us to Surat Thani (where the port is to the islands) dropped of us downtown and refused to take us to the port. We had explicitly asked to go to Dunsack the port but I guess the company had made a deal with the hotel, anticipating us as naive travelers and tried to make us stay in a hotel downtown with a company they had clearly made a deal with. Our driver spoke no English and the inn owner yelled at us saying we were stupid and we'd get hurt staying up all night and tried to rip us off by paying her to stay in her awful inn and miss our ferry. During this time we saw a tuk tuk and managed to get away and driven to the terminal. We ended up sleeping there at catching the 5 am ferry. Sleeping on the ground at the terminal with frogs and mosquitoes reminded me of our solos at my summer camp. It wasn't that bad and we got to know our new friends during the wee morning hours we were awake for.
We ended up becoming good friends with these girls for the rest of our trip and I learned a lot about England, law school and the places they have traveled to. The bad experience is not reflective of every other Thai person we met. Everyone was so kind that our first night's experience was quickly forgotten. We arrived at Koh Phangnan early morning. The island is a busy tourist destination because of its "legendary Full Moon Parties." The party happens once a month and attracts young travelers from all over the world. The beach is not the cleanest and it is touristy, but it was a very interesting experience. I have never been around so many young people that were tanned and just relaxed eating and drinking in my life.
I am guilty of eating Pad Thai at least once every day I was in Thailand
(it was never more than $3 CAN and tasted incredible).
(it was never more than $3 CAN and tasted incredible).
In Thailand I ensured that I had a dose of chocolate and Pad Thai everyday. My other favourite thing was "Thai Pancakes." This delicious dessert, like a crepe is thin and cooked on a hot surface and topped with sweet or savery deliciousness. I choice a variety of dessert pancakes from nutella banana, to mars bar banana, peanut butter...you get the point. It is even better than a crepe because it is fried and made crispy with butter and then chopped up into pieces.
The hotel we stayed at worked out to be $4 CAN a night. The air-con room right in the town of Haad Rin was $700 BOT (Thai $) a night. We could walk to the beach easily from our room, as well we were near all the shops and restaurants. It was supposed to be for 2 people but we snuck in 4...we knew we wouldn't be sleeping much anyways. Reflecting back on our "cosy" sleeps, I have to say I think double beds work just find to sleep 4 girls horizontally.
The night before the full moon, we stayed out quite late dancing on the beach drinking the famous "thai buckets." You can buy 12 ounces of SamSung, Thai rum, Redbull and Coke in a beach pail with ice for $200 bot which is about $7 Canadian. The beach at night is lined with vendors who try to make you buy their version of a bucket be it vodka, or other juices. Their signs were very entertaining:
The next day we played Frisbee and explored the beach and stores of Haad Rin. We met some aussies and Europeans, everyone only raved about Thailand and the other places they had been to.
At night it was the full moon party and we stayed up until sunrise. I took a lot of photos later in the night on a disposable camera but below is just the highlights of the 30 000 people beach party. Each club or restaurant played different music and there were activities all along the beach such as jump rope, limbo, and tarot cards. Everyone is wearing neon or painted in bright paints. It was wild!
We also met up with some exchange students from NUS who are from Canada all from McGill
The cute bungalows that line the water
Koh Samui is a near by island that was beautiful. The beach and area we went to, Chawang, was more family and couple oriented. We found a beach bungalow where we yet again snuck 4 into a 2 person room for very inexpensive. Here you can eat pad thai (I actually had green curry) on the beach in beds and watch the sunset. It was breath-taking. During the day and at night it was sad to see children selling jewelery and demanding you play games with them when its later than 11 pm. The boy that I played connect 4 with was 7 years old and won.
Alex, the Connect 4 genius
Corn vendors on the beach
Our NUS friends
I don't have a lot of pictures of Phuket-town but it was a busy, touristy city. We stayed there the last night and enjoyed some great street food. We stayed in the most expensive guest house of our trip because we wanted to stay near the bus terminal that takes you to the airport as our flight was at 9 am. All in all, Thailand was incredible and I cannot wait to go back and experience the culture more in Changmai and Bangkok in June with my friend Regan. Her and I are going to backpack Asia when I am done school. I cannot wait!!!
Some lady-boys to finish the post.
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