Ting Tong in Hong Kong and Farewell to Thailand

This blog entry is going to be a quick one because I haven’t really had free time this past week to craft an extremely witty and clever post (per my usual).  My friends are here and we’ve been having a blast, so here’s the abbreviated version of my past ten days.

Last Wednesday, I met Katie, Melissa, Jen, Cindy, and Robin in Hong Kong.  The first four had been planning their trips for awhile, but Robin was a fun, last minute addition, bringing our total number in Hong Kong to six.  Let me just say that I LOVED Hong Kong!  It’s just so….shiny!  I don’t know how else to describe it.  The only places I’ve visited over the past six months have been in third world/developing countries, and Hong Kong is the exact opposite.  It’s modern and clean and I felt normal humidity levels for the first time in months!  It also didn’t hurt that the Hong Kong Rugby 7s' competition was happening all weekend, and well, the city was really ting tong (‘ting tong’ is the Thai word for ‘crazy’…I am not making this up).  Fans from all over the world attended this massive event, and the city’s party street (Lan Kwai Fong) was reminiscent of Bourbon Street in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

Hong Kong Harbor

Hong Kong Park

View over the city from the Peak Tram

Big Buddha

Hong Kong 7s' celebrations

After a fun weekend, we left Robin to continue her travels, and we headed to Bangkok so that I could assist in giving the girls a whirlwind tour of the city.  After visiting every temple in the city in one day (and celebrating Melissa's birthday at Lebua at State Tower, the rooftop bar/restaurant featured in 'The Hangover 2'), we all packed up our stuff yet again and headed south to Thailand's 'gems', the islands of Ko Phi Phi and Phuket.  Ko Phi Phi is a fun little island with beautiful beaches and coves off of the coast, including Maya Bay, where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed.  In Phuket, we stayed in Patong beach at a cool boutique hotel called Nikky's Handlebar http://www.nickyhandlebars.com/).  This place was the highlight of Patong, as the rest of the town is overrun with tourists, ladyboys, and prostitutes. We escaped Patong during the day and hung out at a nice little beach called Surin instead.

Viewpoint over Ko Phi Phi

Maya Bay

Ko Phi Phi island

On our boat trip around the Ko Phi Phi area; my hat could fit better

Out on Bangla Street in Phuket, Patong Beach.  Our friend Rob and his friend Tracy were in Thailand at the same time too!

Surin Beach, Phuket

Katie, Melissa, and I left Cindy and Jen in Phuket first thing this morning, and are now in Bali, Indonesia!  I cannot believe that my time in Thailand has come to an end.  It's been a great five months and I'm so lucky to have seen so much of the country.  It was kind of weird leaving there this morning, but wow, I've only been in Bali a few hours and I really like this place.  Good times straight ahead!  Until next time....Sawatdee kah!

Flying Solo? Not Exactly.

So, these kinds of pictures have been floating around on Facebook recently, and based on the fact that I fell asleep on the ferry to Koh Lanta and almost dropped my iPod in the water (twice…), I thought this photo was more than apropos.  Too funny!

For the past week, I’ve been traveling solo in the Krabi region of Thailand.  I realize that for people who have never lived out of a backpack before (including my parents), the thought of traveling alone sounds unsafe, intimidating, and lonely.  However, anyone who has ever traveled this way knows that well over 50% of other backpackers are traveling by themselves, and I’d bet that almost 100% of them wouldn’t have it any other way.  You can set your own schedule, do whatever you want, and will undoubtedly meet more people than if you were traveling with others.  Additionally, the traveling infrastructure in most places (especially in Thailand) makes it so easy to get from Point A to Point B, and there are always tons of others going in the same direction.  Over the past nine days, I’ve been alone for about 48 hours, and that’s only because I’ve sought the solitude.  Though I personally prefer a mix of solo/joint travel, I’ve had an incredible week being on my ‘own’!

It started last Sunday when I caught a 6am taxi/7am ferry along with hundreds of others, including three girls (all traveling solo) who were staying at Greenpeace Bungalows in Koh Phangan with me.  We were all headed to Krabi town, but no one really had a plan, as Krabi town mostly serves as a jumping off point to the many beaches and islands in the area.  I really hit it off with these girls, but for some reason, when they decided to stay in Krabi town for the night, I decided to head directly to the beach town of Ao Nang.  When I got on the bus to Ao Nang, I immediately wondered if I had made a mistake.  Should I have stayed with the girls and traveled with them for a bit?  It was too late at that point, and though I exchanged numbers with one of the girls before separating, we never did meet up again.  No worries though; it all worked out for the best! 

A huge pile of backpacks on the ferry

Ao Nang is a cute little beach town with a nice promenade and a lot of bars/restaurants, but the crowd was a random assortment of families, couples, older people, and backpackers. I found a fun and social place to stay on the strip, but crashed hard my first night because I was so exhausted from catching the early ferry.  I decided to stay for a second night, so I hit the beach the next day, and walked around town checking out the shops and scenery.  Stopping at the mini-mart for a Snickers Bar, I met Jean-Francois (Jeff) from Quebec, and just like that, I had dinner/drinking plans for the night.  Eight hours later, we were still out on the streets of Ao Nang; I love it when stuff like that happens!

Ao Nang beach

By coincidence, Jeff and I both had plans the next day to head to Railay Beach, a chilled-out, reggae-infused, rock climbing destination with stunning beaches and a fun nightlife.  I met Steph (England) and Gary (Australia) on the boat, and after catching up with Steph later that night for drinks, I met up with Jeff again, who had since befriended Georg (no ‘e’, not a typo, from Germany) and Julian (Austria).  We headed back to the bar at the place they were staying, and lucky me, I ended up spending a good portion of the next four days with these rock climbing studs!

Railay Beach is divided into Railay West (beach), Railay East (nightlife), and a third area called Phranang Beach

Railay West

Phranang Beach

Georg

Jeff

Julian

Jeff and I at the lookout point

We also went soloing for the day, which is basically rock climbing without ropes or other equipment.  You scale walls until you jump/fall into the water.  It's fun!

Ladies, get yourselves to Railay Beach.  Georg, Jeff, Julian on our day trip.

Giving soloing a try.  This is about as high as I got....

The boys did a little better..

Out in Railay East

Four ridiculously fun and exhausting days later, it was time for me to move on to the island of Koh Lanta.  It’s pretty crazy how quickly bonds are formed here, and I was really sad to say goodbye to these guys.  I was definitely ready to catch up on my sleep though, and luckily, Koh Lanta has been the perfect place to do just about nothing.  Koh Lanta is a pretty island, but is lacking the crowds and striking scenery offered in Railay and Ao Nang.  I’m staying on Long Beach (Phrae Ae), and have explored both Ban Saladan (the cute area by the pier) and Klong Dao (the next beach over), but for the most part, all I’ve been doing here is lying on the beach, catching up on my sleep, sorting through pictures, and watching movies/TV shows on my computer.

Koh Lanta- Long Beach

This little kid's parents own the place where I'm staying.  Has anyone ever seen the YouTube video of the chain smoking Indonesian kid?  This chubster totally reminds me of him.

I fly to Bangkok tomorrow, and on Wednesday, it’s off to Hong Kong to meet up with Melissa, Katie, Cindy, and Jen!!!  I cannot wait to see these girls; we are going to have a blast!  The International Rugby 7s' competition is going on this weekend, and we have tickets for the event’s opening night after-party on Friday.  I hope you are ready for us Hong Kong!  Until next time….Sawatdee kah!

Tropical The Island Breeze

Life is good.  For the past week, I’ve been doing nothing except lying/partying on beautiful beaches, taking amazing day trips, meeting people from all over the world, and sleeping until I felt like getting out of bed (except for tomorrow morning when I will have to catch a 6am ferry- ouch!).  A minor stomach bug has set me back a bit, and I forgot how heavy my big backpack could be (especially in 90+ degree heat), but overall, things have been running pretty smoothly.  I’ve done a lot over the past week, so I’ll try to condense this post as much as possible.  It’s much easier to write about a two-day weekend as opposed to a seven-day week.  I know…poor me!  In a nutshell, every day has been quite lovely.

 
After attending my friend Claire's birthday party in Bangkok over the weekend, I met up with Angela and Audrey on Monday on the island of Koh Samui.  We stayed on Chaweng Beach, which is one of the prettiest (and also one of the craziest) beaches on the island.  We hit the strip of bars/clubs that night, and on Tuesday, we took a day trip to Angthong Marine Park.  I wanted to go to the park the last time I was in the area over New Year’s, but it rained for three days straight, so I was excited this time when I woke up to sunny skies.  We had an incredible day snorkeling, kayaking, and relaxing around the park’s clear waters and huge limestone formations; at moments, I really felt like I was in paradise.

On Wednesday morning, the girls took an early ferry to the island of Koh Phangan, but I took a later ferry because I wanted to spend some time on Chaweng Beach.  I actually really like taking ferries by myself because I tend to meet a ton of cool people.  Additionally, it’s really easy to get caught up in making travel plans, so if I can live in the moment and stick around somewhere a little longer, I will choose to do so.  With that in mind, I bought a coconut, put on my iPod, and just stared at the light blue water.  Ahhhhh.

My ferry was packed with other backpacker/vacationers who were all headed to the island for the same reason, the ‘legendary’ Full Moon Party.  This was my second FMP, and the crazy all-night beach bash proved to be a great time once again (international debauchery on a massive scale).  I didn’t worry too much about taking a ton of pictures this time around because I dedicated a whole post to the party before, but I managed to take some pictures around the chilled-out Greenpeace Bungalows (the awesome place I stayed with other friends from my program), as well as of the ‘legendary’ pool party at Coral Bungalows, where we all partied the night before the FMP.  

Coral Bungalows' pool party

View from my chair at Greenpeace Bungalows

Me contemplating Snooki's rumored pregnancy

Full Moon Party

 
Nothing like a little tropical rain at 2am

We had a relaxed night on Friday night, and on Saturday, we all took the 8am ferry to the island of Koh Tao.  All of the girls packed up their stuff and decided to spend a night on the island, but I decided to go just for the day because I had paid for four nights at Greenpeace (and we were all going our separate ways on Sunday anyway).  I left the girls at Koh Tao and immediately boarded another boat for a nearby island called Nangyuan.  

Is this real life or fantasy?  The viewpoint over Nangyuan.

 
Me at the bottom

 Ziplining across islands.  What?

Tomorrow, I'm off to Krabi and will be visiting a few more beaches over the next week.  'Same Same But Different' as we say here in Thailand!  Until next time....Sawatdee kah!