Wrapping up Thailand!

Wow! Sorry I have not been keeping up with my blogging very well! That just means that there is lots and lots to tell....

So I finished off the last one in Ko Pha-Ngan. We spent a couple more days there but we moved to the beach of Haad Rin where the full moon party takes place, being that it was over there was actually some accomodation there! It was soooo much better than Laem Son haha, there were actually lights, shops and people around, so we were alot happier there. We went to see a Muay Thai boxing fight which is really cool! Very intense fighting, I'm not sure that there are any rules it's pretty well anything goes. Even though we were in a way better location our bungalows were pretty gross and the mattresses were horrible so we were ready to move on.

Our next adventure was in Ko Samui, we took the boat over to this island. The popular beach for tourists is Chaweng Beach. So we parked ourselves over there in Coconut Grove Resotel (a resort hotel I guess). It was such luxury from what we were used to! There was AC, two comfy mattresses and hot water.... heaven! This island was really full of resorts and was a bit more expensive, kind of an older crowd. However, there was tons to do, so we took advantage of that. Our first day we went Bunjy Jumping!! This was a little sketchy, it was just some little bar with a pool and a bunjy jump, we were the only ones there but he assured me no one had died ever. So they strap you in and take you up the 50 m elevator. I couldn't jump on my own so I closed my eyes and told him to push me! Haha he told me only if I gave him a tip and I said whatever just push me. So he did.... biggest rush of my life! It was crazy soaring through the air only attached to a rope. The scariest is when you hit the pool at the bottom and then just keep boucing around in the air.

The next day in Samui we did some ziplining which was neat, you do it in the forest through the trees, and it also gets quite high. After the ziplining they took us on a walk to swim in a waterfall which was very refreshing! Then we went for supper where we pick out fresh seafood from a display and they cook it however you want. We ate shark, barracuda, some very different things. The shopping here is also very good. You could get DVD's for $2.50 each, I hear they are cheaper in Vietnam but that was pretty good to me! So I picked some up, but later when we tried to watch the new releases we found out the quality is poor, it's just someone taping the show in the theatre. Quite the black market here!

Thai massages are amazing.. for $6 you can have a massage for an hour. They are intense and sometimes a little painful, those tiny woman can use a lot of pressure. We also saw a ladyboy caberet here, it was actually really entertaining. They lipsynched and danced to Tina Turner, Dreamgirls etc in full out costume. Ladyboys are the 3rd gender in Thailand they are men who want to be women, and some of them are gorgeous, you'd never know the difference! Then we went to a popular bar called the Green Mango where a Thai girl befriended us, introduced us to her friends, and then tried to get us to drink from her bucket! When we refused she was actually upset, so we just walked away....

Many buses and boats later (terrible transportation choice), we went to Railay Beach. This is a beautiful secluded beach with no cars, it's really small and well-known for rock climbing. We spent two nights there, we met up with one of the groups travelling from Canada so that was good. The next day we went rock climbing which was really cool, really hard work though, we had some sore muscles for a couple days.

Then we moved to Phi Phi Island which was our favourite place so far! It was beautiful, again small so no cars and you walk everywhere. This island is full of backpackers so spending a few days there we got to know lots of people. Phi Phi is one of the top 10 dive spots in the world. So we used our newly certified skills and went out for a dive. We saw a leopard shark! That was really cool and also a sea turtle and tons of fish. Phi Phi is also really close to Maya Beach where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed with Leonardo Dicaprio. So we went on an overnight camping trip there where we actually slept on the beach. The main bar in Phi Phi has a Thai Boxing ring so tourists can fight each other and win free buckets, so that is entertainig to watch haha. The place we stayed in PhiPhi was called BanThai, the lady who runs it is so nice, the first night we got there she checked on us three times to see if everything was alright and as soon as we left the room she'd clean it. Just like a little mother-away-from-home.

We weren't ready to leave but our time in Thailand is running out so we needed to keep moving. Our next stop was Phuket. This city is full of lights, shopping, and sex trade. We stayed here a couple nights, soaked up some sun, before we left our last beach and did some shopping. We couldn't go out much because the majority of places were gogo bars, plus you get hassled to come in every shop or go to every show, and it was just kind of annoying.

So the day before yesterday we took an overnight bus and yesterday we took an overnight train, landing us finally in Chang Mai. The weather here is for the first time not stiffling hot, it's really nice. So we are excited to explore this new city and we start a jungle trek tomorrow! On the way here we stopped in the old capital city Auyutha, to pick up some history and Lopburi, the monkey capital. The monkies roam around there like cats and dogs, it's really funny.

Well I am thinking this was an extremely long blog hopefully everyone can make it through it, next time I'll have to keep up so it's not so overwhelming! That's it for now, our visas here run out on the 12th so we will be heading to Loas right away.... more adventures on the way. Unfortunately I can't give anymore pictures because when we were snorkelling my 'underwater' camera got wrecked :(... That was really sad. Anways, bye for now!

Chels.

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