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Published: August 14th 2007
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Phuket View
View from the top of the mountains on the motorcycle ride So i've been island hopping for the past three weekends, which has been crazy and amazing. Kimmy, Candida and I went to Phuket and the Phi Phi islands for the last couple days of kimmy's visit. A friend of my dad's from sailing lives there and let us stay with him in his awesome bungalow house. He helped us out with a motorcycle and gave us ideas on where to go which was awesome to have a local's perspective. We kicked it at the beach called Kata Noi the first day which was really pretty in a cove. Dave took us out for a tour of the island the next day. Phuket is huge and definitely beautiful in a lot of parts, but a little disappointing because its so touristy and the beaches are so dirty because of it. We went out with a couple of my friends who are teachers down in Phuket and spent the night partying in Patong, which is the touristy area. I've decided i'm not going to go to those places in Thailand anymore. Seeing so much of the sex industry and katooeys (ladyboy) prostitutes always makes me really depressed with a bad feeling about thai
Dinner at the beach in Phuket
Awesome sunset as we ate fried fish on mats on the beach culture. Thinking about it though I realized its like coming to New York and only spending your time in strip clubs on Broadway. I think there is a way to avoid that aspect of Thailand, which is the gameplan from here on out.
We took a ferry ride over to Phi Phi islands on the fourth day, which are the islands where the beach was filmed. We met a guy and two girls on the ferry who we ended up hitting it off with and spending the next two days together. We all lounged in the sun sailing to the islands. Really strange and unusual: I saw a dead body in the water. Yeah, i thought it was weird too. All the sudden I look out and see a bloated stomach and arms and legs then everyone on the boat starts yelling. We told the captain and he said it was "just a fisherman." Definitely not the red alert 911 response we were expecting!
So off to that random start we got to Phi Phi which is honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's two giant limestone rock formations in the middle of
the ocean with little beaches on the perimeter. You take long boats in between the beaches. We had an awesome two days and a night hanging out. Definitely a "sweet jesus I can't believe this is my life" kind of trip!
The next weekend I met up with a friend of a friend from SF in Koh Chang. We spent the weekend in bungalows on the beach. The island was really beautiful and relaxing. It's the second biggest island after Phuket but a totally different preserved feel to it. I spent most of the time laying in a hammock during the day and watching fire dancers on the beach at night.
Last weekend was a three day weekend, so I took an overnight bus to meet Candida at Koh Tao, which is a scuba diving paradise. I met a girl named Rachel on the way over and we go to the bungalows after a 10 hr bus and 2 hr ferry ride on Saturday morning. Candida had picked herself up a friend named Lindsay so the four of us spent the weekend together. Koh Tao is far and away my favorite place in Thailand so far if not
the world. I immediately fell in love with it. It is making me rethink my decision about leaving Thailand after this semester. I'm thinking I really might want to move there now. It had the most incredible feel to the island. Everyone was really laidback and friendly. We took kayaks out to an outer island of limestone cliffs where we went swimming in seas of fish and walked around the cliffs on shaky wooden bridges. We went out at night and the bars are all on the beach with fire dancers and music. I never realized there was such a scuba bum culture, like a ski bum culture, but there are definitely seasoned professionals there. I spent the next two days on the beach while the girls dove because I forgot my license. I had a massage on the beach to the sound of the lapping waves and pretty much wore a shit eating grin from the moment I arrived to the moment I left. Love Love Love that place.
Jessica is coming for two weeks in October! I am so excited. We are going to do Cambodia, Vietnam and the Full Moon Party. Amazing.
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Sasha
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Wow
You definitely need to write a book about your adventures! Makes me want to buy a ticket and come to Thailand tomorrow...don't think your mom would be too happy about that though. =) Can't wait for the next entry!