Christmas and New years in Thailand

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Here ya go! Finally, an update! Sorry it took so long, but I'm a busy girl you know. Granted most of my business entails hanging out with friends alot of the time, but still.

Alright, first off I'll give you a bit of history. So back in the day when I was living in freezing cold Edmonton, my friend Ashley and I were talking about what our plans were for the next year. I was obviously thinking Korea and she was thinking Thailand to do some major traveling. Huh...wouldnt that be great if I could go to Thailand to meet her for Christmas and New Years? Yup, that sure would be amazing.

Well low and behold, I ended up in Korea and she ended up in Thailand. Christmas in Thailand with my best friend seemed like the perfect plan. So...with a few glitches of using my parents credit card to pay for it...such as fraud and getting an extra flight charged to the card...my flights were finally good to go. (Just so you know...I did pay my mom back for my flights in case you were thinking "wow Kim sure is spoiled")

Ok, so a few days before my flight I called Ashley just to finalize the plans of her meeting me in Phuket and then the next day taking the ferries to Ko Lanta to meet up with the boys. Well I'm talking to Ryan and he says plans have changed. Not too surprising since plans had changed quite a bit since we had started planning this. Turns out they all went caving a couple days before and Ashley being the lucky girl she is got hit in the head with a stalagmite. Do stalagmites really fall that often? No, I dont think so. But in any case, this particular stalagmite decided to drop and fall right onto Ashleys head and knock her down a crevice where she landed on her knee. Blood was everywhere and the boys had to carry her out of the cave and down a huge mountain and bring her to the hospital. She ended up with 5 stitches in the head and 8 in her knee rendering her able to walk about as fast as an 90 year old woman who is just about to undergo hip and knee replacement. Considering what had actually happened to her though, she was lucky that this was the extent of her injuries.

Alright, since Ashley was completely gimped, she was unable to meet me in Phuket. This means I would have to get a place in Phuket for the night and catch the ferries to Ko Lanta by myself and meet all of them there. No worries.

On the morning of my flight I left super early but ended up barely making my flight....and actually out of the 4 flights I took I was pretty much the last one on for every flight. Rush rush rush. Ah well, it all worked out.

I get to the airport in Phuket, take a rickety old bus with a driver who looks about 13 to supposedly a bus station in Phuket. The bus station looked more like a convenience store, but how the heck would I know. I'm standing outside looking kind of lost and a lady came up to me and asked where I was going. I told her the name of the place I was staying and she had no clue. Well I had no clue either. I told her the address and she kind of hinted at she may have an idea, but didnt really sound too convincing. She told me to get on the back of this guys motorbike and he would take me there for 100baht.

"Ok, so you want me to get on the back of this motorcycle with no helmet and let this random guy take me to this hostel where you really have no idea where it is...and I only have to pay 100 baht? Ok, sounds good." I hopped on and we were on our way.

Now he must have known the general idea of where my hostel was because we drove up and down the same 4 streets about 10 times each but still werent able to find it. After calling the place a few times we finally found it about an hour after we had left the so called bus station/convenience store. The rooms were really nice and the bed was comfy. I was pooped from my day of traveling so I just crashed.

The next morning a taxi came and picked me up to bring me to the pier where I had to catch the ferry. Thailand is much much easier to get around than in Korea. In Thailand they are set up for tourism so everyone and their dog spoke English, or so it seemed compared to Korea. Anyone could figure their way around Thailand no problem. Anyhow, I get on the boat and decide to sit on the top level to get some sun. Seriously, what was I thinking?!

Incredibly pale + no sunscreen + loads of sun = great tan?

Obviously that wasnt the case. How many times will it take of me burning myself to realize that sunscreen is my friend. I'm hoping the 3rd time's the charm.

Anyways, after sitting in the burning sun (literally) for 4 hours I was finally at Ko Lanta. I got off the boat expecting to see Ashley earerly awaiting my arrival but was instead greeted by no one. Actually, turned out they had just gone to the wrong pier so in a couple minutes I heard her yell my name and saw her limping towards me. After a few hugs and "Oh my God I'm so excited to see you!" and me saying "Holy eff Ashley, you are ridiculously dark!" with a twinge of jealousy in my voice as I look down and see I am completely red, we were on our way.

The place we were staying was just off the beach and was really nice. We had our own balcony, the bathroom was nice and we had airconditioning. We stayed at that place for 7 nights. It felt more like 4 nights. Time just flew by. The island we were on was really relaxing. It wasnt overrun with tourists and it was more of a place for families. Fine by me. We just chilled by the beach and hung out most of the time. Got a few massages on the beach for super cheap. Ate amazing food on the beach for super cheap and did tons of shopping for super cheap.

Christmas day we had our own little gift exchange with our christmas palm tree all decorated up. It was a really good time. One day we decided to do a boat tour of four islands. It was a beautiful day out and the snorkelling was really nice. We went to a beach for lunch and it was the nicest beach I have ever seen. I took some pictures, but unfortunately they didnt turn out so great. I think its a mix of my camera not being the greatest and me not really knowing how to use all the settings on my camera. Ah well, in my memory its an amazing beach, you just get to see the dull and not so spectactular version.

The 8 days on Ko Lanta absolutely flew by. We just did tons of low key hanging out just having a good time. I loved every second. Granted, I still want to do the whole traveling around SE Asia and not do the just hanging out on the beach, but for a holiday, this was just perfect.

December 30th we decided to go to Ko Phi Phi for New years. The island was packed with people and really made me appreciate being on Ko Lanta for so long. Lucky for us we found a place with a couple free rooms. Unlucky for Ashley, our rooms were practically at the top of a mountain. The rooms were nice, but nothing compared to what we had back on Ko Lanta. One minor, and my minor I mean actually kind of major issue we had with the rooms, was that out water didnt work. Well, it didnt necassarily not work, but it only worked at certain times and you really never knew when those certain times were or how long it would last. Usually we would turn on the tap to see if water was coming out. Sometimes it would be coming out full blast so we would get all excited and get ready for a shower. We'd turn on the shower and there would be nothing. I became a tad irritaded at this considering it was 35 degrees plus humidity and we had no air conditioning. All I wanted was a shower. Actually all I wanted was a shower and a toilet that worked. Yup, our toilet didnt work either. Number one only please and thankyou.

That night Ashley was feeling pretty tired so she went to bed. I went out with the boys and they decided to fight at one of the bars. This wasnt just a random bar fight though, this is something that the bar actually promotes. The bar was a wrestling ring in the middle of the bar and advertise for people to fight their friends. If they do, they get a free bucket of booze. Ah yes, how could anyone say no to that! All the guys got all suited up and fought. I was the designated camera woman to document it all. It was awesome. So much fun, and the crowd loved it.

The next night was New Years. We headed to the beach where there were loads of people. It was a great time! Ashley and I ended up leaving the beach a bit earlier than planned due to a bit too much fun I suppose you could say. It was a very interesting and hilarious walk home that night.

The next morning I had to get up and packed to catch the ferry back to Phuket. We got up at 11 and only 2 out of the 5 guys were back by this time. While I was getting ready 1 of them came back to the room. Sounded like he had a pretty interesting night, getting kicked out of a bar for streaking etc. As I was leaving the resort we ran into the 2 other guys. They had decided at 5am to rent a kayak and go see all the other islands around Ko Phi Phi. Maybe not the safest thing, but sounded like a heck of alot of fun.

By 1:30 I was on my way back to Korea. I was sad to leave but also a bit excited to come back. My flights and everything were fine. The only thing that wasnt so fine was that I got off the plane in sandals and a light jumper and went straight to work. Backpacks and all. 35 degrees to 0 degrees. Maybe I wasnt so excited to be back after all. The worst part was that the heater wasnt working at work so everyone, even the kids, were wearing their winter coats. There I was in sandals and a light jumper freezing to death. Ah well.

Since I've been back I've been go go go. Eamonn, Aidan and I decided to go evening snowboarding last Saturday night. It was so much fun. Eamonn and Aidan are both from Ireland so they hadnt really done much in snow other than just see it now and again. Aidan had been skiiing once of twice and Eamonn was a complete virgin to skiing and snowboarding. I had only been snowboarding once, but its amazing how much one time can make a difference. It was one of the best times I've had in Korea. So funny watching Eamonn come down the hill backwards at a snails pace and still manage to fall every few seconds. On Sunday me and the Irish boys decided to go to the horse races in Seoul. It was really fun. The Koreans seem to take it really seriously though. Aidan was one lucky guy though. He picked a horse to bet on "because it looked good" and he ended up winning $75 off $2 on that race. Turned out to be a great weekend.

Next weekend we're planning to do some more snowboarding and also some ice fishing. Should be good times.

Hope you're all doing great!

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Photos

Ferry ride to see Ash
Where I got my burn

Gift exchange
Home made beer bong