Island Hopping

---

So it has been about a week or so since I got on this thing, I figured it was about time to sit down and do some summarizing. After the last entry, we took a crazy series of buses and taxis from the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia up through the border crossing into southern thailand with hopes of making it to a beach. We ended up getting in to Thailand around midnight, and stayed in the worst hotel room I've ever payed for in the small town of Hat Yai. Hat yai is absolutely missable. I won't waste any more space going in to detail about it, let's just say I was not a fan. The next day we woke up and took a 5 1/2 hour bus over to the city of Krabi, basically the jumping-off point for most of the islands in the Andaman sea, a small gulf in the Indian ocean. We then boarded an extremely over-booked ferry to the small island of Ko Phi Phi, which was a must-see on our original travel list of things to see. Ko Phi Phi was different than I expected, but mind-blowing nonethless. It is a very small island that is still in the recovering phase after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. It has two twin bays that meet in the middle and that is where most of the hotels are. In every other direction are enormous limeston cliffs that seem to jut straight up from the ocean floor. Sunsets there were pretty incredible-most nights we would all float around in the bay as the sun dipped behind the larger of the two karst formations in the bay, then gradually get out and force ourselves to go to dinner. It was here that we met up with our current group of friends-one guy from england, two from Oregon and another that I had just recently met in Steamboat. We stayed on the island for three days, not doing a whole lot, basically lounging on the beach during the day, a little bit of snorkeling, and a lot eating. I still can't seem to get enough of the local dishes, and the price is right! A typical meal of Pad Thai and a coke would be about 2.75 USD. Anyway, we all packed up after the third day to begin our slow journey across the mainland and over to the island of ko pha-ngan for the full moon party they become so famous for. After a short bus ride, a couple unplanned stops, then an overnight ferry, we arrived on ko pha-ngan at about 7:30 the following day, early enough to secure accomodation, which proved to be quite a hassle. The island is small as it is, but every month, about 2 days before the party, the island is flooded with anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 international travelers all coming to see it for themselves. It was what you would expect-really, really loud music and a beach packed to the brim with all sorts of people out seeking the ultimate party. I didn't expect a whole lot going in, but I must say it was a pretty incredible time. If you grew tired of techno, you would just walk 50 meters down, and they would have reggae, 50 meters more, hip hop, and so on and so on.
The next day was a tad bit miserable on the overloaded ferry over to ko tao, because it's pretty impossible to sleep when the entire island has their speakers up as loud as they can go. We found what we were looking for on Ko Tao, though-much quieter, calmer and more peaceful. We are staying in a cool little hotel that has working A/C (a huge thing here) and only a short walk down to the beach. I'm not sure how long we will be here, especially since Erin has injured her knee and doesn't appear to be fully mobile any time soon. We might have to make some adjustments to our grand plan, but we will see how she recovers as time goes on. I'm not that concerned, though-nothing wrong with being stuck on an island for a little while. I'll write again as things develop....

---

Comments

[Your Soul Aunt]

Swimming with Sharks?!?
Brian Mayfield! I never dreamed I'd hear you say you chose to get in the water with sharks. Sure it wasn't sunstroke? Life's good here in Idaho but it sounds great in Thailand. Enjoy and watch out for crazy tuk tuk drivers.