Tuk tuks!

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First of all let me say...I LOVE THAILAND!! It's by far the best place I've ever been in my whole life! (by the way sorry in advance if there are misspelling, I'm typing fast and on a thai keyboard)


So Thailand has been an adventure to say the least. It started out with a flight to Perth, then a flight to Malasia, 10 hours in the airport, and then another flight into Phuket. The good part is that I meet a brother and sister on the Phuket flight that were sooooo nice and took me right to my hostel! So first impressions...

1. Thailand is HOT! 2. People drive really crazy and most of them ride on scooters. 3. There is a lot of poverty

Second impressions...

1.Thailand is beautiful 2. It's really cheap 3. People are extremely nice

I don't know what I came to Thailand picturing, but it's not exactly what I thought. It's so humbling actually. Everyone is also extremely nice and honestly try to help you find your way even if they don't speak any English. It's so beautiful here, but so many people live such simple lives. It's something I've only really seen in movies, but I saw it firsthand when I went to Koh Sok on an Elephant Safari. We drove about 3 hours north east to the jungle. The drive was stunning! We drove through rubber plantations (a hug crop for Thailand, although the economy has affected people here as well and has driven prices down so many farmers are having difficulty surviving). Tourism, their other main income, is also down. Because it's low season too, there really aren't tourists roaming the streets, which is actually nice. Anyway, so on our way to Koh Sok, the scenery was beautiful! Trees, green, flowers...

We took a canoe ride through the jungle and saw giant cliffs and trees for miles. If you looked down in the water there were thousands of fish right at the surface swimming along. I also saw firsthand how many of the Thai people live. There were men fishing in the middle of the river with their hands. Women were washing clothes in the river, while they children played and got super excited to see us floating down. It's such a funny comparison because we were their in nice canoe rafts, while they had tied pieces of wood together to form some sort of a raft.

We stopped for some really great Thai lunch and then got to meet the elephants. They have a conservation center in Koh Sok where the take care of injured elephants and help breed them. Riding an elephant was definitely an experience I'll never forget. First of all let me just say that it's a bumpy ride. the mahouts are the keepers of the elephants and spend their lives with them. They are very close to them and ride on their heads guiding them through the jungle. I've never seen anywhere so green and peaceful. It was completely silent, except for the elephant's walking. It was actually a very sureal moment. I got to feed the elephant some snacks to thank him for my trek. Their noses are actually really hard and definitely strong!

Night was a funny experience. There was a huge storm and the power went out all over the island for about an hour. It was kind of funny because we were all sitting around wondering what to do and trying not to die of heat. Here when the lights go out, it's completely dark.

The next day, I went diving at Racha Yai Island. The water was beautiful and clear green. The cliffs rose directly out of the water and we dove around them. I got to see a lion fish and scorpion fish, which was cool. There were also a lot of tropical fish, but the best part was how warm the water was! It's the first place I haven't gotten cold while diving! Sounds great to me😊

So I'm dedicating this blog to Tuk tuks, the Thai idea of a taxi. They look like a tiny truck like thing, I don't really know how to describe it, but today was my first experience on one and it was a crazy ride for sure! They drive really fast, ignore all traffic laws (including red lights and lanes), and come extremely close to other cars/tuk tuks. I kind of feared for my life at first, but made it safe and sound...so no worries!

I got up early and took the ferry to Phi Phi Island. OH MY GOSH...BEAUTIFUL!!! It's like all those travel shows you've seen with the top beaches in the world...just like the pictures. It's the hottest place I've been yet and I was completely drenched from the hike up to my bungalow. I got a little hut on the mountain overlooking the town below, it's really cute and very basic. I thought I'd be scared sleeping in the forest by myself, but it was really calm and much cooler under the trees.

I went rock climbing in the afternoon. hahah that was a story. Since I've only done the little fake walls they have indoors, I was not prepared for the cliff I climbed here. I was with a young couple from Ireland (yes Laura we have to go because they were the coolest people I've ever met)! Our guide was off the wall crazy and weren't really sure when we were going to be climbing. We ended up walking to one of the cliffs overlooking the beach and laughed because we thought for sure we weren't climbing that, but oh yes we did. It was definitely scary and my arms and legs were shaking the whole way! I was the only one that made it to the top though and the view was the most awesome thing I've ever seen in my life! Crystal water, long boats, jungle, beaches, cliffs... It was great! I Irish couple and I ended up meeting for dinner and had fun talking about traveling. Turns out they're traveling for a whole year and going to Australia next!

I woke up the next day and did some shopping (gotta love cheap things). Then I walked on the beach for a bit. In the afternoon I went on a cruise to Phi Phi Leh Island, the little sister of Phi Phi Don where I am. It was awesome! We did some snorkeling that was out of this world. The coral was beautiful! Then we got to go to the beach where they filmed the movie "The Beach". The water was perfect and I met two girls from the States there who I went swimming with. On the way back to the big island we watched the sunset in the harbor. It was a perfect day.

Sadly I had to leave Phi Phi and go to Bangkok, which ended up taking 12 hours total because of the flight delay. Needless to say I was tired when I finally found my hostel (which was a bit of an experience). Today, I'm going to take a cooking class, so we'll see how that ends up.

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