Koh Phi Phi

Koh Phi Phi is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life. I still think the beach on Boracay Island, Philippines, is the winning beach, but Phi Phi (pronounced fee fee) takes the cake for island beauty. Its karst topography resembles Halong Bay in Vietnam, but when sticking out of the middle of crystal clear, aqua blue waters instead of green…it wins again. The water, the palm trees, the hills, the bay, the beach – KPP has it all. I actually hadn’t been planning to visit any of the islands in Thailand on this trip, but when the girls, who were flying out of Phuket a few days after Bangkok, decided they wanted to return to Phi Phi, I made a split decision to tag along with them, even though I only had two days to do it before catching my train to Malaysia. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

So, we took our final overnight bus journey from Bangkok to Phuket, during which I watched 'The Beach', with Leonardo DiCaprio, on my computer. I hadn’t seen it before, but I knew it had been filmed on the island Koh Phi Phi Ley, which is only a km or so from Koh Phi Phi Don, where we were headed. Ley is actually a national park, so no one is allowed to stay there other than campers, but it’s popular to take boat trips over to Maya Bay, where The Beach was filmed. The girls said it was a pretty overrun touristy boat trip, however, so when someone pointed out the TINY little white strip that you could see as we passed KPP Ley on the ferry and said that was Maya Bay, I decided that was good enough for me. But I’m getting ahead - the movie definitely got me excited for the island, and I had no idea how beautiful it would actually be in person.

In the morning we crossed the tiny little land bridge connecting the island of Phuket to Thailand, and then it was just a short journey south to the ferry terminal. We bought our tickets and boarded the two hour ferry to the island. We took advantage of the ride to sunbathe and meet other travelers. It was a perfect, sunny day out and the water was a deep, intense blue, which only heightened as we got closer to the island. We turned the corner around the rocks and…there it was.

The little town was adorable – dive shops, souvenier stalls, guesthouses, and restaurants. We stayed in a dorm room hostel for about ten dollars, a place the girls already knew about. Did you notice the almost triple jump in price from the place Sara and I stayed in Koh Chang? The price of tourism to pay. After dumping our stuff we – what else? - hit the beach.

I won’t torture you back in MN and WI right now with more description – just know we had a fantastic beach day, which led into a fun night out, both bar hopping and on the beach, where fire dancers and all night DJs lit up the night all the way into the early morning.

The next day I had to go. That sucks, I know, but I still had most of the day to enjoy the beach and hanging out with the girls. I had debated staying one more night but it would sacrifice one day of Malaysia, which had already been shortened as it was, and I knew it was time to move on. I said goodbye to the girls, who turned into wonderful travel buddies and friends since the day we met in Vietnam. We’re now discussing the possibility of doing South America together – I already have my ticket, so it’s just a matter of them deciding to come along.

With that, I left them in probably the best place you could ever say goodbye, picked up my stuff, and set off for the ferry pier. I was on my own again, and now I had a little over five weeks left of my trip. I spent the ferry, which I took to Krabie, not Phuket, just sitting, listening to music, and watching the sunset over the water, thinking about all I had done and seen. It was still just a little too far away to start thinking about home, but still too sad to think about Korea because I missed it so much. I had plenty of recent memories to start thinking about instead. However, I was now over halfway through my dream trip – I only hoped I was appreciating it enough as it passed by like lightning speed.

Goodbye Thailand!

One Night in Bangkok

One Night in Bangkok.

Everything is bright in Bangkok. Whether the shiny mosaics on the temple and palace walls, the cheap trinkets and souvenirs on the tourist haven of Khao San Road, or the endless neon signs that come out at night - Bangkok is meant to be seen, no matter what you do there.

We arrived in Bangkok after yet another thrilling overnight bus trip, and had approximately 36 hours in the city until we had to go catch the next one to Phuket. I'd say we made the most of it.

Cecelia and Jen had already been in Bangkok for a couple of days, so I let them lead the way and show me how to get into the city from the bus station. We arrived on Khao San Road, the Itaewon of Thailand (the main touristy Korean shopping street that caters to Western tourists more than anything else.) Also doubles as Party Central for backpackers and foreigners. We stayed in a a cheap dorm room right off of KSR for about six dollars a night. As soon as we dumped our bags we formulated our plan. I wanted to see the National Museum and the Royal Palace, Jen wanted to see the Royal Palace and Chinatown, and Cecelia, who had already done the Palace, wanted to go shopping in Chinatown. Solution? Jen and I would go to the Royal Palace and meet Ceci in the afternoon, and I would do the National Museum the next day while the girls shopped.

So, we all walked towards the river together, where Ceci could catch a boat ferry (cheaper than a taxi!) to Chinatown and Jen and I could walk to the Palace. Turns out KSR is quite close to the heart of old Bangkok, which was actually only founded as a major capital city in 1785, just a little after the formation of the United States of America. However, Thai culture had been around for centuries before Bangkok – the location was all that had changed.

So, everything is old Bangkok was centered around the river – Chinatown, the Palace, the major temple complexes, and the merchant streets. I learned all of this at the museum the next day, so I’ll save the history for a bit later. Jen and I enjoyed the Royal Palace, which, as in all Asian countries, actually means ‘complex of pretty buildings, none of which are large or significant enough to constitute as a palace.’ But, it was where the king and his family had hung out, so I guess it constituted as royal. It was definitely impressive – huge, tall, glittering buildings embellished with glass mosaics, gold leaf, and semiprecious stones. We enjoyed walking around, admiring, and taking pictures among all the tourists doing the same thing.

However, it was super hot out, and neither of us had slept very well on the overnight bus – we knew we had a night out ahead of us, so we decided to save Chinatown for the next day, skipped out on the other temple we were supposed to see, and headed back to Khao San Road. We had lunch and then relocated to a coffee shop, where we could chill, do research for our next destination, catch up on e-mails, and relax. Once again, I was reminded of the importance of taking chill days – it’s hard to do while traveling, because it’s easy to feel guilty for not sightseeing in a new place, but extremely necessary.

So, refreshed and ready to go, we all regrouped at the hostel in the evening, showered and got ready, then took a taxi across town to the Banyan Hotel, a much-too-fancy place for our grubby selves (good thing we cleaned up well) with the intention to have a rooftop drink at Vertigo, an open-air restaurant on the 59^th floor, for panoramic views of the city.

Due to traffic we missed the actual sunset, but we were able to see the city light up as dusk fell. Our drinks were ridiculously expensive, but fun to splurge on as we enjoyed the perfect weather in the perfect setting for our night. From there, it was back to Khao San Road, where we met up with a friend of mine from Korea, living there now, and we all had a ton of fun eating, drinking, and hanging out with other travelers we met along the way. That's all you need to know about that night. 

The next day we were a bit slow moving, and I went through some frustrations trying to get a train/flight booked for the next leg of my trip. I had to remind myself to be patient, and that I was lucky to be able to be booking flights from my computer in my hostel at all – things I worry I take for granted too much sometimes. After two hours of Internet reloading and a Skype call I was all set, and had about five hours to explore Bangkok on my own while the girls went shopping in Chinatown.

So, I walked myself back past the palace complex and visited Wat Pho, a beautiful temple grounds that Jen recommended I see. I have no idea of the significance of these funny looking things poking out of the ground, but I know they were really pretty and all over the place! Wat Pho’s major claim to fame is the Reclining Buddha, a massive gold structure about 46 meters long. It was just as I finished snapping my pics that the rain started, so I had to exit quickly to get to the Museum before it down-poured  The nice thing about traveling in the rainy season is that you kind of expect the afternoon rains, so if you plan accordingly you can do all your indoor stuff while it rains, and do all the picture/outdoor stuff in the morning while it’s sunny. Worked for me, at least.

Cheap Pad Thai - a must in Bangkok.

The National Museum was really impressive – held in the former Royal Palace, so it was huge, and held so many artifacts I didn’t even have time to see all the rooms. I spent most of my time in the history wing, reading about the development of Thailand and its people, taking notes along the way (yes, I’m one of those people). Basically the Thai people, who most likely migrated from southern China, have inhabited the area since the early millenium, and rose to become one of the most powerful empires in the land. Its most powerful era was the Ayutthaya period, which rose to dominate the neighboring Khmer (Cambodian) empire around the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and fought incessantly with the Burmese to their left. Thailand is the one country in Southeast Asia to never have been colonized, a fact they are fiercely proud of, and should be. When the French started their formation of Indochina, they left Thailand alone as a buffer state from Britain, who was encroaching upon Indochina from the West through India and Burma. To avoid fighting the British, and vice versa, they decided to leave Thailand as neutral grounds, though Thailand had to make nice with both countries to avoid getting taken over.

Today, Thailand is doing pretty well for itself – the Chakri dynasty, founded in 1782 along with the foundation of Bangkok – is on its ninth King Rama. If you don’t know what King Rama IX looks like, go to Thailand and walk around just about any major city or even inside any formal building and you should see him, dressed in his royal splendor, alongside his wife in a picture on the wall. No joke. They love their king, and it is borderline criminal punishment worthy to speak badly about the king in public.

So, after attempting to leave the Museum, being dumped on by the rain (it was just waiting for me to leave safe shelter), and running back to chill in the café for a half hour, I was done with Bangkok, for the time being. As always, I’m glad I came and saw a little bit of it, as it is better than nothing at all. 

Last stop in Thailand: Koh Phi Phi! 

Koh Chang, Thailand

A few weeks ago I met my wonderful friend Sara in Thailand for a week of beach and relaxation. We planned the trip months ago, for the purpose of both celebrating both the end of our two fantastic years together in Korea, and the beginning of our dream years of 'freedom.' Both of us will be traveling, spending time at home, volunteering, and just plain enjoying life until next September, when reality will give us a good kick in the face and we'll have to get back to being proper citizens. But for now, we were going to Thailand with no worries.

We both had rough transit trips coming into Bangkok, so we were pretty zombied by the time we met up at the terminal at 7:30 in the morning. We were happy to see each other, after a couple of weeks apart, even if all we could manage were a couple 'hey.'s. We were also incredibly impatient for the five hour bus journey to the ferry port, but we calmed down once the island was actually in sight.

Koh Chang, which translates to Elephant Island, is a small island off Thailand's southeastern coast, very close to the Cambodian border. As of right now, it remains pretty quiet, but one of the beaches has already become pretty commercialized and we're guessing in a few years the rest of it will be too.

Our destination was Lonely Beach, which a couple of years ago was next to nothing, and now has about a dozen guesthouses, restaurants, and bars to choose from, either right on the beach or on a little dirt road off the main road (the entire island only has one road going around the perimeter).

So, bags in hand, our teeth rattling a bit from the bumpy ride to Lonely Beach in the back of a pickup truck, we set off down the dirt road in pursuit of what we had been thinking about and posting on each other's Facebook walls for months: a beach hut.

We were in luck, as during the low season there were plenty of rooms to spare, and for about two dollars each we had ourselves a hut. Unfortunately, the low season was due to the humid temperatures and rainy season, so our first few days there we mostly stayed under the shelter of the main open air lounge area: this wasn't too difficult to enjoy, as you can see.

At first it was difficult for both of us to just sit still and lounge, without a multitude of tasks to worry about, as we usually kept ourselves pretty busy in Korea. But then we figured that if it was sunny, we would just be laying on the beach anyways, so it was okay for is to just lay around when it was raining out too. When pockets of non rain would appear we ventured down to the beach. Perfection.

We soon fell into a rhythm of sleeping in, waking up and having coffee, muesli, and fresh tropical fruit (something I think every backpacker succumbs to in southeast Asia at some point or another- that or banana pancakes) and then reading or hanging out until it was time for the next meal or the next fruit shake. We both ate pad Thai every day, with no question or hesitation. Our evenings were spent enjoying the sunset, usually with a Chang beer in hand, then heading to whichever one of the beach barbecue parties was going on that night.

We made some local friends, and found that traveling in the low season yielded many restaurant an bar owners to pay you lots of attention in between their own rainy season lifestyles of sitting around and passing the day by with their friends and families at their establishments.








Lucky for us, after three days of rain we finally got a break and woke up to partly sunny skies! Determined not to get sunburned (we're getting older and wiser) we slathered on some coconut sunscreen and basked in the sun, alternating laying with dips in the warm turquoise waters.

Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that cheap Thai brand sunscreen was not to be trusted (again, getting wiser.) We paid for our time in the sun with a pair of nasty sunburns, so the following day, our last full day on the island, was another 'indoor' day.

However, we had some new housekeeping tasks the last couple of days as we had moved from the little jungle street huts to huts right in the beach for about 4 dollars a night. The showers were questionable, but what could beat waking up to this view?

We had some good sunset moments, usually talking about our future plans and how lucky we were to be doing what we were doing. There are sacrifices, to be sure, but we decided we were willing to make those sacrifices to see the world and see what good we could do in it.

And as we both took off early on our last morning- me to Cambodia, Sara to Tanzania- we had to say our goodbyes for three months, the longest we've been apart for over two years. We agreed that a week of no worries in Thailand had been the best way to begin our  'years' and the most appropriate location for us to say goodbye, go our separate ways, and began living our dreams.