Flight Attendant - Care for anything to drink?
Me - ginger ale please
Fast forward 5 seconds...
Becca - I think she just poured gin in your cup
Me - really? ::sip:: oh shit she just gave me a gin and tonic... umm alright
Vanessa & Becca - we'll have the same
...and that's how it all started. I don't even know where to begin to talk about Thailand. Everything about the trip was incredible. The people, the food, the sites, the perspective I've gained on traveling and my surroundings have all been overwhelming.
Day 1 - We arrived in Bangkok around 2pm to Khaosan Road aka backpacker's central. We stayed at the Rikka Inn. It was such a cute boutique style hotel for about $12 a person. After we dropped off our bags we went straight for a drink and ordered the most delicious coconut smoothie ever. Later that day we hopped on our first tuk tuk and went for a spin around the city. We ended up seeing a handful of local temples. The night ended with buckets of alcohol being introduced to us as a drink option and a thai massage for $5.
Day 2 - Met up with Charis & Caroline and off we went for a Bangkok adventure. We took a motor boat through the canals of Bangkok, saw Wat Pho also known as the Reclining Buddha and ate more coconuts. Then we hired a mini van driver to take us to Ayuthaya, a neighboring city about an hour and a half away. Ayuthaya used to be one of the richest cities in Asia until it destroyed by the Burmese army in the 1760's. The ruins in Ayuthaya were beautiful. We got there rather late but the sunset backdrop illuminated the city and was absolutely breath taking.
Day 3 - We got picked up by another mini van from our hotel and made our way up to Kanchanaburi, a city about 3 hours North West of Bangkok. We ended up staying on a floating house on a river. It was great. They provided lunch & dinner both days and we were able to swim in the river.We visited the bridge along a railroad that connects Thailand to Burma.
Day 4 - Woke up early and off we went to go bathing with the elephants. It was so surreal. The truck pulled up to the river and there they were, 5 elephants hangin out in the water. The elephant keeper (I guess that's what he's called??) kept making our elephant go under water and throwing us off. After swimming with the elephants we got back to the river house, ate dinner and went on a relaxing bamboo raft down the river. After that we showered up and went on an hour trek with the elephants again through the jungle. After lunch we took a mini van back to Bangkok, arrived in Bangkok at 7pm and caught a 8pm bus down south to Surat Thani.
Day 5 - 10 hours later on a "VIP charter bus" we arrive in Surat Thani and take an hour ferry across to Ko Samui and make our way to the Silver Beach Resort. It was heaven. We had our own small private beach with no more than 30 people on the beach at a time. The water was clear and warm and rather shallow. We could literally go out for 1/5 mile and still be able to touch the bottom. Before we got to Thailand we were marinating on the possibility of going to the Full Moon party in Ko Phangnan, a neighboring island but didn't decide until the day of. 9pm rolled around and we all went for it. We got picked up by another mini van and shuttled to a near by pick up stop. Foreigners were lined up by the dozens waiting to board a random speed boat that would take us across to the other island. It was raining like crazy that night. We hopped on the speed boat, thunder & lightning storm and all and 25mins later we zoomed across, more like flew across, the ocean and made it to the Full Moon party. The concept of shipping foreigners across to another island to basically get fucked up and wasted was crazy. They were serving drinks by the bucket... literally. Your only option for a drink was a perfectly measured combination of liquor, red bull and some other mixer served in a small plastic bucket with a handle and a handful of straws. It sounds fun and all but when you're done, you some how have to find your way back home on the speed boat, on a mini van to your hotel and into your room. By the next day we decided it was no longer called the Full Moon party and officially THE SHIT SHOW. Going to that party was the best and worst decision we all made.
Day 6 - We took it easy the next day since TSS didn't settle so well. We sipped on coconuts, attempted to eat pad thai and got a $7 coconut oil massage on the beach.
Day 7 - This was definitely my favorite day on the island. We got picked up by yet another mini van and took a speed boat to Anthong National Marine Park. On the way there we took a small detour and were dumped off by a small island to snorkel which was quite possibly one of the funniest experiences on the trip. Becca kept yelling "ouch! ouch!" every other minute and I thought she was just being dramatic. By the time we got back on the boat her feet had been cut up by the rocks below us. After snorkeling we finally made it to the national park and kayaked around the cluster of islands that surrounded us.
Day 8 - Check out time was supposed to be at 11:30am but one of the cleaning ladies walked up to our room around 10am yelling "Get out! Get out now! Time to leave!" It was the best wake up call ever. We hopped on another mini van, took a ferry back to Surat Thani and took an overnight bus to Bangkok.
Day 9 - 5am we arrive at Bangkok and head straight to the airport for another 10 hours of traveling to Hong Kong then to S. Korea.
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