Island Hopping

And here’s my last Thailand post. I wrote it on one of our last days on the beach in Koh Lanta.

Today was an amazing and beautiful day. Jami and I woke up early, ate breakfast, and waited in the sand on the hotel’s beach for our adventure boat to pick us up. Carrying our things, we waded into the water and boarded a large size speed boat carrying about thirty other people from various countries (mostly European). From there we picked up about two other couples farther down the island and then began our island hopping adventure

The first off-island spot we stopped at to snorkel was beautiful and nearly deserted. The area was so empty of people that Jami and I joked that we really hoped they counted the people when everyone got back on the boat (They did). The fish here were beautiful. I would have killed to have an under water camera, because I imagine I’ll never see anything like it for a while (a short while I hope). We saw colorful fish like Dora from Nemo, we saw rainbow fish, we saw tiger fish, and we saw bright purple coral the likes of which I didn’t know existed.

Next, we jetted off to a beautiful tiny island with a towering cave carved into the side of its tall cliffs. This place was nuts. The shallow water area next to the cliffs extended about ten meters from the edge of the tall island and and then plunged about a hundred feet or more. It was crazy and I must have been too relaxed to be nervous, because usually that stuff gets to me.

Here, there was a large abundance of fish and coral. You would be swimming around and next thing you new you were in the middle of a huge school of brightly colored fish. They would swarm all around you and come inches from running into your mask. It was nuts and crazy fun.

Next we headed off to some island that was practically deserted for lunch. We ate like kings and then sat in the sand listening to the surf and people chatting in french for a few hours.

Lastly, we were off to another island that was full of surprises. It turned out to be an island cave that is beyond describing. I wish I could have taken my camera, but a flimsy plastic bag and some floating plastic thing between my new camera and blue Thailand water doesn’t cut it for me. Thus my words will have to suffice.

We hopped in the water along with the thirty other passengers and began to dutifully follow our leader into the cave. He had said multiple times that the cave was a hundred meters long, but apparently that just doesn’t compute in my American head because it seemed to stretch forever.

At first, Jami and I swam on thinking, “How beautiful!” and what not, until we realized the “flash light” our guide had said he’d bring was ridiculously small compared to the towering darknesss we were encountering the further we swam into the cave. At one point I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me. That was about the point Jami and I grabbed each others hands (despite the ensuing hinderance to our swimming ability) and started giggling to keep the fear at bay. It was about that point, that I wished I had gotten a life vest. Drowning due to being lost inside a cave is not the way I want to go.

But just as we’d been completely doused in darkness (despite the ridiculously small flash light the guide had brought from the boat), we began to see the reflection of light in front of us. One more turn around a small bend and there it was. This oasis hidden from all but those who had the guts to find it. Words don’t really describe how amazing this place was. It was a small beach, but big enough to hold our crew of about forty people without us feeling uncomfortably squished together. The sand was super fine, and beyond a short beach was a wild garden, small and untouched. It was beautiful and overgrown. And the entire place was surrounded by towering cliff walls preventing any other entrance.

Jami asked why everyone was so quiet. I prefer to think it was because everyone felt that we’d somehow stumbled upon the Garden of Eden, but it may have been the fact that every noise ricocheted across the cliff walls like a thousand bricks hitting you in the face when compared to the serenity of the place.

Of course time moved too fast, and eventually, we swam back through the cave (which was much less terrifying this time around), got back on the boat, and headed home.

As I write this I’m drinking a nice glass of wine, sitting in the fading warmth of the day, and watching the first act of a sunset. They are seriously going to have to set the border police on me.

Back on the boat after snorkeling

Our island lunch view

The cave entrance

Our Lodgings!

Here are some pictures of Mai Siam, where we stayed in Chiang Mai. We loved every second of it.

Our Little Room

The Hammock Outside Our Room

The Garden

The View From Our Room

Our Room

And Here are pictures of Andalay Boutique Resort, our favorite place in Koh Lanta!

Dinner and Drinks On the Beach

Our Last Sunset at Andalay!

Annana is French for Pineapple

The food in Thailand was amazing! Jami and I were quite depressed being forced to return to Chinese food after the awesomeness we encountered on our travels. I wrote this one bit after eating, apparently, the world’s best mango:

I just ate the worlds most amazing mango. It is literally the single greatest thing I have ever eaten in my life. Everything I ever eat from here on out will pale in comparison to this mango. I may have to stop eating completely just to stave off the depression of facing life post this mango.

I also encountered the first situation in which learning french in high school actually paid off. Jami and I were having dinner at the resort we were staying at in Chiang Mai and the cook asked us what fruit we wanted for desert. Of course we said mango, and then she asked if we wanted some Annana. Jami and I were a little baffled as to what that was, until I remembered, “Hey! Annana is French for pineapple.” And there you have it. Four of years of French class.

Here are some pictures of the food we ate:

Our first lunch at Mai Siam!

An amazing mango margarita we found.

Pad Thai! I ate this pretty much any place I could.!

Fresh Coconut Juice!

Jami and I were obsessed with these onion rings

Elefanten

Here’s a little blurb I wrote a while back about our elephant excursion in Thailand:

Our elephant for the day

As I write this I am looking pretty rough. Today, Jami and I were taught how to ride elephants. And while I did fall down and gash my hand while walking to the car, somehow I managed not to fall the nine feet to the ground off of our elephant.

I’m not really sure if I really thought through exactly what riding an elephant entailed. The first time I was hauling myself up the leg of this two thousand pound beast, my mind immediately flashed to a picture of me falling head first to the ground while two short Thai men looked on in horror. After that super fun thought, I was taught three different ways to climb up an elephant, all of which are super graceful and I managed to execute perfectly. Then we were taught how to “drive” her if one can really ever “drive” an elephant you just met. It was all very difficult and more work than I bargained for, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

After being taught how to control her with words and leg movements, we were set off on a little excursion around the area which was quite beautiful even when not viewed from the top of an elephant. Lucky for us, we had an Thai elephant handler sent off with us because Jami and I were less than fully qualified for the task of driving an elephant around. The things this elephant could do were pretty impressive, but being on it’s back as it climbed down river embankments took a little getting used to. We wandered through a river and then made it to a hay stack on top of which our little Thai guide decided he’d sit down and smoke about five cigarettes. Apparently elephants need to pretty much constantly eat, which I suppose makes sense since they are so large and hay, grass, and bananas probably do not pack the same calorie punch as Big Mac.

After that, we made it back down to the river and gave her a bath. It was fun and nice refreshing way to end the afternoon. Jami and I were both really happy that we had done this particular elephant trip and pretty much had our own private experience.

Our first elephant experience was awesome! We went home and rested because we the next day we had an all day adventure. Here’s what I remember:

The next day, we got up early for another excursion which included a car full of cute towheaded German children saying “elefanten” all day, an orchid/butterfly farm, a short jungle hike, a tribal village visit, and another elephant ride. After having been in charge of the elephant the previous afternoon, Jami and I were glad we could sit in some chairs for this ride and have someone else do all the hard work. After the second elephant ride, our day still wasn’t over. We did another short hike, visited a waterfall, went white water rafting, and were abandoned on a bamboo raft with three strangers and Jami left holding the pole to control our boat down river. I’m not going to lie, the last part was just about the best thing that ever happened. Good thing the other people were super friendly and the water was only about two feet deep. And by the way, Jami could totally have a side career in bamboo raft driving if she wanted. If only we’d gotten a picture.

Feeding the elephant!

Our Jungle Hike!

The Orchid Farm!

Some of the scenery

Me atop one of the elefanten!

That was me making my way across these planks a few moments before.

Our second journey on top of one of the elefanten!

Journey's end after white water rafting and Captain Jami guiding us on a bamboo raft down the river!

I finally got around to blogging about Thailand…

Ok. So I’ve sworn to myself that I will get my Thailand posts out by the end of this following weekend. They may be a little confusing because I wrote them while I was actually on the trip two months ago, but I wanted to go back and edit or add to each one. Here is the first of several:

So Jami and I have made it to Thailand! When we got to the airport in Shanghai the lady at the ticket counter took one look at us and apparently thought we needed as much help as we could get in our effort to get all the way to Bangkok. She gave us “transfer” stickers and informed us that we needed to place these stickers somewhere extremely visible on our clothes as soon as we landed In Guangzhou, where we had to transfer planes. Apparently, these “retard” stickers were supposed to indicate to Guangzhou airport workers that we would be in need of some “assistance” in our transferring efforts.

Jami and I looked at each other and were both immediately aware that we had been categorized as two stupid “wai guo ren*” who were going to be lucky if they ever managed to make even their first flight, let alone see the sun shining over Thailand.

But somehow despite sitting next to someone throwing up immediately after take off and walking two miles through the labyrinthine Guangzhou airport, we made it on to our plane to Bangkok.

This was about the point I began to realize, that while we had meticulously planned every other leg of our trip, we were counting on some really good dumb luck to get us to Chiang Mai by the following morning. But, I really did figure we had already hit every possible speed bump in getting this trip off the ground (most of which is too boring to recount), and we were due a good heaping dose of easy travels.

But sitting on the Tarmac in Guangzhou, I began to see our window of time to get to the train station in Bangkok narrow and narrow. On top of that, we forgot to check the time difference situation. And then, when we got to Bangkok after a seemingly endless flight, we encountered the madness that is Thai customs. I’m pretty sure the line barely inched forward every five minutes.

By the time we got through customs, exchanged our money, reached the conclusion that all other people suck, retrieved our luggage, called the train station, and hopped in a cab, we had two hours to get to the train. When I called the lady at the train station, she said they had 14 second class recliners left, so I new we had to bust our butts to get one of those tickets or face fourteen hours in third class with no air-conditioning. And that was only if those hadn’t sold out too.

When we got to the train station, I forced Jami to run to the ticket counter as I threw money at the cabbie. Good thing we hustled, because I’m pretty sure we got the last second class seats. We ran into another bleary eyed traveler as we were boarding the train who had arrived very shortly after us and had been relegated to third class.

By the time we got on the train, we had been traveling for thirteen hours. Needless to say, we cracked open a couple beers and probably said “Thailand!!!!” about a million times.

As I write this, I’m sitting on a train that left Bangkok at ten last night. It’s 11 a.m., and we still have another hour and forty five minutes to Chiang Mai. It took a while, but I’m looking out the window at beautiful clear sky-ed thailand. Jami and I are both still proudly wearing our “retard” stickers, and I’m pretty sure they brought with them some well deserved luck.

I’ll try to update the blog again while I’m here if I can and expect lots of pictures when I get back to Shanghai!

And it was all worth it because this was the light at the end of our tunnel.

*Mandarin for “foreigners”

I’m Back!

Hey! I’m back in Shanghai! I miss Thailand, but am certainly glad to be back so I can welcome my Mom and Dad into the city tomorrow! I have tons of Thailand stories and pictures, but I probably won’t have time to upload them until I get back from a family trip to Hong Kong. Hopefully, this picture will tide you over until my return ( You better believe I took that.). Hope you had a Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit!