What a start to my island hopping adventure. After going to bed this morning at 5am (not by choice) I was awoken to the sounds of horrendous snoring in the other room where I was staying. You see, my friend Andy whom I did my TEFL course with 9 months ago in Cambodia kindly offered me to crash at her place in Phuket. I figured a free place to stay is always a good place to stay (unless you’ve read my Bali blog – we all learned that was a TERRIBLE experience)!
Anyway, July 10th I set off on my island hopping adventure. First stop: Phuket. I hadn’t seen Andy since we went our separate ways in Thailand back in October and it was really good to see a familiar face again. After taking the freakiest cab ride of my life from the airport to Andy’s neighborhood, Andy came to pick me up on her scooter since the taxi man had NO clue where to go (come on dude, your one job is to take people to their destinations, shouldn’t you atleast kinda know where things are before agreeing to take them?) Anyway, we spent the next few hours catching up and reminiscing about what we've learned and how far we have come since we left the States in September. That night Andy was hosting a party with her neighbor for some going away party. Since I was staying there I had no other choice then to attend, so there I was with about 20 complete strangers (15 of which were this HUGE bloaks in town doing Muay Thai training – seriously, never seen so many HUGE men in my life – it was kinda creepy) making small talk and having a good time. Just as I thought the party was winding down and I was ready to climb into bed, I was informed a taxi was there to pick us up…really? Again, not wanting to be the party pooper I rallied and joined the group. By the way, by taxi I meant pick-up truck. Picture this…10 of us (remember 8 of which were some of these HUGE men) squished into the back of the truck for our 45 min drive to Patong – a total sketch, sex tourist hang out in Phuket. Only in Thailand. I wish I could say what I saw shocked me, but nothing really does anymore. After being here for nearly a year, old fat farang men with tiny, young Thai women don’t even phase me, neither do the HOT katoys (lady boys). It’s a totally different world out here! Against my will I was forced to stay out until the wee hours of the night (or should I say morning) and trust me, it was anything but fun. Being one of the only sober people in the entire town was not exactly what I had in mind for my first night of vacation. Did I mention one of the girls I was with was showing off her muay thai moves while we stood in line for a club and as she stepped back she happened to rip off half of my big toe nail – OUCH doesn’t even begin to explain the pain I felt. Awesome. In pain and totally exhausted from my last week of school, all I wanted was a bed. After way too many hours I was finally able to convince the group to go home (at 4am) and I caught some much needed shut eye. Unfortunately that shut eye only lasted a few hours b/c I was awoken by the 15 snoring giants in the living room. I walked out and felt like I had walked into some strange ogar film. Knowing I would not be going back to sleep any time soon I decided to pack my bags and try to wake my friend to take me to the bus station and head to my next destination: Krabi.
Andy was dead to the world so I hung out in her roommates room until I heard the giants stir. I pounced at the opportunity to hitch a ride on the back of one of their motorbikes and was off to the bus terminal. Unfortunately along the way we got caught in an insane rain storm – gotta love monsoon season! We stopped at 7-11 to grab some ponchos, but apparently these are hot commodities as they were all sold out. I did manage to snag some plastic bags to wrap my laptop in. There I was, huge backpack on my back, a plastic wrapped laptop on my lap, my dive bag strung across my chest, holding on for dear life to an enormous man making my way to Krabi. What a sight.
At the bus station, I met up with some girls I met in Bangkok a few weeks ago through my dear friend Ms. Bowen and we set off on our 3 hour journey. I've always said I wouldn’t make a fun road trip buddy b/c I fall asleep anywhere and as you can imagine I was fast asleep before we even pulled onto the main road due to my lack of sleep the night before. My sleep depravation paid off though as I slept the entire way.
We were dropped off in what we thought was Ao Nang, but soon found out we were in Krabi town – about 15 miles from where we wanted to be. There we were 4 girls with gigantic hiking backpacks hitching a ride from locals. Hanging on for dear life we finally made it. Instantly I fell in love – beach, shops, restaurants, cheap lodging, what more could on ask for?
The girls and I were famished and went to this cute little Indian place were we had the yummiest chicken curry and naan bread EVER! Pretty sure I will be back there atleast once before I leave this place. Still recovering from my late night the night before I told the girls I was not going to be going out with them, yes even during the FINAL World Cup game…who is this girl? I must have been tired – I’ve barely missed a game yet! I really wasn’t having the 1:30am starting time though. I hung out with the girls for a bit, but was in bed by 11. Thank goodness I didn’t go out with them – my roommate for the night didn’t stroll in until well after 4am. I just can’t hang like they do anymore – I feel ancient! O well, an early bed time means more beach time for me tomorrow!!
