Getting By With a Little Help From Our Friends- Southern Thailand

Traveling around the world has afforded us many amazing opportunities. We've been able to try wonderful food, have interesting conversations, see works of art, explore different cultures and learn a lot about this planet we all share. But the one thing that we have rarely had throughout this journey is great people to share it with. Don't get me wrong. We have met wonderful people along the way, but there is something about old friends that makes traveling even more fun. Luckily, we have two brave friends who decided to leave behind the comforts of home and meet us out on the road. Abbie and Andy- This one's for you!

Mark and I flew in to Phuket, Thailand and immediately hopped on a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, a legendary archipelago made up of limestone rock islands and surrounded by emerald water. If you have ever seen a picture of the Thai islands, you have most likely seen a picture of Ko Phi Phi. 

Abbie and Andy met us on the dock as we landed, and we took a long-tail boat ride (the first of many) to our resort, Phi Phi Relax. Now, if you've been following our blog, you know that we are typical travelers, which basically means that we're broke. However, we are also planners, so when we found out that our friends were meeting us in Thailand, we allocated a special fund of money for the week that we would spend together. So for this week (and this week only) we were able to live like vacationers, not travelers. And MAN it felt good. 

We arrived at the aptly named Phi Phi Relax which is a collection of bungalows situated along a secluded stretch of beach, about a fifty minute walk from the main town.

We spent the first day swimming and snorkelling in the crystal clear water, and we spent the evening eating delicious Thai food at the restaurant.

As the sun went down, a group of French travelers that were also staying at our resort started a bonfire on the beach and we joined them for an evening of singing, laughing, and attempted communication. ("I'm going to speak to you half in French and half in Spanish. Is that okay?")

The next day, we were all looking for a little adventure, so we decided to head over the mountain and into Ko Phi Phi Town. On the way, there was a spectacular view point where you could see that the "town" is really just a few ramshackle structures built on a tiny strip of land that connects the two sides of the island. 

The views were breathtaking, but the hike was tough. The trail was rocky and ragged, and we were all wearing flip-flops, sarongs and bathing suits... not exactly the right hiking gear. When we got into town, we had some drinks at the beach-front bar then decided to get an early dinner. 

At around 5 o'clock we sat down to a dinner of fried red snapper, Massaman curry, shrimp with garlic, and pineapple fried rice. Pretty standard, really. However, as we finished that glorious feast, we noticed that the sun had gone down a bit earlier than we expected. By the time we got to the trail that led back to Phi Phi Relax, it was pitch black outside. And so began the adventure.

Luckily, Abbie had a flashlight app on her phone (thank you Steve Jobs) because without that, we would probably still be living out in those woods. Andy took the lead, and the flashlight, and led us through the dense jungle on a miniscule path peppered with roots and rocks (but surprisingly little reggae). We all experienced a moment of panic when we came to an intersection with 5 different paths. We just looked at eachother and said, "Straight?" We were relieved to see a sign post not long after that, so we knew we had chosen the right trail. We groped our way through that forest for an hour and forty minutes before we saw the sweet, sweet lights of Phi Phi Relax. We emerged unscathed, if a bit sweaty, and no worse for the wear. We dove right into the ocean to cool off and reward ourselves for surviving our most dangerous adventure... so far.

A few days later we traveled to the town of Ao Nang. There we booked a private long tail boat (oh yeah, a PRIVATE boat) to take us out to see some of the smaller islands in the area. We set out in the early morning with Captain Jack Sparrow (not kidding) at the helm.

Captain Jack! He'll take you to your special island. 

Captain Jack took us out into the impossibly blue Andaman Sea on a tour of four islands. 

The islands in that area are limestone rocks that have been whittled away over millions of years by rainwater, leaving dramatic craggy boulders in the middle of the water. I'll let Mark tell you more about it.

We stopped to snorkel at two different spots, which was a combination of a fantasy and a nightmare scenario. The fish were beautiful and colorful but there were times that I thought they were going to get organized and attack me (Hey, it's not completely unheard of! A fish bit Abbie at Phi Phi Relax and it drew blood!) Needless to say, Abbie and I stuck together... safety in numbers. 

One of the highlights of the day was our second snorkeling spot. Captain Jack took us to an island that had a cave underneath it. We swam into the cave and were surrounded by swallows flying about and making their nests. The nests are made from the bird's saliva and they are harvested by nimble Thais who climb rickety bamboo ladders to collect them. The nest is then placed in boiling water and VOILA you've got Bird's Nest Soup. At $100 per bowl, it is a fancy Thai delicacy. No, we didn't try it. We're vacationers, not Rockefellers.

We visited Chicken Island (so named because it looks like poultry.... kinda) and then on to Railay Beach. Railay is famous for the enormous limestone cliffs that surround it. Rock climbers come from far and wide to climb there.

At the far end of Railay Beach there is a cave that the villagers believe is the home of Phranang, the Princess Goddess. Before setting out to sea, fishermen leave offerings such as flowers or incense, but her favorite offering, according to the villagers, is lingams. They believe that placing a lingam in this holy place will ensure fertility and prosperity to earth and to mankind. If you're not sure what a lingam is, I'm not going to spell it out, but look closely at the pictures. 

We left Ao Nang and took a ferry ride over to Ko Phangan on the eastern side of the Thailand peninsula. We checked into our beach front resort (noticing a theme?) and spent our first day relaxing and reading by the pool. That afternoon we rented motorbikes and went into town to find some lunch. With only 12,000 people living on the whole island, the towns are all quite small, but we were able to find some of the best food we ate in all our travels. We chose Mama Pooh's because of her very persuasive sign.

When we sat down, there was a note on the menu that said, "Our chef does not speak English. Please write the number of the food you would like to eat." That's how you know it's going to be good. And it was. We ate curry, fried rice, Tom Yum soup and a side dish called morning glories, which we can only assume are the leaves of the morning glory flower.

After spending a few days relaxing, we were looking forward to another adventure. We decided to embark on the epic hike to Bottle Beach, one of the best known beaches on Koh Phangan, despite the urging of our guide book to avoid the "nightmare trek." We took our motorbikes to the end of a road and there was a small sign that said "Bottle Beach, 4km." That's not THAT far, we stupidly said to ourselves. But when you combine the distance with a heat index of 105 degrees and the fact that it was a hike over TWO MOUNTAINS, it was pretty outrageous. Again, we found ourselves clamoring over rocks and roots, slipping through loose gravel and getting smacked with jungle branches. And since we are apparently unable to learn from our previous experiences, we were, once again, inappropriately dressed.

About 40 minutes into the uphill climb, I slipped on a rock and my foot went flying forward and snapped my flip flop. The thong was completely detached from the sole and there was no way to repair it. Everyone gave me the option to turn back, but, not wanting to be a Debbie Downer, I said we should press on. Besides, if we turned back I would still have forty minutes of unshod hiking to get back to the bikes. So we fashioned a make-shift shoe made of the sole of my flip flop and a bandana. It worked reasonably well on the uphill climb, but as soon as we started down the hill, I knew I was in trouble. I was slipping and sliding all over the place, and I knew we had a lot more hiking to do before we got to the beach.

Just as despair was setting in, I looked into a tree on the side of the path and saw another broken flip flop, just like mine. I took solace in the fact that I was not the only idiot out there in flip flops. Then I looked to the other side of the path and saw, hanging from a tree, a fully functional flip flop! Apparently the owner of the broken flip flop decided to go on barefoot, and left the good flop behind. Not only was it the correct foot, but it was MY SIZE! The travel gods smiled on us again. I put on my new flop and we flew down the mountain to the beach.

The beach was breathtakingly beautiful, made all the more wonderful by the intense and harrowing hike we took to get there. We swam for hours then had a lovely lunch at one of the beach front restaurants.

Beautiful Bottle Beach

Thankfully, there was a taxi boat at Bottle Beach that could take us back to our beach resort so we didn't have to hike over the mountains to get home. I would honestly have paid any price to take that taxi boat, but since this is Thailand, it only cost me three bucks.

The next day was devastating---Abbie and Andy had to leave us. After spending a whole week together, they needed to head to Ko Samui to catch a flight back to Bangkok. Our week together was one of the best weeks of my entire life, and even now I miss them terribly. Mark and I consoled ourselves the best way we know how---we went to another beautiful island. We took the ferry over to Ko Tao and found a little beach bungalow to call our home. 

Stone steps over the koi pond leading to our bungalow. Rough life.

We thought we would spend two days there, and ended up staying for a week. It was the first time, in all of our travels, that we allowed ourselves to do that. But, if you've ever been to Ko Tao, you know why we couldn't leave. It is as close to heaven as I have ever experienced on this earth. `

The beach is lined with restaurants which have a unique seating arrangement. They flow from sit-down tables, to decks with pillow seats, to coffee tables and bean bag chairs right on the sand. Ko Tao is so relaxed it seems impossible to even sit up to eat a meal. I think we opted for a table once during our whole time there.

We spent a good deal of time at a beachfront bar called the Fishbowl, where we sat in oversized bean bag chairs and enjoyed the live music and fire dancers. In the evenings, a woman sells paper lanterns. The lanterns have a fire in the bottom and as it fills with hot air, it floats up into the sky like a hot air balloon. Travelers are encouraged to write a wish on the lantern before letting it fly.

One day, we rented a motor bike and rode around the entire island, which didn't take very long considering it is only one kilometer across and four kilometers from north to south. We drove to a beautiful beach called Hin Wong. We swam into the water and found the best snorkelling of the entire trip. The water was clear and calm, and the bay was the perfect size. Mark saw a school of 40,000 yellow-fin fishes swim by, and there was no shortage of colorful fish, coral, and anemones to look at.

On Saturday night, we headed back to the Fishbowl only to find out that it was Jam Night. The house musicians invited people to get up on stage to sing or play guitar. So obviously we jumped at the chance. Actually, the singer of the band called us out of the audience and said, "You guys are musicians, aren't you?" The same thing happend to us in Bali! We must have some kind of look about us. Regardless, we were ready for our time on the stage. We did a set of three songs, including one of Mark's originals, and it went over very well. So well, in fact, that later in the evening they asked us to get up and do a second set. We were happy to oblige, especially because they give free beer to Jam Night participants. The rest of the night  was a blast, with the exception of the run-in I had with a flaming jump rope (NEVER A GOOD IDEA!). Turns out Ko Tao is only chilled out during the day because it explodes in festivities at night. 

After a week in paradise, we were ready to move on, so we booked our tickets to Bangkok. Things have been pretty smooth for us over the last few weeks, but I have a feeling our travels are about to get a bit grittier as we head north. As always, we're looking forward to the next adventure that comes our way.