Erin's new alarm went off at 7:45, she almost didn't wake up from it. It was going for about 30 seconds before it finally roused her. We got up at 8:30, packed, showered and got in the back of a pick-up to get taken to the boat at 10:00.
Cloudy again today.
Waited at the boat terminal. There are lots of mudskippers here, fish that can also breathe oxygen and can live out of water for periods of time. The flippers most fish would use to swim, they can use as feet to push and jump themselves around on land. They are very important evolutionary-wise too. They were very cool.
The boat left about 11:50. The boat goes to Koh Lanta, but makes a stop at Koh Jum.
When the boat got to Koh Jum (pronounced Jam), it stopped in the middle of the water, and a bunch of long tail boats from the various resorts on the island pull up beside the big boat and transfer passengers and cargo going to/from Koh Jum. It was quite a sight. There were four long tails pulled up along side, bags being thrown all over, people climbing all over, trying to get to the right boat. Erin and I were the only ones going to the Sun Smile Bungalows.
As we boated along the island, you could tell is was remote and quite undeveloped. A few bungalows scattered along the beach, with thick jungle on either side, hardly anyone on the beaches. It was awesome.
As we got close to our bungalows, I said to Erin that I'm so glad we came here. Even before we touched the island, I had found my paradise in Thailand 2008. A short time later, Erin said the same thing.
Our bungalow is awesome. Very big, just off an amazingly quiet, serene, beautiful beach. The bungalows have no power during the day, at about 5:30, they start up a generator. We paid 500 baht for our bungalow.
Once we settled in, we went to the beach, Erin tried to sunbathe in the partly cloudy skies, I snorkelled and saw a massive school of fish, thousands of them, a black mass. Awesome.
After snorkelling, I laid in the sand and fell asleep. The day got cloudier as the afternoon went on.
After the sun went away completely, we went to the restaurant, Erin updated her diary (she hadn't updated it since Feb. 14), and about 6:00, we had supper, amazing barracuda. We had the last two fillets.
We then hiked to the road behind the bungalows to find a thriving local island community, houses, shops, motorcycles. Nothing touristy. We hiked a kilometre or more to another bungalow for dessert, then back to our bungalows. It was dark, and there's certainly no streetlights, bought I brought my torch.
At night, you can see phosphorescence in the water as the waves come to sure.
This island is even less developed than Koh Lanta was 5 years ago. On our stretch of beach, which is perhaps 1-1.5km long, there are three small bungalows. One of them isn't even open now. I'm sure in 5 years time I wouldn't recognize it anymore. :-(
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Elephant Trek
Slept like crap last night. My sinuses were draining, kept swalling, then got a nasty headache, took a couple of Advil in the middle of the night, which took forever to kick in, and because of my cold, I was hot and sweaty all night.
Woke up at 8:30 to alarm. Got ready and caught the minivan to Nosey Parker Elephant Trek at 10:00am. We got the elephant trek and Erin was quite excited.
Spent about 45 minutes or so on the elephant, as we meandered through the jungle. At one point, the elephant wasn't going where it was supposed to, and the trainer grabbed a bamboo stick and smacked the elephant on the face/forehead, the elephant squealed in pain. That soured Erins mood, and she was quite upset after that. After that, Erin continually stroked the elephants neck with her foot, hoping to sooth it. Fortunately, that was the only incident.
After the ride, we fed some elephants and watched our elephant bath in the river nearby, squirting water over itself with her trunk. Erin bought some elephant souvenirs at the gift shop, then we went for a small walk into the forest and I swam in the jungle stream. We then saw a water snake, perhaps 18 inches long.
The day was mostly cloudy but a few rays of sun poked through periodically.
About 1:00, they took us to Ao Nang, a very touristy area and beach along the ocean. It's quite nice, not touristy like Koh San Road, but more like Banff would be touristy. Lots of shops to browse, and lots of tourists mulling up and down the streets. Erin bought an alarm. She's been relying on me to wake her up all along, but we'll soon be parting ways. She's a very heavy sleeper, her new alarm may not be enough!
We shopped and hung out at Ao Nang, I went to the Burger King and had a double cheeseburger meal (yum!) and I bought a Vii game (Elebits) for $10. I hope it works on my Wii. :-)
In Ao Nang, it rained lightly for most of the day. Later in the afternoon, 4:00-ish, we caught a bus back to Krabi town (40 baht). He dropped us off somewhere that looked kinda familiar, so we had to walk around for a while to finally figure out how to get back to our hotel.
I used the internet, searched for liveaboards for the Similan Islands. There are tons of places to liveaboards, and they are always leaving, it think my best bet would be book something on the internet if/when the times comes that I can do it. We shopped for a bit, the night food market wasn't running, presumably because of the rain, and the night shopping market wasn't there either, once again, presumably because of the rain. I bought a Chang t-shirt at a shop on the street. He gave me a price of 180 baht ($6), which I was willing to pay, then he voluntarily gave me a discount to 150 baht, which I didn't even ask for. Erin also bought a dress for her niece, and he did the same discount for her, without her even asking.
Back at the guest house, Erin made friends with Pee, a child of one of the women who works at the guest house. She game him one of her elephants to play with, and he ended up wrecking it, throwing it all over and smashing it on the ground.
We also booked a boat to Koh Jum (pronounced Jam) for tomorrow, it's supposed to be very laid back, not yet really developed, kind of like what Koh Lanta was 5 or more years ago. The island is between Krabi and Koh Lanta.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at the Old West Bar (looks like a saloon) for a number of beers. They played Bram Bam 3000, "Drinking in L.A." in the bar. I simply can't keep up to Erin in the alcohol consumption category. A few guys from the Power Beach Resort on Koh Phangan came in later too. About midnight, I called it a night, Erin hung out with the Power Beach guys and made it back to the hotel about 5:30am. After the Old West Bar, they went with a few locals to a dance club that was filled with all locals, they were the only tourists there. Erin thought she was going to die, the driver was screaming through the streets of Krabi at high speeds.
Woke up at 8:30 to alarm. Got ready and caught the minivan to Nosey Parker Elephant Trek at 10:00am. We got the elephant trek and Erin was quite excited.
Spent about 45 minutes or so on the elephant, as we meandered through the jungle. At one point, the elephant wasn't going where it was supposed to, and the trainer grabbed a bamboo stick and smacked the elephant on the face/forehead, the elephant squealed in pain. That soured Erins mood, and she was quite upset after that. After that, Erin continually stroked the elephants neck with her foot, hoping to sooth it. Fortunately, that was the only incident.
After the ride, we fed some elephants and watched our elephant bath in the river nearby, squirting water over itself with her trunk. Erin bought some elephant souvenirs at the gift shop, then we went for a small walk into the forest and I swam in the jungle stream. We then saw a water snake, perhaps 18 inches long.
The day was mostly cloudy but a few rays of sun poked through periodically.
About 1:00, they took us to Ao Nang, a very touristy area and beach along the ocean. It's quite nice, not touristy like Koh San Road, but more like Banff would be touristy. Lots of shops to browse, and lots of tourists mulling up and down the streets. Erin bought an alarm. She's been relying on me to wake her up all along, but we'll soon be parting ways. She's a very heavy sleeper, her new alarm may not be enough!
We shopped and hung out at Ao Nang, I went to the Burger King and had a double cheeseburger meal (yum!) and I bought a Vii game (Elebits) for $10. I hope it works on my Wii. :-)
In Ao Nang, it rained lightly for most of the day. Later in the afternoon, 4:00-ish, we caught a bus back to Krabi town (40 baht). He dropped us off somewhere that looked kinda familiar, so we had to walk around for a while to finally figure out how to get back to our hotel.
I used the internet, searched for liveaboards for the Similan Islands. There are tons of places to liveaboards, and they are always leaving, it think my best bet would be book something on the internet if/when the times comes that I can do it. We shopped for a bit, the night food market wasn't running, presumably because of the rain, and the night shopping market wasn't there either, once again, presumably because of the rain. I bought a Chang t-shirt at a shop on the street. He gave me a price of 180 baht ($6), which I was willing to pay, then he voluntarily gave me a discount to 150 baht, which I didn't even ask for. Erin also bought a dress for her niece, and he did the same discount for her, without her even asking.
Back at the guest house, Erin made friends with Pee, a child of one of the women who works at the guest house. She game him one of her elephants to play with, and he ended up wrecking it, throwing it all over and smashing it on the ground.
We also booked a boat to Koh Jum (pronounced Jam) for tomorrow, it's supposed to be very laid back, not yet really developed, kind of like what Koh Lanta was 5 or more years ago. The island is between Krabi and Koh Lanta.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at the Old West Bar (looks like a saloon) for a number of beers. They played Bram Bam 3000, "Drinking in L.A." in the bar. I simply can't keep up to Erin in the alcohol consumption category. A few guys from the Power Beach Resort on Koh Phangan came in later too. About midnight, I called it a night, Erin hung out with the Power Beach guys and made it back to the hotel about 5:30am. After the Old West Bar, they went with a few locals to a dance club that was filled with all locals, they were the only tourists there. Erin thought she was going to die, the driver was screaming through the streets of Krabi at high speeds.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
James Bond Island Tour
Up shortly after 7:00, tired to wake Erin up 4 times. She finally got up at 7:30.
I'm feeling crappy today, I think I have a head cold. Bugger. Scratchy throat and a general suckiness feeling.
I had breakfast, then we waited for our bus to pick us up for the tour to James Bond Island, named so because the 1970 James Bond movie, "Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed there (at least partially). I'm going to have to rent the movie now.
First we passed mangrove forests, then Tham Lod, a cave that the boat passes through. Then past a Muslim floating fishing village, then made our way to James Bond Island. Spent some time there with lots of other tourists, then we boated back to the floating village and had lunch. The floating village has a mosque and has been there for 200 years.
We then got back on the bus and went to Wat Suwankhuha, a very cool cave that's a Buddhist temple and has a HUGE lying Buddha that is made of 30% gold. Lots and lots of monkeys here as well, stealing people's food.
Next stop was a national park, where we took a short hike in the jungle and were able to swim in a nice, clean stream and saw many small waterfalls.
When we got back to the guest house, Burger Chef was parked just outside. He had read my mind, I was saying to Erin I could totally use a burger. Bought a burger, showered, then walked around and found Erin having a drink and eating at a restaurant near the waterfront.
Erin and I are not going north. Erin figures everything she wants to see she can see down south, and with only a week left, doesn't want to spend time travelling, and also LOVES the ocean. And, she has a bazillion other excuses.
Me, I want to do a Similan Island liveaboard diving trip, which consists of 4 days and 4 nights on a boat, diving around the very remote Similan Islands, some of the best world class diving in the world. So, I need to hit up a bunch of dive shops down south to see about making arrangements.
We decided to do an elephant trek tomorrow (something else on her list to scratch off) and go to Koh Lanta the next day.
After Erin ate, we walked to a night shopping market located in a park along the waterfront. Locals selling all kinds of clothes, handbags and stuff like that. After that, went for dessert at the night food market (handmade coconut and chocolate ice cream...yumyum).
On our walk back to the guest house, we stopped at another pub and had a beer while we sat on beach chairs on the street. We watched two Brits almost get into a fight. One was drunk, and was threating the other one, when all of a sudden he would break into a weird dancing routine or threaten to take off all his clothes. It was funny and bizarre.
We then hit the sack.
I'm feeling crappy today, I think I have a head cold. Bugger. Scratchy throat and a general suckiness feeling.
I had breakfast, then we waited for our bus to pick us up for the tour to James Bond Island, named so because the 1970 James Bond movie, "Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed there (at least partially). I'm going to have to rent the movie now.
First we passed mangrove forests, then Tham Lod, a cave that the boat passes through. Then past a Muslim floating fishing village, then made our way to James Bond Island. Spent some time there with lots of other tourists, then we boated back to the floating village and had lunch. The floating village has a mosque and has been there for 200 years.
We then got back on the bus and went to Wat Suwankhuha, a very cool cave that's a Buddhist temple and has a HUGE lying Buddha that is made of 30% gold. Lots and lots of monkeys here as well, stealing people's food.
Next stop was a national park, where we took a short hike in the jungle and were able to swim in a nice, clean stream and saw many small waterfalls.
When we got back to the guest house, Burger Chef was parked just outside. He had read my mind, I was saying to Erin I could totally use a burger. Bought a burger, showered, then walked around and found Erin having a drink and eating at a restaurant near the waterfront.
Erin and I are not going north. Erin figures everything she wants to see she can see down south, and with only a week left, doesn't want to spend time travelling, and also LOVES the ocean. And, she has a bazillion other excuses.
Me, I want to do a Similan Island liveaboard diving trip, which consists of 4 days and 4 nights on a boat, diving around the very remote Similan Islands, some of the best world class diving in the world. So, I need to hit up a bunch of dive shops down south to see about making arrangements.
We decided to do an elephant trek tomorrow (something else on her list to scratch off) and go to Koh Lanta the next day.
After Erin ate, we walked to a night shopping market located in a park along the waterfront. Locals selling all kinds of clothes, handbags and stuff like that. After that, went for dessert at the night food market (handmade coconut and chocolate ice cream...yumyum).
On our walk back to the guest house, we stopped at another pub and had a beer while we sat on beach chairs on the street. We watched two Brits almost get into a fight. One was drunk, and was threating the other one, when all of a sudden he would break into a weird dancing routine or threaten to take off all his clothes. It was funny and bizarre.
We then hit the sack.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Rai Lay Beach
Up sometime after 8:00. We had an inside room (no windows), so it's just darkness. We had no concept of whether it was even daylight out.
Erin went to find a place to get her legs waxed, I went for breakfast, then used internet and found out that Courtney, Chris and Shabana were in Krabi as well. They arrived this morning. They are flying to Chaing Mai tomorrow. Courtney mentioned the guest house they were in, right beside the Chan Cha Lay. Erin and I decided to go to Rai Lay Beach today, known for it's amazing limestone cliffs. On the way to the pier, we stopped at Courtney's guest house, but they were not there.
We went to the pier, a tout asked us where we were going, we told him, and he told us to wait, he was trying to fill a long tail boat with enough passengers. After about 15 minutes, enough people showed, so we were getting ready to get on the boat, and we spied Courtney, Chris and Shabana. They were just going to hang around Krabi today, but instead decided to come to Rai Lay Beach with us, so we asked the boat driver to wait 5 minutes while they got their things. 15 minutes later, they hadn't arrived, so we told the boat driver to just go, they could get the next boat. After the boat left the pier, they showed up, so he turned around and let them get on.
The boat ride was about 30 minutes. On the way to the swimming beach, we stopped at the viewpoint to get a nice view, and then started to traverse our say down to an inland lagoon. Courtney and I were here 5 years ago, we made it to the lagoon, but missed the viewpoint at that time. We didn't make the lagoon this year, it was crazy steep. I can't believe we actually rapelled our way down to the lagoon 5 years ago.
After that, made it to Hat Phra Nang beach, did some swimming, monkeys showed up and started stealing food from the tourists.
We had to catch the boat back to Krabi at 5:00. Erin and I bought a day trip to James Bond Island for tomorrow, then we all went to the night market for supper, a must do for anyone in Krabi. After supper, we said goodbye to Shabana and maybe Courtney and Chris.
I started feeling like crap, sore throat and my lymph nodes swollen.
I used internet, then to bed sometime after 10:00.
Erin went to find a place to get her legs waxed, I went for breakfast, then used internet and found out that Courtney, Chris and Shabana were in Krabi as well. They arrived this morning. They are flying to Chaing Mai tomorrow. Courtney mentioned the guest house they were in, right beside the Chan Cha Lay. Erin and I decided to go to Rai Lay Beach today, known for it's amazing limestone cliffs. On the way to the pier, we stopped at Courtney's guest house, but they were not there.
We went to the pier, a tout asked us where we were going, we told him, and he told us to wait, he was trying to fill a long tail boat with enough passengers. After about 15 minutes, enough people showed, so we were getting ready to get on the boat, and we spied Courtney, Chris and Shabana. They were just going to hang around Krabi today, but instead decided to come to Rai Lay Beach with us, so we asked the boat driver to wait 5 minutes while they got their things. 15 minutes later, they hadn't arrived, so we told the boat driver to just go, they could get the next boat. After the boat left the pier, they showed up, so he turned around and let them get on.
The boat ride was about 30 minutes. On the way to the swimming beach, we stopped at the viewpoint to get a nice view, and then started to traverse our say down to an inland lagoon. Courtney and I were here 5 years ago, we made it to the lagoon, but missed the viewpoint at that time. We didn't make the lagoon this year, it was crazy steep. I can't believe we actually rapelled our way down to the lagoon 5 years ago.
After that, made it to Hat Phra Nang beach, did some swimming, monkeys showed up and started stealing food from the tourists.
We had to catch the boat back to Krabi at 5:00. Erin and I bought a day trip to James Bond Island for tomorrow, then we all went to the night market for supper, a must do for anyone in Krabi. After supper, we said goodbye to Shabana and maybe Courtney and Chris.
I started feeling like crap, sore throat and my lymph nodes swollen.
I used internet, then to bed sometime after 10:00.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Off too Krabi
When Erin got back to the hut, she said to set the alarm so we can checkout today. I set it for 10:00. I wasn't tired, and couldn't sleep, so around 9:00, got up, and took my motorbike into the jungle to clean it up. It was covered in mud from my accident and wanted to clean the evidence off. After I found a secluded spot and started cleaning it, it started raining, and I had to drive the motorbike back in the driving rain. I was soaked.
At 10:00, my alarm went, and I tried to wake Erin. She wasn't budging. I gave her another 15 minutes, and tried again. Out like a light. Another 5 minutes. Got a moan from her, and she said 10 more minutes. At 10:30, I forced her to get up. Once up, I asked her if she had arranged a transfer to Krabi last yesterday (I had asked her to, as I was going motorbike riding). No, she didn't, so I went and made sure we could get boat and bus to Krabi, which wasn't a problem.
We checked out and waited for the taxi to the pier, and talk about a mass exodus! It seems everyone was leaving the island immediately after the full-moon party. Lots of people still had glow-in-the-dark paint on them, and everyone looked hungover and tired. It was quite a sight.
The boat was packed to the rafters. They even had to turn away people because the boat was full. All the seats were taken, everyone was standing outside, trying to find a spot out of the wind and rain. We got to Surat Thani, and the bus company had 7 busses coming to bus everyone to their destinations. They kind of pressured us to reserve a place in Krabi right there, because there were so many tourists going to Krabi. I had the guy call the Chan Cha Lay Guest House and see if they had rooms, but they were full, so we bought this guys room, 450 baht/night. On the boat, I was sitting on the deck, another guy was sitting on a little ledge, his head in his hands, trying to sleep. He then fell over right on top of me before waking up. He had a dazed look in his eyes, he didn't know where he was, until he came out of his sleep and realized what had happened. He apologized. It was pretty funny.
When our bus finally arrived, it was overbooked. There were three people left standing, me, Erin and another guy. The tour company manager told Erin and me to move to a minivan instead, which we did. A number of others eventually joined us in the mini-van, and off we were. Our big backpacks were on the main bus, we hoped we were all going to the same destination!
It poured and poured the whole way from Surat Thani to Krabi. Thunder, lightning, rain. At one point, the highway was even submerged in about 12 inches of water, cars were stopped with their flashers on.
We got to Krabi around 8:00pm, and the big bus with our backpacks arrived about 20 minutes later. We hopped into the back of a pick-up and were whisked away to our guest house, P. Guest House. Ok guest house. When I saw it, it brought back memories, I'm sure that Courtney and I stayed there for one night 5 years ago before moving to the Chan Cha Lay.
We had supper and were in bed by 10:00pm.
At 10:00, my alarm went, and I tried to wake Erin. She wasn't budging. I gave her another 15 minutes, and tried again. Out like a light. Another 5 minutes. Got a moan from her, and she said 10 more minutes. At 10:30, I forced her to get up. Once up, I asked her if she had arranged a transfer to Krabi last yesterday (I had asked her to, as I was going motorbike riding). No, she didn't, so I went and made sure we could get boat and bus to Krabi, which wasn't a problem.
We checked out and waited for the taxi to the pier, and talk about a mass exodus! It seems everyone was leaving the island immediately after the full-moon party. Lots of people still had glow-in-the-dark paint on them, and everyone looked hungover and tired. It was quite a sight.
The boat was packed to the rafters. They even had to turn away people because the boat was full. All the seats were taken, everyone was standing outside, trying to find a spot out of the wind and rain. We got to Surat Thani, and the bus company had 7 busses coming to bus everyone to their destinations. They kind of pressured us to reserve a place in Krabi right there, because there were so many tourists going to Krabi. I had the guy call the Chan Cha Lay Guest House and see if they had rooms, but they were full, so we bought this guys room, 450 baht/night. On the boat, I was sitting on the deck, another guy was sitting on a little ledge, his head in his hands, trying to sleep. He then fell over right on top of me before waking up. He had a dazed look in his eyes, he didn't know where he was, until he came out of his sleep and realized what had happened. He apologized. It was pretty funny.
When our bus finally arrived, it was overbooked. There were three people left standing, me, Erin and another guy. The tour company manager told Erin and me to move to a minivan instead, which we did. A number of others eventually joined us in the mini-van, and off we were. Our big backpacks were on the main bus, we hoped we were all going to the same destination!
It poured and poured the whole way from Surat Thani to Krabi. Thunder, lightning, rain. At one point, the highway was even submerged in about 12 inches of water, cars were stopped with their flashers on.
We got to Krabi around 8:00pm, and the big bus with our backpacks arrived about 20 minutes later. We hopped into the back of a pick-up and were whisked away to our guest house, P. Guest House. Ok guest house. When I saw it, it brought back memories, I'm sure that Courtney and I stayed there for one night 5 years ago before moving to the Chan Cha Lay.
We had supper and were in bed by 10:00pm.
Full Moon Party!
There were a lot of people at the hotel going to the full moon party, so the hotel had their minivan, a songthaew and a pickup truck to take everyone. I was on the songthaew with a bunch of British guys. Erin was in the mini-bus, and I didn't know if I'd see her again at the full-moon party. It was a 15 minute ride to Had Rin, where we all got off. Erin was just buying a bucket. FYI, a "bucket" is a pail that a child would use at a beach to build sand castles. But instead of building sand castles, it's filled with Red Bull (Thai Red Bull, which is illegal in Canada), your choice of soft drink (Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke, etc.) and your choice of alcohol. Most often the alcohol is a mickey of Sangsum, nasty Thai whisky. Many places sell buckets with vodka or rum or what have you, but the Sangsum buckets are always the cheapest!
I ran over to Erin, and bought myself a bucket too. I had recollections of buying a bucket at my first full moon party, and then not remembering most of the night, so I was kinda concerned about it. As a side note, at my first full moon, I remember when I bought the bucket, dude asked me if I wanted something in it....I thought he said ice, but now I'm thinking he may have said something else (ecstacy?)....which is why I was all screwed up on my first party. I inadvertantly drugged myself!
Anyway, so Erin and I and a bunch of others from our hotel started making our way along the streets of Had Rin towards the beach. Throngs and throngs of backpackers, and everyone selling alcohol, mainly buckets. We finally made it to the beach, and you could barely move. That's when I got a huge grin on my face and knew I needed to go. I just left Erin and started walking, people watching, drinking my bucket. One of my first interesting sights was seeing two girls walking out of the ocean with nothing but their panties on. Harhar. At any given time, there are dozens of people (both guys and girls) using the ocean as their personal toilet. People stumbling and falling all over the place. Super loud dance/club/rave music emanating from the numerous clubs dotting the beach. Most of the people would gather round these places, dancing, dancing, dancing. I walked up and down the beach so many times, just seeing what I could see. It was very surreal being there a second time, and it was exactly how I kinda remembered it the first time. My impression was that there were more people this time around.
As I'm walking around, locals keeping whispering to me in hushed tones, "Ecstacy?", "Marijuana?", and other various drugs, all of which I declined.
At one end of the beach is a club setup on a big rock, and when you take the staircase up, there's a sign telling you if you want mushroom shakes, to take the stairs on the right, otherwise stay left.
I had a disposable camera, and took a number of pictures. I was drinking from my bucket for more than 3 hours, and still wasn't finished and was getting sick of it, so left it in a bar with a bunch of other buckets. I had had a few beers at the hotel before leaving for the party, so was kinda drunk, but still very comprehensible. I drank lots of water all night (and had to pee lots....yes, I used the ocean).
At one point, some guy was laying on the beach, looked pretty much passed out. His friend was sitting beside him, looking whacked. Buddy #2 wanted his friend to have another drink from the bucket, so tried to get him to move. He moved all right, he stood up, stumbled about 10 feet backwards and fell on top of someone else, and passed out right there. Buddy #2 laughed and asked me if I could help him drag him back. So, we went over, each grabbed an arm and pulled him back to his bucket. Hilarious.
Lots of fire shows on the beach all night long, which are way cool. You can typically see fire shows on any of the islands in Thailand, always worth seeing.
At about 5:00am, I was getting tired. I hadn't seen Erin all night, and decided to get a taxi back to the resort. I made my way back up to the taxi (songthaew) area, a guy asked me where I was going, I told him, he told me wait in a specific taxi and climbed in the back. There was another girl waiting to get back to her resort as well. The taxis won't leave until there's enough people, so we had to wait about 15 minutes before more people stumbled along and were going to resorts near mine. I got back to the room about 6:30am. I tried to sleep, but was totally not sleepy, and just layed there. Erin stumbled in about 8:30am.
That's all I can recall about the full moon party. I didn't lose my wits about me this time, and it was a fantabulous time. I'm happy I went again!
I ran over to Erin, and bought myself a bucket too. I had recollections of buying a bucket at my first full moon party, and then not remembering most of the night, so I was kinda concerned about it. As a side note, at my first full moon, I remember when I bought the bucket, dude asked me if I wanted something in it....I thought he said ice, but now I'm thinking he may have said something else (ecstacy?)....which is why I was all screwed up on my first party. I inadvertantly drugged myself!
Anyway, so Erin and I and a bunch of others from our hotel started making our way along the streets of Had Rin towards the beach. Throngs and throngs of backpackers, and everyone selling alcohol, mainly buckets. We finally made it to the beach, and you could barely move. That's when I got a huge grin on my face and knew I needed to go. I just left Erin and started walking, people watching, drinking my bucket. One of my first interesting sights was seeing two girls walking out of the ocean with nothing but their panties on. Harhar. At any given time, there are dozens of people (both guys and girls) using the ocean as their personal toilet. People stumbling and falling all over the place. Super loud dance/club/rave music emanating from the numerous clubs dotting the beach. Most of the people would gather round these places, dancing, dancing, dancing. I walked up and down the beach so many times, just seeing what I could see. It was very surreal being there a second time, and it was exactly how I kinda remembered it the first time. My impression was that there were more people this time around.
As I'm walking around, locals keeping whispering to me in hushed tones, "Ecstacy?", "Marijuana?", and other various drugs, all of which I declined.
At one end of the beach is a club setup on a big rock, and when you take the staircase up, there's a sign telling you if you want mushroom shakes, to take the stairs on the right, otherwise stay left.
I had a disposable camera, and took a number of pictures. I was drinking from my bucket for more than 3 hours, and still wasn't finished and was getting sick of it, so left it in a bar with a bunch of other buckets. I had had a few beers at the hotel before leaving for the party, so was kinda drunk, but still very comprehensible. I drank lots of water all night (and had to pee lots....yes, I used the ocean).
At one point, some guy was laying on the beach, looked pretty much passed out. His friend was sitting beside him, looking whacked. Buddy #2 wanted his friend to have another drink from the bucket, so tried to get him to move. He moved all right, he stood up, stumbled about 10 feet backwards and fell on top of someone else, and passed out right there. Buddy #2 laughed and asked me if I could help him drag him back. So, we went over, each grabbed an arm and pulled him back to his bucket. Hilarious.
Lots of fire shows on the beach all night long, which are way cool. You can typically see fire shows on any of the islands in Thailand, always worth seeing.
At about 5:00am, I was getting tired. I hadn't seen Erin all night, and decided to get a taxi back to the resort. I made my way back up to the taxi (songthaew) area, a guy asked me where I was going, I told him, he told me wait in a specific taxi and climbed in the back. There was another girl waiting to get back to her resort as well. The taxis won't leave until there's enough people, so we had to wait about 15 minutes before more people stumbled along and were going to resorts near mine. I got back to the room about 6:30am. I tried to sleep, but was totally not sleepy, and just layed there. Erin stumbled in about 8:30am.
That's all I can recall about the full moon party. I didn't lose my wits about me this time, and it was a fantabulous time. I'm happy I went again!
Motorbike Accident
I woke up about 6:45, got up about 7:00. No Erin. I got dressed, went outside, Erin was in the pool, doing backflips and talking to a couple of guys. A bunch of people from the resort went to Had Rin beach last night and partied all night. She didn't sleep at all. She saw me, and told me the worst thing happened. Some girl accidentally deleted ALL the pictures on her camera! She was pretty upset, and very drunk and somewhat non comprehensible, especially when I told her we could probably recover the pictures from her memory card.
I went for a long walk along the beach and left the key with Erin. Cloudy today. After an hour of walking, I got caught in a downpour and took shelter under a palm tree, then had to move to am overhang of a restaurant for 30 minutes while the rains came down. It finally started to let up, so started walking back, it started to rain some more, so took shelter in an abondoned building by the beach. I found an old plastic bag to wrap up my camera, then continued walking back.
Got back to the hut, and Erin was not there and she had the key. I had breakfast, then lounged around the hut waiting for Erin. I needed to get back into my room, so asked the staff if they could open up. They grabbed their ring of keys and tried to open it, but couldn't find the key for our room. He said "Please wait one minute.", left, and came back with a bigass screwdriver. He broke into the hut for me, took him about 5 minutes. :-)
I hung out, read, used internet, etc. Erin finally showed up about 2:30, we rented motorbikes and went into town to get money, buy disposable cameras for tonight and look at getting Erin another memory card.
Erin was in a very crabby and crusty mood today. She was still kinda drunk, sleep deprived and quite out of it. All she said all day "What are we doing?"..."Why are we here?"..."I want to go back to Phi Phi.".....not pleasant. :-) I just ignored her. Haha.
We got back to the bungalow, I decided to ride around on my bike for a while. Headed toward Had Rin (town and beach where the full-moon party happens), and saw a sign to waterfalls, so decided to take that road. I then took another side road that looked interesting, started taking it, it was very steep. I turned around, and trying to go up the steep hill, the engine got starved of gas because of the steepness of the hill. I had to push the damn motorbike up the hill. I made it back to the road, then headed back towards the main road and filled up on gas, then went back to the original waterfall road. After about 2 km, the waterfall road turned into a dirt, mud road. The road was very hilly and steep, and I came up one section, slipping and sliding, then had to go back down the other side. I had full rear brake happening, but the tires are bare, and the bike just slid down the hill, I'm bouncing all over, going faster and faster. I started to freak out, then made the mistake and putting on my front brake about 3/4 of the way down the hill, and flipped the bike. As soon as I landed, I started laughing. I was completely covered in mud, the bike upside down above me. I would've loved to see that in slow motion! Especially the expressions on my face. Another guy on a motorbike stopped and asked me if I was alright, I told him ya, I was fine. He waited for me to get my bike down to the bottom of the hill and get it started. Then another guy in a pickup drove by and asked if I was ok, told him ya, then he offered to put the bike in the back of his pickup and drive me the rest of the way. I declined, told him I think I'll just turn around and go back, it was too crazy.
So, that's what I did. All I had to show of my accident was me and my bike covered in muck, and a couple of tiny scrapes on my legs.
I turned around, and almost wiped out again going back down the other side of the hill. I finally made it back to the paved road, and continued on to Had Rin. The drive to Had Rin is pretty impressive, very hilly, the bike would barely make it up some of the hills and there was some impressive views.
Made it back to the bungalows around 5:00, I had supper, and Erin and I napped before the full-moon party. I had trouble waking Erin up, she was out. I played some pool with some British guys, then about 11:00, the taxi came to take us all to the full-moon party.
Full-moon party stories to follow in the next entry!
I went for a long walk along the beach and left the key with Erin. Cloudy today. After an hour of walking, I got caught in a downpour and took shelter under a palm tree, then had to move to am overhang of a restaurant for 30 minutes while the rains came down. It finally started to let up, so started walking back, it started to rain some more, so took shelter in an abondoned building by the beach. I found an old plastic bag to wrap up my camera, then continued walking back.
Got back to the hut, and Erin was not there and she had the key. I had breakfast, then lounged around the hut waiting for Erin. I needed to get back into my room, so asked the staff if they could open up. They grabbed their ring of keys and tried to open it, but couldn't find the key for our room. He said "Please wait one minute.", left, and came back with a bigass screwdriver. He broke into the hut for me, took him about 5 minutes. :-)
I hung out, read, used internet, etc. Erin finally showed up about 2:30, we rented motorbikes and went into town to get money, buy disposable cameras for tonight and look at getting Erin another memory card.
Erin was in a very crabby and crusty mood today. She was still kinda drunk, sleep deprived and quite out of it. All she said all day "What are we doing?"..."Why are we here?"..."I want to go back to Phi Phi.".....not pleasant. :-) I just ignored her. Haha.
We got back to the bungalow, I decided to ride around on my bike for a while. Headed toward Had Rin (town and beach where the full-moon party happens), and saw a sign to waterfalls, so decided to take that road. I then took another side road that looked interesting, started taking it, it was very steep. I turned around, and trying to go up the steep hill, the engine got starved of gas because of the steepness of the hill. I had to push the damn motorbike up the hill. I made it back to the road, then headed back towards the main road and filled up on gas, then went back to the original waterfall road. After about 2 km, the waterfall road turned into a dirt, mud road. The road was very hilly and steep, and I came up one section, slipping and sliding, then had to go back down the other side. I had full rear brake happening, but the tires are bare, and the bike just slid down the hill, I'm bouncing all over, going faster and faster. I started to freak out, then made the mistake and putting on my front brake about 3/4 of the way down the hill, and flipped the bike. As soon as I landed, I started laughing. I was completely covered in mud, the bike upside down above me. I would've loved to see that in slow motion! Especially the expressions on my face. Another guy on a motorbike stopped and asked me if I was alright, I told him ya, I was fine. He waited for me to get my bike down to the bottom of the hill and get it started. Then another guy in a pickup drove by and asked if I was ok, told him ya, then he offered to put the bike in the back of his pickup and drive me the rest of the way. I declined, told him I think I'll just turn around and go back, it was too crazy.
So, that's what I did. All I had to show of my accident was me and my bike covered in muck, and a couple of tiny scrapes on my legs.
I turned around, and almost wiped out again going back down the other side of the hill. I finally made it back to the paved road, and continued on to Had Rin. The drive to Had Rin is pretty impressive, very hilly, the bike would barely make it up some of the hills and there was some impressive views.
Made it back to the bungalows around 5:00, I had supper, and Erin and I napped before the full-moon party. I had trouble waking Erin up, she was out. I played some pool with some British guys, then about 11:00, the taxi came to take us all to the full-moon party.
Full-moon party stories to follow in the next entry!
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