THAILAND

So here begins my blog about Thailand. Thailand is probably now my favorite country in the world, and I am seriously considering moving there. It’s the first place I’ve been that really made me feel like I needed to be there. The food, thepeople, the buildings, the smells…everything about the country spoke to me. I know that sounds really cheesy, but I honestly haven’t loved a country as much as I loved it there. Anways, here is what we did.

Bangkok: Our trip started Saturday morning when we flew to Bangkok from Seoul with a layover in Beijing. When we got to Bangkok we immediately got in a cab and headed to Khao San Road. Khao San Road is the famous road in Bangkok known as the “backpackers ghetto.” Basically it’s a small road (about 7 blocks) full of hotels, shops, massage parlors, bars, and anything a foreigner in their 20’s could want. We wandered around to a few hotels before we found one with room and threw our stuff down and headed out. Our first stop was a bar where we ordered a “tower” of Chang beer and some pad thai, we also enjoyed some grasshoppers as dessert.

The next morning we headed to the JJ market, which is one of the biggest markets in the world. It was cool to walk around there and see everything for sale – from fake ray bans to puppies to clothes. After the market we headed back to Khao San Road for some dinner and drinks. We met some Thai boys that night who took us out to a different part of Bangkok, to really nice clubs full of Thais. We even met the most famous Thai celebrity, Sririta Jensen, who we saw on billboards for the rest of the trip.

The next day was our temple day. Our first stop was the temple of the Big Buddha, with a Buddha that was probably 100 feet tall. After that we went to the Grand Palace, which is Bangkok’s biggest tourist attraction. The Grand Palace was incredible and one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen. Everything in the place was sparkling with gems and crystals and covered in gold. If I were ever a queen I would definitely want my palace to look like that and not like Buckingham or something haha. After the grand palace we went to Wat Pho, which houses the Reclining Buddha, a massive Buddha taking up the whole interior of the temple in the reclining position.

The next day we took a riverboat around the canals that Bangkok is built on and then checked out of our hotel. We boarded a bus bound for Chumphon, which is in the middle of the country around 9pm. We pulled into Chumphon at 5am and had to wait until 7 for the ferry to

Ko Tao. The sunrise in Chumphon that morning was really beautiful and we knew it was only going to get better in the islands.

Ko Tao: We arrived in Ko Tao after a long night of travel from Bangkok and found what became one of our best hotels of the trip. The 6 of us all fit into a bungalow right on the beach. The beach was literally our front yard, plus the most popular bar, Lotus, was right next door. The first day in Ko Tao we were all just really excited to be in the sun and on the beach so we beach bummed it for most of the day.

That night we had dinner on the beach, and all of the restaurants on the beach have barbeques set up every night with fresh seafood to choose from. We ordered some tiger prawns and crab for the table, which was good. That night we started out at one of the many bars that set up tables and cushions right on the beach. In Thailand, the most popular way to drink alcohol (for tourists haha) is out of buckets. So we ordered a few buckets of drinks and had a good night out at Lotus.

The next morning we woke up early to rent a longtail boat for the day. The first stop on the boat was called Shark Bay and we got to snorkel with some black tipped reef sharks, which was really cool. After that our boat took us to a small island right off the coast of Ko Tao called Ko Nang Yuan. When you see postcards or imagine paradise, this is what they are of. The island was actually 3 islands linked together by 3 sandbars. We spent the day snorkeling with hundreds of fish that we fed ritz crackers and enjoying the atmosphere. On the way out we hiked to the top of the biggest island for an amazing viewpoint.

That night we were having some drinks at a bar with beanbags right on the beach when an American we had met the night before told us about the best snorkeling spot on Ko Tao. We had planned on leaving early the next morning but we decided to hold off on leaving until the afternoon in order to go snorkeling one more time. Therefore, the next morning we rented another longboat and headed out snorkeling again and it was really cool – with sea anenomies, clown fish, and huge brain corals. After the snorkeling the longtail boat took us right to the peir where we caught a ferry to Ko Phangan.

Ko Phangan – Ko Phangan is the most notorious of the islands on the east side of Thailand because of the famous Full Moon, Half Moon, and Black Moon parties that occur. We got there and checked into our bungalows and decided to head out to Haad Rin for the night. Haad Rin is the beach where the full moon party takes place and is the tourist central location on the island. We went out not really expecting much, but ended up having a great time with foam parties, buckets, fire limbo and breathing, new Canadian friends, and late night ocean swims

The next day we hung out at the beach at our hotel and that night was the Half Moon party. The Half Moon is like the little brother to the Full Moon and isn’t held in the same location. The Half Moon was held in the jungle, not on the beach, and when you walk up there are fluorescent things in all the trees, a live DJ, and thousands of people. The Half Moon is basically like a rave, and everyone decorates themselves in body paint that glows in the dark. It was a really fun night, but definitely one of the most touristy things there is to do in all of Thailand.

The next day we were tired so we slept in really late and then hung out at the bungalow. That night we went for Mexican food, which was REAL, and it was so good.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to the pier to head to the next island, Ko Samui

Ko Samui: Ko Samui is the biggest of the 3 islands and even has an airport on it. The ferry ride over was interesting when the boat got hit by a huge rain storm, but we made it and headed to Chaweng Beach. We found a hotel and decided to go to a temple on the island. Wetook some moped taxis over to the Big Buddha temple for an hour, which was really cool. We got blessed by a monk and the temple itself was really beautiful. That night we went to the beach and met some Finnish boys. We played some drinking games of trivia with Finland vs. America, which was hilarious.

The next morning we had a “safari” trip. On this trip we got to ride elephants, take a jeep ride through the jungle, and see some other touristy things. The safari also took us to an animal park where we got to hold baby tigers. The animals at this park were kind of sad, however, and we saw a monkey show where the monkeys were wearing makeup and dresses, which was kind of upsetting.

After our jungle safari we went out to dinner to find out that it was Australia Day, which is basically like our July 4^th. Thailand is full of Aussies on vacation so the island was crazy that day/night. We decided we needed to take full advantage so we headed out to a club called Blue Mangoes. The night was really fun and we met tons of Australians.

The next day we were planning on going to Phuket. This is when heading into vacations like this with no hotel reservations or real solid plans is beneficial. We had heard nothing but bad things about Phuket so we decided to stay in Ko Samui for another night and then go to another island that we heard was amazing the next day instead. That night in Ko Samui we watched the sunset on the beach with some white wine and had a great dinner. We called it an early night since we had to wake up at 6AM the next morning.

The next morning began our adventure to Ko Phi Phi. We were picked up at 6am by a van and literally went from a van, to a bus, to a ferry, to a bus, to a tuk tuk, to a bus, to a ferry, to a bus. We probably switched modes of transportation around 10 times. But we eventually made it around 3pm to Ko Phi Phi.

Ko Phi Phi: Ko Phi Phi is on the West Coast of Thailand, right near Phuket. It is one of the places most heavily destroyed by the Tsunami of 2004. The island is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We had two nights on Ko Phi Phi and for the first one we went to a beach bar. I jump roped with a jump rope on fire!!

The next morning we hung out on the beach and then rented a longboat to take us to the nearby uninhabited island of Ko Phi Phi Leh. For those of you who have seen “The Beach” with Leonardo Dicaprio, a movie about the perfect beach, it was filmed here. We went to Maya Bay, which is a small beach in a bay completely flanked by huge cliffs. When you see postcards of Thailand, this is what you’re seeing, Maya Bay. We hung around on the beach for a long time and it was a perfect last day in Thailand.

The next morning we caught the 11am ferry to Phuket and got on a plane back to Bangkok. We had a long layover in Bangkok so we went back to Khao San Road to spend the rest of our baht and have some drinks before vacation was officially over. We took the red eye from Bangkok to Beijing and continued back to Seoul.

Overall, this was one of the best 2 weeks I’ve ever had in my life. Thailand is an amazing country and I had the best time ever. Coming back to Korea has been a real struggle. I am very thankful and amazed that I get to be doing things like this, especially the first year after I graduated from college. We were joking that vacations like the one we had are the dream vacations they give away on game shows like Jeopardy. I really do feel like I’m living the dream.