k8andn8: Thailand Round Two, Part 1

Thailand again? We returned this time from Cambodia with a new kind of island fever, ready to hop around southern Thailand for the next month. And what a month it was! The weeks surrounding the new year we had my closest friend Kelly and her partner in crime Josh join us as we explored the Gulf of Thailand. The latter two weeks of the month Jeff, our always entertaining friend Jeremy and Jeremy's girlfriend Anastasia met up with us as we hopped around in the Andaman Sea. In case you don't have a mental map of Thailand, that is Gulf of Thailand = East, Andaman Sea = West. Turns out that East or West Thailand + Great Company = a non-stop-crazy-fun one hell of a start to 2015.

Koh Tao!

Nate and Josh spent a better part of the first few days scuba diving and Kelly and I spent some much needed girl time beachside. We rented motorbikes and explored the tiny island's back roads. The underwater scene around this island was crystal clear and flourishing. Extremely bright! We did quite a bit of snorkeling all around the island but found that our two favorite spots were on Koh Nang Yuan and at Tanote Bay. Koh Nang Yuan is it's own mini paradise, three islands connected by sandbars off the shore of Koh Tao. The best way I can describe the underwater scene here is straight off a circa 2000 windows desktop screen saver. Tanote had plenty more to offer than just the epic snorkeling. It turned out to be one of our favorite beaches as well. It was away from the more crowded diver filled side of the island, had one restaurant on the beach, a vast coral filled bay and a too-tall-for-me rock to hop off of. We spent a few incredibly fun afternoons here and on freedom beach just down the road. Josh even spotted a shark (yikes!). Because he was the only one to see it, this prompted the neverending shark-searching that ensued for the rest of our time in Thailand. (Sorry Mom).

Perfecting the underwater O

Up high on Koh Nang Yuan

Mango Viewpoint with my Best

He wouldn't let me go, but I'm sure after three months on the road with me its tempting. (;

Tanote Bay Snorkeling

The most beautiful view from breakfast! Its hard not to sing good morning.

Koh Nang Yuan

Kelly's top is Koh Nang Yuan-Colored!

Sunset, Koh Tao

When you've only got one hammock on the hut, you've just gotta get creative.

"Surround yourself by people who lift you higher... "

Koh Phangan

We ferried to Koh Phangan right after the New Year, just in time for the famed Full Moon Party. Here's how I can sum up the evening: body paint, flaming jump ropes, rings of fire, buckets of alcohol, food stalls lining the beach filled with things only truly drunk people would happily eat, blacklights, tens of thousands of people, more fire, electronic music, laughing, dancing, old friends, new friends, fun and more fun all night long. We made it back to our room just about the time the sun was rising. A successful night!

The day after the party masses of people left, and prices simultaneously dropped. Perfect for us, because we had way more stuff to accomplish here that would call for a full night's sleep and a far less crowded place to roam! Of course we got motorbikes again to reach the far ends of the island. The island is a lot bigger than Koh Tao and the road is designed like a roller coaster with highs and lows. Before we ever came to the island Nate had told me stories of people with "Koh Phangan tattoos" aka road rash from crashing their bikes on the crazy roads, yikes! (Perhaps this has to do with first time riders trying to get back to their hotels half-asleep/half drunk from the full moon party? For the record, we all took a taxi that night. Funny, on the way to the party a french girl in our taxi truck was talking about how people say the morning after the party there is always blood lining the streets. Now, I've never seen road rash pour blood and I'm fairly certain that if enough people were cracking their heads open in the streets of Koh Phangan to "fill the streets with blood" then some sort of regulations may be put into effect by now, this thing has been going on for years. Anyway, if some horror story is what it takes to get this girl into a cab, then great!) When I say that the streets have highs and lows I am not exaggerating. Nate and I rented a bike and set off to find a room. When we started to climb the first hill, our bike made it approximately 1/3 of the way up, stopped, and literally started to roll back down the hill. So for the remainder of the afternoon I hiked the hills and Nate rode up them with some serious acceleration. The next morning I took my buns of steel back to town and we got bigger bike.

The four of us rode all over the big island, famous for its crazy party but offering so much more. We loved Koh Phangan. We spent a lot of time playing on the long beaches, saw lots of wildlife, watched some people attempt a Thai-style wipeout course, and of course joined in the Thai tourism bug-eating craze (ick!).

Breakfast

Nate and I spent some time alone on Koh Phangan after Josh and Kelly left to explore Koh Samui before their long trip home. We'd been staying at Haad Yao beach in the same huts that Nate stayed in in 2013 and enjoyed our time there very much, having breakfast on the beach every day. We met some new friends staying next door to us on Haad Yao, two from Uruguay and two from Argentina, all coming from New Zealand where they'd spent the year working (Cool! Inspiration anyone?). We left Haad Yao on a long tail boat for the sequestered Bottle Beach along the north side of the island where we spent three days beach front in a no frills bamboo hut. There's a level of peace in sleeping with the sound of waves a few feet away that I don't think could ever get old. There is nothing to do on Bottle Beach other than just do nothing, so that's what we did.

We spent one day hiking through the jungle to a viewpoint at bottle beach which sat high above the north end of the island. It was here that I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen, at least six inches across. He was hanging a few feet above our heads, web scrawled across the trail. From this moment on I paid careful attention along Thai trails. Or even better, walked behind my much taller, path-clearing Nate. Oh, the perks of being Thai-height. The trail up actually had quite a fun variety of bugs, with some of the most voracious mosquitoes we've encountered. We reached the peak at the same time as a storm cloud that forced us to hide under a big rock to stay dry. After not too long, the skies opened and the clear view made the trek worth every step.