Terrific Thailand

Lindsey and I now been have in the US for exactly one month, and things have been busy! My goal was to bust out all of the blog posts for each country right away, but once the holidays started, my goodness, we were busy. I finally managed to finish writing about our trip through Thailand though, so here it is. We did so much there it was very difficult to write about it all, but I hope you guys enjoy the stories and pictures.

Phuket

Phuket was our first destination in Thailand. It is Thailand's biggest island (although it doesn’t feel like an island at all because its so big) at the southernmost tip of the country and is Thailand’s number one tourist attraction. Phuket was nice, but we were honestly both a little let down by it. If you Google anything about Phuket or look at pictures, it will usually show glowing turquoise water with towering limestone cliffs jutting out into the water. Well, Phuket doesn’t actually look like that at all - those pictures are from the small islands near Phuket that you can visit on a day trip. Phuket is almost exclusively catered to tourists. Lindsey and I don’t particularly care for things like 5 star restaurants, expensive hotels, tourist shopping centers, gun ranges, and “guided” snorkeling trips, so it just wasn’t our cup of tea. I thought it was nice and we both enjoyed it, but it was nothing to write home about and not what you expect when you think about the stereotypical Thailand beach. For example, I didn’t even take a single picture of the beaches in Phuket, just the islands we visited. Nevertheless, we still did some pretty awesome things near Phuket.

I went on a scuba trip around the Kho Phi Phi islands, and those dives were by far the best I have ever been on. I went on three different dives throughout the day and the water was crystal clear and was the temperature of a bathtub on the surface. 

Some of the many, many anemones I saw.

Me, after one of the dives with the island of Kho Phi Phi behind me.

Lindsey and I also went on a seperate day trip to the Kho Phi Phi islands, specifically Maya Bay, which was one of the most beautiful and unique beaches we have ever seen. It is where the movie The Beach was filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio in 1999, so it was cool to see the “set” of the movie. People cannot actually stay on the island as it is a protected national park, but hoards of tourist come (as we did) everyday to visit the beach that was made famous by the movie. It was beautiful to see, but the ridiculous crowds and boat traffic ruined the tranquil ambiance of what it was like before Leo set foot on the island. We had read that it was crowded though, so we came prepared for the crowds and were still happy that we made the trip out there.

Some of the colorful long tail boats on Maya Bay. 

Lindsey and I in the turquoise waters of Maya Bay.

We also rented a moped one day to visit a few of the Wats (temples) and a giant Buddha statue that is perched at the top of the tallest hills in Phuket. The statue is about 150 feet high and has amazing views of the surrounding beaches and is rated as one of the main attractions to Phuket.

Lindsey and I posing in front of Big Buddha.

When we got back to the US, we quickly realized that no one here knows how to say Phuket. So to set the table straight, it is pronounced Poo Ket. There, now we shouldn’t hear anymore cuss words coming out of you guys.

Massages

Everyone has heard of Thai messages, and they are awesomely painful. We got many of them when we were in Thailand for about $5 an hour. Yes, it really is that cheap. In our time in Southeast Asia, I think we both had about 12 one hour messages, all for around $5 each. In Phuket particularly, I was very surprised by how many massage parlors there were. Literally, every third business was a massage parlor. Now, were they all real massage parlors or were they brothels/massage parlors? I have no idea, but there were certainly a lot of them. 

Railay Beach

Railay is the place to go for beautiful beaches in Thailand. There are huge limestone cliffs that jut out into the water from the beach, there are caves that you can swim to, and rock climbers can be seen on every rock face. Unfortunately for us, it poured nearly all day everyday for the 5 days we were there, so we didn’t get to enjoy the awesomeness of the beaches like we wanted to.

Railay Beach from a lookout point.

In Railay, there is a lagoon that is hidden away behind some huge cliffs that you have to climb up and over. Lindsey and I tried to go see it but because it had been raining so much, the path ended up being a mudslide of death. Now, I am not one to turn down “adventurous” hikes, but I threw in the towel after realizing I had to climb down a 30 foot rock face that was wet and muddy. No thanks. On the way back up the slippery trail, we ran into a pack of monkeys that did not want to let us by. There were about 50 of them and they would not move out of the way and off the path. Eventually they surrounded us (some of them literally touching us and poking our legs) and we had to stand there for nearly half an hour before they left. Could we have just continued walking through the crowd of monkeys? Probably, but with the luck I have had with wildlife I didn’t want to risk getting attacked. At this point in time, Lindsey and I both realized that we don’t like monkeys.

Lindsey walking along the beach in between the downpours of rain.

Khao Sok National Park

Khao Sok National Park is covered by the oldest evergreen forest in the world, huge limestone cliffs, giant bamboo forests, and lots and lots of leeches. It is the wettest area of Thailand year round, and it was the rainy season when we were there, so it literally rained nonstop for the first 3 days we were there. The unfortunate part was that most of the trails were closed due to flooding because it was impossible to cross the river without being swept away.

How about a walk through a giant bamboo forest?

A leach on my foot. Those guys suck - ha!

Regardless, Lindsey and I still went on quite a few hikes, and quickly realized that wearing sandals was a bad idea. Leeches were everywhere. We were constantly inspecting our feet for those little suckers, but you can’t really feel them on you so we had a solid amount of leech bites. 

The rain did let up our last two days in the park, so we rented tubes for $1 and spent the day riding the rapids in the river over and over again.

Bangkok

We heard many conflicting opinions about Bangkok before we arrived. Some people hate it. Some people love it. Well, Lindsey and I really liked Bangkok. There is so much to do there, the street food was delicious, it was busy but easy to get around, and it was relatively clean.

The two of us on a rooftop bar in Bangkok.

A giant reclining Buddha that is plated in gold. It looks pretty awesome when the light shines on it.

The main canal through the center of Bangkok. 

A typical power line. Crazy right?

The city has a newish sky train, which you can take to get nearly anywhere in the city for about $1, and we used it everyday. It was the first huge city we had spent any time in for the past two and a half years, so I was happy that we weren’t “overwhelmed” by it. There are billion dollar malls, movie theaters, tons of skyscrapers, temples, parks, restaurants, and basically anything you could want in a city. However, Bangkok does have a darker side. Sex tourism, red light districts, and brothels are rampant in Bangkok. Some people go there specifically for that reason alone. I don’t have too much to say about that as we didn’t really notice it, but it is there.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is an ancient city in the northern part of Thailand and was the last stop of our trip in Thailand. We met two other Peace Corps volunteers there, Marie and Ruth, who were in our group and also travelling around Thailand before they went back to the US. The city is full of temples and has plenty to offer for adventure seekers.

One of the many beautiful temples in Chiang Mai.

One of the first things our group did was take a Thai cooking class. If you know anything about me, I do not cook – ever. I can scramble eggs, but that is the extent of my cooking forte. So, I wasn’t particularly excited about taking a cooking class and felt like our group of 3 girls dragged me to it. However, I did have a blast and the food I made was surprisingly delicious. If you need a chef to carter your next party, feel free to contact me.

We are at our cooking class pounding some spices. The beers helped me cook I think.

Tiger Kingdom

We also went to Tiger Kingdom, which is essentially a tiger petting zoo. I wish I could make it sound cooler than that, like walking through the bush with lions or something, but I would just be lying. There were about 60 tigers in enclosures and you can pay a sizeable fee to hop in and pet them. It was kind of weird but still really interesting to see their shear size up close. Interesting fact – tigers are much bigger than lions. Tigers can easily weigh up to 900 pounds and the heaviest male lion on record was only 690 pounds. They are roughly the same height, but tigers are much thicker. I always thought lions were the biggest, but now I know that tigers are the real king of the jungle.

We are petting a "medium" sized tiger. They get way bigger than that.

Ran-Tong Elephant Center

This was one of the best days of our entire trip. We spent the day with elephants at an elephant rescue center called Ran-Tong. In Thailand, anyone can own an elephant and many of them are overworked and horribly mistreated as labor animals. Ran-Tong tries to save some of those elephants and bring them to what they call an elephant “retirement” community where they can live in peace. However, elephants cost a lot of money so to make enough money to keep them, Ran-Tong lets people like us pay to come spend the day with them. Our guides told us everything there is to know about Asian elephants and we got to ride them bareback around the jungle a few times. It was awesome.

Lindsey is getting a kiss from the baby elephant.

Ruth and I got to ride the biggest elephant there.

The four Peace Corps volunteers at the end of the day.

Asian elephants look distinctly different and don’t get quite as big as African elephants, but they are said to be much smarter. You don’t believe me? Check out this video of this Asian elephant painting an elephant. I would buy that painting.

The Festival of Lights

When the lanterns were first released.

As if our day with the elephants wasn’t good enough already, we found out when we arrived back at our hostel that in just four hours the Yi Peng festival would start – the famed festival of lights. We had read about it while planning our trip months before, but the official date had not been announced yet so we assumed we would miss it. BUT, we just happened to be there at the right time! So our group of four grabbed a taxi and drove out to the field where the lantern release would happen. Thousands and thousands of people were there and the traffic was absolutely ridiculous, but we pushed our way through the massive crowds to get a good spot in the field where the lanterns were to be lit.

Yi Peng is a Buddhist festival and begins with several hours of religious ceremonial activities, but the main attraction is obviously the actual lantern release. To the Buddhists, releasing the lantern is symbolic of letting all your troubles and worries float away. For us, it was one of the most spectacular things we have ever seen.

It was like a sky full of moving stars. Simply amazing.

But Lieutenant Dan, You Ain’t Got No Legs

Lindsey and I had a 10 hour layover in the middle of the night in the Bangkok Airport on the way to India. Luckily, I was able to find a bench and lay partially down with my legs hanging off the edge to try and get some sleep. Despite the fact that the airport was super crowded and loud, I managed to fall into a deep sleep for about 3 hours. Then, Lindsey tapped my shoulder to tell me to move because the airport cleaners wanted to clean the area I was in. So, ha, I go to stand up and literally just collapsed on the ground on top of my legs – I couldn’t feel them or move them at all. They had been hanging off the edge of the bench for so long that they went completely and hopelessly numb. I was temporarily paralyzed. After about five minutes of the cleaners standing awkwardly over me waiting for me to move, I was able to stand. Lindsey could not stop laughing at me.