Thailand was even better than I imagined! It's hard to blog it because words can't begin to convey the breathtaking beauty of The Land of Smiles as it's often called. The nickname is certainly not a misnomer - every Thai person I encountered was oozing friendliness and grins. Often, they were attempting to rip me off (did a LOT of haggling in Thailand!) , but still, at least they were doing it with a smile.
A little background. Thailand is, as I'm sure you know, a country in Southeast Asia which shares borders with Laos, Burma (aka Myanmar), and Cambodia and to the South is Malaysia. The capital is Bangkok, it's about the size of California, and 95% of the population are Buddhists.
Thailand used to be called "Siam" and is the world's biggest exporter of rice. Thailand has one of the largest monarchies in history but there are coups quite often. Most recently in 2006 there was a military coup and the military still controls the government.The 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami caused a lot of destruction on many parts of Southern Thailand. The earthquake which caused the tsunami was the 2nd largest ever recorded! The tsunami wiped out everything on one of the islands I stayed on (Phi Phi Island) but it was remarkable to see how quickly it has been rebuilt. There are many reminders of the tsunami however, mostly in the form of Tsunami Evacuation Route Signs which was everywhere you turn.
So I arrived at Bangkok on 7/26 and took a flight down to Phuket, a big island in the south of Thailand. I stayed one night there and then took a boat to Phi Phi Island, about a 2 hour ride. After several days on Phi Phi I took another boat to a place called Railay Bay.
The weather was really good, it only rained for 10 minutes during my time there! There were a few cloudy days but mostly it was hot and sunny!
Ok, so on Phi Phi island I booked a nice bungalow overlooking the beach. Phi Phi is a tiny island, popular with backpackers. There are no paved roads or cars, just dirt roads, lots of bikes, and tons of 20 somethings. It was kind of a bohemian beach-party kind of place. One night my friends and I sat on the beach sipping Banana Coladas, listening to some guy in a bandanna jam on a guitar with the waves crashing in the background. My resort had a cascade pool looking out over the beach. Mainly I hung out in the pool, read/slept on the beach, wandered the streets and explored little shops, and ate a ton of AMAZING Thai food.
On one day my friends and I rented kayaks and paddled to a remote island beach which turned out to be a LOT farther than we expected (still sore!). It was more than worth it though with some amazing views! Later that same day we hired a long tail boat (a wooden boat driven by a local, powered by a used car engine - with no roads at either of the locations I stayed, I had to travel by long tail boat quite a bit). We took the boat to nearby Monkey Island which is exactly what it sounds like: a remote island whose only inhabitants are monkeys! We did some snorkeling there in between playing with the monkeys. It was my first time snorkeling (other than in a pool!) and I loved it.
After a few days the backpacker vibes of Phi Phi island got to be a bit much so we left and headed to the tiny, exclusive, paradise-on-earth, popular with wealthy families and couples destination of Railay Bay. Railay was the opposite of Phi Phi - it was even smaller, but the resorts were luxurious, the beach even whiter, the ocean bluer, and the views more spectacular. There was only one bar on the beach, a big contrast to Phi Phi island. The bar was very laid back, playing Van Morrison and Santana at a pleasant decibel and arranging bamboo mats on the beach at sunset so that you could sit there and enjoy a drink while looking at the ocean. Only 3 upscale resorts get to be located on the fabulous beach front at Railay, each with its own beach front restaurant (I ate at each one at least once - hard to get tired of eating fresh seafood cooked anyway you want or delicious Pat Thai right next to the ocean!). And when I say beach front, I mean quite literally that when I was eating breakfast and the tide was all the way in, the water was two feet away from me. Amazing.
So, one of the coolest things I did at Railay Bay was take a Sunset Snorkeling and Island hopping tour. A local Thai man took a group of 8 of us by long tail boat to 3 tiny, remote islands where we snorkeled all the way around each one. I have never seen so many amazing fish! I even saw a reef shark and some seahorses! It was indescribable. The water was so clear, and there were so many fish. It was like Finding Nemo but better! We were the only ones there and could take our time. Each time we got back into our boat after snorkeling, the guide had fresh fruit waiting for us - he brought a whole pineapple and sliced it up for us while we were in the water! After the snorkeling he took us to a tiny island with a beach and cooked us a fresh seafood dinner over a fire, right there. It was incredible. I'm running out of strong, positive adjectives to describe this trip!
Thailand was incredible, especially Railay Bay and I didn't want to leave :( I have more to write and I'm sure you're wondering where the pictures are. For some reason I have been having trouble uploading them. So I decided to just post this and I'll work on getting the pictures up asap!
No comments:
Post a Comment