Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A new high...

I was going to tell you about the last days on Phi Phi; The sent from heaven Thai massage for $7.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (which is done in a room with 6 other people laying side by side and you strip down to your scibbies, hahah think the boys were more surprised then me), the ever amazing fire shows, the $10 dinner for 4 BUT....



I must skip all of this because we arrived in Rai Lay for a true adventure and nothing else matters...



Rai Lay is a famous town for its limestone cliffs and the rock climbing that is done on them, it is only reachable by long tail boat from Krabi and the boat can not even pull all the way to shore as it is too shallow...you must walk in to shore.



Our sole purpose for being here is to take a day of rock climbing classes($50). And what a day it was.

We decided to do a full day, even though we were told it was 'strenuous'...

I think all of us were a little nervous but very excited and wondering what to expect..9 am- we meet and are taught the basics, how to tie the knots, repel etc. From there we go to our first climb. Two lines are set up and folks they are HIGH.


A couple of things we realize;


  • Russ is afraid of heights

  • i am wearing lulumon booty shorts (which Russ say while not practical make for good pics)

  • Rod is already hurt from "free climbing" to a suntan spot in Phi Phi

I am proud to say my first rock climb was around 65 feet, straight up a mother f'n cliff!!!!! the next one was not as high but difficult due to lack of holds. It was exhilarating, exhausting, amazing, frightening all in one. In all we did 6 climbs for the day.

And, Russ despite his fear of hieghts is quick as a spider monkey (perhaps just to get it over with :-p) And, Rod despite his almost life ending suntanning wound is also spider monkey/billy goat fast.


It didn't end there though...we then walked around the island (its small maybe 3/4 mile), we weren't sure what to expect or where we were going...we were already on a total high (natural) so at this point everything was gravy for us.



We climbed a steep trail with our guides on a completely un marked path and popped out in these caves that overlooked the ocean and island. Then we proceeded to walk through these caves (lemon caves) in almost complete darkness (guide had a pencil flash light), it felt like a movie set. We climbed up ladders that looked to be out of an Indiana Jones movie, made of Bamboo and tied with rope. We used frayed rope to pull ourselves up steep inclines. We also noticed about a hundred set of eyes looking at us, yup we were in the company of many many bats! This cave adventure took about 20 minutes.



And then....we repelled blindly (40 feet ish) out of the cave into the forest below...I am not really scared of anything (besides, spiders, crunchy bugs, and snakes) but even this was for a moment was a little frightening. Once on the side of the cliff over looking the beach, I felt like all the nerves go away and only exhilaration at the prospect of lowering myself down the side of a mountain!



Ahhhhh, what a magical day.


Tonight we chill as overall Rai Lay is a veeerrry laid back stoner island, so chillin' on floor mats on the beach smokin from a hukkah (apple) is the norm and we will do it again tonight :-p


Oh but wait...I almost forgot...our guide is going to be teaching us (mainly Russ) how to fire unsafetly play with fire as well :-p Let you know how that turns out...


Truly a magical day.


Off to Koh Samui, tomorrow


Blog yas later, love to you all.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Islands of Thailand...Phuket, Phi Phi





















I get why people don't leave...












We finally made it to the islands! Now, I officially feel as though I am on vacation.

First stop Phuket.
We decided to stay in the beach town of Kata which is on the other side of the island from Patong the main beach. And, we are soooooooo glad we did. Driving through Patong beach reminded me of Cabo and TJ rolled into one. Way touristy, way dirty and way crowded. We were all thinking o'migod is this what Thailand is going to be??

When we pulled into Kata beach, BIG sigh of relief, it was beautiful and low key. We went straight to the beach, first time in the water and it was.....awesome! The water is around 85 degrees, clear, clean. The surrounding moutains and cliffs, made it one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen.

We were pretty much mellow here, we ended up going to a reggae bar that was in a tree on the beach. Pretty Cool.

KOH PHI PHI.

We left Phuket and took the 2 hour ferry to Phi Phi, the ferry ride itself was like a boat tour. The landscape (sea scape?) is unbelievable...we totally chilled on the roof and tried to be cool and not act too excited about getting to Phi Phi. :-p


As we pulled into port, all I can say is BREATH TAKING. This place is heaven!!!!!!! Until you see the pictures, you won't understand. The vibe here is so about chillaxin', making new friends, and drinkin' a lot of "buckets" on the beach! Kata was the most beautiful until I got here. No comparison.


Super cool bar. Called Hippies n the beach. Best fire show on the island and then you play fire games. Fire jump rope and Fire Limbo. I was a little wary due the amount of "OFF" I had applied, does it make you more flammable?? :-)

We of course had to sign up for some form of activity, so we decided to do the all day boat trip, with snorkeling.

ok. crazy rad.

10 on the boat 11-sunset ending at "the beach", actually called Maya Beach (2nd pic). Out of the 5 stops "the beach" was my least favorite. And, Unfortuanly we did not get to see the sunset beacasue a storm moved in AND we did not get to see Leonardo Dicaprio, Rod was very upset :-p. Bummer about the sunset, RAD about the storm. We were in a small long tail boat with basically a weed wacker as the motor, so we were completly drenched from the waves, getting bounced all around...overall made the 30 minute boat ride home a hellaluv a lot of fun! Most amazing place I have seen in my life was, Loh Samah Bay (3rd picture), you are enclosed in by 3 walls of high cliffs, (no beach) the water is a beautiful green/blue and deep, we were the only ones there and could have stayed all day swimming.

We are in Phi Phi for another day and the off to Krabi town for a day and half.





I truly love this place, I understand why people say they don't want to go home.
Blog ya later peeps. xo


















Thursday, April 16, 2009

Day 2...Bangkok- TUK TUKS RULE
















Another amazing day in beautiful Bangkok...










I don't know why anyone says they don't love this city...It is beautiful and interesting and friggin fun!











We went to the biggest mall I have ever seen in my LIFE, called MBK. And we also went to the craziest food court I have seen in my life, not for the fient of heart I tell you, some interesting looking stuff.











We went down to the river and took an hour private long boat ride. So awesome! As our driver (with no teeth) sipped from the frosty cold beer we bought him (he actually pounded about 3) from a floating store, we got to see Bangkok from another perspective. We took a tour the the narrow channels and saw a different way of life for sure. We also saw a crocodile, and a Gila monster. Unfortunately no one would take me up on my dare to jump in the water so I am unsure as to if your skin would melt off on entry or if you would glow green at night :-p











Amazing though...











We then went to a restaurant called the Good View that was on the river, spectacular! Great food and watching the boats go by at night in the open air setting was beautiful!











TUK TUK's RULE!











We went to the infamous redlight district, to catch the infamous shows...hmmm, nuff said about that :-p











We finally braved a tuk tuk, despite being advised against it. We decided to take one from the red light district which is pretty much the furthest location possible from our hotel (15 minutes)! OMIGOD' soooooo cool! I believe our driver was on some serious meth BUT made for a hella of a good ride. ( I will post the video we made later) Who knew a tuk, tuk could not tip over if it was only on two wheels! Woo Hoo. Oh, p.s- only took 10 minutes to get home!





If I quit my day job, I believe with my driving record I am well suited to drive the tuk tuk.











I must go and save the boys from the lady men now...they seem to be having a really hard time figuring what is what with that ;-p











Blog ya lates...

World Biggest Waterfight...

So...they were not kidding when they said Thailand hosted the worlds biggest water fight during the Thai New Year.

MADNESS! ABSOLUTE MADNESS!

Thousands of people are in the streets celebrating the New Year (and that the riots are over), and celebration consists of EVERYONE getting drenched, as well as having a glue like flour paste applied to their face and body!

We walked 4 blocks to a "back packer" area (code for touristy) and by the end of these four blocks we all were completely drenched to the bone. (pictures to follow). And folks it is just not warm water it is cold ice water as well.  They stand on either side of the street and just soak you in the cross fire!  The Thai's also seem to be drawn to me as I seemed to be the one being applied with the most flour "water".  If you had added a few strips of newspaper to me, I would have been a freakin' paper meche!

We also partook in a local custom of what we are calling "twiskey" which is Thai Whiskey. Let me tell ya...when they brought us a small "bucket" poured two fifths of twiskey, a red bull and a coca cola, with 3 straws...I should have ran. BUT, I didn't and getting re-soaked all over again on the walk home was even more enjoyable.

All together a Totally Rad, Totally Awesome day!

And that was just day one folks...Blog ya lates!




Monday, April 13, 2009

Getting Ready to Leave...

So, the Thailand Adventure Begins...

Excitement, Happy, Elated and now....Nervous?

Nothing like leaving on a vacation of a lifetime and then you find out that there are violent protests going on. Figures. But, life and travel go on and its all part of experiencing another part of the world, right? Hope we still get to go.

Before all of this my biggest concern was what the hell I was going to do with myself for 20 hours all alone on a plane. Hmmm, wonder if I will get through entirety of my music on my Ipod. :-p

Well, I am off to overpack...

Blog ya later.
xx