When we finally arrived on Koh Phangan after a few bus rides and a long ferry ride, we took a taxi to the part of the island where Safir (my cousin who put us up in the small she is renting) told us to go. We got out and started walking around in the dark, looking unsuccessfully, for the land marks in her directions. About an hour later, I heard someone yell my name! It was her boyfriend! We dropped our bags and hungout together at the Freeway Bar for a few hours, and then made our way to their house. It's not a huge place, but we made good use of the couch, the floor, the hammock hanging outside, and the extra mattress.
The next few days we spent relaxing, and looking around the island. Koh Phangan is known for it's full and half moon parties which attract huge numbers of young people wanting to party. As it happens, the half moon fell on the 22nd while we were there. We were planning on going, but decided against it when we realized that the entrance fee, taxi fare, and drinks would add up to more than 1,000TB. 1,000TB is only $30 which is not so expensive for a party like that, but 1,000TB is also 6-7 days worth of food, or 8-10 days worth of accommodation.
So, we spent some nice days and nights with Safir before they left on their visa run, and then the next day Kelsey and I set off on our 18hr journey to Bangkok where we are now sitting in the airport waiting for our flight to Vietnam!
~Iolani
P.s. again, pictures are on my facebook!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Koh Lanta to Krabi and onward!
After 2 1/2 fun filled weeks at Clayzy House on Koh Lanta, and 2 unexpected, adventure filled days in Krabi (a small city in southern Thailand), with 2 girls, Astrid and Emily, who were volunteering with at the "Happy Hippie's Village", we're now heading to Koh Phangan (an island off the east coast of Thailand). My cousin, Safir, coincidentally is living there at the moment, so we'll be meeting up with her :D !!!
Our time at Clayzy House was a wonderful experience! We worked hard, had loads of fun and sun, painted beautifully, relaxed well, sang a lot, and made connections that'll last forever. It is a very interesting place, and Neng Neng has created a unique environment, trying to enforce community unity and relaxation to the max. I was sad to leave, but I don't doubt that it was the right time to move on...
Yesterday, Kelsey, Emily, Astrid, and I woke up in our room here in Krabi, rented 2 motorbikes between the 4 of us, and set off with the intention of going to the national park, and emerald pond, and tiger cave temple...but, as all good days start, we ended up changing our plans... On our way up to the national park, we saw a tiny sign reading "To the cave, To the top --> ", so we stopped and explored some :) .
The cave wasn't huge or scary (from what we saw) but the rock formations were incredible! We then decided to heck out "the top", and so started our jungle trek up the face of what felt like a cliff. We bush whacked, and followed the sometimes visible path, and climbed up steeeep faces where someone had thankfully attached rope that we could hold onto. There were a few times that we stopped and considered whether or not it was worth the difficult and dangerous climb up (and more dangerous yet, down), but we pushed up to the top where we sucked up the amazing views, and a refreshing watermelon I had carried up! Kels and I have seen many incredible views from mountaintops, but this was our first with surroundings like these...!
We all made it down with no more than a few scrapes and scares, and then headed to the national park where we found a nice, refreshing, waterfall. The nice thing about our first adventure of the day was that noooo one was around...not even any Thais, and it had most likely rarely been done by a tourist. But arriving at the park, we were brought back to the reality of annoying crouds of tourists, and Thais on tour, taking away from the raw beauty and of our surroundings.
We then hopped back on our bikes and were driving toward the beach when we had another little, unexpected occurrence of a flat tire (which could have been - but wasn't - dangerous). The chain of events to follow were so ridiculous and frustrating, and when we finally all found each other again, drove to the beach, and were sitting in the sand watching the sunset, with a much neeeeded beer in hand, we were able to laugh at all of it!
More adventures ahead...!
P.s. I'm sorry about the lack of pictures on the blog :( my Blogger app has failed me continuously, and simply won't post oictures. And as I lack access to a computer, I have resorted to posting my pictures on Facebook ( Iolani deRis ), or I can email them to you upon request :)
Our time at Clayzy House was a wonderful experience! We worked hard, had loads of fun and sun, painted beautifully, relaxed well, sang a lot, and made connections that'll last forever. It is a very interesting place, and Neng Neng has created a unique environment, trying to enforce community unity and relaxation to the max. I was sad to leave, but I don't doubt that it was the right time to move on...
Yesterday, Kelsey, Emily, Astrid, and I woke up in our room here in Krabi, rented 2 motorbikes between the 4 of us, and set off with the intention of going to the national park, and emerald pond, and tiger cave temple...but, as all good days start, we ended up changing our plans... On our way up to the national park, we saw a tiny sign reading "To the cave, To the top --> ", so we stopped and explored some :) .
The cave wasn't huge or scary (from what we saw) but the rock formations were incredible! We then decided to heck out "the top", and so started our jungle trek up the face of what felt like a cliff. We bush whacked, and followed the sometimes visible path, and climbed up steeeep faces where someone had thankfully attached rope that we could hold onto. There were a few times that we stopped and considered whether or not it was worth the difficult and dangerous climb up (and more dangerous yet, down), but we pushed up to the top where we sucked up the amazing views, and a refreshing watermelon I had carried up! Kels and I have seen many incredible views from mountaintops, but this was our first with surroundings like these...!
We all made it down with no more than a few scrapes and scares, and then headed to the national park where we found a nice, refreshing, waterfall. The nice thing about our first adventure of the day was that noooo one was around...not even any Thais, and it had most likely rarely been done by a tourist. But arriving at the park, we were brought back to the reality of annoying crouds of tourists, and Thais on tour, taking away from the raw beauty and of our surroundings.
We then hopped back on our bikes and were driving toward the beach when we had another little, unexpected occurrence of a flat tire (which could have been - but wasn't - dangerous). The chain of events to follow were so ridiculous and frustrating, and when we finally all found each other again, drove to the beach, and were sitting in the sand watching the sunset, with a much neeeeded beer in hand, we were able to laugh at all of it!
More adventures ahead...!
P.s. I'm sorry about the lack of pictures on the blog :( my Blogger app has failed me continuously, and simply won't post oictures. And as I lack access to a computer, I have resorted to posting my pictures on Facebook ( Iolani deRis ), or I can email them to you upon request :)
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Thailand! (Bangkok and Koh Lanta)
After about 58 hours of travel and very little sleep, we finally were dropped off at the road where supposedly our hostel/workaway were. When we walked into the hostel area (which I'll attempt to describe below), we were told by Neng Neng, our workaway host, to drop our bags and go walk to the beach. We got there just in time or the sunset! As we were standing there, we both exclaimed that this is paradise! And then we instantly tried to think of ways we could extend our time here...
So, for the past 8 days now, we've been working (quite hard) for about 6 hrs a day, in exchange for free accommodation and 2 meals a day. The work ranges from doing large scale artwork on walls, to physical work in the field (under the hot sun), to bartending, to cleaning the sleeping bungalows, and much more. Since this is a laid back "hippy hostel", the organization is not slways the best, so some of us sometimes end up working hard for 8 hours, while others have a 2 hour shift at the bar.
It's a really cool environment here, and the ideas behind this place are absolutely brilliant, but as it's only 1 year running, the execution is often lacking...
The bech is only a 2 minute walk from the hostel, and is incredible! The water is warm enough to comfortably go swimming at night (to see the glowing plancton), yet still refreshing enough to cool me off after my daily, early morning run and gym workout! It is clean, and turquoise, and simply incredible...especially when covered in dirt and mud fromwork! The beach is lined with beach bars/restaurants, and massage places, both of which receive a good amount of business from tourists. At night everything is illuminated by big colorful lights, seemingly competing to get ones attention, and almost any night stroll will bring you across a fire poi spinner, and sometimes even some people sending off those beautiful lanterns that romantically float high over the ocean. It's quite an enchanting place, but I think that if I wasn't working for a large part of the day, I wouldn't appreciate the beach time as much and would start to get bored on this small island.
Some days we (or one of us) is only asked to work a few hours, then recieving only free accommodation, or maybe accommodation and one meal... So, everyday we have at least one meal to figure out for ourselves. We have a pretty amazing, cheap, pad thai stand just a few steps away from us which is often a go-to for us, and then there are plenty of restaurants and minimarts to choose from. For me, I love to just go and buy myself a 30baht fresh coconut, cut it open, and enjoy the natural goodness, on the beach, in the sun!
We've met so many great people here, and have made some connections that might not last forever, but surely have changed us. This hostel is a small comunity of unique peoole coming together from completely different places, backgrounds, and worlds, to share a memorable time. We've said countless exciting "hello!"s, and even more sad "see ya later!"s. The sad and unavoidable fact of our departure from this incredible place stays looming over us, but we are also starting to get ansy to move on and explore more of Thailand and Southeast Asia!
The full moon is coming up, which is a big event here in Southern Thailand (not so much where we are though), and we plan on heading north after that!
Live in the moment!
~Iolani
So, for the past 8 days now, we've been working (quite hard) for about 6 hrs a day, in exchange for free accommodation and 2 meals a day. The work ranges from doing large scale artwork on walls, to physical work in the field (under the hot sun), to bartending, to cleaning the sleeping bungalows, and much more. Since this is a laid back "hippy hostel", the organization is not slways the best, so some of us sometimes end up working hard for 8 hours, while others have a 2 hour shift at the bar.
It's a really cool environment here, and the ideas behind this place are absolutely brilliant, but as it's only 1 year running, the execution is often lacking...
The bech is only a 2 minute walk from the hostel, and is incredible! The water is warm enough to comfortably go swimming at night (to see the glowing plancton), yet still refreshing enough to cool me off after my daily, early morning run and gym workout! It is clean, and turquoise, and simply incredible...especially when covered in dirt and mud fromwork! The beach is lined with beach bars/restaurants, and massage places, both of which receive a good amount of business from tourists. At night everything is illuminated by big colorful lights, seemingly competing to get ones attention, and almost any night stroll will bring you across a fire poi spinner, and sometimes even some people sending off those beautiful lanterns that romantically float high over the ocean. It's quite an enchanting place, but I think that if I wasn't working for a large part of the day, I wouldn't appreciate the beach time as much and would start to get bored on this small island.
Some days we (or one of us) is only asked to work a few hours, then recieving only free accommodation, or maybe accommodation and one meal... So, everyday we have at least one meal to figure out for ourselves. We have a pretty amazing, cheap, pad thai stand just a few steps away from us which is often a go-to for us, and then there are plenty of restaurants and minimarts to choose from. For me, I love to just go and buy myself a 30baht fresh coconut, cut it open, and enjoy the natural goodness, on the beach, in the sun!
We've met so many great people here, and have made some connections that might not last forever, but surely have changed us. This hostel is a small comunity of unique peoole coming together from completely different places, backgrounds, and worlds, to share a memorable time. We've said countless exciting "hello!"s, and even more sad "see ya later!"s. The sad and unavoidable fact of our departure from this incredible place stays looming over us, but we are also starting to get ansy to move on and explore more of Thailand and Southeast Asia!
The full moon is coming up, which is a big event here in Southern Thailand (not so much where we are though), and we plan on heading north after that!
Live in the moment!
~Iolani
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