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Thailand was an AMAZING trip. WOW. Absolutely incredible. I cannot even describe how wonderful it was. Hectic, but good. The journey began on Thursday April 30th. We hired a private diver through a friend, who drove us from Guangzhou to Shenzhen which took about an hour. There were five of us as we had worked the entire day and then did last minute preparations before heading to the airport. The drive from Guangzhou to Shenzhen was very pleasant. The driver avoided the highway route, and the area he drove through was very green and suburban. It almost looked like Mississauga, which was a pleasant change from the city. There was even a building that looked like the Central library! We drove to Shenzhen with the windows down, breeze blowing through our hair, each filled with the anticipation of our trip. We didn't speak much during the ride; rather we listened to music and wondered what was in store for us. From Shenzhen we boarded the quick flight to Bangkok and landed at 2:15 am. We arrived at the airport greeted by signs that announced "Welcome to the land of smiles." As we were soon to discover, this is very accurate. From the moment we landed, everyone was pleasant and friendly. We noticed right away that almost everyone spoke English. Wow. It was already so different from China!I also noticed that the people there are extremely beautiful.
Bangkok- PatpongThe cab driver took us to China town where we found a hotel called the White Orchid and checked in. It was almost 4am at this point. We headed off to a place called "Patpong," the red light district of Bangkok. I had heard stories of many unusual and crazy things to be seen here. Unfortunately, or maybe we were fortunate, it was closed. This is because due to new government regulations the "shows" must end at 2am. I cannot even believe the stories I heard about this place; both funny and bizarre. It is one of those instances where seeing is believing. Slightly disappointed that we were not going to see it for ourselves, we stopped at one of the only bars open to have a few drinks. There we met "Mr. Thailand," who is the bar owner's brother. He has supposedly published book, and is well-known all over Thailand. We met his strange friend as well, who guessed each of our ages on the dot! After a few drinks, we left after Mr. Thailand began dancing for us! He claims to have taught all the lady boys in Patpong how to dance, and was giving us a demonstration! When we got back to the hotel, it was 6am. We had breakfast and then went to bed!The next morning we awoke and headed to the train station to catch a train to Krabi. Unfortunately, all the sleeper trains were booked, so we had to do the 12 hour journey by bus instead. It was then we realized that we should have booked a flight. Too late! We had some time to kill before our bus came, so we tried to find a market. Well the tuk-tuk and taxi drivers are outrageous! They try to take you in to fabric stores to shop so that they can get a commission. It is very difficult to get someone to take you directly from point A to point B. We ended up at the "thieves market," which mostly sold fabric, but had some interesting clothes and shoes, and then headed back to catch our bus.
Krabi and Ao NangThe bus was filled with foreigners; mostly Europeans. After the most uncomfortable 12-hour bus ride, we arrived in Krabi, and then took a taxi to Ao Nang. We checked into the Sunset hotel, which was perfect; good location, great rooms and helpful staff. It reminded me of the Oasis hotel when I was in Cancun, though not as big. After checking in, we headed straight for lunch. We all got pad Thai which was delicious; fresh and flavourful. After lunch, we headed to the beach. The weather was incredible, and as we walked down the strip to the beach, we passed by numerous shops and restaurants. The beach was small, beautiful and not very busy. After the beach, we rented some motorbikes and explored the town. I was intent on renting my own motorbike, but the women at the rental place warned me about accidents and lectured me about losing an arm or leg. They were worried because I had never driven one before. I ended up on the back of Vanessa's bike, though it was not that much safer, since she had only driven one once before. We went into the village and saw some very friendly people living such a simple, yet content life.Everyone had a huge smile and wave for us as we rode through. After the tour, we sat on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset. After the first hour my confidence in Vanessa increased. She was a good driver. We then stopped for dinner; red curry chicken and spring rolls- yum! Snuck in some shopping and a drink before bed. I am in love with this place!
DAY 2- Elephant Trekking, Thai Massage and Muay Thai!
Day two was spent elephant trekking in the morning. It was actually quite relaxing. The elephant was high, but moved at a nice, leisurely pace. Ana and I rode on one elephant. Her name was Camon. She was 26 years old and a very stubborn elephant. Hmmm. Sounds like me. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and friendly. We trekked through the area and then went back to the hut. We then walked on foot through the area and went to a swimming area full of mineral water. I could not go in, since it was very deep, and I cannot swim! There were some kids enjoying a nice afternoon swim. It was school holiday, and they were loving the time off. We then returned to the hut where our hosts cooked us a delicious stir-fry traditional Thai lunch. We headed back to the hotel after a lovely, satisfying morning. When I got back to the hotel, it was so hot; I headed straight for the beach. The other girls went to rent motorcycles again. They were going to go explore other beaches, so it was me, a book, and the beach. I had a great time laying there listening to the waves- which were a lot rougher than yesterday. Then had a one hour Thai massage- really cheap. About $6 CAD! And a pedicure. 2 hours later, I was blissfully relaxed. We finished off the afternoon by strolling along the boardwalk, and doing a bit of shopping. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to shower and prepare for the night.The night consisted of going to watch a Muay Thai (Thai boxing match). It was very entertaining, yet very hot and uncomfortable at the arena. After that we went to have a drink. The nightlife was not great. We did, however meet some lady boys recruiting people to go to their gay club, ha-ha. We danced the night away (I ended up dancing on the bar witha lady-boy!) and then back to our hotel. We have to be up wt 8am tomorrow to go to Koh Phi Phi!
Day 3
At 9am we caught the ferry to Koh Phi Phi, which translates to Phi Phi Island (pronounced pee pee island, hehe). The boat ride was very rough and I got soaked and very, very seasick! Koh Phi Phi is a beautiful little island. There were many, many tourists and beautiful people; European, Australian mostly. The beach doesn't have roads or cars so you pretty much have to walk everywhere. I would say it takes about half an hour to get from one end of the island to the next. The beach was stunning! The water was so clear and warm, and the sand very light. We had lunch on the beach- more pad Thai- yum! Then we did some shopping. After shopping a few of us climbed to Viewpoint to watch the sunset. I almost passed out, since it was extremely hot, and there were so, so many stairs, plus a steep incline up to the top! We were dripping wet with sweat when we finally got there. I imagine it is even more difficult to do the climb whilst drinking Bacardi Breezers...as one of my crazy friends attempted. The sunset was disappointing, but the view was great. There is a small shop at the top and the owner says he goes up and down up to three times a day! That's nuts! We had yet another wonderful dinner. At dinner we met an interesting couple; a Canadian woman and an Italian man who were charming, funny and entertaining. Sometimes it is the people you meet that make the trip the most memorable.After dinner myself and two friends went and got tattoos! It was my first tattoo and I had been thinking about what I wanted and where for some time, so it wasn't a rash decision. It was a bamboo tattoo (the kind Angelina Jolie has) This consists of a needle ona bamboo stick, and it is painful and takes longer than a regular tattoo using a machine. The best part about it- it heals almost instantly and you can go swimming right away. So as my dear friend held my hand, I sat through what seemed like hours of excruitiating pain, and ended up wih a Chinese symbol of strength on my wrist.
After we were all tatted up, we went first to Tiger Bar, where they were selling two for one drinks. They were only playing hip-hop, and when I requested other music, they didn't have any! We then headed to Reggae bar, which is a large bar with a boxing ring, where they do Thai boxing. Anyone can compete for a free bucket. We watched a couple of Thai matches and then finally convinced my friend V to fight! I really wanted to fight as well, but have never done Muay Thai and was not as confident as I would have been if it was regular boxing. Well she was great! We were all pretty worried since she was going up against the bartender; a true Thai boxer! V does Capoeira but has never sparred before. Well she put up a great fight and ended up with some bruises, but in the end we had a tie and a very entertaining fight. I commend her for her bravery. She also made history as the first foreign girl to go up against a Thai boxer! I am sure she will never forget the chants: "Canada! Canada!" as she fought the most terrifying fight of her life. On our last day on Phi Phi, it rained really hard. It was the first rainfall considering it was supposed to be rainy season, se we can't complain. We slept in- still recovering from the night before! I then went to search for food, and ended up at an Italian restaurant....it was the first one I saw and I needed shelter form the rain. It is here I tasted the best pizza I have ever had in my life!! I still salivate when I think of it. The staff were Thai, but the chef, who cooks the pizza in the front of the restaurant, was Italian. I ordered a whole pizza, since it didn't come in slices. I only ate about half, and since I was on my own, had to leave the other half. It hurt leaving the mouth-watering pizza behind, knowing when I got back to China I would be dying for food like that! We boarded the ferry back to Krabi. It was still pouring rain and we got there late so all the seats were taken. I ended up sitting on the floor, but managed to catch some ZZZ's on the way. Thankfully, I didn't get sick this time!From Krabi we caught the bus back to Bangkok. Lucky for us we were the first ones on and managed to snag the front seats, which gave us much more leg room and made for a much more comfortable ride than the one there. Again the bus was filled with foreigners and we met some really nice people. Biggest lesson learned: Bring a neck pillow for long bus rides! We arrived in Bangkok around 6am, and our new friend B showed us the main street- Khosan Road, which is where many bars, restaurants, shops and hotels are. We ended up having breakfast at a really shady bar, which was still going at full swing at 6 in the morning! The theme at this bar was foreign men with Thai prostitutes! It was pretty disturbing, but everyone (except us!) seemed like they were having a good time. We checked into a small guesthouse, since no one felt they could pull an all-nighter. After a couple hours sleep we were up once again and headed off for the Grand Palace.The day became overbearingly hot. Our tuk-tuk driver took us to fabric stores in hopes we would buy stuff so he could get a commission. The Grand Palace was beautiful. We had to rent sarongs since you are not allowed to show your legs or arms out of respect. We were with a lovely girl from England who spent the day with us. After the grand palace we spent some time shopping on Khosan road, and had lunch. There were many great buys including unique clothing, jewellery and souvenirs. Bargaining is a must! We then grabbed our bags, Headed to the airport, had out last Thai meal, and then caught the flight back to Shenzen.
Shenzhen-Guangzhou
We arrived back in Guangzhou to be greeted with pouring rain. The ride back was HELL. We had to transfer to about 3 different cabs. It was rainy and each time we stopped, we got wetter from transferring our luggage from one cab to another. Each cab driver got lost, and there was no one we could call, since it was after 2am. Plus we found ourselves in a dangerous situation, in which we almost got jumped. (MOre on that another time) What usually takes one-one and a half hours ended up being much more. We didn't get home until almost 4am!! And we all had to work the next day. I definitely needed a couple days to recover from this vacation!
Final Thoughts on Thailand
Koh Phi Phi: Beautiful beach! Very touristy, lots of scuba diving centres
Food: Unbelievably delicious!Thai people are very warm and friendly- The land of smiles!Thai massages- cheap!Tuk-TuksHOT! Drenched in sweat!Hotel California- our theme songOdd- our mini-bus driverMuay Thai- Crazy!Mr. ThailandCUTE babies
M.O.T.
These are the different types of transportation we took on our trip. Keep in mind this trip was only 6 days! It's a wonder we had time to relax on the beach! I tried to number them in order. It got very, very confusing! Some we were on more than once....-Taxi-Mini-van-Mini-bus-Bus-Plane-Tuk-Tuk-Motorcycle-Elephant-Back of pick up truck..there is a name for it, forgot what it's called!-Bus-Ferry-Foot
"There are two kinds of adventurers; those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't. "
-Rabindranath Tagore
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