It’s hard to describe how refreshing a trip to Thailand is after living in Delhi for months. Just to breath clean air was treat enough! It was a great time away and the best part was traveling around with one of my best friends from Omaha!
Anna and me. It was such a blessing to go on an adventure with this girl!
So here was our week:
A view from my taxi as I went to the hotel from the airport. It was so weird to see the cars driving in an orderly fashion and tons and tons of skyscrapers. Not in Delhi anymore…
Our hotel was right in this market area. We didn’t stay long in Bangkok so I just wandered a bit and got some fruit from a street vendor (there might be a reoccurring mention of fruit in this post…)
On our way to the bus/ferry office to start our journey down south to the islands.
Everyone getting ready to get on the bus.
After the bus, we took a ferry to Koh Phangan island and saw this beautiful rainbow as we were walking on the pier.
Here’s our hotel in Koh Phangan. This was my first experience booking through Airbnb… and it wasn’t great. BUT that’s probably because the owners were out of town and the staff didn’t speak any English. Made for an interesting couple of days. And to be fair, they were super nice even though it was hard to communicate.
First things first… Anna and I rented a scooter! The funniest part is that neither of us have ever ridden a scooter before but after a quick lesson (in broken English) we were off! Anna was brave and learned first and I went second. Luckily for us Koh Phangan has pretty flat roads that almost no one drives on, so we could cruse around going 30 km/hr.
We drove the scooters to a nearby beach where we rented kayaks. I loved kayaking on this trip! It was fun to be out in the water and explore the nearby islands.
The next day we went on a touristy boat tour thing. Basically we took a boat to three different smaller islands. One to snorkel at, one to kayak at (and eat a yummy lunch) and the last one to hike up to a little lookout point. I think this may have been one of my favorite days of our trip.
The guy walking was our tour guide whose name might have been ‘Coffee’? Or at least that’s what it sounded like. He was awesome. I was so blessed by great customer service all week and was amazed by how much of a different that makes.
Here’s our first stop where we snorkeled. It wasn’t super clear but still fun. We didn’t have fins and I scratched my foot on some coral which wasn’t a HUGE deal but…. later when I got back to Delhi, it kind of became a bit of a saga. Anyway, it was fun to swim around and I enjoyed myself regardless. Also, I totally fell in love with the boats in Thailand. They’re all so different and colorful. As I look through my photos, I’ve noticed a TON of boat pictures!
Anna and I on the boat after snorkeling.
This was the next stop. We came to this island for lunch and kayaking. We used two-person kayaks and everyone else in our group were couples, probably on their honeymoons or something, and Anna and I totally smoked them with our sweet kayaking skills. Not that it was a competition or anything… but I’m just sayin’….
For the last stop and third island, we went to a cool lookout point (after climbing a million steps). The steps were, by far, the most vertical steps I have ever encountered but totally worth it for the view.
Me and Anna at the lookout.
The next day in Koh Phangan was full of elephant riding and zip-lining! Never a dull moment…
I love this picture. A little back story – our guide was hilarious. He didn’t really speak english, but we communicated with lots of facial expressions and acting things out. (He would be amazing at charades.) He got down to take the photo and then motioned for me to sit where he normally did on the elephant, and shortly after Anna got down behind me. It was a little daunting moving in and out of the seat when you’re on top of a huge animal and could easily fall, but it made for a great photo so who am I to question him?… Not that he would understand me anyway…
Then we fed the elephant bananas.
I love this.
So after riding elephants we went to a zip-line park of sorts. There were all these platforms that you either zip-line from or so an “obstacle course” sort of thing. It was pretty fun. One part that was funny was when a group of Israeli teenagers were asking Anna how long it took her to get to Thailand from America, and COULD NOT get over how it took her about 24 hours! Then they told their parents (who were sitting at the waiting area) and they asked me ALL about it when I walked by them. Things that wow people…
Later, when we got back to the main town in Koh Phangan, Anna and I chilled on this little beach area. We both just sat and watched the little waves come in. Later we had some great chats about God and hearing His voice and read a few of the Psalms. So nice.
For our last dinner on Koh Phangan, we randomly stumbled upon this amazing little food cart area. It was FULL of fish, meat, pad thai, and yummy fruit too! And everything was so cheap!
And then we were off the next day for another island, Koh Tao. (This is a picture of Koh Phangan from the ferry ride to Koh Tao.)
Here’s our little beach/cove area on Koh Tao. Our hotel was right on the water and in a more remote part of the island. It was great to have a day to chill on the beach and relax.
I had prayed that this vacation would be a time that God would speak to me (meaning things in the Bible would stand out to me, or I would feel Him bringing up thoughts, feelings I could process) and God totally did. It’s hard to explain hearing God’s voice/learning from Him but our “chill-on-the-beach-day” was full of that stuff for me. I felt God teaching me about how I react to circumstances and my need for His grace in those situations when I act wrongly. It was a humbling day and I still feel like I’m unpacking all that was brought to mind.
Our second day on Koh Tao was full of ‘Renting Bikes – Round 1’ and a random hike.
The next day, we headed to town to find the elusive bike rental place we had heard about. It took a lot of asking around and walking (Koh Tao is quite hilly for the record) to finally find the shop… only to find out it was closed for 10 days. Lame.
On the plus side we did walk by some delicious fruit stands. How cool looking is some of this fruit?!
When we came back into town we found a second place to rent bikes! (Most places rent scooters and motorcycles.) So we decided to come back for ‘Renting Bikes – Round 2’ the following day. That meant we needed to figure out something else fun to do that day. We looked into our trusty Koh Tao guidebook (free and so great) and found a walk/hike that took you along the coast and to seven different beaches. Sold.
The beginning of our walk.
Some pretty flowers.
One of the beaches along the way.
And another one. It was fun to see super sandy beaches right next to really rocky ones.
Yup, another one.
This is the part of the walk that got a bit more “hike” like. Partly because the trail leads you inland, and partly because the trail isn’t well marked and Anna ended up randomly walking around in the forest.
Rockin’ my EMI hat. Gotta’ represent, right?
More of the trail.
One of the many Buddhist altars we saw in Thailand.
I’m glad I got to use my new (used) camera, but man, between that and the hat, the chacos, and the backpack… I don’t think I could look any less like a tourist!
I loved our random walking adventure. I saw how God guided us and helped put people in our paths to help us when we got lost. Pretty sure I’m going to write a whole post about all God taught me after this. It also was fun to see so much of the island and take time to soak in the different scenery.
And finally, our last day was “Renting Bikes – Round 2”, and exploring a super tiny island.
The part I liked best about riding bikes was riding on a little path in town with shops on both sides (wished I had taken a picture) and riding on the beach.
We hung out on this beach with an Australian girl we met. It was crazy to see these huge storm clouds come in. It was just this line of super dark clouds… not exactly what you see in Nebraska everyday. Even though we figured it was going to rain at some point, we decided to chance it and head out to a little island not far from this beach. We rented a boat taxi (like the boat pictured above) and prayed it wouldn’t downpour.
But not before getting a little lunch… THIS IS WHY I IS THAILAND! The fruit. So much glorious fruit. I’m fairly sure I ate fruit, yogurt and muesli everyday for breakfast and lunch. (I may come back to the states and eat nothing but amazing fruit for months.)
The island we took a boat taxi to was so random. Just these two little hills connected by a sandbar. It was starting to sprinkle when we got out there but it wasn’t bad. The boat ride was a bit scary for me, which I wasn’t expecting. I think little boats aren’t my favorite thing. Guess growing up in Nebraska means not being super water-savy.
Exploring buddies!
The little path around part of the island.
So many great memories together!
And then we headed back up to Bangkok the next day. (This picture is everyone waiting to get on the ferry.) It was raining all day and I was a little worried how the weather would affect our various modes of transportation, but everything was all good and on time. The forecast before we left said it was suppose to rain everyday we were on the islands, so I’m SO grateful it only rained at night and on our last day!
And last, but CERTAINLY not least, I went to Starbucks when we got back to Bangkok! If you know me well, you know I love to visit Starbucks in different countries. And I also collect Starbucks mugs so now I can reminisce about the trip every time I drink out of my Thailand mug.
Like I said before, the trip was better than I could have hoped for. I’m grateful for friends that love to travel, like Anna, and for being so close to a beautiful country like Thailand. I think part of me was born to live near the ocean!
And as a side note – the next time I’m on a plane, it’ll be heading back to America… crazy!
nebraskatraveler 