The Island Routine

When the Scots - Joanne and Rachel - and I got back from Singapore, we hatched out a plan to see the islands on the east coast of Thailand before we started heading up north. If we spent three nights on each island, we'd leave ourselves three weeks on our visas to see the rest of the country. Julia, the Danish volunteer, met up with us and the four of us traveled together. We started in Koh Samui.

Ice Bar on Koh Samui!!!

 Koh Samui is the southern-most island and the largest. It has several towns and resort areas, so we chose a hostel in a town called Chaweng. It was mostly a random decision, but it was definitely a good one. I think it must have been on our first day when we kind of developed our 'island routine'. We would arrive, check out the town and relax. The next day was our beach day. We decided to invest in some beachballs, and lord knows I couldn't resist the local Starbucks. After the beach day came the party night. Julia was staying at a different hostel and invited an English girl to join us. We jumped from bar to bar, and even got roped into visiting the ice bar. Yes, Thailand has an ice bar. They give you ponchos and fuzzy hats. After about five photographs, the greatness wore off, and we moved on extremely quickly. At our fifth bar, we decided to make a bet: first one to get a guy to buy them a drink won a free drink on the rest of us. For some reason, there was a general assumption that I would win ( I honestly have NO idea how I managed to get this reputation, but anyway...). Being strategic, I paired up with the English girl, and we decided to work together and split the pot. After many attempts and fails, I lost the bet, but it definitely made for a fun night. The rest day of our routine was called Hangover Day. It was the day we dedicated to accomplishing absolutely nothing. We figured that after a night out, we needed to save money anyway, and this was our solution: sleeping in, watching movies, and eating dinner on the curb outside 7-Eleven.

Haad Rin Beach on Koh Phangan

 Of course, it wouldn't be a routine if we didn't repeat it. The next day we headed to Koh Phangan. Yes, this is where the infamous Full Moon Parties happen. Five thousand people raving on a beach drinking buckets of booze and jumping fire. We, however, got the minimized version at the Black Moon Party. Same idea, but way less people and definitely more chilled out. Being four girls, we got decked out, buying matching fluorescent shirts, and painting ourselves in neon bodypaint. We met three Spanish guys at our hostel to split a cab, but ended up spending most of our night with them; at this point, I think we're all starting to lose track of the amount of people we've met. And what comes after a night out? A hangover day! You get the idea...

Koh Tao sunset

 Our last island was Koh Tao. This island is mainly a scuba diver's haven. There is dive shop after dive shop, all offering dives and courses cheaper than anywhere else in the world. Even though money is fairly tight, I couldn't throw away a prime diving opportunity. I decided to go with a German and Canadian that we'd met on the ferry over. I couldn't get over how dirty the water was though! In some areas the reef was beautiful, colourful, and thriving. In others though, it was dead and there was garbage everywhere. It's definitely sad to see, but I suppose it's only really something visible and completely obvious to divers. That night, we stuck to tradition, and went to a beach bar. We spent our night watching fire dancers, and of course, meeting new people. We also managed to meet up with the Londoners that we met in Phuket for a few days! After our last hangover day, we finished our island venture and headed out on the overnight ferry to Bangkok. Julia left us and headed straight up north by plane, so now it's just the Scots and I again. We all keep saying how crazy it is, the way you meet people, learn so much about them, and then say goodbye a couple days later, and never see them again in your entire life. We stayed in three different hostels in the past ten days, and I'm having a hard time remembering each individual story, simply because there are just too many! We said we need to start keeping a log of people and writing down their trip outlines, just so we can keep it sorted in our heads. Anyway, so now we're done with the fun and games of beach parties and are on to getting some culture. We are currently in Bangkok, and plan to see the city, and Suhkothai (I think that's what it's called...) befoe heading to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai, all up north. Hopefully we can find the same excitement and unpredictability in the north that we found in the south!