random pix: stuff in Thailand

Chicago Sin Fries

SOMEONE's a little full of himself.

Tarzan, the welcoming committee at our Ko Samui guesthouse. He came to us like that, seriously.

Squid ink fettuccine!

Random Thai boy band mall appearance in Bangkok. It was everything you might imagine.

Ko Samui airport & Bangkok Air

Leaving Ko Samui and getting back up to Bangkok (where I was leaving Thailand from), we ran into the same trouble as when we tried to go to Ko Tao, basically all transport was booked. We ended up finding decently affordable flights direct from Ko Samui to Bangkok on Bangkok Air and had an fantastic traveling experience.

Oh yeah, "Master" is a title option on their website. Love it.

The Ko Samui airport is coolest airport I've ever seen. Most tourists don't fly there (or maybe it's that most tourists that go there are loaded?), so it's really snazzy. It doesn't look like an airport at all from the inside or outside, more like a picturesque, open air mall, complete with lounges, free wifi, free snacks and free beverages for all travelers.

Bangkok Air had a great intro/safety video. It was a music video, the flight attendants did a cheesy dance in it, it was hilarious. And they showed Looney Tunes.

Travel win.

Ko Samui

After Ko Pha ngan, we wanted to go to Ko Tao to do some scuba diving. I've never been diving before and it's supposed to be great and relatively cheap there. Unfortunately, by the time we tried to arrange it about two days out (which is typically no problem in southeast Asia) all transport that fit within our time constraints was fully booked, so we went to Ko Samui instead.

We went with another couple we had met on Ko Pha ngan. They were Canadian and definitely had that amazing/ridiculous Fargo accent, which was amusing but not good for my 'sconnie roots; nothing will bring out your accent and make you sound more like a hick than being around people with really heavy accents for a week.

We were all expecting Ko Samui to be completely different from what it really was. We thought Ko Pha ngan was going to be the more touristy of the two, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Luckily, the guesthouse we booked was on the opposite side of the island from all the crazy touristy bs and literally right across the street from the beach.

While we were there we went on a fantastic hiking, boating, kayaking trip around Ang Thong National Park. It was some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my entire life.

We also tried to go see a muay thai fight. Muay thai is Thai boxing, kind of similar to kickboxing and UFC. We knew we weren't going to be able to catch a great fight on Ko Samui, but it was basically my last opportunity for it before leaving Thailand. The fight turned out to be crazy expensive... so we ended up at a lady boy impersonation show called "Moulin Rouge" instead. Equally entertaining, but definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Five Beyonces, apparently they couldn't decide which one was best?

Bangkok & Ko Pha ngan

I've had a kind of crazy past month. After leaving Songyuan on August 1st (post contract, for good), I went to meet my boyfriend in Thailand. Over the following ten days, we hit Bangkok, Ko Pha ngan and Ko Samui.

Bangkok is basically just another big city. Yeah, there's some cool stuff, like you'll find in any big city, but it didn't do anything amazing for me. To be fair, we didn't spend a ton of time there and didn't invest a ton of effort in exploring while we were there, but still.

The more I travel, the more I'm realizing that big cities aren't where I want to be. My favorite part of Bangkok was the smaller market/shopping street we stayed on for a while that was quite near to Khao San Road the main one, but more chill.

One thing that was disappointing there were the tattoo parlors/piercing shops. I have one anchor that needs to be redone and another that the top needs to be screwed back on; I was thinking i could get those things taken care of there. We visited about ten shops and they all either couldn't do anchors or said they could but then the piercers would flake out and never show up.

After Bangkok, we had a ridiculous travel night (think eight hour bus to a dock to sleep outside on concrete for three hours with a hundred other people all waiting for the ferry, then three hour ferry to final destination) to Ko Pha ngan to partake in a Full Moon Party.

You know you're jealous you didn't get to ride in this baby...

Apparently, they're supposed to be really crazy beach parties with lots of drugs. In the end, it was basically spring break in Mexico with more mushrooms and more fire and more blacklight paint. Fun time, not necessary to repeat. Unless you're like 19.

The other few days we were there we just bummed around with some other couples we met. We had some great beach time, cruised around on scooters and had a generally relaxing and sun burn filled holiday. The island was absolutely gorgeous and once you got away from the hectic side where the party was (or the partiers left the island), it was almost perfect.

They lied, there was no waterfall.

I say "almost" because (and this is where I get really nitpicky) we took issue with the beaches. They were clean, the sand was soft and the water was clear, but it was really shallow for a long way out on all sides of the island, so it was really hot during the day and hard to swim. There weren't any waves to play in either. If these are my biggest problems though… haha.