So many of you have asked how much I loved (or hated) the infamous Full Moon Party. Easy answer. I didn’t go. Not because I was epic sick, or because I was being held hostage be a group of random monkey ninjas (though that would have been a viable excuse I think). But because I am simply not a fan of giant drunk fests (I much prefer the mini fests). Yes, shocking. My “Full Moon Party” consisted of a delicious tuna steak and margarita on the beach while watching people light Chinese lanterns and letting them free over the ocean (which seemed much more cooler, and oh so symbolic), as fire dancers weaved their dance through the sandy milky darkness (trust me, it’s much harder than it looks, as my burns the next morning proved).
I crashed pretty early after dinner and woke up early ish to go get lost on Koh Tao. I ambled my way down the street for some breakfast, then shortly found myself drenched in sweat at the top of a rather large hill trying to figure out my way back to civilization again (at least you didn’t call me when I was lost on this hill dad). A while after I had found my way back down, it was time for lunch before I caught my ferry back to Phagnan, where I really didn’t want to be, even if it was just for one more night. Upon arriving, I caught a cab that was to take me back to the groups hotel (yeah Darren, we were in Haad Rin, and I am wicked jealous of your brilliancy). I was dropped off on yet another hill, and had no idea which way the hotel was. After about an hour of cursing and sweat, I found Sarah and immediately began to get filled in on the previous night’s activities at Full Moon. I was very much relieve I had decided to take all my valuables with me, as it turns out our oh so moldy hotel had gotten broken into, ruining a few people’s nights. Our room, fortunately, hadn’t been broken into (but I was nevertheless happy for my mom in the back of my head when I had packed to leave).A rather quiet night followed, as one would expect, and the next day we were to be up at 5 am to catch a boat back to shore to make our way to Railay (it’s near Krabi).
The sound of the zombies could be heard from miles away. The slow steps and outstretched arms were agonizing to the eyes of the onlookers who watched from afar, dreading that the disease would be spread amongst their pristine flesh. But someone somewhere had been watching over them, for a taxi arrived and saved the population of Oasis Bungalow resorts from a very slow and pitiful death. We boarded a ferry at 7 am and then took a 4 hour minibus ride west to Krabi, where a longtail boat picked us up and took us to the tiny peninsula of Railay. We happily breathed in the ocean air as we cruised along, waves splashing our tired faces, and our eyes devouring the towering rock formations that rose around us. Anchored to the beach we made our way to the next hotel and passed out for a much needed nap. Reenergized, we decided we’d take a little hike up to a view point (a pretty much flat faced cliff for our flip flopped feet). Feeling exhausted and rather silly in dresses, we reneged (as it was nearing sunset and we thought we would die coming down in the dark) and settle on walking to the beach. Turning the corner on the path to the beach brought to my eyes one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen: red tinted rock, that looked like it was out of Jurassic Park (sorry Darren, I know I’m probably epic wrong here), the ocean as far as the eye could see, with an assortment of islands waiting to be explored, and the sun casting a pink glow onto the beach as people swam and climbed the face of the rocks. It was truly, truly, a sight to see. I fell completely in love and didn’t want to be anywhere else in time. Sarah and I decided we would have a quiet night to just chill and catch up. We wandered around from Railay east (where we were staying) through to Railay west and pretty much just coasted on the chill vibes of the beach/mountain town.
The next morning the group got up to go kayaking. After a very lengthy drive, we arrived at a gorgeous outcropping of land with mangroves and many more rock formations (you know when you look at Asian paintings of the 16th C. ,for example, and you wonder exactly what those artists were looking at when they painted things that seemed to appear out of ethereal dreams of splendor (or perhaps opium)? Well, there was a great place to start understanding). A guide took us all, two to a kayak, through the groves and told us how if we didn’t paddle fast enough we would get stuck in low tide, and of course multitude of other lovely things. The sights were absolutely incredible, like something out of Avatar, and it was a very wonderful experience. We paddle back to land, famished, and luckily found food thereafter. We stopped off in a town 711 (everything in Railay has to be imported by boat so it is much more expensive) and stalked up on random supplies for the nights ABC party (anything but clothes, ie. Garbage bags/news papers/ be creative). We made our way back to Railay to get ready and have ourselves a fun night out.
The next morning brought about my good friend. I hadn’t seen him since Pai. He wasn’t too friendly and didn’t want to let me be for a good solid part of the day. But, Sarah and I had decided the day before to book an afternoon of snorkeling, boating, swimming, and private beach sunset dinners. So Changover came with us. We were picked up by the guide outside our hotel at around 2 pm and led to west Railay were a longtail greeted us for a very long and choppy ride out to one of the islands. After anchoring next to the biggest rock formation I had been beside, we jumped out and snorkeled around looking at all the fish and absolutely bottomless, kinda creepy, ocean. Changover was a fan of snorkeling and decided that he was going to be a little friendlier for the rest of the day. We proceeded to go to many other islands and beaches, and Sarah, Changover, and I made friends with the 3 guys in the seat behind us. The wind was unfortunately very choppy and we didn’t really get a chance to swim through the caves that we were shown, but we did see many sea urchins (and so did some people’s feet). The absolute best part of the day happened when it was dinner time. We were let off on an island, which had emptied (as it was around 5pm, all the other tourist boats were done around 3) and we got to explore it as the tide went out and the sun began to set. The guides began fixing a dinner of whole fish, squid, and chicken on a small bbq while Sarah and I looked back upon the coast we had originated from. The setting suns bright pink hue cast a deliriously warm glow upon the massive thunderheads forming over the shores. The lightning made everything seems absolutely dreamlike and I began to wonder if Changover had let me sleep as it seemed too incredibly perfect. It was a quiet and cool evening as we began to eat under the stars that started peeking out and it was a moment in time I never wanted to end. Until the guide informed us we better go before we don’t make it because of the storm. We started off our piece of paradise after dark and did one more snorkel to see the phosphorescent algae, then made our way back over increasingly choppy water. After setting foot upon dry land again, Sarah and mine’s stomach were left to the sea.
The next day, for most everyone there was mostly filled with food poisoning. Sarah and I included. This was absolutely heartbreaking for me as that was the day we got the chance to go rock climbing (the one thing I was the most looking forward to out of the whole trip). I forced myself to go, and climbed up just so I could say I did it, and proceeded to be sick all the way back. But it was SO COOOOOOOOL! I am definitely going to be going back and climbing more. Complete heaven! The rest of the day was mostly a write off.
The next day we packed up our stuff and had our last afternoon with the full group (half were six week and half were three week tours). At around 3 the three weekers (me and Sarah) and one of the guides departed Railay to make our way up to Kanchanaburi. We were to take a longtail (which I was a little dreadful of), a minibus, a night train, and another minibus (which took about 20 hours).
We got in this morning around 11 and had a much needed shower and nap. We are currently staying in a really nice bungalow set up with a very nice pool (the temperature out at 1730 is 38 C). Today were all taking it pretty easy, night market later on. Tomorrow we are going to be spending our day waterfall gazing (and swimming). The day after is a tiger temple (which I hope is as cool as the one I got the chance to do in Chiang Mai), and the day after that will be our elephant day (we get to wash and swim with them, SO STOKED! You’ll be getting your hair Mike!) After that we make our way back to Bangkok for our last couple of nights together (dinner in the Skyscraper hotel)!
And just so those of you who don’t know already, I won’t be coming back! Not ever! Haha I wish. I won’t be back until the 25th now, but fyi, it’s comin con weekend, so I am definitely already busy :D
I’ll keep you updated on the next couple weeks go abouts (definitely thinking about doing my advance open water certification now).
Love to you all and wish you were here!
Jen
