dec 19 2009
today started off like a pretty average somewhat boring day. we took our sweet ass time getting ready for the
day and enjoyed the last few precious hour we had with our lovely hotel with ac.
it was now time to go back to our low budget accommodations ms brown
loves so much (LOL) On our way to find a place today we spotted another backpacker and pretty much ran up to him
asked where he was staying. were not shy girls as soon as we see the backpack we pretty much flag them down and
interrogate them with questions like where are you from, how long are you in thailand, what have you done, where
are you staying. stuff like that. his name is simon and he is from leeds and tipped us off to a good place to
stay. i didnt know it at the time but we were about to form an amazing friendship with this guy.
he is one of the funniest guys i've ever met and on the gloomiest of days i truely think he could put a smile
on anyone's face. the place he recommended turned out to be great and from then on we travelled with us girls.
once we found our place amy and i had one of our always oh so amazing inspiring talks and shopped around while
stacey and simon hit the beach. its funny cause they look like they could pass for brother and sister, both of
have really blond hair dark skin blue eyes and white teeth. they look like beach babes.
on our journey today amy mentions wanting a bamboo tattoo since you can only get one in thailand.
i totally love the idea but hardly considered it for me.
first off i have no idea what i wanted, didnt know if there would be any good artists, how clean they would be,
or how sanitary, etc. then while amy and i were walking around we came across this shack pretty much on the beach
and contemplated doing it there. the girl working there wanted our business so bad and was serving us pineapple
and bananas for just looking. her name was pong. and amy is like oh shes so nice lets get it there. and im like
ah i dont know, then i saw the guys drawing and that was a no for me. so after i convinced amy to eat another meal
that scared the shit out of her cause it was on the street we passed by a professional looking tattoo parlor that
did bamboo tattoos. the guy has been doing it for twenty years, barely speaks english, and is an asshole. so we
left and googled tattoo ideas in case we wanted to do one anyway. when we left the internet cafe we were so pumped
with the designs we picked out we just decided to fuck it and go get it done that night that second.
we lucked out they were still open, not busy, and ready to rock. so there's me and amy shitting ourselves.
im so nervous i feel like im going to pass out and wished i had matts mom there to offer me a pill to relax lol.
its not like i knew what to expect after all my other tattoo is done with a machine this is done with literally a
bamboo stick with something that looks like a nail tied to the stick with a string at the top. just watching
him prep amy's made me feel sick. amy went first and took it
like a champ! i sat there and held her hand like mothers do for their children when they go to the dentist lol
i even had to scold her not to move. we were both so sweaty we kept losing grip. i must have clicked
a million pictures. then it was my turn. oh god. i thought i was going to pass out for real. i couldnt even
look up or anything i had to close my eyes and meditate or something to get through it. it was so much slower than
a machine tattoo and it felt like he was sewing a tattoo into my skin. and the tattoo was on a vein so everytime
he went there it hurt so bad. when we were done for some reason he started to be nice and took pics with us.
when we were done we were so high on life we came back to the room to proudly showed stacey our tattoos and how
told her how brave we were. she had a few beers and seeing how pumped we were decided it was time to get her belly
button pierced.
so after looking around and seeing that most the tattoo places were closed we find this tuc tuc and he gives us a
ride around ao nang trying to get this done. well wouldn't you know it if you just would have turned our heads
literally to the other direction we would have seen a tattoo place open two stores down from our guest house!
so stacey gets her belly button pierced. i thought she was going
to cry. but she didnt. again i was on camera duty. when stacey is finished getting her belly button pierced
amy sees her piercing and gets hers done, then simon gets a
tattoo done. it was just one big chain reaction. what a night!
after that we went to railey beach and brought
simon with us. it reminded me of canada when you go camping with all the trails. the one leading us to our next
accommodation. a bamboo hut. it was funny cause it literally was made of bamboo and the roof didnt even meet
the walls. all kinds of bugs could get in so we had to use a mosquito net to sleep in. at night you could hear
them all around you and i thanked god everynight for that net. i wouldnt go outside it till the sun came out and
the noise from all those bugs were gone.
when amy got there she wasnt too impressed about this. for a moment i didnt know if she would make it through,
i think if anyone was ever ripped out of their comfort zone its ms brown. at least stacey and i were eased into
the ghetto. every place we took ms brown to you could see the look on her face like really were staying here? haha
i got to give her a thumbs up she was a good sport and even though she wasnt on a budget she respected that we were
and totally slummed it with us. railey was like koh phi phi in that you had to take a boat
there and you couldnt drive but a lot quieter. we went kayaking during the day and just hung out during the nights
laughing with simon. to get to koh samui we had to take three modes of transport. bus ferry then cab.
I was really scared to take the night ferry based on what the
aussie's told me in Bali. I was so scared I was going to have cockroaches crawling all over me while i slept.
we had to take a bus to get to the night ferry first which lost its ac and almost killed us with the body heat
so everyone had to
get out of the bus and wait half an hour for it to get fixed. When we finally got to the ferry we saw jan our
friend we stayed with in koh phi phi. we met the english girls she had been travelling with before meeting us as
well. when we got on the ferry it actually wasnt bad. apart from how hot it was before we finally figured out how
to open the windows. it took an engineer from ireland to get it. then when we got them open half way through the
night it was freezing. never any happy medium here. and the ship rocked uncontrolably thank god i didnt get sea
sick cause you definately felt every wave. we finally got to koh samui which to me isnt as beautiful as the other
islands but definately seems more established and has better accomodations. we mostly just chilled on teh beach as
usual. on christmas eve we went to the half moon party in the evening. i think they have a something moon party
every chance they get b/c supposedly there are black moon half moon full moon all kinds of moon parties. its neat
here tho cause everynight so far i have been here there are fire works going off. they are the biggest and
brightest fireworks i think i have ever seen. so its nice to take a stroll out to the beach at night. they also
light those paper lanters and send them off into the sky as well which i dont like cause they just pollute the
planet and i always wonder if thats half the trash i see in the water. then there are the kids you see that want
to play connect four with you. i watched this 8 yr old barely pay attention to the game she was playing with a
tourist while looking for another target and just murder the guy. sad to see kids up that late making a living for
their parents.
on christmas day we decided to roll down the hill in a big balloon that looked like a clear beach ball. it was so
scarey! you climb up these rickety wooden stairs and get thrown into this balloon that only velcrows shut and
ties with a shoe string. simon had to run up the stairs and throw me into the ball i was so scared. i would
have totally backed out had it not been for him. he pretty much kicked my feet up and threw me in and laughed
as i pretty much cried out to him from the inside. amy told me as soon as he got down the stairs he said that
me being scared was one of the funniest things he has ever seen. hes like the worst guy to be around when your
scared cause you can pretty much gaurantee he will stand there laughing. its always a laugh with simon for
example he decided to throw on amy\s bikini and strut around outside for a laugh. all the thai ppl were laughing
at him when he opened the door so he decided to go back inside and take pics of himself with amy's camera.
before he lost his camera he would take all these funny pics and now has to resort to taking them with our cameras.
for christmas we all exchanged gifts and stacey got amy and i a yoga class and the fish spa. well let me tell you
i totally understand why people say yoga is a mind body spirit thing. i was tested to my limit and totally thought
i was going to pass out. one guy walked out of the studio. and i wanted to walk out with him. but i didnt and am
so proud of myself for staying because it was truely hard. i felt so dizzy and at times nausous.
the type of yoga we did is called bikram yoga which
is basically doing yoga in an extremely hot room so you sweat your ass off and work your muscles deeper. now think
of how hot thailand is already. when i walked out of this room it actually felt cold out. it was so
hot and i was so sweaty! more than I have ever been in my whole life! it tested my body and determination like
nothing i have ever experienced. sweat was literally dripping off my ears.
i was wearing board shorts when i got there and they were soaked as well.
it was an amazing experience and im glad i got to experience it. as for the fish thing. been there done that bought
the shirt. it was funny to watch amy go through it though. she would barely put her feet in it just grossed her
out too much. i was like that the first time but then i was like come on i paid 40 bucks for this cant waste that
money lol. im so cheap.
