Leaving the life of luxury on Koh Lanta with Ryan and Brian turned out to be more challenging than we thought. Just a couple days earlier, we were snoozing in fluffy down comforters, cranking the luxurious A/C, endulging in hot showers and filling our afternoons with poolside relaxation, King Kongs (pineapple juice + Rum) and frisbee on the beach. Now we were on our own again, stuck with our $50/day backpackers budget.
We still wanted to hit up Koh Tarutao National Marine Park, but realized that our Thai visa was running out. We threw on our backpacks and took a bus down to Trang where we would be able to schedule a "boarder run" across the northern Malaysian border and back into Thailand. The trip to Trang took longer than anticipated as the conflict between Muslims and the Thai government called for regular checkpoints (sandbag bunkers) enforced by Thai guards with machine guns as we headed south.
Luckily, the conflict didn't put a damper on the Thai spirit during their celebration of Songkran - the annual water festival. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns (sometimes mixed with talcum powder), or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. We hoofed our backpacks through the crowds, and by the time we got to our guesthouse, we were drenched head to toe with water and our faces and hair were caked with talcum powder.
After we got cleaned up, we headed out to go find some grub. Because of the holiday, there was only one place open - an open air local diner with plastic tables and florescent lighting. We sat down and ordered the seemingly least offensive items on the menu. FAIL. Erik's mango lassi was made with salt instead of sugar. My scrambled eggs actually had a green aura. The salad was sans dressing and rinsed with questionable water from the tap. The only thing even mildly edible was E's "French toast" -which was made with white styrofoam wonder bread and served with a side of condensed milk to be used as syrup.
The next day we paid a taxi driver to take us 4 hours south down to Padang Besar at the Malaysian boarder. We were literally dropped off, walked across the boarder with our packs into Malaysia, did an about-face, and strolled back over with fresh visa stamps. To our pleasant surprise, taxi man was still there. We loaded up and headed North to Satun where we were able to catch a speed boat from the Pak Bara pier to Koh Tarutao National Park - our final destination in Thailand.
Koh Tarutao National Park is an archipelago of 51 islands and is known as Thailand's final, relatively "undiscovered" frontier. The island we chose to visit was Koh Lipe - a litte uncommercialized island, run by the locals, with nothing but a small dirt road running through the interior that led to a handful of local restaurants and small rustic guesthouse bungalows. You can walk around the entire island in just under an hour. The beaches were incredible, water turquoise and clear, and the laid back atmosphere made this the only place in Thailand where we didn't feel like we were walking around with $ signs on our foreheads. We were able to connect with the locals in a real way.
Love this little guy.
Longtail boats.
This mangy beach pup settled in next to our beach blanket and claimed us as his own early on. Armed with an impressive package, this guy growled and kept us from other stray dogs like we were prized T-bone steaks:
Just like our buddies in the Philippines, most S.E. Asian tourists swim in their clothes and don't come out until the sun goes down (to keep their skin from getting darker).
Locals.
Koh Lipe has the most beautiful sunsets in the world. hands down.
We quickly discovered the best breakfast on the island and came here every morning. This impressive spread (with fresh thick housemade bread) was only $3:
Plus I liked the cuuute kitties that lived there. Which is also probably why I got ringworm:
Dad, mom, baby <3>
We ended up staying at the Bonus Resort and spent most of our evenings partying with and getting to know the local family who ran the place.
This is the owner, Palin (prounounced Pay-LEEN hah not like the Rtard politician). He was seriously one of the coolest dudes ever. Every evening, he would greet us with a glass of his personal stash of local whisky and invite us to come hang out and chat with him. Even though he hardly spoke a word of English, he was somehow always able to get his point across through a combination of Thai, gesturing, and a sprinkling of words in English. Sometimes niether of us had a clue what the other was saying - so we'd just go back and forth laughing and smiling in confusion and take another shot of whisky. He gave us one of only 3 printed pictures he had of himself - a portrait of when he was in the Thai navy.
Rub that buddha belly.
Palin holding one of the 3 brand new baby kittens born at Bonus.
Lazing in front of his resort, waiting for guests.
Dicky - the Bonus Resort dog
Our bungalow.
Every evening, as soon as the sun went down, giant ass flying beetles would flock out of the jungle and swarm our bungalow. They were so big that they could barely hover off the ground. They were super dumb but so drawn to bright lights that they would fly toward them until they crashed into something and fell on their backs and couldn't get up. Once we found out that they were harmless (which one local demonstrated by putting one in his mouth), Erik and I would scoop them up when they were helplessly wriggling on their backs and try to fling/launch them back into the air ("be free!"). But sometimes they would cling their spidey legs to your fingers and so when you tried to fling them, they would only go a couple feet and then start zombie gravitating back toward the light again. It was an endless cycle of stupidity.
One morning, Palin asked if we would come take a picture with some of his friends. We casually strolled out of our bungalow only to find a dozen of his family members and neighbors who were all dying to meet and take pictures with us. They snapped probably 10 photos, and each time they rearranged positions so that each person could stand next to us once. They literally treated us like we were celebrities, asking in all seriousness whether we were American movie stars.
One morning, Palin asked if we would come take a picture with some of his friends. We casually strolled out of our bungalow only to find a dozen of his family members and neighbors who were all dying to meet and take pictures with us. They snapped probably 10 photos, and each time they rearranged positions so that each person could stand next to us once. They literally treated us like we were celebrities, asking in all seriousness whether we were American movie stars.
That night, Palin's youngest son "Olly" took us "out on the town" (to 1 of 3 bars on the island):
The cause for celebration was one of Olly's friend's birthdays (see awesome barechested shtfaced gentleman at front left). The birthday boy is sitting next to our super intense friend "Man" (pronounced "mawn") who, because of his intense interrogative approach and stoic face, combined with stereotypical beard, caused us to continously ask ourselves whether we were befriending a terrorist.
I don't think this is Olly's last dance with Maryjane.
These Canadians were smokin a J at a table just outside the bar. Being the only other whities present - we instantly had something in common and decided to venture next door to the local karaoke bar.
Erik got really into it.
The next night, our new Thai buddies spotted us walking back to our bungalow and invited us to have a bite of dinner with them. Dinner consisted of whole miniature squids (eaten like popcorn) and a coconut broth soup (yum) with small whole fish (not so yum). We just couldn't get over the eyeballs. Thank god we'd already eaten. They were a solid group though and we did want to hang out - so we ended up picking up a bottle of local whisky ($7) and bringing it back to share.
The cause for celebration was one of Olly's friend's birthdays (see awesome barechested shtfaced gentleman at front left). The birthday boy is sitting next to our super intense friend "Man" (pronounced "mawn") who, because of his intense interrogative approach and stoic face, combined with stereotypical beard, caused us to continously ask ourselves whether we were befriending a terrorist.
I don't think this is Olly's last dance with Maryjane.
These Canadians were smokin a J at a table just outside the bar. Being the only other whities present - we instantly had something in common and decided to venture next door to the local karaoke bar.
Erik got really into it.
The next night, our new Thai buddies spotted us walking back to our bungalow and invited us to have a bite of dinner with them. Dinner consisted of whole miniature squids (eaten like popcorn) and a coconut broth soup (yum) with small whole fish (not so yum). We just couldn't get over the eyeballs. Thank god we'd already eaten. They were a solid group though and we did want to hang out - so we ended up picking up a bottle of local whisky ($7) and bringing it back to share.
Leaving was bittersweet. Apparently the construction workers at Bonus felt the same way. They insisted on taking a picture with us. They kind of could have cared less if Erik was in the picture.
It actually ended up taking us 2 days to figure out how to leave Koh Lipe. The first time we booked our tickets we were instructed to be waiting on the beach for a long tail boat at exactly 9:00am sharp. We were there at 9:00am sharp. There was no boat. The longtail boat was supposed to take us out to the dock where a speed boat would transport us the rest of the way. We said eff it and hired a private longtail driver. Upon arriving at the dock, the driver informed us, "Sorry, no boat today". Uhhhh.
We decided to wait around for a while and a boat did come eventually. Without saying a word, they shuffled us on to the boat. Nobody spoke English. The longtail driver assured us it was the right boat. The speedboat took off and we highfived that everything worked out. It drove about 100 feet and anchored at a neighboring island. The crew kicked back and lit up cigs. The driver started taking a nap. This was the final destination. WTF. This quite enraged the Brit who was with us and had a flight to catch within a couple hours. We finally convinced the crew to at least take us back to Koh Lipe. Needless to say it was quite an ordeal and we ended up hoofing our packs all the way back to Bonus and rebooking our tickets for the next day. Of course, in typical Thai fashion, they denied any fault for telling us the incorrect pickup time that caused us to miss the boat in the first place.
Luckily, everything went smoothly the next day. I made friends with this little Thai boy who spoke amazing english. I helped his mom watch over him as he was transfering between boats. He held my hand and called me "sister". It was cute :)
It actually ended up taking us 2 days to figure out how to leave Koh Lipe. The first time we booked our tickets we were instructed to be waiting on the beach for a long tail boat at exactly 9:00am sharp. We were there at 9:00am sharp. There was no boat. The longtail boat was supposed to take us out to the dock where a speed boat would transport us the rest of the way. We said eff it and hired a private longtail driver. Upon arriving at the dock, the driver informed us, "Sorry, no boat today". Uhhhh.
We decided to wait around for a while and a boat did come eventually. Without saying a word, they shuffled us on to the boat. Nobody spoke English. The longtail driver assured us it was the right boat. The speedboat took off and we highfived that everything worked out. It drove about 100 feet and anchored at a neighboring island. The crew kicked back and lit up cigs. The driver started taking a nap. This was the final destination. WTF. This quite enraged the Brit who was with us and had a flight to catch within a couple hours. We finally convinced the crew to at least take us back to Koh Lipe. Needless to say it was quite an ordeal and we ended up hoofing our packs all the way back to Bonus and rebooking our tickets for the next day. Of course, in typical Thai fashion, they denied any fault for telling us the incorrect pickup time that caused us to miss the boat in the first place.
Luckily, everything went smoothly the next day. I made friends with this little Thai boy who spoke amazing english. I helped his mom watch over him as he was transfering between boats. He held my hand and called me "sister". It was cute :)
2-4-1 Long Island buckets at rooftop Banana Bar. Doomed for disaster from the start.
