Crazy and Wild Thailand

I decide to separate from our group to have 1 day of time to myself. I went to snorkeling in front of our beach hotel, the hotel staff were really pleasant and had the equipment to rent to me. After the diving, I went to a massage place that is old Thailand style, which was so nice after all the activities we’ve been doing!

Later that night we boarded a ferry that cost about 18bht and went to Koh Phangan. While on Koh Phangan in the we went to our first full moon party there, which is something that Thailand is really famous for. On every full moon in Thailand there is a huge beach party with techno music and dancing! We had such a good time, the only problem is that it is so crowded that it is easy to get pick pocketed! While I was on the beach someone stole all the money out of my pocket!! It was a good thing that I knew to keep most of my money in the money belt under my shirt so I didn’t loose very much money!

Even with the money going missing it was still a great experience and I know why so many people travel to Thailand just for a full moon party!

http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/

I’m pretty bummed though, as we have to leave in a couple of days, I think I’m really going to miss our wild and crazy time in Thailand!

We arrived at Koh Samui in the afternoon from Bangkok, because only Bangkok has the flight to Koh Samui. We went to the beach to relax our first day away here, because we are so tired and we finally get to rest! I am looking Forward to enjoy the beautiful sea, blue sky, and fresh air.

We will go to the wharf area in a couple days to see the yacht’s sail by. After our breakfast we will take a ferry to see Turtle Island and Sea Gull Island. There are so many beautiful little fishes and plants under the water when we scuba dive or snorkel down here. This is actually one of the number one rated places to dive in the world; however you do need to be certified in order to rent scuba equipment. In the afternoon we hub on a medium ship too see beautiful, colorful coral, tropic fish and clown fish.

We rent 2 bikes and ride it to see big golden Buddha, it is huge, and I never seen a statue that big before and then it’s made out of gold! We heard from local people that statue is 40 foot high, it make me so solemn, and peaceful. After this, we went to see the two big rocks that they call grandmother and grandfather rocks, it looks like male and female’s genitals, at least I think it is. At the same time, we saw the beautiful view of Samui forest, great green color of trees, light wind and fragrance of flower.

Today we went to James Bond Island, which is a major tourist destination in Thailand. It is called James Bond Island because it is where the ninth James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. We started out day early by boarding a bus to take us to Phang Nga Bay, which is a couple hours North of Phuket. From Phang Nga Bay you take a boat to James Bond Island or Ko Tapu by locals.

We left Phuket and drove to the Monkey caves were we stopped to see the monkeys and this amazing golden, reclining Buddha that was built inside the caves. The monkey’s were great, although a little too friendly from all the people who come to see them. I actually had a monkey come up to me steel the food I was holding and kick me!
After our short stop at the Monkey caves we got back on the bus and drove to Phang Nga Bay were we got on a long tail boat to head to James Bond Island. We stopped along the way at a floating market that has been informally named “Bin Laden Village,” because it is a Muslim market.

15 minutes after we left we were able to see James Bond Island come into view. We knew before we left that it was going to be very touristy, but we didn’t realize that it would be like this.

There were tons of vendors selling small trinkets to the tourists, however no one had any James Bond trinkets! I was really hoping that when I got there that I would be able to by a fake golden gun to take pictures with. Also everything was very expensive, I saw a couple people fighting with a vendor over the price of beer. When I asked he said that it was twice as expensive on this island then in their hotel.

All in all I’m really happy I got to go here… But that is only because I am such a huge James Bond Fan!

And tomorrow we will be going to Koh Phi Phi which is an island just a short boat ride away from Phuket. There are two national Parks here, which we can go and explore. It is also where the movie The Beach, with Leonardo Dicaprio was filmed!

I'm Sooo excited!

We arrived into Phuket today and it is like nothing you have ever seen before in your life.
We splurged a little bit to stay here; well by splurged I mean to say that we spent $10.00 a night for a hostel that is close to the beach and has an amazing view!

The landscape here is incredible. The most beautiful white sand beaches that you have ever seen in your life and then just off the shore are these rock formations jutting out of the ocean towards the sky! This side of the country is where the tsunami hit a couple of years ago, but Phuket is still alive and happening.

We are staying on Patong Beach, which is a bit of a trade off. It’s really touristy and a little bit more expensive than other places in the area, but because of that you never run out of things to do. This week I plan on snorkeling, swimming, maybe renting a canoe or something and going out for a self led cruise. If it’s not to expensive I think that I will see about having a guide take us for a sailboat ride. However what I’m most looking forward to will be the Thai Massage. I was told that Thai Massage is actually considered part of Thai medicine and that people try to get it done frequently. I was watching some people get it done as we walked to the hostel, it was like watching someone do yoga. The person giving the massage put them into a stretch position and then massaged them… It looked so fascinating! And the best part of all I asked a couple who were just getting up from a massage how much it was, and they said it cost them about a dollar for the 30 minute massage they just had.

Well I’m off to go and get my Thai Massage!

It was our third day in Chiang Mai today and we went on an elephant trek with Patara Elephant farm. I researched this farm before we left for Thailand because we are all animal lovers and we wanted to make sure that none of the elephants were being abused. This is the most well known and well most expensive elephant farm you can go to. It was $5800 baht which equals around $200.00 CAD for the full day training course, meals and the best experience that I have ever had!

The day started really early, at 7.30am when the Patara bus picked us up from our hotel. This was nice because they can pick up from any hotel in Chiang Mai and it saves you a drive. The only thing is that they don’t serve you breakfast, so you need to grab something before you go. On the ride to the farm they told us all about Patara Farm, how the day camp works and about their breeding program. We talked for about an hour once we got there about the elephants, how to approach them and to safely be around them. We then went for a walk to the field where the elephants eat in the morning, so our first view of them was in the wild. Next they showed us how to approach them and then all the different ways to get on the elephant! My favorite was when you get to step on the trunk and sort of get thrown on!

Next it was bath time, so we went for a walk to the river to and helped bath the elephants. Just so you know this is the reason you should bring a change of clothes and wear your bathing suit to go to the farm.
My favorite part of the day however was the beautiful trek that we got to take at the end of the day. We got to use our new found skills of riding the elephant to ride to the top of a high hill. We stopped in the middle of a valley by a beautiful little pond and we had a BBQ lunch. They give you time to have a picture taken with your elephant, and of course you can take pictures all throughout the day.

All in all it was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone!!
If you want to learn more:
http://www.pataraelephantfarm.com/