Koh Samui

I took the easy route to get to my next destination, I still wasn't quite sure of the overland/sea travel methods of Thailand yet.  In hindsight, that was silly of me, but boat, bus, boat was scary at the time.  So...I flew to the island of Samui.  It was easy.  And I immediately liked Koh Samui heaps more than Phuket.  For starters there were other people at my hostel.  I made my first friends there, a bunch of Germans who were doing a semester abroad in Malaysia but who were doing a small trip to the Full Moon party on nearby island Phangan.  The full moon party is apparently a wildly famous all night beach party.  It was evident in all the young foreigners flooding the island.  Some of you will be proud to hear that I did not go (mom), others of you will be disappointed to hear I didn't go.  Whatever.  On Phuket I payed money to do a tour with boatloads of other people, literally.  So on Samui I was determined to do it all on my own without booking any tours, and because of that whole $2500 clerical error I am now definitely traveling on a tight budget.  So I rented another moped for $5 and armed with a map, drove off. 

This is the first place I ended up, simply because I saw it on the side of the road.

The next place I ended up was a bit hilarious.  Rocks, in the shape of his and her genitalia!  hehe.  I will only show the "he" version, for some reason the other seems too graphic.  Crazy though, how close they are to each other.

this was just the view from near the he and her rocks.

Then it was off to a type of zoo/aquarium thingy.  The aquarium was ho hum, but there was also a tiger show, a bird show, an otter show, and seal show.  All of which were pretty interesting.  They also had some other little critters, some pools and a nice beach.

Leopard

Sleepy baby tiger

Craziest owl I've ever seen!

Thai squirrel?

 

 

The seals were actually quite amazing.

 

 

The otters were actually my favorite, I've always loved otters!

Monkey trying to steal my bracelets!

Sleepy otter.

The next thing I saw on my map was a waterfall.  So I went there.  I drove passed all the jeep safari, and elephant trekking places determined to get there on my own.  And I did.  On the hike down though, I passed this guy with a baby elephant, at this point in my trip, elephants were pretty amazing to me, so I asked if I could get a picture with the baby elephant.  Before I knew what was happening I was on its back, spraying it down, (so it could spray me) walking around a parking lot and of course getting charged ridiculous amounts of money for my experience.  I payed the guy, in hopes that he has a small family to feed, not a bar to frequent. 

Ok, so taking an elephant to the waterfall would have been cool.

There it is, just where the map said it would be.

A bridge along the trail to the waterfall.

 

hehe, boobs.

My new unintentional friend.

pouring water down his trunk so he could blow it back at me, funny trick...

 

The next day I went off to see something from my map that I didn't have time for.  The monkey theater!  Again, at that point monkeys were still pretty exciting to me, not just pesky little devils that steal anything they can get their hands on.  So I went.  But when I was one of only three people there, I got the clue that this wasn't a big hit on the island, at least not on the eve of the the full moon party.  But the one performing monkey was mildly entertaining.  So I enjoyed it. 

 

 

The rest of that day was a nap on the beach and some dinner at the fishermans village.  Then it was off again to somewhere new.

On a side note, apparently Red Bull is an over the counter cough suppressant in Thailand!

The beach closest to my hostel.

Kids playing in the ridiculously calm ocean.

Sunset on Koh Samui

Fisherman's Village at night.

Notice the full moon, notice how for one night of the month NO ONE is on this island!  It was kinda nice actually...

Don't go too far, more to come!

"The Land of Many Smiles" Thailand!

Yup, I'm backpacking through Thailand!  My first stop in Thailand was the biggest island in the country called Phuket.  And it's not pronounced like that, don't be naughty.  It's Poo Ket.  I only came here because it's the only international airport in the southern part of the country, I ended up staying 4 days because I like the hostel I was staying at, and being alone in Thailand made me a bit wimpy in my first few days, so I stayed put.  That being said though, it wasn't my favorite place.  Thailand's geography is amazing, pretty awesome stuff.  But, there are too many people to really enjoy it that much.  Still though, I managed to have a pretty good time in Phuket.  I learned quickly to completely forget any and all driving laws I have ever learned as I cruised around on my moped.  I was reminisced of my mission days as 90% of the tourists there were Russian.  I ate a bunch of stuff, and I don't know what any of it was.  But everything here couldn't be more different than my home in Utah.  The smell, the air, the buildings, the people.  It's quite overwhelming to the senses.  But here are some photos for yours!

The view from my airplane as I flew out of Sydney, it was a layover from Christchurch. 

My Hostel was called Southern Fried Rice.  It was owned by a very nice old man named Terje from Norway.  I could barely understand his English, (or anyone elses for that matter).  But he still managed to get me some good deals and I was actually the only person in the hostel, that was kind of a bummer actually, as I was looking for some seasoned travelers to make friends with to get some tips and where/what/how to do everything here.  I kind of just showed up without a plan.  I'm still only planning a few days ahead as I go.  Luckily for me, the first night I was there was the weekly market. I bought some new clothes, and some...other things.

This is the hostel I stayed at while in Phuket.  .

The beach (one of many) nearest my hostel in Phuket.

All sorts of fruits and veggies for sale, several of which I have never seen before.

My tasty beverage came with a handy handle.

Lots of dead things to buy as well.  It stunk.

Yes, this is a bag of fried grasshoppers.

And yes, I ate them!  Well, I ate one.

One of the many things I ate that night that I cannot name. 

It was crunchy, as expected, but not very meaty.  Almost like it was hollow.  His exo skeleton was hard to chew, even harder to swallow.

I booked a boat trip with the help of Terje.  It was on a speed boat that advertised getting away from the crowd.  So I was expecting a nice peaceful day away from all the European tourists.  I was very wrong.  Very first thing that morning we were herded like sheep into a tent and sorted into 4 different boats.  When we got to our destinations, there were already hundreds of people at each spot.  I tried to take pictures of the beauty of the place, without all the people.  It really was an awesome place.  The movie The Beach and a James Bond movie were shot here. 

One of our snorkel spots.

Entrance to the bay on Phi Phi Lei island.

I took this from in the water, you can see how many people were on that beach.

Saw a beach with no one on it!

Bummed that other people followed me though. 

So I ignored orders, and swam to it.  Totally worth it.

Thats my boat there on the right.

Most of the boats were jetboats, but there were lots of these long tail boats as well.  They look a little more local.

One of the worst parts about traveling alone is the awkward self taken photos

View from the big beach.

Slightly less awkward, is asking strangers to take photos of you.

At a different part of the island, there were tiny beaches with sheer cliffs, that were full of all these monkeys!

Can you see all the monkeys?!

There is a man climbing this cliff, he's after bird eggs I think.  No ropes.  He's near the bottom on the right, by that vertical strip of black rock.

This is Phi Phi Don, where we ate lunch.

Enjoying a refreshing Coke!  I think...

Another tasty beverage.

Our last stop was this little spec of sand.  Didn't do a thing there, it was great.

This was another beach in Phuket called Patong. 

Patong Beach again.

There are actually way more 7-11's here than anything else American.

Karon Beach in Phuket.

This...is a gas pump.

It's rough, my life...

Sunset on Karon Beach.

Off to my next destination!

A few quick observations on Thailand so far.  From my first four days here:  The people are all very small, but most speak at least a manageable bit of English, I still can't understand them when they do.  Even the other non English speaking tourists are speaking English here.  Convenient for me.  Thailand is a jungle, and it seems to want to stay that way, despite humans attempts to fight it off here.  Power lines are funny here.  There are at least 10 motorbikes for every car, the most I've seen on one bike is 5 people.  Gasoline comes in liquor bottles and a funnel, or hand pumped from a barrel.  It feels just like Asian Mexico here.  There aren't any other Americans in this country.  For a guy that struggles making decisions, coming here alone wasn't such a good idea.  I am terrible at bartering.  Thai food is good, but dang I just want a steak!  The billboards are GINORMOUS!  It's unfortunately quite dirty.  Monkeys and elephants...all over the place!