Day 14: We Got No Troubles, Life is the Bubbles, Under the Sea

Hello there,

All day today the chorus from The Little Mermaid's "Under The Sea" was playing through my head. You might think that this would have been annoying, and typically I would think so as well, however if you're snorkelling through the coral reefs of Koh Phi Phi, embracing your inner mermaid, the song becomes quite fitting. 

Our morning started with a pick up at 6:30 and we headed to the tour company for breakfast and where we eventually made our way to the speed boat that would take us to the Phi Phi Islands (just for your information, "Phi Phi", is pronounced "pee pee"). The boat ride from Phuket island to Phi Phi was about an hour and twenty minutes. Half of which consisted of boating over relatively choppy water. 

Our first stop of the day was at Bamboo Island where we spent 45 minutes wandering the shores of the white sand beaches and turquoise sea, reveling in the gorgeous creation surrounding us.

Day 13: Two Canadian Girls Crying in a Thai Country Bar

Hello there,

Today is more or less just a repeat of yesterday's blog (basically a post to jog my memory down the line, not to wow you with my wild adventures here in Thailand). Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the beach days here. I'll never complain about day long plans that involve white sand beaches, warm sea water, and Thai food. 

We woke up at 9am this morning in Patong Beach to find that the power to our entire street had been cut until 5:00pm. Needless to say, we packed up and checked out within 15 minutes and were at the beach after grabbing fresh mango juices for breakfast (I'm going to miss getting fresh mango juice multiple times a day). 

As usually we just tanned, people watched, swam, people watched, tanned, people watched, swam, people watched. I would confidently say that Patong Beach has the best people watching in the entire world. I cannot even begin to describe a G rated version of this place. Free entertainment never came so easily. 

From the old man holding a piece of bread in the air while he snorkelled, to the endless number of speedos (I mentioned the speedos right?), to the Russian man who talked to us for two minutes while we repeatedly explained to him we don't speak Russian, to the countless other individuals who provided us with endless entertainment all day. 

After a couple hours at the beach our hunger won over and we headed to our favourite spot in Patong for a good old fashion American burger (McDonald's). After our health conscious lunch we picked up our packs at the hostel and grabbed a taxi to take us to our next location. 

This time we snagged a southeast Asia classic; the Tuk Tuk. Fun to ride in, great place to get an awkward sun burn, and an incredibly unsafe contraption to take on the highway, but in Thailand it doesn't matter. 

Day 12: Viva Thai Vegas

Hello there, 

I believe it was Day 1 of this adventure that I mentioned blogging the trip was for my own personal memories. 

Please keep that in mind if you choose to finish reading this post. 

We woke up at a decent time this morning. I FaceTimed home and we checked out of our hotel. Our original plan was to spend the morning on the beach and then taxi to our next accommodations in land in old Phuket Town. However the gorgeous Thai beach kept calling our names and so we moved to the neighbouring city for an extra day of sand and sea. 

City of choice: Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand. 

Patong beach is, without going to detail, is basically just a massive party. Clubs, people, bars, people, and some more people. 

So what were two innocent, conservative, Abbotsford born and raised, Mennonite girls to do in such a rambunctious town? 

People watch. 

Day 11: The Jungle Book

Hello there,

Today, like all the days in Thailand, was an exceptionally magnificent day, but perhaps today was a little bit more magnificent than the rest. And you can probably guess from the first photograph why. 

Today started at the beach where the wind was still wild but much more game than the day before. We soaked in the sun then got soaked by the sea. 

After our short beach trip it was an early lunch at Baan Siam where we treated ourselves to fresh mango juice which was  quite delicious. 

After lunch we went to the hostel for a shower and nap before getting picked up by our tour company at 1:30 in the afternoon. 

Today's tour took place in the mountain jungles of Phuket at Siam Safari. Our first part of the tour educated us on traditional Thai culture. Our tour guide for the day was amazing, her name was Au, she was adorable, hilarious, sweet, smart and had impeccable English.

We were treated to coconut pancakes and the most tastiest and most sweetest Thai coffee (like Vietnam, they use sweetened condensed milk). 

We learned how they used to use the Asian Water Buffalo to plow and harrow the rice fields. The Asian Water Buffalo can live to be 30 years old. 

After our coffee stop we learned about the rice industry and how to harvest rice. The average Thai person eats 100 kg. of rice per year. 

Our next lesson was all about coconuts and how to make coconut cream and coconut oil (this was an exceptionally tasty lesson). 

After the coconut has been husked the shave out the meat, which is then pressed so that all the cream is drained from it and then it is boiled until the oil separates from it.

We then moved on to the curry station where we were taught how to make authentic Thai curry (double yum). 

Next we learned about one of Thailand's largest export industries: rubbed. If anyone out this is like me and didn't know how rubber was made you'll find it fascinating to know rubber comes from the sap of rubber trees. 

They tap the rubber trees the same way we tap maple trees to get the sap from them. 

Rubber trees must be tapped at night because that is when the most rubber can be excreted from the tree (during the day it's just too hot). Because they have to tap them at night they wear little head flames to see and to scare away scorpions. 

The rubber is then added to a ratio of water and acid and pressed into mats or moulded into bricks which are then exported and can be remelted to be re shaped. 

The last part of our tour was by far the best part and the part of our trip I had been looking forward to the most. 

This was when we got to ride elephants. 

Unfortunately in Phuket you're not able to directly ride the elephant but it's still pretty amazing to be up there on top of these incredible, beautiful, and strong animals even if you're sitting on a bench. 

M

I'm used to riding horses everyday who are much smaller but let me tell you, horses walk a whole lot faster than elephants. We rode through the jungle trails with 9 other elephants and it was rather evident these girls were in no rush to go anywhere (the Siam Safari uses only female elephants due to the more even temperament where males are often more difficult to train and control). 

At one point in the tour one lady spilt a couple items out of her person, but not to worry, elephants have exceptional trunk control and one of the kind elephants was able to pick up her lipstick off the ground and pass it to her (my heart melted at how adorable and precious such a massive animal could be). 

This lady turned around to wipe her snot on us and we were more than happy to oblige. 

Asian elephants get more pink spots the older they get. 

It was such an unreal experience to see how gentle and accommodating these giants are (not going to lie, it definitely made me homesick for my saddle and the back of my horse). 

Random side note: dinner was included in the tour and when we booked the tour they asked for dietary restrictions. For those that know me well, I have a few dietary restrictions. Apparently I was the only person in our group allergic to chick peas and chicken and pineapple (shocking, I know)! So the tour company took it upon themselves to go make all the normal dishes additionally that were fit to my allergies. I don't know how hungry they thought I would be but they gave me full plate of every food option at the buffet.

I'm not kidding. This was all the food they made just for me. 

Dinner concluded our tour and we headed back to our hostel where we freshened up and then headed out into Karon for some deep fried ice cream (om nom nom). 

We both got Oreo. It was fantastic. 

We took our ice cream to the beach to listen to the waves of the crashing sea and as a bonus watched a local Thai man catch a puffer fish accidentally on his fishing rod. 

That concluded another amazing day in Thailand. 

As always, thanks for following along and prayers for safety and health are always appreciated. 

-mo

Day 10: Being Eaten Alive

Hello there,

Today was the laziest of days. 

And it was lovely. 

We've been pulling long and packed days every day of the trip so far and so today was a designated "do nothing" day. 

Our day started with an all you can eat breakfast buffet by the beach. We showed up 15 minutes before the buffet ended and they guy working wanted desperately for us to get all the food we could eat as well as he wanted to clean up so he took it upon himself to personally bring us all the food he thought we would like while we were already getting ourselves food. This was the end result. 

Needless to say, there was leftovers. 

We then went to the beach for some R&R which lasted about two hours before the wind had other ideas for our day. While the sun was still high in the sky and the ocean waves still kissed the shores the wind reared its fierce face. If you've never been pelted on the bare skin across your entire body by sand being whipped through the air, let me tell you, it's not the most pleasant experience. Bodies covered head to toe in sand we took to the sea to clean off only to be recoated once again as soon as we left the water. 

We headed back to the hostel and sought refuge from the flying sand in our room after lengthy showers in which I tried and failed to get the sand out of my hair and ears. A brief cat nap later and we were heading to Starbucks. 

Chestnut white chocolate mocha frappucino? Sure! 

With our Starbucks in hand, we headed to one of the spas down the street and partook in a 15 minute "fish spa". This entails dipping your feet in a tank filled with small fish who nibble at the dead skin on your feet. Curiosity won over in our decision to experience such an odd thing. 

I must say, I never knew I was so ticklish until I had 30 little fish nibbling on my feet. It was the most strange feeling and anyone that watched my snapchat story got the audiovisual version of the experience. Let's just say I was childishly freaking out. There was some larger fish in the tank who's bites actually hurt so it was the oddest sensation of tickling and pinching. 

Sceptical about how beneficial this was we were final able to get used to the fish after 12 minutes and enjoyed it for the last three minute. And let me tell you, after just 15 minutes with these little guys my feet were as soft as a babies bottom. 

After our fish spa we walked around in and out of the various shops and down to Kata Beach (sorry for lame iPhone photos, didn't feel like lugging my big camera around the shops). 

Outside every restaurant here in Karon Beach, Phuket are large displays of fish on ice that you can purchase to take home and cook for yourself. At this particular place there was a shark.

Before dinner and after our walk we went back to Karon Beach to watch the sunset. It was magnificent as always. 

Dinner tonight took place at a little Italian restaurant and we indulged in amazing margherita pizza before heading to our favourite spa for a hand and arm massage. Seriously it's not hard getting into this Phuket tourist lifestyle. 

After the spa we walked across the street to the pancake stand and got Nutella and banana crepes. It goes without saying that they were fantastic. 

To finish off the night we could see fireworks going off over top the building across from where we were eating our crepes. 

As always, thanks for following along and prayers for safety and health are greatly appreciated. Tomorrow we go trekking through the jungle on elephants. I think I'll die of happiness. 

-mo