Paradise Beaches, Rockclimbing and Moterbiking through "Unseen" Thailand

Phuket Island and Krabi province are the absolute most beautiful regions I have ever seen—and not just in Thailand, but out of everywhere I have ever been. We actually used the cliché, “this is breathtaking,” about a million times. Since Phuket is a common destination for high dollar vacation seekers and Krabi had just as beautiful beaches and in my opinion, an even better overall landscape, we spent one day at a beach in Phuket and then moved on to Krabi for four days.



In Phuket, we (4 other girls and myself) somehow convinced the hassling taxi drivers that we didn’t want to go to an expensive resort and we would be quite satisfied sleeping 5 to a queen bed and going without hot water in order save money. Not only did we actually get to sleep 2 and 3 to a queen bed (the first ones I’ve seen in all of Thailand) in a moderately priced bungalow, but we were a 20 minute walk from the most amazing beach I have ever been too. The beach, called Hat Nai Yang, is a part of a National Forest Park so it was free of guesthouse and restaurants that clutter the other Phuket beaches. Anywhere I looked, all I literally saw was either the blue and green water, the nearly white sand or huge green trees. On the far end of the bay, just feet from the rocky shore, there was a random tree covered mountain and right below (at low tide) there was a vast area of sand dunes sprinkled with pools of shallow water. The area was flat, but water continued to flow until the more inclined shore that would serve as the shoreline at high tide. I laid down at one point and after trying to take in all that was around me, I actually fell asleep. It was so beautiful and extremely quiet; the nearest people had to have been at least a few hundred yards away. After we went back to our bungalow and packed our bags to move on to Phuket Town, where we caught a three hour bus to Krabi the next morning, we went back to the beach to watch the sun go down. With the sun becoming less threatening we saw several parents playing with their children along the shore (Thais want to stay as light-skinned as possible). A local at an one of the cheap, but extremely delicious street restaurants told us that Hat Nai Yang is “where the Thais go” and that is was cool that we were staying in a small town as opposed to fancy resort because we were actually getting to experience the real Thailand. When we told him were students at Mahidol, he told us were very lucky and that his granddaughter had applied but not accepted. He also had a great time encouraging us to practice Thai and then laughing at our off-tone attempts.















Krabi:
Day 1: We found a place to stay on the water (I think it was a river) and while walking on the boardwalk, Kelli (my roommate) and I agreed to take a longboat to "where ever 200B could get us." We drove around the mangroves to see them upclose and our boatdriver, who was probably our age, got some monkeys to come out to the edge. He also took us to a fish farm which ended up being really neat. Not only did we get to hold a blowfish, touch a sea horse, and see the big fish fed, but we also sat down over coconuts and talked to the woman who owned the fish farm. Her story was incredibly inspiring: she's raising 3 boys (ages 1, 10 and 13), operating the fish farm despite having to rebuild after the 2004 tsunami, and finishing a degree in community development on the weekends so that she can help her village learn English and benefit from the tourist industry.


Day 2: We got up early to go on a sea kayak trip to Ko Hong, a limestone island surrounded by other limestone islands (pretty much, cliffs jutting out of the water with caves and sometimes small beaches). I don't think I'd do the day justice if I tried to explain everything we saw and how beautiful everything was.

Sea Kayaking:

Ko Hong

At another limestone island we visited...where Julia and I were "attacked" by coral. I only got cut but she was "stung." Luckily, there was a very sophisticated Thai doctor (i.e.:our guide) there to ground up herbs (leaves) and rub them all over the area that was swelling up.








Day 3:
I joined a couple others who arrived in Krabi and a couple from the original Phuket group to go rockclimbing at Railay Beach, which is famous for its "picturesque climbs" that attract rockclimbers from all over the word. Since I was with experienced climbers we didn't have to spend money on a guided trip and got to do our thing. Andrew, an exchange from Philadelphia, led the climbs (put up the ropes); it was amazing! He and two other girls (one from UNC and another from Canada) took turns belaying. The climbing was of course more difficult for me than it was for them, but the view from the top was totally worth it!

Later, a few of us explored the island and hiked upto a lookout over the lagoon--again, "amazing!"

Day 4:

Most everyone else took a bus to get back to Bangkok, but 4 of us stayed an extra day and rented motorbikes. With a map, we set out for "unseen" Thailand. We took dirt roads, a winding paved road through the tropical forest, and of course the busy highway to seek out a natural hot spring and an "emerald pool." It was really great riding the bikes because you are really forced (not that it is at all painful--just the opposite in fact) to take in all that is around you. At one point we took a wrong turn and found ourselves on some sort of maple tree farm. We were soon turned around by an old man with a machete. He didn't speak any English but from what we have learned so far, we knew he wanted us to go back to the road and take a left. Despite it being really hot outside, the hot spring (40-45 degrees C) was still really neat. The lagoon was awesome. It was even cooler since there were hardly any tourists since the areas we went to weren't in any guidebooks--and sometimes not even on the map! I wish we had had more time but we had to rush back to catch our flight. Driving the moterbikes was a lot easier the second time around, which was great considering the various roads we took and when we had a little over an hour to get back when it had taken over two hours to get where we were.

Getting Around and my First Beach Trip

School and Bangkok:

*One day a couple weeks ago, all by myself, I managed to take the right bus from school to Bangkok, buy a camera (to replace my poor camera that fell out of a bike basket in Ayuthaya), get my hair done, and then find a different bus to take me home--and all despite the language barrier! I was so proud!

*I joined the hip-hop dance team here at school and made the "show" team. (I was asked to be in their show this weekend but I'll be out of town.) The 8 counts are in Thai, so it's a bit harder to dance because I'm having to think so much, but it's been a lot of fun. It's quite a workout and the girls are amazing dancers! (Think "You Got Served")

*Superbowl: woke up at 3:45am, took a cab at4:30 am, and found a bar by 5:30am to grab seats for the 6:30am game. And get this, I was with 3 other guys--2 from Canada and 1 from London. The bar was full of white, presumably business men. I was the only white female in the whole place and received a fare share of laughs for being so into the game. Needless to say, it was a great game! (My mom has raised me as a Steelers Fan. She voluntarily e-mailed me every time they played to keep me up to speed :)




Tropical Ecology Field Trip

My Tropical Ecology class took a field trip to Sack, a very small island near Pattaya. There were only 7 of us, including my professor, and we had one of those big wooden double-deck boats all to ourselves. The first half of the day was all play! We snorkeled, had a great lunch, and took an hour nap with our professor on the deck of the boat. After our nap, we split into two groups and began our field testing on the coral reef. Along a 5o meter tape, each group dove every 50 cm and recorded the type of hard coral or other benthic substrate (sand, silt, rubble, etc.) found. My professor then gave us the task of helping him take solitary coral (looks like big flat mushroom) back to the boat so that we could take it back to the University for another professor's research. I was the lucky one chosen to balance 8 corals on a clip board UNDER WATER all the way back to the boat, which was about 200 yards away. We then swam to shore and walked to the other side of the island, which tool all of two minutes. After a day of snorkeling (without life jackets), I was pretty tired and stayed on shore with a couple girls while the others went out and snorkeled some more. By the time we got back to the boat, the sun was pretty low in the sky and it was actually kind of chilly. It was an awesome experience, especially since I was "learning" about coral reefs.
That night, this girl Jill and I got dropped off in Pattaya with hopes of finding a bus to Koh Samet, a really popular beach among both locals and tourists. However, we had missed the last bus and ended up being stuck in a not-so-touristy part of town. After about an hour of wondering and well after the sun set, we finally found a cheap "room for rent" and set out to find some dinner. Dinner was great, but the room was disgusting. The four locks on the door and giant cockroach in our bathroom didn't help either. Before going to bed, Jill said, "Ok- we're only going to be here for 6 hours--that's not enough time for anything to eat us." The earliest van left the next morning at 6am but we had no trouble waking up. In fact, I barely slept past 4:30.

Koh Samet

After taking the van and then a ferry to the island of Koh Samet, Jill and I were finally able to resume our weekend vacation. We met up with 8 other friends and spent Saturday and Sunday on the beach. We stayed right on the beach! The weather was amazing and the water felt so good! My roommate, Kelli, and I rented a raft and spent the majority of our Saturday lounging off the coast. At one point there were 6 of us piled on and we managed to float/swim all the way out to where the big boats were anchored.