Day 21: Ko Samui -> Bangkok -> Chiang Mai

-After one last breakfast we left the hotel at 8:30am for our 9:45 flight (you need no time at all to check in for domestic flights in Thailand). Bangkok Airways is great because you can each check a bag for free and you get food. We flew cheap Jetstar once, but you pay so much to check a bag its almost worth the extra money for the ticket.

-We had to switch planes at the Bangkok airport, which reminded me of the time Katie and I slept there. Anyway, after our second uneventful plane ride we landed in Chiang Mai.

-A little bit on Chiang Mai: 1. It is the largest northern Thai city. 2. The old part of the city is surrounded by old crumbling walls. 3. There are over 300 different Wats, Buddhist temples, throughout the city. The oldest one is Wat Chiang Man, which dates from the 13th century.

-We arrived at our hostel via tuk tuk. We are staying at the Tanita House, which doubles as both a guesthouse and a workshop/furniture store. The lady running the house is super nice, and was so easy with our change in plans. We have decided to skip Lampang since we read there isn't much to see there, and instead to do a hiking trip in the mountains north of Chiang Mai. So we booked our hill tribe trip then went to explore the city!

Day 20: Post Full Moon at Ko Samui

After waking up at 12pm we ate some breakfast at the place across the road. Then we figured out our ride to the airport for the next morning. Then we just lounged on the beach.

Beach time:

Engrossed in The Subtle Knife:

Our bungalow- 207:

Where we ate breakfast at the resort:

Day 19: Full Moon Party at Ko Phangan

-Marco and I spent the day relaxing in order to be fully prepared for our Full Moon Party experience. A little bit about the Full Moon Party: I've heard it's numbers range from 8,000 to 30,000 depending on the month. It supposedly started as a birthday party that was so much fun the friends came back every year and it just grew and grew. Supposedly. It takes place on Haad Rin beach on Ko Phanang, which isn't very big.

-After a big dinner a pick-up truck/taxi came to pick us up around 7pm for our 8pm speedboat over to Ko Phangan. We didn't end up leaving Ko Samui island until around 8:30pm but we talked with some British people we met. The speedboat was so much fun. It was just so ridiculous. We were all sitting with beers and lifejackets propelling over huge ocean waves. We were lucky enough to get a seat in the front.

Pre Full Moon:

On the pick-up truck/taxi:

On the speedboat:

-Once on the island the madness began. There were people everywhere along with food stalls, tattoo painting stations, and the infamous bucket stalls. We bought a bucket and a US flag tattoo (for July 4th) then wandered around just taking in the madness.

Tattoos for sale:

Our US flag tats for July 4th:

Laughing gas for sale:

The infamous buckets:

Food, everywhere:

-We walked down to the beach, which was even crazier. There were stalls upon stalls of buckets. We walked down to one end of the beach with fire jump rope. Exactly what it sounds like with no safety measures at all. Imagine drunk people trying to jump rope over fire. Of course Marco had to try, but he only came away with a slight burn on the arm.

Fire jump rope:

Marco mid-jump:

-Since I was too scared I decided to go down a slide further down. You had to climb up a rope ladder to get up there and then went down this steep, wet slide, through two sticks of fire, only to end up on the ground covered in sand. Of course I was all sandy after so braved the ocean. I hoped it was early enough that it hadn't turned into a public urinal yet.

The slide:

-We spent the rest of our time wandering around the beach and dancing at a couple places. We bought some food and just people watched mainly- highly amusing. I hit a wall of exhaustion around 2am so we tried to get the 3am speedboat back, only that took forever. We also saw about three people bleeding from their heads, one from their foot, and one girl just being carried. Casualties of the night.

Where the party originally started almost 30 years ago:

Marco paying attention:

-The speedboat ride back wasn't nearly as fun but we got back safely, wandering into the hotel around 4:30am.

Day 17 - 18: Koh Samui

More lazy beach days in Koh Samui!

Highlights:
-free buffet breakfast
-finding a delicious Indian restaurant
-finishing Lord of the Flies
-Marco loving Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
-playing lots of card games

Day 16: Ko Samui to Ko Phangan and back

-So Marco and I took a day trip to Ko Phangan to check out where the full moon festival would take place. We took a ferry over, which took about 45 minutes.

-Once we got over there we realized how happy we were that our hotel was on Ko Samui. During the day Ko Phangan seemed like a mess. The beach was just gross and smelt so bad. It's definitely the type of place where you go to party and drink. There's really nothing else to do there.

The beach:

Where we had some tea:

-Anyway, Marco and I walked around and explored. We had some tea at this nice little store run by a foreigner. We walked along the un-stinky side of the beach and decided to catch the earlier ferry home.

-Once back at the hotel we did nothing of course. We did discover a super cheap restaurant across the street though.

Day 15: Ko Samui

-Today was just a big beach day of laziness. We ate some complimentary breakfast facing the ocean. Then we sat, read our books, and did nothing. Marco finished The Golden Compass and loved it. I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which was amazing. I then started on Lord of the Flies, which everyone thinks I'm crazy for reading but I missed out on it in middle school and have always wanted to know what happens to Piggy. I successfully avoided getting burnt, but not stung. There are these weird invisible stingy things in the ocean here that are pretty painful. Some people seem to just ignore them but Marco and I could not.

The view from our deck chairs:

Just relaxing:

Marco reading:

The Book Thief- highly recommended, a great book:

Day 14: Phuket to Ko Samui

-We woke up for a 6:45am last buffet breakfast, checked out and left the hotel by 7:30am.

-We were a little early to the airport so lounged around before flying to Ko Samui in a tiny little plane.

-Once we landed we took a mini-bus from the airport and got dropped off at the wrong hotel. We were a little disappointed because once we realized we couldn't drink the delicious mango juice that they had given us. Luckily they were super nice and called the bus company to take us to the correct hotel.

Map of Ko Samui Island:

The bay our hotel (Chaweng Resort) is located in:

-We finally got to our hotel. It's not nearly as nice as the one in Phuket but it's perfect for what we need. There's a small pool and some chairs by the beach.

-Ate some delicious Indian food for lunch and took a brief afternoon nap before finally heading out to  the beach to catch some last minute sun rays. Our hotel is on the wrong side of the island to see the sunset but it was still gorgeous.

-We walked along the beach to find somewhere for dinner and then walked on further to the Arc Bar. The Arc Bar is a big backpacker hangout. We got a drink and were accosted by a monkey. This guy was trying to make us pay for a picture with his monkey and decided to try convince us by just dumping the poor monkey on us. We didn't buy the picture.