So to pick up where I left off, I headed off on my tour the next morning. The first stop was outside of Chiang Rai to see the White Temple. The whole experience was very fairy-like and fantastical. Unlike other Thai wats, which are typically made out of and completely decorated in gold, this wat was all white. It was designed by a Thai visual artist and features contemporary paintings of Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow and other "evils" on the back wall depicting hell (possession, want, selfishness, etc). Paintings along the side wall show people making their way from hell to nirvana (& Buddha) on what looks like flying carpets à la Aladdin.
After the White Temple, we headed further north to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos meet. We took a boat tour along the river and saw the island where opium trades used to take place. We stopped off for about half an hour in Laos, which was cool and saddening at the same time since there were crowds of impoverished children begging visitors for 10 or 20 cents. The market was interesting featuring items from designer knock offs to snake whiskey.
We drove a bit further north to the Burma/Thai border and stopped to take pictures at the Northern Most point in Thailand.
On the way back we stopped off to see a couple tribe villages, including the Yao, Akah & Karen long neck tribes. Each tribe had a different section within the village and sold various items, including some they made themselves. I bought a little gold bracelet from a very cute little girl for like $4 so I could take a picture of her (it was implied that if you wanted a picture you had to buy something).
The next day I had my cooking class, which ended up being a private class since I was the only person who had signed up for that day. The chef took me to the market where he showed me all of the fresh ingredients that were going into the dishes. I also saw how fresh coconut was made into coconut creme and milk and also tried Thai iced tea (which is amazing). We went back to the school and made hot & sour soup, fish bites with sauce, paid thai and green chicken curry. It was very good if I do say so myself, although I know for a fact that I would not be able to replicate it. The best part was being able to eat the meal right after I cooked it and the chef bagging up the portions he cooked for me to eat later!
That evening Emma and I boarded our overnight bus to Bangkok. I was expecting a similar experience to the one Emma had described that she took a couple months prior: personal TV screens, bus attendants offering refreshments and seats that reclined with ample leg room space. What we encountered was quite opposite: no TV screens, no attendants, no beverages and cramped space instead of reclining seats or leg room. But it got us to Bangkok, so I can't complain.
We arrived around 6 am in the morning and managed to almost miss our 215 pm flight down to the islands. We sat in a cafe for a couple hours getting breakfast, using the wifi and reading. A bit later we headed over to the mall to get lunch and try a Thai fish massage. We paid the woman about $5 each and sat down on benches in front of aquariums holding hundreds of tiny fish. Once you stuck your legs in, dozens of fish immediately swam to your legs and feet and started sucking away.
It was the weirdest feeling and I can't say whether it was enjoyable or stressful. I had to keep taking my legs out of the water every minute or two because looking down and seeing about 50 fish eating at my extremities freaked me out.
At this point it was about 1230 pm and we didn't save nearly enough time to consider how long it would take to transfer trains and make it out to the airport. We got in line to check in at about 2 pm. We frantically ran around the airport to try to make our gate, not stopping to look at signs which led us in the wrong direction a couple times. When our watches hit 215 pm Emma stopped sprinting, defeated. I yelled at her as I passed just to keep going in the hopes that our flight had not yet taken off. Luckily, as we raced up to the gate we found that the passengers were still at the ticket counter to board. Our adrenaline wound down quite anticlimactically as we waited, panting, on the bus a good 20 minutes to head over to the plane.
Anyway, we made it fine and then still had to take a bus from Surat Thani to the cost and then a ferry out to Ko Phangan. Once there, we had to take a taxi to the north where we decided we wanted to stay. By the time we arrived, we were pretty irritable and hadn't slept in almost 48 hours. The great thing about traveling off season in Thailand is that we didn't have to make any reservations and were playing it by ear. We were walking along the path out towards the beach where the map said several bungalows were located and ran into another traveler who recommended the bungalows he stayed in. It was 10 pm and pitch black out and we had absolutely no idea what was around us, but we woke up the next morning to find that our bungalow was literally right on the beach with a breathtaking view of clear, blue waters with typical colorful Thai boats in a sleepy beach town.
Oh yeah, there were dogs EVERYWHERE in Thailand, especially in the islands. They didn't seem to have specific owners; they would just run around the beach in doggy heaven and when they were hungry, they'd go to various shop owners who seemed to feed them on the reg.
Ko Phangan is the island where the full moon parties take place, which I hear are wild. A couple of people I met along the way had either been to them or were on their way and said that they definitely recommended going (although the guide book made it seem like complete hell). However, we weren't there during the full moon and decided to stay in the north since one of Emma's friends had been to that area before and loved it.
It was really relaxing since not very many people were around and we just enjoyed laying on the beach and grabbing lunch from one of the local restaurants. We stayed there for two nights and took another ferry the third day to Ko Tao. Since we had decided to stay in the remote north side of the first island, we decided to stay in the more bumpin' area of Sairee beach on Ko Tao.
Again, we had no reservations but had no trouble finding a bungalow, just 100 yards off the beach. In both areas, we only paid about $15 a night to stay in bungalows right on the beach. That was one of the best things about Thailand, how cheap it was. One day we took a snorkeling trip around the entire island, other days we just laid on the beach and went to get a facial wrap (since we were too sunburned for an actual massage). Ko Tao had really good restaurants and afterwards at night we ventured onto the beach to check out the beach bars.
I was quite sad to leave Ko Tao since it was my favorite out of the two islands and we met a lot of interesting people. However, we headed out on a night boat to make our way back to Bangkok. I was nervous at first about being in Bangkok by myself for a night since Emma had to get back to Chiang Mai for work. But the hostel and so many people in it who were all in the same boat it ended up being fine. I met a girl from Germany and another American from California who I had dinner with that night. We picked up some crickets on the main road in the tourist area (Kho San road, where all the backpackers stay) to try. They weren't as bad as I thought and were pretty crunchy quite like potato chips. I ended up eating about 5 (they were tiny) and we gave the rest to someone else in the hostel. I ventured out to one of the bars with other kids from the hostel (one Canadian girl who spoke French and some brits) and ended up meeting people from various European countries: Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, etc.
The next day I spent most of the day walking around the city with two kids from Holland that I met the night before. We took a boat down the river and got to see the city by boat, but then it started downpouring which wasn't a whole lot of fun. I didn't get to as many wats that I would have liked in Bangkok, but I saw plenty of them in Chiang Mai and I figure its an excuse to go back!
That night I had to catch a bus out to the airport to get my flight back to the U.S. I was sad to leave since I had such an amazing experience there and met some cool people. I definitely intend on going back someday and also traveling to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
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