Travel in Thailand: Bangkok - Krabi - Railay beach - Koh Yao Noi -Chai ya (Suan Mokkh) - Koh Samui - Bangkok - Kanchanaburi - Bangkok
Hello everyone,
I am back with more from my eventful tour of our beautiful world... I've updated my entire blog with more info to the right of my update, check it out :)
When I originally wrote this blog I was sitting in an internet cafe on Koh San Road in Bangkok Thailand, surrounded by fellow travellers racing to see who can type home the fastest. For those of you who aren't familiar, Koh San Rd. is the Backpacker's haven of Bangkok. Its every new traveller's haven of convenience mixed with diversity, wall to wall shopping, and of course, hoards of tourists from all over the world.
Sasha, my lovely friend who I met in the Philippines over 2 years ago, decided to take up the challenging task of being MY travel partner on this journey. She and I met up in the south about 3 weeks ago and we will be together until we finish travelling India, approximately 8 months from now.
My journey in Thailand began with a flight from Ho Chi Minh, one quick night in Bangkok, and a long bus ride down to the south, heading for Ko Samui. However, I met two great folks on the bus and decided to change my plans to Krabi, ah the nature of travel and its unpredictability. Kristen and I had an awesome time together being beach bums in Railay beach and then travelled together to the quietest island we could find, Ko Yao Noi. Located just 1 hour East of Phuket, this island has around 8000 inhabitants and at one time, during high season, there are possibly 50 tourists altogether on the island... I celebrated my birthday on the island with a great motorbike ride around, A picnic on the beach and what birthday would be complete without a downhill skid and wipe out on a motorbike...? Don't worry, we laughed far more than we cried following our little "accident." Sasha came to the island to meet us the day after my birthday and we stayed there, doing pretty much what beach bums tend to do for a week.
On the 27th we said a sad goodbye to Ko Yao Noi and boarded the ferry to the mainland. I parted with the girls close to Surat Thani, as I intended to make my way to Suan Mokkh, the buddhist monastry where I would meditate for ten days, beginning March 1st. The man on the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere and said, you, Suan Mokkh, Suan Mokkh, and pointed out the window at the hiway. I reluctantly climbed off the bus, lacking confidence in my surroundings, and waved a quick good bye to the girls. A woman looked at me and said, you go Suan Mokkh? Come with me.. So she put her arm in mine and lead me across the street to where her husband, a police officer, was waiting. They put my bags in the back of their truck and we climbed into the cab together. I figured this was pretty much how things worked in nowhere town, so I just went along with it. They stopped shortly after and bought me a huge iced chocolate milk and then we drove like mad people, passing every car on the road to arrive at the monastry. When I asked her how much early in the ride, she said 50, but when I arrived, I realized she meant 50 kms, which we covered in a matter of minutes and all completely free of charge. It was a nice treat :)
The next ten days at Suan Mokkh were challenging. I thought this time was definitely going to be easier than the last, me being a clear headed, meditative yogi... However, I had my work cut out for me. They say the average person has around 16,000 thoughts a day, I am positive that my count is around 160,000 tho, and most of which I should be arrested for thinking in a monastry... I made it alright through the first 7 days but cracked around the 8th day and started chatting with some fellow slackers, and on day 9, snuck out of the monastry for a beer... Not something I'm proud of but it only gives me a reason to do it all again! And properly next time!!
Afterwards I met up with Sasha in Ko Samui. Our time there was pretty mundane aside from meeting some very lovely people, a lovely couple from Hungary and some old friends from the Spa, but we basically spent our days roasting in the sun and enjoying the amazing food at the Spa. The only productive thing we did the entire week we were there was a one day fast, which ended with us squeezing teeny lemons and seasalt into large bottles of water, to chug them and end up with unmentionable bodily reactions... Needless to say, we were cleaned out!
We left for Bangkok on a crouded bus that blew two wheels in the middle of the night! But we arrived safely, and tried to plan our next move. Pai, in the north was our desired destination but due to HUGE forest fires causing incredible smog and terrible air, we are steering clear of that area and instead decided to go to Kanchanaburi until our visas for China, Nepal and Laos were finished processing.
Our last destination in Thailand, Kanchanaburi ended up being a very nice surprise. We found a quaint little spot called the Jolly Frog, which has a nice grassy courtyard with hammocks, right next to the river Kwai. Remember the movie "The bridge over the river Kwai?" Well I walked over the bridge and watched some very daring kids jump off it as well. I was very fortunate that the owner allowed me to teach Yoga so we spent 8 days there doing yoga, and not much else :) The picture on the top of this blog is ofme with the children in Kanchanaburi who are in training to be monks. We spent some time with them on one of our tours, trying to communicate through hand movements and laughter, I even caught a little guy hangin out in a phone booth, a must see in my photo update.
I am back with more from my eventful tour of our beautiful world... I've updated my entire blog with more info to the right of my update, check it out :)
When I originally wrote this blog I was sitting in an internet cafe on Koh San Road in Bangkok Thailand, surrounded by fellow travellers racing to see who can type home the fastest. For those of you who aren't familiar, Koh San Rd. is the Backpacker's haven of Bangkok. Its every new traveller's haven of convenience mixed with diversity, wall to wall shopping, and of course, hoards of tourists from all over the world.
Sasha, my lovely friend who I met in the Philippines over 2 years ago, decided to take up the challenging task of being MY travel partner on this journey. She and I met up in the south about 3 weeks ago and we will be together until we finish travelling India, approximately 8 months from now.
My journey in Thailand began with a flight from Ho Chi Minh, one quick night in Bangkok, and a long bus ride down to the south, heading for Ko Samui. However, I met two great folks on the bus and decided to change my plans to Krabi, ah the nature of travel and its unpredictability. Kristen and I had an awesome time together being beach bums in Railay beach and then travelled together to the quietest island we could find, Ko Yao Noi. Located just 1 hour East of Phuket, this island has around 8000 inhabitants and at one time, during high season, there are possibly 50 tourists altogether on the island... I celebrated my birthday on the island with a great motorbike ride around, A picnic on the beach and what birthday would be complete without a downhill skid and wipe out on a motorbike...? Don't worry, we laughed far more than we cried following our little "accident." Sasha came to the island to meet us the day after my birthday and we stayed there, doing pretty much what beach bums tend to do for a week.
On the 27th we said a sad goodbye to Ko Yao Noi and boarded the ferry to the mainland. I parted with the girls close to Surat Thani, as I intended to make my way to Suan Mokkh, the buddhist monastry where I would meditate for ten days, beginning March 1st. The man on the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere and said, you, Suan Mokkh, Suan Mokkh, and pointed out the window at the hiway. I reluctantly climbed off the bus, lacking confidence in my surroundings, and waved a quick good bye to the girls. A woman looked at me and said, you go Suan Mokkh? Come with me.. So she put her arm in mine and lead me across the street to where her husband, a police officer, was waiting. They put my bags in the back of their truck and we climbed into the cab together. I figured this was pretty much how things worked in nowhere town, so I just went along with it. They stopped shortly after and bought me a huge iced chocolate milk and then we drove like mad people, passing every car on the road to arrive at the monastry. When I asked her how much early in the ride, she said 50, but when I arrived, I realized she meant 50 kms, which we covered in a matter of minutes and all completely free of charge. It was a nice treat :)
The next ten days at Suan Mokkh were challenging. I thought this time was definitely going to be easier than the last, me being a clear headed, meditative yogi... However, I had my work cut out for me. They say the average person has around 16,000 thoughts a day, I am positive that my count is around 160,000 tho, and most of which I should be arrested for thinking in a monastry... I made it alright through the first 7 days but cracked around the 8th day and started chatting with some fellow slackers, and on day 9, snuck out of the monastry for a beer... Not something I'm proud of but it only gives me a reason to do it all again! And properly next time!!
Afterwards I met up with Sasha in Ko Samui. Our time there was pretty mundane aside from meeting some very lovely people, a lovely couple from Hungary and some old friends from the Spa, but we basically spent our days roasting in the sun and enjoying the amazing food at the Spa. The only productive thing we did the entire week we were there was a one day fast, which ended with us squeezing teeny lemons and seasalt into large bottles of water, to chug them and end up with unmentionable bodily reactions... Needless to say, we were cleaned out!
We left for Bangkok on a crouded bus that blew two wheels in the middle of the night! But we arrived safely, and tried to plan our next move. Pai, in the north was our desired destination but due to HUGE forest fires causing incredible smog and terrible air, we are steering clear of that area and instead decided to go to Kanchanaburi until our visas for China, Nepal and Laos were finished processing.
Our last destination in Thailand, Kanchanaburi ended up being a very nice surprise. We found a quaint little spot called the Jolly Frog, which has a nice grassy courtyard with hammocks, right next to the river Kwai. Remember the movie "The bridge over the river Kwai?" Well I walked over the bridge and watched some very daring kids jump off it as well. I was very fortunate that the owner allowed me to teach Yoga so we spent 8 days there doing yoga, and not much else :) The picture on the top of this blog is ofme with the children in Kanchanaburi who are in training to be monks. We spent some time with them on one of our tours, trying to communicate through hand movements and laughter, I even caught a little guy hangin out in a phone booth, a must see in my photo update.
So thats all folks. We are on our way to Laos tonight, I will surely keep you all posted on my travels. I welcome your comments, questions and personal stories from all of you. Please keep checking back periodically and check out my photos, the links will be posted below.
Wishing you all love, peace and happiness on your own journeys.
Tiff aka Kusuma
Wishing you all love, peace and happiness on your own journeys.
Tiff aka Kusuma
My pictures from Thailand, Click on the link or cut and paste it into the web address line:
