A Grand Adventure - Day 3 - Genie

We left off on our adventure passing out cold in our lovely hotel room on Koh Phi Phi after a long day of snorkeling, intergalactic plankton travels, and delicious Korean desserts with board games.

The next morning, we woke refreshed and ready to make our way off of the tourist trap we were inhabiting. Mind you, while it was technically the very beginning of 'high season', the whole island still had the 'low season' vibe going on. We packed our bags, left our "Save Phi Phi Island" cards on top of the large pile of single-use plastic we were forced into taking (mostly water bottles), and checked out of our hotel room without incident.

Our first mission? Lunch. We weren't sure what the travel plans were for the afternoon but we checked the ferry schedule and there was one departing at 1:30pm. We had a solid 2 hours to get lunch.

We headed to a delightful restaurant called PP Wang Ta Fu Restaurant. It was advertised as "the best sushi on Koh Phi Phi", and if it isn't, I don't know that I even want to experience the best. We split absolutely wonderful sushi rolls and were delighted by our plates that contained adorable pictures of kittens and roosters! They also had spectacular Wifi, so we used that time to upload all the pictures we'd taken over the past two days. (I have a measly 32gb iPhone - that storage fills up fast!)'

For a full roster of food from the trip, please check our Instagram: ThaiFoodObsession.

After lunch, we ventured back to the pier where we had our "any time, any place" tickets.

Well, we were definitely lied to.

Not only were they not "any time, any place", they were very specifically "Krabi City" and "3:30pm". The boy checking tickets looked at us sympathetically and said if we wanted to leave any other time for any other place, we would have to purchase new tickets.

Frustrated and a little miffed, we thanked him (obviously not this kid's fault and he was as helpful as he could be) and departed to the McDonald's to hang out for the next two hours. It turns out that this was definitely the best option for us. We got coffees, sat at the charging booth, plugged in our phones, and started doing research on our next destination: Krabi City, because like it or not, our tickets were destined to take us there.

It's the best view from any McDonalds I know of.

With our McD's receipt, we could use their bathroom for free the entire time we were there. During that 2ish hours, we looked up things to do in Krabi City, hotels, hostels, guesthouses, and discussed the two things we'd been thinking of buying: friendship bracelets and Adidas shirts (an inside joke from our months in Nong Khai where they spelled 'Adidas' as "Obibos"). The time passed quickly.

We booked The Sasi Guesthouse for one night, deciding that Krabi City wasn't the destination we wanted to stay at for a long time, but we were arriving too late to take off for anywhere else that night. Also at a mere 891B/night, it was a very nice looking hotel for an incredibly good price! (That was one queen and one twin in the same room for 891B. Split between 3 people that's less than 10USD each!)

My bullet journal says: "Genie debated on getting an Obibos shirt from the street vendors. It looks so comfy. She debated so hard that she's writing it in here. Is she still debating it while re-reading this?"

Answer?

No. My "treat yo self" mentality won out and I went off to find myself and Amanda "Obibos" shirts. I found one in maroon and one in neon orange. I did not walk the middle path with this decision and I regret nothing. Roxi had, the previous day, bought one in slate grey. This was the middle path.

They spelled Obibos wrong...

We boarded the ferry soon after and got seats right up front. We settled in quickly and I started braiding Amanda's hair.

However, the weather disagreed with our plans. Almost immediately after I finished parting her hair, the sky opened. It is rainy season after all. We quickly scampered with our packs into the hull of the boat: only to find no available seating. We were quickly realizing that we would have to split up and sit in 3 separate seats surrounded by strangers. And I was on a vessel that was going to make me violently ill. I could feel it in my semicircular canal (as opposed to my bones or my gut - as neither of these things determine motion sickness).

As we separated, I noticed a sign on a door in front of us. It read: "First Class Cabin - 100B/pax"
Inside this room it was obviously air conditioned and full of mostly empty couches. I grabbed my wallet and walked back to the ticket counter. Putting down 300B, I said "chan nung. Sam khn ka." (Class one. Three people, polite.)

Easy as that we had 3 red stickers and were ushered into first class.

Word of advice, if you can upgrade to first class for less than 10$ for 3 people, just do it. We sprawled out on three couches. I braided Amanda's hair. I took a short nap. I read part of the book on my phone. Before we knew it, we were arriving at the Krabi City port! (Roxi's and my stomachs rejoiced.)

We got off the ferry and walked through a jungle to get to the main road. It was a well-traveled and paved path, but it still twisted rather majestically through a small forest. Our small group sang sang and harmonized to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" as we passed through. We also got to see the yard of the war ship museum that was right next door. There were giant and very old ships just hanging out in the yard. They were very cool and I wished the museum was open as it looked as though you could walk through them!

Alas, it wasn't. And to beat that, as soon as we got out of the pier, we were bombarded with the taxi drivers.

"MADAM TAKE YOU ANYWHERE 100 BAHT!" "WHERE YOU GO?" "ME TAKE." "COME." "FOLLOW ME." "IN CAR. ON CAR." "MY CAR. BEST CAR. ANYWHERE 150 BAHT."

Nothing makes 2 introverted Minnesotans cringe and run away faster than being screamed at by Thai men trying to "helpfully" take your bags from you.

Swatting them away, we said "no thank you" about 100x.

Then "no. thank you." another 50x.

Then "no."

Then "no!"

Then "GO AWAY."

Finally, one got a solid "F*ck off!" from a very frustrated me. We were the last people off the ferry and their last chance at a paying ride from a ferry that day (as we were also the last ferry coming from that direction). On top of that, we looked like tourists and there is nothing more lucrative for a tuk tuk driver than ripping off tourists.

Wanting nothing to do with a taxi at this point, we walked toward the museum while ignoring their cries of: "museum close. taxi with me!". I booked a Grab on my phone and we patiently waited for the driver we requested.

We jumped in his car and he asked where we were off to. We were a bit confused as Grab, like Uber or Lyft, tells the driver what the destination is supposed to be. We stated we were headed to the Sasi Guesthouse and he laughed saying "this is the wrong place. I will take you to the right place. No extra cost."

At this point, we weren't arguing. Maybe GoogleMaps was wrong?

He took us around Krabi Town. He pointed out where the markets would be in the following days, drove slowly past a couple parks that were apparently nice to walk, and pointed up a hill for "the best Pad Thai in town".

He then drove us to the "wrong place according to GoogleMaps."

We gave him a 5 star rating because GoogleMaps was most certainly wrong. He grabbed our bags from the trunk of the car and went in to talk to the front desk. He and the reception desk confirmed that we were in the right place and the map on TWO apps on my phone were incorrect. 14/5 for the lovely taxi driver from Krabi City.

The Sasi House greeted us with iced Pandan water and warm smiles! We were shown to our room where they had laid out everything 3 people could have ever needed including a teapot, kettle, and fresh jasmine tea leaves!

Every part of the Sasi House was painted with cute little designs. You can tell the owners/staff really love the place. 

We opted for dinner at the Sasi House Steakhouse. No downsides there. We got a massaman curry (my favorite), a sunshine omelet with cashews, and fried chicken green curry. Mine and Amanda's food was PHET MAK (very spicy)! But it was also delicious.

After dinner we walked down by the river. We ended up walking through one of the parks along the river. It was full of statues, murals, and street vendors. We found a bunch of crab statues, learned the Thai word for crab (poo), a statue of a shark with a bottle for a face (Krabi City is fighting the pollution more than the rest of Thailand), and a sign that clearly said "DO NOT WALK ON THE SAND. QUICKSAND. DIE."

As much as I love defying government-issued signs, this one I followed.

This one was so much less violent... and so much easier to take a picture of!

We got banana pancakes of various flavors and headed back to the hotel. We passed the rest of the evening drinking jasmine tea, playing SkipBo, and I filled out the bullet journal. We passed out around 10:45 and I got a full night's sleep for the first time since Saturday -> Sunday.

A Grand Adventure - Day 2 - Genie

Here we go again!

On the morning of Tuesday, October 15th, we got up and I put everyone's hair into sturdy french braids. It was going to be a day of on and off again goggles and I knew nobody wanted their hair in the way snorkeling!

At that point, Roxi was desperately hungry. The stomachs of our group determined when we ate: Amanda made sure we got dinner every night, Roxi made sure at least she got breakfast in the morning, and I made sure there was ample coffee. We went to McDonalds and Roxi got herself a fish sandwich. Amanda and I got ourselves a large No Thanks and we headed off for our adventure!

We were in and out of one of these boats for the rest of the afternoon. There were three native Thai persons on the boat with about 12-15 of us tourists. We got seats in the far back by our driver and eventually we were very thankful we did!

In the back left of this picture is Roxi's second Thai husband of the trip.

The first hour was absolutely gorgeous. We went to monkey beach and saw macaques. It was an interesting part of the adventure. As I walked around the beach, I noticed that there was no escape route for the monkeys. They had been trapped on a small beach and were obviously there as a tourist attraction. They were desensitized by the thousands of people that stopped by there each day on their 20 minute stop. 

I'm not sad that we took this trip. Don't get me wrong there. And I understand that if they advertise a monkey beach, tourists want exactly that. But as someone who has been around captive and wild animals my whole life, the scene was... tragic.

This macaque did more to clean the beach than any person I saw in my duration in Thailand.

A mother and her baby were trying to escape from the tourists to the far side of the adventure.

Obviously based on the pictures I'm taking, it didn't work.

These bois were not thrilled to be there. I think someone messed up their coffee order...

At this point, the activities improved and the weather devolved. We went to the island south of Koh Phi Phi Don. Upon arrival at Koh Phi Phi Le, our boat driver started saying the Thai word for storm and rain. Thankfully I've now lived in Thailand for an entire rainy season - so I know these words. 

Roxi and I laughed at what he was saying and agreed that it did appear that a storm was coming in. Per the usual when we respond with any Thai, every person who speaks Thai on the boat gets involved. We had a great little chat for about 15 minutes before the wind picked up and we could no longer hear. These were Roxi's second and third husbands of the trip.

During this time, we passed some truly incredible rock faces.

There was no bad seating on the boat, but from the back, I got great views without splashing!

I didn't bother to edit any of these photos. What you see is what you get. 

There are many caves that locals have taken over. Tourists are not allowed in them, but the boat driver took us past slowly so we could sneak a peak!

We made it to a beautiful lagoon by the Maya Beach (which is currently closed because tourism ruined it and the Thai government has shut it down until it has a chance to recover). This was supposed to be a swimming spot (off of Maya beach by about 1km). However, our driver started yelling at the other boats "tide changing. storm." and we didn't stop. 

The water in the lagoon was the most beautiful teal I've ever seen.

The boat took us out of the lagoon and to a small outcropping of rocks just outside the mouth of the lagoon. There we got our first taste of what was under the sea:

Yes, Mom. My iPhone is underwater. No, I did not test the waterproof bag before I JUMPED FROM THE BOAT INTO THE ANDAMAN SEA!

It was worth it.

We even got some cute shots of us in the water!

At this point, the sky opened and our driver asked everyone to come back into the boat. 

It was a very good decision. Not thirty seconds after the last person boarded the boat, the sky opened and boats began to get their engines running. 

Every boat except ours. 

For the next twenty minutes, the sky poured, wind ripped through the valley we were nestled in, and men leapt from their boats to ours to try and help fix the engine. It was amazing to watch people leap from one boat to another, soaking wet, with no shoes, and land perfectly with a full toolbox - sometimes a solitary pair of scissors or a screwdriver. 

Lunch was passed out while the boat was under repair. It was a fried rice dish with egg and vegetables. It was actually incredible. As usual, we were saving Koh Phi Phi by eating out of single use Styrofoam with plastic spoons. 

Deep sigh.

Finally we heard a loud roar from the engine. The boat let up a loud cheer and our driver took us out of the lagoon. Waves lapped up against our boat. The sea was swelling and crashing as the rain tore on. From inside our boat, it was a little scary. Obviously we knew we were in capable hands. The man at the helm looked to be about 50 and looked to have spent every moment of that time in a boat like this. The way he turned the rudder and engines was deft and almost musical. It was comforting to watch him as the sea around us made me nauseated.  

Our driver took us to several other swimming spots until it was about 4:45pm. It was still drizzling, but the water was amazingly warm! At this point, the majority of our boat was not getting back in the water, cold, and whinier than a Californian in a Minnesota winter. 

This explains the sunburn on Amanda's scalp.

Our boat driver asked every person if they wanted to go in early. If we went in early, we got no refund and we didn't get to see the plankton at sunset. This seemed a no brainer for the three of us, but apparently we were the only group to think so! We were sad, but outvoted. We sat quietly as the boat turned back toward the pier. There were excited clamoring from people excited for beer. Suddenly we pulled up alongside another boat. Our driver looked at us and said: "see plankton. other boat."

We brightened considerably. We clarified in Thai that this boat was staying and our boat was going in. He smiled and confirmed. 

We hopped from our boat to the other. Honestly for me it was like getting to be a kid jumping around kayaks in the river again. I enjoyed it muchly. I do not think Amanda enjoyed it near as much. Roxi walked the middle path.

There were five people in the boat staying out until 7:30. 3G1M and two people from Portugal. We called ourselves "Team Plankton"!

We got to spend the next two hours swimming as the sun went down. There was plenty to see. At one point Roxi hurt a sea urchin. It responded accordingly by stabbing her in the foot. Her foot then hurt.

This new boat driver also told us it was ok to jump off the sides of the boat. I took advantage of this and treated it like a diving board. He also didn't force us to wear life jackets like our previous driver. The irresponsible child in me that is also a certified lifeguard enjoyed not being strapped down by a life jacket that in no way, shape, nor form fit me. It was also exciting because for the first time all day, I could dive down under the surface of the water and see things up close. Having a lot of practice in pools, rivers, and lakes definitely helped for doing 6m pike dives to the bottom layers of coral!

Around 7 when the sun had gone down and the only light was coming from our boat, the new boat driver turned the lights out. He told us to put our heads under the water and move our hands around. 

We did and the results were magical. Plankton shone like little specks of light under the water. It looked like stars. We started playing around in the water - doing somersaults and splashing. My favorite move we called "hyperspace". We held our breath and went underwater and shoved water toward our goggles. The plankton came frenzied toward the goggles and it looked like spaceships from our favorite old shows and movies. It was honestly incredible. 

After 20 minutes of swimming in the plankton, our driver called us back onto the boat one last time. All five members of #TeamPlankton were happy, tired, and chittering about how cool the experience had been. 

We landed on the beach 10 minutes later and exited the boat for the last time. I think Amanda was pretty thrilled about that. She had been a trooper about it the whole day, but this boat was definitely not setup for anyone larger than about 160cm and 75kg. 

Exhausted and exhilarated, we walked the 1km back to our hotel, took showers, and changed into cute clothes. Amanda wore her new snazzy romper (thanks, Mary! It's super cute!), I wore my little black dress (that my mother threw at me in a GoodWill saying "it'll look good, trust me", and Roxi wore the dress I gifted her in Nong Khai (That I got from a church fundraiser in Lanesboro)!

We walked down the road to Phitharom Restaurant where we were the only people there (yay low season!) and ordered drinks: mango daiquiri, coconut temple, and pina colata. 

The drinks were fabulous. I got the mango drink. It was fantastic. Amanda got the coconut temple. It looked like liquid tums, but it tasted better. 

We also got a massaman curry (traditional Thai potato curry and my personal favorite of all curries known to humankind that aren't made by my dear friend, Shashi.), vegetable spring rolls, and pad thai. 

Amanda had previously seen a Bing Su place on our walk the night before. She and Roxi had never had Bing Su before!

For those of you who haven't been treated to this delicious Korean dessert, imagine eating delicious flavored snow. We got choco-explosion! There were also a slew of board games. We played Ticket to Ride: Europe. Roxi had never played before and we only had 50 minutes of playtime before the restaurant closed shop at 11pm. 

According to Roxi, the game was still fun, although rushed. 

Amanda and I already knew this, but it had been SO long since we got to play that we were just happy to have gotten to play at all!

On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped by stores and stands, grabbed another 6L container of water from the store Pew showed us, and saw a very cute little frog!

Much to everyone's shagrin, I even found the clitoris!

We headed off to bed, but this time we set the air conditioning to a more reasonable level!  

Stay tuned everyone, this was only day 2!

Amanda's Two Baht: I was overjoyed that I was able to see anything on our snorkelling adventure. As a glasses wearer who doesn't have contacts the likely hood of me seeing any fish or the reefs was questionable. I saw them! I saw this beautiful blue and green fish that took my breath away. I enjoyed this experience so much I'm considering getting a pair of prescription goggles...or at least contacts.