Rock Cliffs

February 06 2010
today was a bit of a divided day. Elena and i ventured off for the islands famous Long Beach. it was a crispy and quite topless day!
(no pictures)


Brittney on the other hand, went out to do some local rock climbing. she was paired with her instructor as a lone participant for the day and in the early afternoon made their way to one of the islands rock faces. apparently the experience was a huge addition to her rock climbing resume, and had a really good time. i guess she climbed a total of 4 routes complete with overhangs, whereas she'd been used to climbing about 2 routes in one day. from an uneducated standpoint on the subject of rock climbing id say that's a pretty awesome accomplishment! now, her arms are very sore but she's ecstatic to have been able to do something that she loves, and this has become one of her starring trip highlights. but unfortunately, there was no extra person to take pictures, and from what i gather it was too difficult to unhinge one of her hands to take a photo of herself on the rock face while she was climbing...so she has a disposable camera with photos of the faces she climbed from the ground, and once developed I'll upload those too.

then we went out for dinner and Elena and i had Indian food. and i forgot how much i love Indian. i could eat it everyday of my life and become an eternally happy curry baby. (...but i wont, Adam. i wouldn't have much of a boyfriend then would i? :)

Nemo's We of Ocean Blue

February 05 2010
we started this morning with a jump into a boat for a full days tour of famous islands and snorkeling! i had never realized that there were distinctly different colors of ocean water until we were buzzing around the local islands. there were tens of different teals, dark blues, turquoises, and greens. this is the best image that justifies that teal green that we saw today...


our 'tour' lasted from 10am till about 630pm, we stopped at the famous Maya bay, which is where some of the filming of "the beach" took place. it was, despite the large amount of spectators, a phenomenal beach location. it was amaaazingly beautiful.








the snorkeling was gorgeous too. we saw a variety of coral, sea snakes, sea horses, tropical fish and jelly fish. it was absolutely something out of Finding Nemo, and for those of you familiar with said movie, there was even a "Drop Off" that Brittney and i swam up to. :)

we stopped at a couple of other picture perfect beach areas with white sand like pudding. one of which was known as monkey island! it was fun for about 5 minutes until we realized how fearlessly snatchy they had become once they were exposed to human food, these poor monkeys surrounded by idiots wanting buffoon images of monkeys eating offered potato chips and soda products. and, accidentally, Elena had her water bottle snatched up by a terrorizing monkey mother with her baby wrapped around her belly. probably not a good idea to fight a monkey momma for a cheap water bottle. another monkey couple fought over our empty sprite cans, and Brittney got stared down into a corner by one monkey after her sprite can, which was hilarious.


on our way home our boat flew over some rope remains floating in the water and it stopped 0ur propeller. our guide had to jump into the open water with his machete and cut the rope. what a hero!

sunset...


the day was really unforgettable. we hope the images provided translate the beauty we saw today. we brought with us an underwater camera, but until we can find a Thai version of Walgreen's 'one-hour-pickup'...we wont be getting those images out yet, just like the full moon party images...


this evening we took our belongings back to our room and went out for dinner. when we came back we were hit with an awful stench. our ocean towels that we sat in all day and a piece of broken sea coral were stinking up our room something deadly. as of this moment we don't know how much trouble we might get in as we purposely ignored the room signs that said "do not use towels at the beach" and proceeded to do that and bring some of the ocean back to stink up the guesthouse! I'm sure this isn't the first time its happened...but my god i will never forget that smell...

Phi Phi Blues

February 04 2010
We climbed into a truck, the bed loaded with our bags and a few extra passengers, leaving Ko Lanta for Ko PhiPhi...





dangling feet...


phi phi island...


beautiful water!



The phi phi island has proven to be like no other island have ever encountered or imagined. it is overflowing with westernism, tourists, over priced cheap products, and no public transportation--which isn't that big of a deal because the island is walkable, but it makes for navigating through long crowds of bleach blonde youths, very irritating. ...but its not really that bad! the worst part ends quickly and the island opens up a lot of opportunities for a lot of fun...

Lovely Light Refractions of the Pool

February 03 2010
Today was a repeat of sun, ocean, pool, and elena's swim lessons!! Click for a larger version!
Congrats Elena!


elena found a new friend, despite allergy. this cat loooved her.

our last evening...

Elena Conquers All

February 02 2010
Today was a sweet day committed to my memory. Breakfast was full of yogurt, muesli, and fresh fruits. The sun was scorching, the water pretty and tranquil, little crabs running around rampant and tickling our fingers as we layed out.
Our bungalow has a chlorinated outdoor swimming pool, which made me the happiest girl in the world. It was so refreshing to be in a pool where I can do underwater flips and enjoy the lack of salty bitterness if i accidentally swallow water.
And with our guidance, Elena swam across the pool. A huge feat for someone who cant swim and has a fear of deep water. I am so proud of her. Tomorrow will take pictures for her memory and to share with her family about the things she is conquering.
We all also enjoyed probably the best massage any of us have ever experienced. It was so intense and thorough, I am really happy. It was one of my personal hopes to experience a Thai massage because their reputation absolutely precedes them. I have a feeling tomorrow I may wake up with pain and/or bruises.
Tonight we are sitting enjoying the night and dinner by candlelight with a projector showing international CNN and at Elena's request: Twlight.
it has been a sweet day.

Here is a map of our travels, including the travels we have not yet experienced.

Oreos On Empty

February 01 2010
today was a sore test of patience. it took us 12 hours to move from phangan island to lanta island. there were a ton of hold ups and waiting that took place. i was absolutely livid from the days' demands: poor attitudes and loud personalities from other foreigners, the lies about how long things would take, the heat, an early morning 5:30am wake up with 4 afternoon oreos in our bellies till 6pm that evening...

the early morning...pretty light.



the pier, from phangan to lanta, the girls and the big endearing bags :)

the ocean, in all its beauty...


when we arrived at our bungalow, our attitudes changed a lot with a filling meal and nice bungalow scenery...




...i ordered garlic bread with my main dish, this is what it looked like...strange and after eating two, became inedible, now when i smell the combo, i feel nauseous. that is international CNN in the background. i absolutely ADORE international CNN. someday when i am a big girl i am going to pay extra in my cable bill to have this channel.

the bungalow and the girls :)

Ko Phangan's Infamous Full Moon Party

January 30 2010
Tonight we went to Ko Phangan's infamous full moon party. We left for the Hat Rin beach at 11:30pm with a car load of other partiers from our bungalow. The trip to the beach can only be compared to a horrifying demented Disney world roller coaster. Along the steep narrow road were signs about 20% uphill grades and imploring English phrases saying "SLOW DOWN" to which our driver ruthlessly ignored. With other truckloads of passengers aggressively flying past us on the narrow 2 lane road we finally made it up the mountain to the famous beach. The streets were lined with probably a good solid one hundred vendors selling pastel colored buckets with rearrangable bottled boozes (each bucket complete with a small bottle of red bull) pleasing any drinkers preference. There were thousands of people, ranging from in control to out of control, old and young, singles, couples, and groups carrying and stumbling with the buckets of mixed booze across the squishy beachfront.
We saw many things:
men standing in the wash from the beach releasing their urine.
a sinister version of jump rope as people jumped over the rope in flames.
people passed out in sleeping slumbers in the sand.
girls with painted bikini tops.
overflowing bathroom stalls.
tens of tattoo shops offering evidence for bad drunken decision-making, with pictures taped to the window of others' past bad ideas in ink.
and many over-friendly boys asking in perfect English where we're from.
(To which our new response has been, "Canada." The response this illicits is usually a disappointed, "ooh. nice country." We decided to do this because we've tired of all the questions and commentary Thais have regarding the US: their thoughts on our new president and our health care system, the comparisons between their country and ours, and the assumptions that we have a lot of money...when we very muchly do not.)
We only stayed and dance till about 3am, deciding that we wanted to make it home decently without issues in order to be able to function the next day under the sun. While it definitely was a haven for youthful celebration and silliness we kept ourselves smart and aware, to which we hope our parents will be proud. There's a time and place for indecent and irresponsible behavior...we didn't feel this was one of those situations.
We took with us a point-and-shoot film camera, so once we have the film developed and a digital cd then we will upload photos :)

Brittney's dad shared with us a very interesting link about the particular moon we were dancing under. It was the "wolf moon" and it was the largest and brightest moon of all the full moons of the year, check it out: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100129-biggest-full-moon-2010-mars/