Ok ok ok, wow this blog thing is a lot of work to keep up! this is gonna be a long one... Our time on Koh Yao Noi was awesome. Its a pretty big island in the middle of Phang Nga bay, but it is not very touristed at all, for now that is... The Locals are fantastic, since they have not yet 
gotten into the business of taking advantage of tourists. On the ferry boat through the bay they let us sit out on the front and take in the beautiful view. We passed a Muslim fishing village which was built over the water, and we also saw the "James Bond" rock from The Man with the Golden Gun. After setteling in at Sabai Corner we walked around a bit and proceded to play cards and drink the rest of our sketchy Thai Whiskey. We hung out on the beach for quite a while, and a few b
ottles later we decided it was bedtime, however it was already way past bedtime for Kendra... haha, we carried her part way down the beach and then these Thai boys came up to us and carried her for a while (until she was violent that is) and then I piggie backed her the rest of the way... hahaha funniest night ever, and the pathetic part is we were in bed by 9.
One of the best parts of our stay was when we were walking and an old man from the ferry boat recognized us and invited us to ride on his motorcycle with him (it had a kind of side car attachment) into town. He didn't know any English and all we could say was "khap khun kha" (thankyou). With all our extra weight his poor little bike would only go about 7mph, but it was so fun! all the people we passed would laugh and wave, and many of the passing motorists would slow to chat with the old man about who knows what, but it often ended in laughter and we assumed they were joking about us... Eventually we motioned for him to drop us off since we didn't want too long a walk back. We ate some food, and the timing worked out perfectly because as we left our friend was driving back as well, so we caught another ride! The next day when we were shopping for food for our kayaking trip we ran into him again, and of course he offered us a ride but we had more shopping to do. What a nice guy! So yeah, we bought lots of food at the local market, rice, potatoes, carrots, oranges, and so on. Kendra bought a sarong, it has just about every color on it, I wish I had a picture to post so you could see how "attractive" it is... haha sorry Kendra! But even better Kelly bought a hat that said "hip hop". Yeah, she would...
We met up with Kitty and Zach the next day and got everything in line for our trip. They were so great, He is Thai and she is from Scotland. We packed our kayaks and were off. That first day of paddleing was Hell! As soon as we got out of the bay the wind picked up. After a solid 6 hours of struggle, we finally got to Kudu, a little island north of Yao Noi. We ended up setting up camp in this beautiful little cove, almost completely closed off from the ocean. When the Tide was out, the whole bottom was covered in coral. Sadly, we arrived at low tide and so had to pack all our gear across the coral. That night sucked. My arms were completely dead, and my elbows and hands could hardly bend, and on top of that I was soo sunburnt! I was not a happy camper, litteraly. The next morning was a little better. Our original plan was to kayak to Ko Mak, but based on the status of my elbows we decided to take it easy. We paddled to Ko Roi and explored a cave lagoon thing. We camped in the same place that night. We had a great campfire and made some dinner and went to sleep. That night I woke up and looked outside (I might be psychic) and our kayaks weren't on shore anymore. It was the full moon that night and the tide rose more than we expected. So anyways I was like "Oh shit" and ran out to see if our kayaks were still there. they were floating nearby (thank God) but a bunch of our stuff was being washed out to sea. I woke up Kelly and Kendra and grabed my head lamp. We waded around in the ocean grabbing the
loose items, all the while being attacked by fire ants who were apparently suprised by the tide as well. Luckily we managed to retrieve most our things, my swim top was the only lost thing, and even more luckily, I found a swim suit hanging in a coconut tree that fits pretty well! The next morning we saw a bunch of monkeys and also some hornbills attacking each other. We planned to paddle to Koh Hong, but the ocean was way to choppy and at some points the waves were completely covereing our kayaks so we camped on the east side of Yao Noi. It worked out great, our beach was amazing. We set up our hammocks and made a nice fire. We also made friends with a local stray dog.
Okay I'm gonna try to speed this thing along, sorry if I leave out too much...
So after returning kayaks and cleaning up at Coconut Corner we took a ferry over to Krabi. On the ferry we ran into a this girl who had seen us when we first returned from our kayak trip and had said how "hardcore" we were (which made my day!). It was pretty funny. We got a ride into town with this guy who was telling us about all the crazy drivers there were and how dangerous it is, all the while speeding around blind corners. We took a longtail boat to Tosai beach, where Kitty reccomended we go. It was absolutely fantastic. Apparently its the Mecca for rock climbers and so the beaches are covered with hunky tan rock climber boys. Its also a major hippie hang out, which coincides which the rockclimber thing, and so most of the beach front bars are named things like "the chill out bar" and are filled with rasta decor. Our first night there we watched a fire dancing show and were then given the practice balls to try it for our selves. Kendra was the brave one and actually did the fire dance! It was awesome. Props. The next place we went to had a slack line in the middle of the bar. We met these really cool Austrian guys who taught me how to jump on the slack line. It was so crazy, I wish we had bars like that in Corvallis, haha. The next day we hiked over to Railey and went to the famous beach from the movie "The Beach" (ironic huh) The beach was amazing and the nearby caves were cool too, but it was way too crowded. We then climbed up the hillside to the viewpoint and to the lagoon. The hike was a lot more strenuous than expected, I felt like a mountain goat for most of it. That night Kelly and I got food poisoning and spent all night praising the porcelain god. We couldn't do anything the next day, which I guess isn't the worst thing to have to lay around on a beach all day. The next day we travelled back to the train station in Surat Thani. I said goodbye to Kelly and Kendra as they boarded their train to head north. As I waited for my train I was approached by this Thai guy who was really out of it. He talked to me for like an hour straight, I only understood about half of what he was saying but he was basically telling me his life story. Anyways, I was really glad to get on my train.
My cab driver in Kuala Lumpur was so interesting. Id noticed that the people weren't too fond of Americans so I told the driver that I was from Australia. And so we had a completely frank coversation about the USA and he basically said the Bush is so stupid and how could Americans allow their government to comit such crimes in a country where the people are supposed to rule. Luckily we didn't talk about Australian government, that would have been awkward. Besides politics we talked about education, religion, economics, and many other things (it was a long cab ride). It is the best conversation I've ever had with a complete stranger.
Anyways three cabs, two trains, and two plane rides later I finally arrived in India. It was a rocky start to say the least. My Debit card wouldn't work in the airport ATM and so I had no money, and my cab driver didn't understand what I was trying to tell him so he just kept driving around. The streets here are ablosutely insane by the way. I thought Thailand was nuts but it doesn't even compare. There are cows and goats wandering all over and random road blocks and things, I can't even describe it, just Yikes. So yeah, I was in the cab with no money, and I finally convinced the driver to let me use his cell phone. After a few tries I got a hold off this guy, Nitin, who I knew was hosting one of the girls, Andi, through Couchsurfing and so I let the driver talk to him to get directions for meeting up with them. I don't know what was said, just a lot of yelling and then he hung up the phone. A few second later the phone rang and then more yelling and then he handed me the phone and Nitin told me to get out of the cab right away, this guy is crazy! And then I put them back on the phone together to try to work things out and there was more yelling and another hang up. After some extremely awkward moments of silence I asked the driver if everything was okay? He said "shhh! I must do time to find calm." So we kept driving and eventually he said that everything was fine he knew where to go. I was a bit skeptical, but two hours later we parked in front of a little restaurant and Andi came out and payed for me and it all worked out great! (breathe Mom). So that night I couchsurfed at Nitins amazing beach house in south Chennai and the next morning we drove to Auroville to see the Dalai Lama speak in front of the Tibetan Pavillion. It was really amazing. He is so contagious. When he laughs his entire body laughs. And to my surprise he is really funny. He mostly talked about human unity. After that Andi and I went to meet up with Snehal, a local Aurovillian who is on couchsurfers. He's a really cool guy who is trying to set up a gift economy business. He has this little place with a kitchen and hang out area and seperate from that he has a loft thing. You can eat and cook whatever you want and stay at his place and then you can pay whatever you feel like or leave a gift behind. The next day we met up with three other girls and went into Pondi. We ate some extremely dodgy street food and walked around and then
all five of us squished in the back of a rickshaw and came back to Auroville. That night some of the puppies that were living below our loft were really sick and were making horrible sounds and by morning three had died. It was so horrible.... I took a picture of this one the morning before. Also that night, some rats got into my bag and chewed up all my granola bars, my lotion bottle, and they tried to get into malaria pills. Sneaky little bastards.
We met up with our faculty and took a bus to Mahabilapuram. We met up with the rest of the group and spent the next couple days exploring the city and doing ridiculous ice breakers to get to know each other. Everyone here is amazing. I was expecting everyone to be tye-dye wearing, kumbaya singing hippies. Theres a little of that but not nearly as much as Id thought. They split us into two cohorts and we are living in seperate places. We are living at the American Pavillion and the Tibetan Pavillion in the international zone of Auroville. Its pretty sweet. Im staying at Tibetan, which is where the Dalai Lama stayed, and he blessed all the rooms here. So far we've just been touring Auroville and having group discussions and stuff. We get up at 6 every morning and do Yoga, its so intense. This place really is amazing, I can't wait to explore more. It used to be a complete desert and then in the sixties this idea of Auroville arose and they began planting trees. Now it is covered in trees but I can't even imagine all the work it took to get it like this. I have a lot to say about Auroville, but I will hold that for another post, this one is becoming quite epic. As for me, I'm just getting over my second bout of food poisoning. Yesterday I went to the local health clinic with a temperature of 104. Today I'm feeling a lot better. I'd love to hear what everyone is up to at home, shoot me an email if you get a chance.
xo
gotten into the business of taking advantage of tourists. On the ferry boat through the bay they let us sit out on the front and take in the beautiful view. We passed a Muslim fishing village which was built over the water, and we also saw the "James Bond" rock from The Man with the Golden Gun. After setteling in at Sabai Corner we walked around a bit and proceded to play cards and drink the rest of our sketchy Thai Whiskey. We hung out on the beach for quite a while, and a few b
ottles later we decided it was bedtime, however it was already way past bedtime for Kendra... haha, we carried her part way down the beach and then these Thai boys came up to us and carried her for a while (until she was violent that is) and then I piggie backed her the rest of the way... hahaha funniest night ever, and the pathetic part is we were in bed by 9.One of the best parts of our stay was when we were walking and an old man from the ferry boat recognized us and invited us to ride on his motorcycle with him (it had a kind of side car attachment) into town. He didn't know any English and all we could say was "khap khun kha" (thankyou). With all our extra weight his poor little bike would only go about 7mph, but it was so fun! all the people we passed would laugh and wave, and many of the passing motorists would slow to chat with the old man about who knows what, but it often ended in laughter and we assumed they were joking about us... Eventually we motioned for him to drop us off since we didn't want too long a walk back. We ate some food, and the timing worked out perfectly because as we left our friend was driving back as well, so we caught another ride! The next day when we were shopping for food for our kayaking trip we ran into him again, and of course he offered us a ride but we had more shopping to do. What a nice guy! So yeah, we bought lots of food at the local market, rice, potatoes, carrots, oranges, and so on. Kendra bought a sarong, it has just about every color on it, I wish I had a picture to post so you could see how "attractive" it is... haha sorry Kendra! But even better Kelly bought a hat that said "hip hop". Yeah, she would...
We met up with Kitty and Zach the next day and got everything in line for our trip. They were so great, He is Thai and she is from Scotland. We packed our kayaks and were off. That first day of paddleing was Hell! As soon as we got out of the bay the wind picked up. After a solid 6 hours of struggle, we finally got to Kudu, a little island north of Yao Noi. We ended up setting up camp in this beautiful little cove, almost completely closed off from the ocean. When the Tide was out, the whole bottom was covered in coral. Sadly, we arrived at low tide and so had to pack all our gear across the coral. That night sucked. My arms were completely dead, and my elbows and hands could hardly bend, and on top of that I was soo sunburnt! I was not a happy camper, litteraly. The next morning was a little better. Our original plan was to kayak to Ko Mak, but based on the status of my elbows we decided to take it easy. We paddled to Ko Roi and explored a cave lagoon thing. We camped in the same place that night. We had a great campfire and made some dinner and went to sleep. That night I woke up and looked outside (I might be psychic) and our kayaks weren't on shore anymore. It was the full moon that night and the tide rose more than we expected. So anyways I was like "Oh shit" and ran out to see if our kayaks were still there. they were floating nearby (thank God) but a bunch of our stuff was being washed out to sea. I woke up Kelly and Kendra and grabed my head lamp. We waded around in the ocean grabbing the
loose items, all the while being attacked by fire ants who were apparently suprised by the tide as well. Luckily we managed to retrieve most our things, my swim top was the only lost thing, and even more luckily, I found a swim suit hanging in a coconut tree that fits pretty well! The next morning we saw a bunch of monkeys and also some hornbills attacking each other. We planned to paddle to Koh Hong, but the ocean was way to choppy and at some points the waves were completely covereing our kayaks so we camped on the east side of Yao Noi. It worked out great, our beach was amazing. We set up our hammocks and made a nice fire. We also made friends with a local stray dog.Okay I'm gonna try to speed this thing along, sorry if I leave out too much...
So after returning kayaks and cleaning up at Coconut Corner we took a ferry over to Krabi. On the ferry we ran into a this girl who had seen us when we first returned from our kayak trip and had said how "hardcore" we were (which made my day!). It was pretty funny. We got a ride into town with this guy who was telling us about all the crazy drivers there were and how dangerous it is, all the while speeding around blind corners. We took a longtail boat to Tosai beach, where Kitty reccomended we go. It was absolutely fantastic. Apparently its the Mecca for rock climbers and so the beaches are covered with hunky tan rock climber boys. Its also a major hippie hang out, which coincides which the rockclimber thing, and so most of the beach front bars are named things like "the chill out bar" and are filled with rasta decor. Our first night there we watched a fire dancing show and were then given the practice balls to try it for our selves. Kendra was the brave one and actually did the fire dance! It was awesome. Props. The next place we went to had a slack line in the middle of the bar. We met these really cool Austrian guys who taught me how to jump on the slack line. It was so crazy, I wish we had bars like that in Corvallis, haha. The next day we hiked over to Railey and went to the famous beach from the movie "The Beach" (ironic huh) The beach was amazing and the nearby caves were cool too, but it was way too crowded. We then climbed up the hillside to the viewpoint and to the lagoon. The hike was a lot more strenuous than expected, I felt like a mountain goat for most of it. That night Kelly and I got food poisoning and spent all night praising the porcelain god. We couldn't do anything the next day, which I guess isn't the worst thing to have to lay around on a beach all day. The next day we travelled back to the train station in Surat Thani. I said goodbye to Kelly and Kendra as they boarded their train to head north. As I waited for my train I was approached by this Thai guy who was really out of it. He talked to me for like an hour straight, I only understood about half of what he was saying but he was basically telling me his life story. Anyways, I was really glad to get on my train.
My cab driver in Kuala Lumpur was so interesting. Id noticed that the people weren't too fond of Americans so I told the driver that I was from Australia. And so we had a completely frank coversation about the USA and he basically said the Bush is so stupid and how could Americans allow their government to comit such crimes in a country where the people are supposed to rule. Luckily we didn't talk about Australian government, that would have been awkward. Besides politics we talked about education, religion, economics, and many other things (it was a long cab ride). It is the best conversation I've ever had with a complete stranger.
Anyways three cabs, two trains, and two plane rides later I finally arrived in India. It was a rocky start to say the least. My Debit card wouldn't work in the airport ATM and so I had no money, and my cab driver didn't understand what I was trying to tell him so he just kept driving around. The streets here are ablosutely insane by the way. I thought Thailand was nuts but it doesn't even compare. There are cows and goats wandering all over and random road blocks and things, I can't even describe it, just Yikes. So yeah, I was in the cab with no money, and I finally convinced the driver to let me use his cell phone. After a few tries I got a hold off this guy, Nitin, who I knew was hosting one of the girls, Andi, through Couchsurfing and so I let the driver talk to him to get directions for meeting up with them. I don't know what was said, just a lot of yelling and then he hung up the phone. A few second later the phone rang and then more yelling and then he handed me the phone and Nitin told me to get out of the cab right away, this guy is crazy! And then I put them back on the phone together to try to work things out and there was more yelling and another hang up. After some extremely awkward moments of silence I asked the driver if everything was okay? He said "shhh! I must do time to find calm." So we kept driving and eventually he said that everything was fine he knew where to go. I was a bit skeptical, but two hours later we parked in front of a little restaurant and Andi came out and payed for me and it all worked out great! (breathe Mom). So that night I couchsurfed at Nitins amazing beach house in south Chennai and the next morning we drove to Auroville to see the Dalai Lama speak in front of the Tibetan Pavillion. It was really amazing. He is so contagious. When he laughs his entire body laughs. And to my surprise he is really funny. He mostly talked about human unity. After that Andi and I went to meet up with Snehal, a local Aurovillian who is on couchsurfers. He's a really cool guy who is trying to set up a gift economy business. He has this little place with a kitchen and hang out area and seperate from that he has a loft thing. You can eat and cook whatever you want and stay at his place and then you can pay whatever you feel like or leave a gift behind. The next day we met up with three other girls and went into Pondi. We ate some extremely dodgy street food and walked around and then
all five of us squished in the back of a rickshaw and came back to Auroville. That night some of the puppies that were living below our loft were really sick and were making horrible sounds and by morning three had died. It was so horrible.... I took a picture of this one the morning before. Also that night, some rats got into my bag and chewed up all my granola bars, my lotion bottle, and they tried to get into malaria pills. Sneaky little bastards.We met up with our faculty and took a bus to Mahabilapuram. We met up with the rest of the group and spent the next couple days exploring the city and doing ridiculous ice breakers to get to know each other. Everyone here is amazing. I was expecting everyone to be tye-dye wearing, kumbaya singing hippies. Theres a little of that but not nearly as much as Id thought. They split us into two cohorts and we are living in seperate places. We are living at the American Pavillion and the Tibetan Pavillion in the international zone of Auroville. Its pretty sweet. Im staying at Tibetan, which is where the Dalai Lama stayed, and he blessed all the rooms here. So far we've just been touring Auroville and having group discussions and stuff. We get up at 6 every morning and do Yoga, its so intense. This place really is amazing, I can't wait to explore more. It used to be a complete desert and then in the sixties this idea of Auroville arose and they began planting trees. Now it is covered in trees but I can't even imagine all the work it took to get it like this. I have a lot to say about Auroville, but I will hold that for another post, this one is becoming quite epic. As for me, I'm just getting over my second bout of food poisoning. Yesterday I went to the local health clinic with a temperature of 104. Today I'm feeling a lot better. I'd love to hear what everyone is up to at home, shoot me an email if you get a chance.
xo
Wow! Quite the adventure! That sounds amazing and I can't wait to hear more. Hope you feel better, though.
ReplyDeleteMy sarong is awesome, thank you very much.