Patong

Patong is quite an interesting place to visit..
The first day of the excursion didn't start out so well when the guy from the much talked about Cheap Charlie's didn't show to pick me up from the Pineapple Guesthouse where I've been staying. I gave him a call only to find out he was in Malaysia on a visa run he realised he needed to do the previous night.. okay.. I told Steve at the Guesthouse what had happened and he kindly offered to take me there at the same price. Upon arriving at Cheap Charlies I only found more and more things they advertised they didn't actually offer, including 150B dorms and free shuttle to the beach and markets. That's alright, I wasn't planning on spending a whole lot of time there anyway, so I dropped my things and headed in the direction of the beach. I didn't make it that far, impressed by the size of Patong's giant shopping center, which are rare commodities in Thailand. This is where I spent my first day in Patong, looking around in all the shops with familiar brands, selling things I could never purchase on my newfound Thai budget.
In the evening I met up with two Aussie guys I met in my dorm. We spent the night making our way down the very popular Bangla road, where non-stop beer and ladyboys are a bit too easy to find.
The next morning the boys were headed off on a bus to continue their travels and I headed off to the beach. The beach was pretty crowded with tourists as well as something to accommodate their every need, from ski-doo rentals to smoothie stands to thai massages. I spent the afternoon reading and relaxing on the beach before heading back just in time to escape one of the rainstorms that come and go much too quickly here.
I am now back in Karon where I will stay at the Pineapple Guesthouse until after New Years before moving on to Krabi, and from there I'm off to Bangkok!

Christmas in Thai

So as I found out, Christmas doesn't get a whole lot of attention in Thailand.. In the evening, however, a giant truck came by in front of my hostel and they unloaded a huge pile of ice and spread it out across the road. They had makeshift skis made from pieces of wood with crocs fastened on top and all evening both thai and tourists played in the 'snow' and challenged eachother to ski races along the track. Was pretty neat, I even gave it a shot when one of the little thai girls grabbed my hand and asked me to try it with her. So thats Christmas in Thailand :) Then I went to the bar.


Today I am off to Patong where I will stay at Cheap Charlie's for two nights before coming back here to what I hope will be a more eventful New Years... And Dad this is the actual Cheap Charlie's, I will get a picture of Eight Ball to prove it, and I will be in Patong :)


Hope Christmas was good to you all!
Cheers,
Phoebie

Merry Christmas!

I think it's Christmas Eve today but with the severe lack of snow I'm not so sure..
But Merry Christmas Eve anyway!!!!
I really think I'm alright with the whole no snow thing.. Lately I've been occupying my time with a trip to Phuket Town to see the Aquarium with some fellow travellers, relaxing at 'my' resort as it has come to be referred to, and on to the training of a PADI Rescue Diver. I started the training two days ago with an Emergency First Response course with another instructor, Adam, then continued the rescue diver training with Tom both in the classroom and at the pool going through skills and techniques used in different rescue scenarios. Today I will apply these skills in the ocean, as we take another day trip to Rachi Island. Hope it goes well!
And I hope all your Christmases are filled with joy and happiness!
Cheers!
Phoebie

overnighter in Phi Phi

Friday I got picked up early in the morning for an overnight dive trip to Ko Phi Phi. I met Tom at Chalong Pier and we headed onto the boat we would be on for the next day and a half. We did four dives that day, including a navigation dive (which could use a little practice), a fish identification dive (we saw several black tip reef sharks) and a night dive. We spent the night on the island of Phi Phi which was a good time in itself, then got back on the boat the next morning for another three dives. I learned to dive very hungover, deep dive, and dive a wreck. All valuable skills. The last dive was along a wall with a couple caves we went in which was pretty neat. I hope it wasn't my last dive for too long.. I guess rescue diver course is next :)
Hope you are all ready for Christmas and beginning to enjoy the holidays!

poolside :)

All I've been thinking about for the past couple days is when I can go diving again. So as soon as the weather started to get better I went back down to the Sunrise Diveshop, where they know me all too well, and booked an overnight trip to the Phi Phi Islands where I will take the Advanced Open Water Course. We will go on seven dives including a night dive, a deep dive, and hopefully try out some photography if I'm lucky! I can't wait!
Anyways, let me tell you about the gold mine I have recently stumbled across. So the past two days have been absolutely gorgeous 'get your tan on' days, so I was on my way to the beach when I decided to wander into a really fancy high class resort, just for a quick gander... Well, I come across this beautiful pool that goes on forever with an enourmous buddha-head statue overtop of a really neat floating bar.
So I take a seat on one of the lounge chairs (the kind that would have cost me 100b at the beach btw) for a quick minute... nobody approaches me... so I reach into my bag and pull out my tiny camping towel and lay it out among the rows of bright orange, plush resort towels... still, nobody says anything so that is where I have spent the entire last two days. My theory is that if I spend enough time there the staff will assume I am a guest, and I think it is working..
And that is how I have spent the past two days and they have been just divine..
I plan to do the same tomorrow.
Hope you are all enjoying the snow and looking forward to the holidays!
I will be sure to let you know how the diving goes :)

life of thai

The weather the past couple days has been somewhat less than desireable, so I have been keeping myself occupied with non-beach related activities. A couple days ago a woman from my guesthouse and I took a lovely motorcycle ride up to the 'Big Buddha,' which is, as far as i know, the largest buddha statue in Thailand and is located on the top of the mountain. I had been planning to hike up but couldnt resist the motorbike.. On the way back our plans of heading for some shopping in Patong kind of got rained out so it's probably better I didnt attemp the hike. I got a pedicure instead :)
Yesterday my one and only plan was to find some delicious banana pancakes, however when I walked outside my hostel, I found that three other travellers were about to be picked up for a snorkelling trip. Fun! So I jumped on that bandwagon and we all took a speedboat to this island south of Phuket and spent a lovely afternoon snorkelling. A bit of a step down from diving but still really awesome! In the evening we hit up this totally rad, hippy, reggae bar and got to listen to some live music and hang out. Ill probably be back there soon.. Well hope all is well back home and I am half-heartedly working on finding a way to get some pictures up, but the weather is finally picking up so my time will probably be lost to the beach..
Take Care,
Phoebs

scuba, scuba, scuba!

I love scuba!!
On the nineth I began my Open Water PADI certification. Tom, my super cool british instructor and I went through most of the textbook and went to a pool to go through all the diving procedures and techniques. Super fun!
Then yesturday we jumped on a boat with a bunch of other divers and we did two ocean dives. It was unreal, I absolutely love diving!! It was like finding nemo down there. So many neat fish and we even saw a turtle!! I may just stay in Thailand and become a dive instructor...
We were supposed to finish the course today with two more ocean dives but it's pouring rain here and they never picked me up so when the dive shop opens I'm gunna go see what's up.
I just love scuba diving :)
I can't wait for more!

north to south

Saturday night I took a plane from the airport in Chiang Mai to the Southern island called Phuket. From there I had zero gameplan so I sat down and slept.
In the morning a couple from my flight who had done the same offered to share a cab to a pier on the south of the island where they would take a boat to Phi Phi. I thought why not, that must at least be on a beach, right? No. I find in a tourist building on an enclosed dock.
I whip out my trusty guidebook and call the cheapest guesthouse I can find. After what seems like endless haggling with the taxi drivers I finally get on a bus and less than an hour later find myself checking into Lucky Guesthouse near Kata Beach. Now what? Well in a desperate attempt to figure out where the hell I am I set out to find anything that resembles a beach. After what seems like hours of making my way through desperate salespeople and short conversations with both locals and tourists, I finally stumble across my very first Thai beach. And it is gorgeous. Just like you'd imagine. White powdery sand, what looks like miles of beach lined with hundeds of beach chairs and the water littered with beautiful longboats.

After about a day of trying to relax and figure things out, I am itching to find something more. I head to the nearest internet cafe and make reservations at Pinneapple Guesthouse at the next beach over. After staying two nights at Lucky I find a taxi and head to Karon Beach. Once I settle into the dormroom I head over to the nearby diveshop and book a 3-day Open Water PADI scuba couse. I start on the 9th, I am so excited!!
I'll defiantly let you know how it goes.. but until then i think it's beachtime! The atmosphere in Karon is a little more my style and now that I have things figured out for the next couple days I think I will be able to relax a bit more. I'll keep yah posted!
Bye for now!

chang and chocolate

one, two... four

Loy Kratong

same same, but different

news from abroad

Hello Thailand.

slow down you crazy child, take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile..

So call me crazy but I think packing is one of the best parts of taking off. Everything you need and more, sprawled across the bed, desperately trying to anticipate what you will actually need and what, in your frantic state of gatherings, have just mindlessly thrown onto the pile. Your mind wanders to all the places you'll see and adventures you'll have. You compile all sorts of scenarios in which you could possibly desire this article or that, oblivious and content with the fact that your destination and experiences will turn out absolutely nothing like you've imagined. In the end you decide to just go with it and try your best to accommodate your future self.

countdown till gameday

• Teambro Travellers, Brooks and Morgan, depart... yesterday - goodluck guys!

• Last day at the little ol' pizza parlor? Today!

• Time before I leave this free and glorious country of ours? One week.

• How many days before I execute my very first step on thai soil? Eight days.

• How long before I will be staring Mr. Elephant straight in the... well I'll probably be about knee height so that will have to do..? Twelve days.

• Feeling completely and utterly terrified? Priceless. Wait, What?

tribute to postsecret

Some people collect stamps...

...I have collected the postcards.

 

 

Thank you Frank,

and thanks all of those with the courage to send your postcard.

You are never alone.
We are all tangled in eachothers secrets.