Falling Apart in Railay Bay

After our last big night in Koh Tao it was time to move on. Ryan, Natalie (who was now being referred to as "Jigger" due to the unfortunate parasite she picked up in her foot in Africa), and I were heading West to the other side of the Thai Peninsula to check out the coast on the Andaman Sea. After getting up and packed at 7am and making it to our pickup spot a little early we sent Ryan across the street to the convenience store (which were overly abundant for such a small island) to put together a "Snack Sack" for the long journey ahead of us. I'm not sure what was left in the store when he came out because he had not one, but two sacks over flowing with: 3 bags of potato chips, 2 bags of nuts, peanut m&ms, candy bars, gum, gatorade, diet coke, and of course a few bottles of water. We were set for the hike that included just a mere 6 modes of transportation to get from Koh Tao, finally arriving on the beach of Ton Sai around 8pm, picking up a quiet, slighly creepy American named Tim along the way. (Who we didn't know would end up tagging along for the next week of the trip!)

Natalie and I on the longboat, #6 mode of transportation for the day!

The beach of Ton Sai is located on the West Coast of the Thai Peninsula, a boat ride away from Ao Nang Beach in the city of Krabi and separated from Railay Bay by a series of limestone rocks. The area is known for its gorgeous limestone formations jutting through the surface of the crystal blue water, viewed at a distance from the pristine white beaches (imagine Halong Bay on crack)! It is also a mecca for anyone remotely interested in rock climbing. Unfortunately, we were not able to take part in this activity due to multiple wounds and infections...more on that later. 

I'm sure we would have been able to do this too if we weren't hurt!

We were so dead by the time we finally made it there that we had only three things on our minds: accommodation, food, and sleep! The cheapest accommodation in this area was a group of huts located at the very end of Ton Sai beach. We checked into a hut for four (it was cheaper for everyone for our new addition, Tim, to bunk in with us)



Ours was alittle bigger than this one

scarfed down the usual Chang Beer and Penang curry and crashed out! We were in for a surreal surprise by the view that greeted us the next morning...

Ton Sai is a very remote beach, with only a few places to stay, a convenient store and a few restaurants. We decided to make our way to next door Railay Bay to get some beach time and find a place to watch the Rugby World Cup final match. One can either hire a long boat to take you from one to the other or take advantage of low tide and walk across the limestone and coral. We decided to save a few Baht and walk. What we thought would take 10 or 15mins, ended up taking about 45 with Jigger puncturing her finger on a rock on the way. It was much more difficult than we had anticipated!

Ryan and Tim starting the trek



We made it!

We spent the day laying on the beach. Natalie and I even squeezed in a long walk in hopes to counteract the Changs we knew were in our future. As it got closer to game time we started asking around trying to find a place to watch the match. We ended up at "Last Bar", which irronically seemed to be the "only" bar! Thankfully we got there early and were able to score a good table with a view of the TVs to watch New Zealnd beat France for the world title!

About an hour after the Rugby match was over a big British Soccer or "Futbol" game was coming on that Ryan and the many other Brits in the bar were very excited for. By that time many rounds of large Changs had been bought and I couldn't care less about watching a soccer game! The rest of the day included a combination of all kinds of fun: me popping a blister that had mysteriously appeared on my finger (spider bite?) with a toothpick, some dancing, a failed Skype attempt with Jo back in England (while we left Natalie alone at a table with "Silent Tim" for an hour), Jigger watching a complete stranger get a tattoo, a photo shoot on Ryan's camera of everything around me I could take a picture of, and many belongings being lost!



Attempt #1 at popping the blister



Beginning of photo shoot



 

Before we knew it, it was 3/4ish am and time to go. Unfortunately for us, it was way past all of the longtail boat drivers' bedtime, and there was not a boat in sight! The tide had come back in, and the path we had used to get over had vanished. After shooting down my idea of just sleeping on the beach until the morning boats arrived, Ryan insisted we should just swim our way around the rocks back to Ton Sai...how hard could it be?? *Remember while reading this: we all lived to tell the story* So he hoisted my bag over his head (he had more valubles that could be ruined than I did), Natalie threw her backback on her hers and off we went. About half way through, we realized this was going to take a lot longer and be much more difficult than genius Ryan had thought...We took a sigh of relief once we had made it around the biggest rock and back into shallow water where we could touch. That didn't last long once we ran into the extremely sharp coral that covers the ocean floor all the way up to shore. I was able to lay on my stomach and slowly pull myseft along with my hands since I didn't have anything to carry. Natalie and Ryan were trying to keep their stuff dry and had to depend on their feet. Both had different strategies: Natalie thought should would be able to avoid some of the coral by taking small, slow steps. Ryan decided to just take his chances and take off running. Judging by the amount of injuries woken up to the next day...Natalie won! We somehow made it back to our hut all in one piece and face planted into bed!

Our state waking up the next morning can only be described as a "hot mess." We had heard from fellow travelers to be careful going into any water in South East Asia with open wounds because they will end up getting infected due to how dirty the water is. Well...they were all right! My scuba fins had rubbed off all of the skin on the back of both of my heels which were now swollen and bright red, and the blister I so genuisly popped had gotten infected. The infection decided to spread into another blister down that finger and pop up in another one on my pinkie. The coral had sliced the bottom of Ryan's feet to shreds and now both of them were infected as well! Natalie came out in surprisingly decent condition with a few cuts and scraps. And then we turned to Tim, who had mysteriously disappeared, said he swam home (we're not buying it), and didn't have a scratch on him! This area was so remote that there were no Pharmacies around and we were in dire need of some healing! So, Ryan forced us to get packed up and out of there, back to Krabi to make our way to the Port, to get on a ferry bound for Phi Phi! Halfway out the door we realized Tim was all packed up and ready to go too...apparently he would be joining us...

You win Railay Bay:

Railay Bay:10 vs Dianna,Ryan,and Jigger:0



Lady Boys and Snorkel Tests

Ryan and I still had a few nights of free accommodation with the scuba school after we were finished with our certifications and talked Natalie into sticking around and moving in until we would all leave together. We spent the next few days just hanging out at the beach during the day...

watching fire shows at night...

Went on a highly anti-climatic Whale Skeleton hunt (Ryan's idea!)...

 

and even got to reunite with my friend, Alycia, who I grew up with in Shreveport and is now teaching English in Thailand! We had been trying to meet up for a while and were finally able to a few times while we were both in Koh Tao!

One night, after having some drinks with friends, we all decided we couldn't leave Koh Tao without experiencing the "Lady Boy" Cabaret Show....highly entertaining!

Our last night there was the one we had been promised would be a good one! All of the people in the DMT (Dive Master Training) course, including our instructor Tom, would be graduating. We were told it would be a good show! All of them had to dress up according to the theme "Rugby World Cup". They would then be quizzed infront of everyone revealing embarassing facts about themselves and then have to pass the infamous "snorkel test." They attached a funnel to the top of the snorkel, put the maks on the graduates' faces and then proceeded to pour a bucket and anything else they can find like eggs or catfood, into the funnel for them to drink. Fun to watch, never plan on taking part!

The Graduates

 
We all went out for one last night after the graduation before we had to wake up at the crack of dawn to begin our never ending journey to the other side of the Thai peninsula! See ya later Koh Tao!

Last Night in Koh Tao

Scuba in Koh Tao

After three weeks of drinking like an Englishman, I needed some rest and detox! I hadn't decided where my next destination would be after the Full Moon Party. But with the rest of our crew heading out, Ryan and I decided to team up and continue on together! Him and Jo had just been in Koh Tao getting their Open Water PADI scuba certifications. Scuba diving is one thing I have always wanted to do but never I thought I would be able to because of my claustrophobia. Hearing that Koh Tao is the 2nd cheapest place in the world (behind Honduras) to get your PADI Scuba license I had been debating for a while whether to do it or not. So, when Ryan and I were talking about it, I asked him one question,"Do they take Credit Cards?" His answer, "YES!" and that was it! I was going to get my Open Water license and Ryan was going to go for his Advanced Certification! After seeing off Jo and a solid night of normal sleep, we were back on a ferry for the two hour ride that cruised back past Koh Phangnan and docked on the island of Koh Tao!

We went back to Davy Jone's Locker where Ryan had done his first course, and I was able to sign up and start that day! The first day consisted of sitting in a room watching a very corny instructional video. I started as the only one in the course. But as fate would have it, after about 20 mins, an English girl from London named Natalie joined me and would soon become an amazing new friend!! We got really lucky and had not only one amazing instructor Mike, but Tom was finishing his Dive Master Trainer Course and would be shadowing/training with us too! The next day was spent half in "class" and the other half in the pool. We had to put on all the gear and learn all of the underwater skills. We started just by putting our faces down in the water. It felt very unnatural breathing underwater for a long period of time. I did really well the whole time until they made me take my mask off and put it back on underwater. I had trouble blowing the water out of the mask, freaked out and shot up out of the water. This was the first and only moment that I thought, "Maybe I'm not going to be able to do this after all." But I pushed through and we made it through the rest of the skills just fine!

Our Scuba Group: Tom, Natalie, Me, and Mike

Day 3 was the day we would do our first real dive! We were up at the crack of dawn, loaded all the gear and ourselves into the back of a pickup truck and were off to the port! We did two Open Water dives that day off the coast of the island. I didn't have any panic moments and loved every second of it! It's a totally different world down there. It's hard to even put into words what it was like to be down on the ocean floor surrounded by some of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen! It was one successful day, and we decided to celebrate with a Chang and some of the best Thai Curry on the island that night!

Ryan and I loaded up on the way to the Port

 

Survived my first dive!

Beautiful sunset on the way home

Celebratory Chang and the best curry on the island!

Our last day of the course was a big one. Not only would we be doing our final two dives to finish our certification, but a videographer would be documenting the whole thing and we had promised to not dissappoint! With a small group of only four, we had to bring our "A" game to make a great video, and that we did! We had so much fun hamming it up for the cameras all morning and on our first dive. Then it came time for the second dive where we would have to finish performing our underwater skills on the bottom of the ocean. For some reason, Natalie and I had had gotten ourselves all worked up about doing the full mask removal on the ocean floor (I think because of my panic in the pool a few days before). Everytime we would go down for a dive I would have a mini panic where I wanted to go back to the surface just for one more breath of fresh air. Usually I'm able to push right through it, but with the added anxiety of the mask removal, I wasn't able to and panicked big time! I looked at my instructor and just started frantically motioning upwards. Thank goodness we had gotten really close with our instructors, and he was able to calm me down and get me through the panic without going back to the surface! Once we got down to the bottom I anxioulsy watched Natalie do her skills and then breezed through mine as well. As soon as we were done with those I was A-Okay and back to my preformance for the camera, ie moonwalking on the ocean floor and trying to run without our fins!

Ready for our last day of diving!

We had an amzaing last day and once we came up from that last dive we were officially PADI certified (if we had passed our written test!) We celebrated with the viewing of our video, a big dinner and night out that night, complete with some more bucket straight arms and Ryan tackling Natalie and I into the ocean fully clothed!

Scuba Group with Jessica, our amazing videographer!

Ready...

Set...

Straight-Arm!

After being Rugby tackled into the water

The culprit

The Aftermath

I"m so excited Ryan talked me into going through with it. It was such an amazing experience and I look forward to lots more scuba adventures in the future!!

Full Moon Party

Every month, around the 9th-12th"ish", backpackers all over South East Asia start making their way to the island of Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin Beach! In fact, most people plan their entire route/iteneraries around making sure to fit one in! Just like the "when/if you've been tubing yet," "What Full Moon Party are you going to?" is a common topic of conversation amongst travelers! I had originally planned on going to the November Party but decided to do it in October because of how many friends I had met along the way that were going to be there!

So after our 4 days on Phi Phi island, the English boys and I began the full day journey that included a boat, mini van, coach bus, another boat and finally another mini van! We had heard that the nights before and after the party were actually more fun. We made it in just in time to shower, change clothes and head to the beach area to be reunited with Ryan and Jo, who had just done a quick 3 day trip through Cambodia and a 6 day stint on Koh Tao island where they got their Scuba certifications. We were so excited to see them again, and I was pumped to have my bucket partner back!!

The next day was spent mostly sleeping and preparing for the night's festivities! I'm all about looking the part wherever I am or whatever I am doing. So, I headed out and bought a fancy new hand-painted tank top and a couple neon bracelets for Elliot and I, and then we headed over to meet up with the rest of the group and begin the painting process! One thing I new about the Full Moon Party was that the more neon paint you could get on your body the better! So we got after it, adding velcro monkeys and flashing rings somewhere along the way!

 

 

We then paid 300 Baht, about $4, each to get a ride in the bed of a truck across the island to Haad Rin beach to join the 20,000 other people ready for the night's festivities! Lots of buckets, dancing, and fire shows entertained us for the rest of the night! I had planned on dancing my way to sunrise as most people on the beach do, but apparently I had too much fun on Phi Phi island and crashed out at a weak 2AM! That was still plenty of time to soak in all the outrageousness that is Full Moon Party!

The next night I took in a traditional Muay Thai Boxing match with the boys. And, of course, got talked into going back down to Haad Riin for one more night of buckets, staright arms, monkeys, and dancing!

 

 

 

 

We joined the masses of exhausted and dehydrated backpackers the next day on a ferry bound for Koh Samui. It was time to part ways: Elliot and some of the English boys were on their way to Australia in the next week, and Jo and the rest of them were headed back to the UK and their jobs. That left Ryan and I all alone to figure out where to go and what to do next. Our decision...Koh Tao, Recouperation and Scuba Diving!!!