Carpe Diem: Chapter Three

I woke the next morning exhausted from the draining sleepless night. I caught the early ferry to Ko Lanta island also known as paradise...literally. I originally booked a small beach bungalow but in the condition that I was in when I arrived- the last thing on earth I wanted to deal with were the 2 lizards, massive spiders and buzzing mosquitoes that were home to the bamboo hut. I opted to pay $6 more for the air conditioned, wifi, clean, crisp sheeted, cable t.v. equipped room instead. I spent the day in the pool and for the first time in my life, I took a real nap. Not a nap out of the lack of sleep or drug induced but for the first time in the week and a half that I had been in Thailand I was completely relaxed. I woke up to the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Then I topped the evening off with a massage down the street, a hot toddy, and a fierce game of connect 4 with the bartender who had a joint hanging from his lips the whole time. Then I called it a night. 

The best way to see an island is by renting a motor bike. After a quick breakfast on the beach and witnessing a local cat attack a lizard,  I spent the whole day cruising around Ko Lanta, covering every inch of the island. I made friends with a dozen elephants, a family of crazy monkeys that threw coconuts at me, and a sweet couple from the UK. It's always been a dream of mine to replicate the famous Richard Avedon's 'Dovima with the Elephants'. Being that I was flyin' solo, I wasn't expecting a grandiose shoot to take place, but I couldn't be happier with the results. I absolutely love elephants. They dive deep inside of my heart and tap into a part of my soul that is nearly impossible for anyone to ever reach. Their eyes are filled with sadness, joy, strength, courage, sorrow, and glory all-in-one. Their skin is layered so beautifully with a texture that feels both rough and soft at the same time. These guys had a sense of humor, they interacted with me. Posed for my camera, gave me their leg to sit on. It's like they had been waiting for me just as long as I had been for them. After my day with the elephants I had dinner with Mary-Jane and beer on the beach. Again, I thought to myself-I'm the happiest girl in the world. Check.

The next morning I caught the early ferry back to Phi Phi where I hopped boats to another ferry back to Phuket. I shared a cab with a hilarious American girl that was living and teaching in China. Her spirit and encouragement was just what I needed to get my day going. 

To be continued....

Carpe Diem: Chapter Two

The next morning we made a day trip to Patong beach- the most popular spot in Phuket. The water was perfect, the sun was strong and the European's were plenty. This day marks the day I received the most amazing Thai massage of my life. This woman had both healing hands and spirit. She rocked my world. Throwing me into crazy positions, yanking my body here and there, walking all over me. I love her. Check. 

Weexplored the center of town, overwhelmed by all the tourist shops and people asking if we'd like tailor-made clothing or fake Gucci purses...."No, thank you," we replied. Over and over and over again.  On our way back to Kamala, we toured the big market, eating meatballs, mango sticky rice, Muslim-style spring rolls, and fresh sugar cane juice. There was an actual man hacking away at the stems then running them through a press where they were bottled and served over ice. Ahhhmazing. I watched the sunset from our beach and said a prayer asking to never forget this feeling of complete gratitude for the most amazing vacation of my life.

Bright and early we hopped on a Tuk Tuk to the ferry from Phuket city to Phi Phi Island. Our guest passenger was a small bird, at first he was cute....30 minutes later not so much. We were welcomed by 2 ladyboys that ran the hotel, I knew immediately I would like this place. Kellee and I grabbed lunch at a local popular Thai spot where she nearly died from the spicy papaya salad. Homegirl likes spicy but I don't think she understands Thaiiiiii spicy! We made reservations to go scuba diving the following morning and then me and my new shaggy-haired friend stopped for pina coladas at Hippie Bar. We laid on the beach and exchanged travel stories. This is one of my favorite things about traveling alone- the friends that I made on this trip meant so much to me in those specific times and places. We listened to some reggee, stopped for pad thai then said our goodbyes and I never saw him again.

At the crack of dawn, still half asleep I had my first scuba diving session. I am so happy I waited to do it in such a beautiful place, full of creatures to see and gawk at! My training lesson lasted 20 minutes and then I was down in the deep blue sea. Within the first 10 minutes I saw a shark! The entire dive, a busted-looking tubby fish (a Diodon hystrix) was creeping up on me; everywhere I turned, there he was. We stopped for lunch at Koh Phi Phi Leh, very famous for being the location of the filming of "The Beach" as well as many James Bond movies. We got to jump from the boat and swim around for a while. There was a moment of complete joy when I was laying on the beach by myself staring at all the boats. The water was crystal clear, the sand soft and white. I said this many times on my trip, I am the happiest girl in the world. We did another dive right from that spot and again saw thousands of gnarly creatures staring at me like I was the weirdo. My instructor said I was a pro ;-) After the dive we hiked through the mountains and came to the most beautiful beach on the island called Long Beach. The water was super calm, ridiculously warm and when snorkeling along the rocks you could see a dozen sharks at once. We hiked back just before the sun went down stopping for a mini sunset nap on a hammock overlooking the sea. That night I went out for an Indian dinner and dessert with my dear friend Mary. All for a total of 300 Baht ($9) Talk about a deal! I made 2 English friends Sam and Chad. They taught me loads of expressions and how to properly cuss somebody out. In exchange I taught them all about amazeballs, maybes, probs and totes-from what I gathered they thought I was the coolest American girl in the world ;) I also learned that the Brits are better than the Irish. Apparently the Irish can drink hard but the British can drink longer. Sam and I schooled Chad and Kellee in a roaring game of beer pong after which Chad knocked the whole table down to the ground. We escaped with our buckets of booze (literally) to devour some street meat. My new friend ate 700 bahts worth or it  ($21)...(side note: street meat is not expensive, he was just really hungry.) We danced for a bit at a club on the beach then thought it would be a really good idea to go for a 2 a.m. dip....we soon learned that the low tide left us 100 meters of rocky sand to walk through in the dark until we actually found water. A few falls, bumps and scratches later they were cursing my brilliant idea. I somehow made it home where I crashed and woke the next morning vowing never to touch one of those stupid buckets again.

The Englishmen helped me in finding a new room to crash at for the night which ended up being THE sketchiest, shadiest, low budget porno looking room I have ever seen in my entire life. We made our trek through the mountains to Long Beach where we sweat out every ounce of alcohol still left in our body. It was the perfect beach day. Lazy lazy lazy. After a nonstop schedule of events the day before I was grateful for a day of literally doing nothing but lying around- minus the mountain hike. 

After a steak lunch on the beach and a tropical smoothie (which I'm already missing), we made our way back stopping only for a quick hammock nap. That night I went to my new friend's restaurant where he treated me to endless umbrella-ed cocktails, while I introduced them to the glorious game of Kings Cup. Later, I ran into one of the scuba divers from the day before so we snuck out in search of a smoke then found ourselves dancing in the streets at an overfilled club to house music. That night was the first and only time I ever felt unsafe as a solo female traveler. I was woken up by the sound of tapping on my porn star window. I had no idea what to do. Thoughts of human trafficking flooded through my mind and I laid frozen in fear. The tapping came and went for 10 minutes. Finally I heard my name being whispered by the same drunk and horny Brit that I had left hours ago. My fear turned to anger and instead of whipping open the door to punch the bastard, I waited his sorry ass out until I finally passed out in pure exhaustion.  Lesson learned: Never name drop hotels you're staying at...and most importantly British men are crazy. 

To be continued....