Don’t Let Your Guard Down in Thailand!

So the last 24hr hours of travel haven’t been the best… that’s for true! Upon arriving back in Bangkok at 6 a.m after hours of travel only to realized that you have been robbed is hard to accept when your sleep deprived. Yet, after catching up on sleep we had to accept it wasn’t just a some bad dream. The journey started off many hours before while hectically waiting to board a ferry in the pouring rain along with hundreds of other tourists leaving Ko Pha-Ngan. Along with most of my stuff we got soaked, and sitting in wet denim for the next 4 hours was less than enjoyable! Upon getting off the boat hundreds of tourist were being herded like sheep on to waiting buses. We witnesses one girl ask a question only to have an irrelevant reply yelled at her from a bull horn from less than 2 feet from away. Once on the bus our driver proceeded to drive erratically and make a pit stop to grab himself some a coke. He also didn’t mind keeping the stereo at full blast.



That is until he got pulled over by the cops, then the beats were turned off for the full hour we sat waiting on the side of the road. After seemingly nothing happening we were back on the road. A few more hours of waiting and confusion at another bus stop we finally got on a bus headed to Bangkok. With a nice and early 6 a.m arrival in Bangkok our fist order of business was to find a guesthouse to get some rest. With the kicker being it wasn’t until we went to pay for our room that we realized that some time during the over night bus ride Marilyn and I had all our money stolen. Its been the first time one the trip that I’ve just felt utterly helpless when faced with a situation. I can’t say that just wanting to be home at that moment didn’t cross our minds.

When looking back at it I guess we got to comfortable in Bali and let our guard down a little too much (although our bags were never more that 6 in away for us) for a Thailand bus journey. All in all, it could have been a lot worse as they only took cash. They were kind enough to leave passports, electronics, and a few 1 and 5 dollar US bills that I guess weren’t worth their time. As they say...



After getting that rant of my chest, I get write about the good times we had leading up to that terrible journey from Ko Pha-Ngan. Upon arriving in Phuket, from Bali, last week we managed to travel from the air port to Ko Pha-Ngan in a little over 24 hours. Although long, this trip was much better when you consider the lack of rain and theft involved. We were heading to Ko Pha-Ngan for the full moon party that took place on the 19th. It was definitely a wild few days! We were on the reserved plan and mostly just observed the ridiculously alcohol fueled circus that took place leading up to and during the party. The darwin award would have had to have gone to the guys trying to skip rope a flaming 20 ft span of rope… lots of people covered in bandages the next day… if they made if off the beach.





The moon did not disappoint and was full and beautiful. Alice brought to my attention the fact that it was a “super moon” larger than usual and very rare. Although not beautiful itself, dancing until dawn with thousands of other people was a fun time! What also made for a great time was catching up with Devin and Peter from home who are traveling around this part of the world and we managed to meet up with. Was great to see you boys and hope we get to meet up on the road again.



One last sad bit of news is that we parted ways with Rob and Kate as Marilyn and I needed to get our Visas for Vietnam. The crew has officially been split, although we hope to meet up for a day in Chain Mai. We just wanted to say that it was a pleasure to travel with you guys and we look forward to sharing these memories for a life time!

ps - I have been sucking with carrying my camera lately so all the images are borrowed from Peaty, Marilyn, Kate, and Rob.