Thailand Gap Year Research. The Beach and one reckless birthday boy.
11th – 16th June Ko Phi Phi, Oli the Birthday boy and Maya Bay
Leaving at 7.30 I said good by to my wooden £2 a night bug ridden shack and got on a fast boat to the mainland. I had a heavy day of travelling ahead. A 1 hour boat journey, then a 2 hour Taxi to the boarder – a boarder that has had several bombings in the last few weeks by extremist Muslim rebels. The official advice was to go another route but this would add on an extra day to my travels, so I decided to take my chances – followed by another 12 hours on a bus to Krabi in Thailand.
As long journeys go, it was not too bad. I had a comfortable bus journey and the boarder crossing was an interesting experience, crossing on the back of a tuk tuk bicycle. The driver, a guy in his 60’s looked like he was going to have a heart attack as he wheezed and puffed his was through the 2 km cycle. Bearing in mind I also had a full 120L ruck sack to contend with too, he was not happy.
When I got into Krabi I headed to Ao Nang, the beach resort, I checked into a cheap hotel and went and had some dinner and turned in reasonably early as I was knackered.
The next day was spent mostly chilling out, I felt I need a rest besides it was oneday until my birthday – this was to be a messy affair.
I went out to a bar, the choice was not great, a few Go Go bars and one bar which seemed to have a few travellers and holiday makers in there. With in 4 minutes of entering the place on my own I had the entire birthday sing me happy birthday and the bar staff pouring me free shots. I got battered! I wish I could remember who I met, but I can’t. too much sambuca. At some point in the evening I crossed over the road to another quieter bar. It was pretty much empty apart from a few locals and two young stunning girls called Sophia and Caroline. The drinks continued, Jenga was played, Tequila was drunk and Sambucca was poured. By the time we left, I was very drunk and so were the girls. We decided it would be a great idea to get on the back of a very drunk Thai guys moped (4 of us) and drive a kilometre down the road to another bar. I knew the driver was drunk as I had watched him down several B-52’s. Not one of my brainiest ideas. I was on the back, on the back grab handle, Caroline front of me hugging Sophia who was clutched to the wasted Thai guy. We got there somehow, my feet dragging on the ground (in fake crocs (plastic shoes). Bad, Bad idea. When we got to the bar we found it was dead. Litterally. Not even the lights were on. The Thai guy beckoned us over to get on his bike again, but luckily Soph had a moment of clarity and refused. Fucking pleased she did as I would have. Thai guy was trying to reassure her that he was not drunk and it would be fine as he literally drove his bike into a wall. I pissed myself laughing and then we made a hasty get away on foot. I ended up back at the girls hotel, drinking Tequila from a wooden bowl before somehow getting back at 5am. I had to be up at 7.30 to catch a boat to Phi Phi.
I made it, god knows how, as I was still ridiculously drunk. The hangover started to kick in as I got off the boat, stepping foot on to Phi Phi was an assault on the senses. Hundreds of travellers getting off the ferry being pulled nudged and grabbed by hotel touts. As it was my birthday I decided to check into the most expensive hotel – Phi Phi hotel at 1700 baht an hight – about £25. It was fucking sweet! Aircon, big comfy bed and Mini bar. But no time for that, I had to get to Maya beach, This was my mission. I had been looking forward to this point before I had even got to Thailand.
I tracked down a boatman a small guy with a moustache Injit, who agreed to take me there for 800 baht, as I was on my own it was fairly expensive but really worth it. I sat on the bow of the Long tail boat as it chugged out of Phi Phi Don (the large island) and headed to Phi Phi Ley (the uninhabited small Island). The Island looked incredibly impressive as I approached. Imaging a sheer limestone pinnacle rising dramatically out of the water, covered in lush green vegetation and surrounded by a beautifully blue sea. As we cruised around the right side of the Island we turned into a large sheltered bay. A shiver of excitement buzzed through me as I was this white sandy beach stretched out before me. Beautiful. “Wow!”. A huge grin covered my face, there were 4 people on the beach ( I had expected hundreds of tourists everywhere but it was all but deserted). We entered the shallows and I wasted no time in leaping on to the beach. Standing there just taking it in was an experience I will never forget. As your eyes scan it overloads the senses. Huge 600 m cliffs, surround the bay, trapping a turquoise sea and an incredible beach, hiding it from the rest of the world. As I lay on the sand staring into the sky with a big smile on my face I thought to myself, shit I’m not sure I can sustain this level of happiness, I wish is could bottle that feeling, for a moment in your life to be truly utterly content with everything.
Injit, was happy to just wait around on the beach for a few hours, and so he should the lucky bastard. Getting paid to lie on The Beach. I decided to go for a snorkel, this proved to be difficult as the visibility was not much, coupled with the fact theat the tide was out making the the sea very shallow. This meant I had to pick my way through the razor sharp coral, some of which was fire coral, as the name suggesteds it fucking hurts if you scrape yourself on it. But I managed and swam about a Km to the other side of the bay where the visibility improved. The fish life was cool, and I was happy chasing around parrot fish and angel fish until I saw it out of the coner of my eye. A Shark. I froze. “Fuck. A Fucking Shark!” Then I saw another, and another, there were three of them darting around me. I relaxed somewhat when I saw a distinguishing black tip on the dorsal fin. Black Tip reef sharks. Not dangerous. So I decided to chase them for a while, as they shot between the coral and swam majestically in search of lunch. Barracuda surrounded me, Cleaner wrass attempted to nibble me and this weird long fish stalked me, fuck knows what it was – like a barracuda but with out the teeth. Either way it freaked me out: it was fucking ugly for one, so I decided to swim back, this was a fucking nightmare as the sea level had dropped and I had to crawl, swim, hop and dodge coral to get back, taking me well over an hour.
When I got back I said good bye to the beach wondering if I would ever return, probably not, although I would like too.
The next few days are a blur of getting hammered in Phi Phi, unfortunately it pissed down every night as it is the rainy season on this side of the country. I also bumped into Sophia and Caroline and had a few good nights out with them.
Thailand gap year | Kenya gap year | Brazil gap year | Tanzania gap year | Mozambique gap year | Ecuador gap year | Namibia gap year | Brazil gap year | Tanzania gap year | Mozambique gap year | Ecuador gap year | Venezuela gap year | | south africa gap year | | australia gap year | | africa gap year | | asia gap year | | Fiji gap year | | New Zealand gap year | fitness holiday | Gap Year Diving
Thailand gap year | Kenya gap year | Brazil gap year | Tanzania gap year | Mozambique gap year | Ecuador gap year | Namibia gap year | Brazil gap year | Tanzania gap year | Mozambique gap year | Ecuador gap year | Venezuela gap year | | south africa gap year | | australia gap year | | africa gap year | | asia gap year | | Fiji gap year | | New Zealand gap year | fitness holiday | Gap Year Diving
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