CATCHUP:

Whole Month of August

I had the luxurious and wonderful and once in a lifetime opportunity to fly my bf out to see me and backpack with for a whole month! I say once in a lifetime.. because it will be rare that he or I ever share such a long segment of free time in our young lives together as he has finally finished and graduated from Law school, taken the bar exam, and just getting ready to become a real lawyer!!! It’s all so crazy.
We kept our own personal journal offline, but in short, we begun our journeys in Ko Tao where we both had adventures of getting there to share already. Ko Tao ironically ended up being our favorite place together… so much for saving the best for last. We island hopped our way to Ko Phangan (party central). Too bad I was a bit too sick to enjoy most of this, but we still managed. Then we boated back to mainland where I call my Thai birthplace, Suratthani (the place I first started my life in Thailand working and living)… so even as touristic lacking it may be, it has a lot of special memories I wanted to share. (My favorite coffee shop, my favorite massage parlor, eateries, and where I had to relearn the basics of such things as crossing the street, avoiding rabid dogs, and covering my shoulders). From Surat, we bussed our way down to my favorite place in all of Thailand—Krabi. Particularly, Reiley, for its majestic mountain peaks tearing out of the water, and caves, and mystifying beaches. We took a ferry from there to the famous/infamous Tsunami disaster zone- Ko Phi Phi. Still a very beautiful island in some respects. From Ko P P to Phuket, and Phuket back to the islands of Ko Samui to meet back up with my cousin and continue the rest the trip together North. Starting with a retched night train up to Bangkok with a day layover and the next night train up into Chang Mai (Northern exotic farmlands, and home of GOOODD coffee). After being shopped out there… back down to Bangkok with an even MORE retched night train but this time with no bunks! In our crappy seats we froze to death from an over abundant AC, into more mega shopping in Bangkok.. all highly unnecessary. But as we all found out, outside of the seedy nightlife—Bangkok really doesn’t have a whole lot more to offer.