The next day we scheduled a boat tour to Ang Thong National Marine Park which was amazing. The park is made up of 40 small islands with limestone cliffs, beaches, lagoons, and heavy vegetation. We snorkeled in the morning and saw some very colorful fish and schools of fish, when you fed them bread, they would swarm you! After that, we went to the park headquarters where we had the option to either hike to a cave, hike to the highest view point of the park, or sea kayaking. Our guides said we only had time for one activity, and of course that meant that I had time to do them all!! (Not without a little effort though!) My friend, Paul, and I first ran to and from the cave in 20 minutes, and then at lunch really fast, and then we climbed, crawled, and scrambled to the view point because we only had 30 minutes to get to the top and back before kayaking. It was 500 meters straight up! I was extremely sweaty by the time we got to the top, it looked like I had jumped in the sea! We got back just in time to hop in the kayaks and kayak along the cliffs to a secluded beach. I was glad I did all three activities, but I was extremely sore the next day!
After the Marine Park, we took a ferry to another island called Koh Pha-Ngan which is where the Full Moon Party takes place. It is a huge party that takes place on the beach when the moon is full. I don’t think I’ve seen so many people packed onto one beach before. It was definitely something to experience once in your life, and everyone in our group survived the party without too many injuries or lost objects. I also did fire jump rope at the full moon party which was really scary, but quite the adrenaline rush. My goal was to not get burned which I did successfully!
We ended up not sleeping at all during the full moon party because we scheduled to take a ferry at six in the morning that would take us back to Surat Thani so we could continue to travel south to the town of Krabi. After a traveling on a shady bus for three hours that was extremely hot and would take corners way to sharply, we arrived in Krabi! We decided to continue our journey to the jagged peninsula of Railay. We took a long boat that dropped us off on Hat Rai Leh on the eastern side. The tide was low, so we had to walk through a lot of mud to get to the shore. With the low tide, we were able to hike along the rocky shoreline to a more secluded beach called Ton Sai. Ton Sai is less developed and is a more attractive location for backpackers and rock climbers!
We ended up staying on Ton Sai for 3 nights because the bungalows were really cheap and it was such a beautiful location, we didn't want to leave. In the mornings, you would wake up to monkeys banging and throwing things on our roofs, and when you would walk outside, it looked like you were in the forest, but then you would walk down the hill and there would be the beach! My friend Rachel and I did a full day of rock climbing the next day with a local named Sammy. It was an amazing experience to be able to climb on cliffs over the sea and look at the scenery once you got to the top of the climb! Outdoor climbing in Thailand will be something I will cherish forever! After Rachel and I couldn’t climb anymore because our fingers were cramped, we hiked to a lagoon which was just as hard as rock climbing and really challenging after rock climbing all day! The lagoon was really eerie and secluded and definitely worth seeing. We ended up hanging out with the Thai locals who took us rock climbing that night and we talked about rock climbing and growing up in Thailand, they spoke English really well! Ton Sai has been one of my favorite places in Thailand so far because of the laid back atmosphere, the local people, the limestone cliffs and rock formations in the sea, and the mango sticky rice for only 30 baht!
The next day we took a boat tour that took us to Koh Pi Pi, Bamboo Beach, Monkey Beach, Chicken Island, and Maya Beach (which is where the movie “The Beach” was filmed with Leonardo DiCaprio!) After 10 days, I was ready to get back to Bangkok and rest for a while and go to school of course! However, I didn’t receive the warm welcome I was hoping for, instead, I was welcomed with food poisoning! So I had to miss class on Monday because I was feeling under the weather, but I felt better after 24 hours or so. It was the first time I’ve been sick in Thailand, and hopefully the last! I think I’ll be a little more careful about eating seafood on the street!
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