On the Road!

Some of you may be wondering.. "where the heck is Chelsea?"

Well I haven't had time to blog about Ko Tao, Ko Phi Phi, the heavy rain and flooding in the south of Thailand, my sketchy boat experience, Laos, tubing, Chiang Mai, Songkran, nation wide water fight, adopting an elephant,ziplining, and now Cambodia, because I am still on the road! I made a very last minute decision to change my Bali flight so I could join Jenna and our friend Kianna and Alysha for a Cambodia trip! I'll be back in Khon Kaen on May 7th after Bali and will begin updating then! I'm having a BLAST!

Ang Thong Marine National Park

After full moon, us girls all went our separate ways. Some stayed to do more islands, some went to Vietnam or various other countries, and some did some Thailand traveling.  Jess, Olivia, and I decided to do some island hopping together and stayed at Ko Phangan another day to visit the Ang Thong Marine National Park.  We switched guesthouses to a place near the pier that was recommended in our lonely planet guide. It was pretty cheap for the three of us and had air-con, a television, and the most comfortable bed I've slept in in Thailand! Since we were still a little sleep deprived from full moon, it was an amazing decision on our part.

See the King Kong shape?

We decided to do a boat tour of the Ang Thong Marine National Park.  Its between the two islands of Ko Phangan and Ko Samui and is made up of 42 islands.  Most of the islands are close to one another and are different sizes and shapes.  Most of them are covered with tropical forests and named after their distinguishing geography, a kind of descriptive appellation, such as 'Sleeping Cow Island' and 'Three Pillars Island'.  Caves, hidden lagoons and white sand beaches are there to be explored and snorkeling among the shallow coral gardens is popular amongst the day tours.  Ang Thong National Marine Park is famous for its natural beauty and all of the islands are uninhabited and undeveloped except for one. This island, Ko Paluay, is inhabited by sea-gypsies who still earn a living from fishing. 

Our tour we chose was little more expensive than we would have liked (1600 baht), but it included the park fee, snorkeling, a buffet lunch, and a boat tour of the various highlights. The weather was pretty good, partly cloudy, and we were able to enjoy the snorkeling and time on the water. While the rest of the group kayaked, the girls and I decided to do some cave exploring.  On the big island where we had lunch, we found a sign and rope path to climb to a cave with a shape of a lotus flower inside.  It was a little more challenging to do since we were in our bikinis, beach cover ups, and sandals and we were sweating profusely when we reached it, but it was pretty cool! We also went to Ko Mae Ko (Mother Island). Here, an emerald seawater lake in the middle of the island is encircled on all sides by limestone cliffs, but linked by an underground tunnel connecting with the sea. It was beautiful!

That night, the girls and I decided to try to budget for dinner so we went to the local night market.  And it was AMAZING! Jess, Olivia, and I had a challenging time deciding on one thing to eat. We all ended up getting smoothies, egg rolls, and Jess and I split pad thai and a banana, chocolate, coconut rotti (pancake). Needless to say, it was delicious and probably my best night market experience in Thailand so far. After that, we went back to our guesthouse and went into a food coma, plus we had to wake up for the next leg of the adventure.. Ko Tao! 

The cave!

Yummy smoothies!

Tasty rotti!!!

Ko Phangan: FULL MOON!

I'm back in Khon Kaen for 24 hours and heading to Laos tomorrow morning! I have spent the last 2 weeks down at the islands and had an amazing time! I'll update as much as possible but may need to save the last two islands for when I'm back!

I started my 2 months summer break with a bang.. a Full Moon Party! Full Moon is very popular and a must-do amongst the backpacking community. Its basically an all-night beach party that takes place on Haad Rin beach on the island of Ko Phangan on the night of every full moon.  The beach is filled with people drinking buckets, body paint, various bars and different stages of music ranging from R&B, drum and bass, house, dance, reggae, and top 40.  The party draws a crowd of 20,000 - 30,000 every full moon and is ranked high on lists of the worlds most popular beach parties and lasts until the next afternoon.  Naturally, me and 10 English teachers decided that we had to do experience it!

Jess and I made the 25 hour trek of two buses and a ferry ride to get to the island the day before the party.  We were the first of our friends to arrive and were greeted with some drizzle which escalated to rain.  We crossed our fingers and hoped it wouldn't rain the night of the full moon.  Slowly throughout the day, the rest of the group arrived making the final count 15ish girls all staying at the same bungalow guesthouse. We had two to a guesthouse so needless to say, we took over the Triangle Lodge.  We decided to stay at a beach about 10 minutes outside of Haad Rin because it was quieter and our belongings were safer there, we had heard of a lot of theft and noise at other guesthouses near the party.  The night of the full moon was rain free and we were all armed in neon colors wearing clothing we wouldn't mind getting neon paint on.  We all piled into a songtell and were driven up and down the windy roads to the party.  Although we weren't all able to stay together as a group the entire night since there were too many of us, we were constantly bumping into someone we knew even amongst the thousands of people. I was able to meet up with my friend B.C. from UCSB, she is living here in Thailand working for her dad in Hua Hin.  The girls and I spent the evening dancing, meeting people from all over the world, snacking on some rotti, watching fire jump rope, and enjoying the full moon scene.  A group of girls and I were out until 9am and grabbed breakfast on the way home and spent the rest of the day napping on the beach to catch up on sleep! It reminded me a lot of Halloweens at UCSB, but all in all, it was definitely a fun experience!

Chelsea and Chelsea!

Jumping for joy, Full Moon sunrise!