Koh Phi Phi, The Beach Beach and Koh Lanta

Ahhh...beautiful Koh Phi Phi. That's what we have been told at least. Some of it was really nice but the actualy city wasn't that amazing. It was one of the hardest hit places after the tsunami about 4 years ago, but it is bigger now than it was back then. It was supposed to be regulated so that it wouldn't get to be overcrowded, unnatural and cement, but that didn't seem to happen.

It was nice enough though for a quick visit. I was there for 2 nights with Lily. (The only reason we stayed two nights was to go snorkeling the next day.) We watched an "amateur" muai thai fight which was really funny. I say amateur because one round it would be two professional wrestler type fighter falling when they were supposed to and the other rounds it would be two drunk people from the crowd. You get a free bucket if you fight, so I guess that is motivation enough. Buckets cost only 250 baht, which is about 6 dollars, so I thought I would just buy one.

We went snorkeling the next day and it was really, really beautiful. We saw parrot fish, a moray eel, all sorts of little colorful fishes and supposedly, we were swimming with reef sharks. We never saw any because the light was dying. We also saw the beach from the movie "The Beach" with Leo. It was really pretty, but not as nice as in the movies. They did some CGI work to make it look better.

After that, we headed to Koh Lanta, which was a better than Phi Phi. We got there and headed to a really secluded resort down in the south. It was really nice and cheap. Their beach was really cool, because as the tide went out, a little "lake" formed with a "stream" coming out of it. It was really nice to watch as the sun set.

We went for an elephant trek and hike the next day. It was pretty fun to ride an elephant, I haven't done it since my Great Grandma Clark took me to the circus when I was younger. I think that happened. The hike was nice because we had a guide that told us of all the deadly animals in the jungle and a little about his life. We hiked to a waterfall that I took a quick shower in. It was chilly.

After this, we headed to the more popular long beach and got a nice room in a really large resort. We had a lot of sun there and a lot of cards and a lot of food. It was a good "vacation" from the rest of our journey. I felt like we were living the high life, but it really wasn't any more expensive than anywhere else.

For Christmas and New Years, we are heading back to Haad Ton Sai since we liked it so much there.

Haad Ton Sai - Climber's Paradise

The trip to Ao Nang/Railey/Haad Ton Sai was a long one (and without food for nearly 16 hours). But it was worth it. We decided to go to Haad Ton Sai first because it was the cheapest. It also turned out to be the best.

We stayed at Andaman Nature Resort and had a small bungalow and a mosquito net. It was nice though, and the community was awesome! The whole beach is essentially dedicated to rock climbers, so there were a lot of crazy routes on the cliffs. (The beach is surrounded by 100 meter cliffs). We stayed here for a while and are hoping to go back sometime.

We met a few other people while we were there. Some Brits (Bruce, Smitty and Val) some fellow Americans (Nathan and Andy) and we played cards with all of them. Bruce and Smitty were huge into cribbage (and Val was into reading). We played Euchre with Nathan and Andy.

We also checked out Railey beach which is right next to Haad Ton Sai, but you can only walk there in low tide. Railey is more touristy and more expensive, but the beach is huge and is really nice when the tide is in. We did some Kayaking around the small "islands" off of the beach here, which was a lot of fun.

We are off to the famous Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta next. They are supposedly paradise. We will see. :)

Koh Phangan - relaxing by the beach

Travelling to Koh Phangan was a lot better than travelling to Koh Tao. The boat ride was smoother, and we were able to stay up top the entire time without being soaked (although we did get a little wet). We got there and headed to Haad Rin Nai/Nok. (Sunrise/Sunset Beach)

There weren't any beaches that we found right away, which was pretty disappointing because of the name, but eventually we did find the sunrise side. It was pretty big, but only when the tide was out. This is where they have the famous Full Moon Party with thousands of people showing up to drink until the sunrise. We didn't end up going to the full moon party because it seemed very overrated and a little bit like a giant frat boy party.

The cities of Rin Nai and Nok were pretty nice, set up for tourists, but cheap tourists like us. We found some cool restaurants (Lazy House!) where we could watch TV shows and movies and eat at the same time. We got to know the two people that work there (Jai and Thun), both nice guys. Thun and I played a couple games of pool, but his rules were a little different.

We also met a nice lady named Mam. She was the receptionist at the place that we were staying (Haad Rin Thai Resort). We took her out to dinner and she taught us some Thai, told us about her life and some other fun stuff. It was a difficult night though, because she didn't speak English very well, and we don't speak Thai much at all. My head hurt at the end of it. :)

I am finally starting to get tan here. Laying on the beach and playing in the waves is a ton of fun. I can't seem to get Lily to play with me in them for very long though. She doesn't like the water as much as I do.

There are tons of stray dogs (and ones that are owned, but run around the towns) out here. We have named several of them, and Goat is my favorite. He looks like a goat surprisingly. I know the doctors told me not to touch them because of Rabies, but I just can't not pet them. If I come home drooling, you'll know why.

Off to Railey Beach next!

The island life

Ah...the islands. Koh Tao is beautiful. It is warm, a little rainy right now, but the sun is out a lot too. The mosquitos are kind of bad, but it is still very, very nice.

Everyone here is really nice and we met up with a couchsurfer named Wilfried from France. He is a dive instructor at one of the resorts on the island. We stayed with him a couple of nights (at his resort which was really nice), but then I found out that I couldn't SCUBA dive because of my lungs. If I can find a dive physician (whatever that is) and he clears me, then I am good to go. Too bad I don't know any. Oh well. Lily and I will find something else to do with our time.

We ate some great Pad Z You at a place called Fishy's. The guy that works there (and I am assuming owns the place) works 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not quite the island life I would expect there. He was very friendly and let us watch movies when we were there. They had a good cheap breakfast there too!

We later moved more toward the "cities" of the island and had a really nice, cheap place (about 7 dollars a night). The lady there was really nice too and we stayed for a few days. We ate some good food, walked around a bit and hiked some too. It was a good time.

Next, we are on to Koh Phangan, the "party island".

As always, check facebook and Lily's blog for pictures.

Bangkok is loud, big and a lot of fun

The trip to Bangkok was a good one. The plane ride was about 7 hours long or so. Uneventful, except they showed Swing Vote on the plane. I stopped watching after about 10 minutes of Kevin Costner. :)

We got in late at night and got a taxi to Khoasan Road. Where all of the backpacking tourist like Lily and I stay. It was fairly cheap, but we had to get a double room the first night because it was so crowded. The road was packed at 1 am. It's like the happening place. It was pretty cool.

The next day we got up and started to explore. We took a Tuk Tuk ride to the Travel Authority of Thailand and booked tickets to Koh Tao which is where I am now. We got them for a few days later so we could explore Bangkok. Tuk Tuk rides are super fun. It is basically a 3-wheeled motor bike with a big place to sit in. The driving here is crazy, but fun. The tuk tuk drivers will drive in the opposite direction lanes whenever they want. I didn't see a single accident though.

There are a lot of things to do in Bangkok. There are Buddhist temples, shrines to Kings, and all sorts of other neat things. One of the royal family died a few days before we got there, so there was a brand new temple set up in her honor that we checked out.

We checked out the floating market and that was pretty cool. Ate some pineapple that I bought from another boat which was fresh and delicious.

I got drunk on a single beer somehow. It was crazy! It is only 6.6% alcohol and 24 oz, but I haven't drank anything since I had left, so my tolerance must have been down. Lily thought it was funny.

We left Bangkok right before the protests got bad. We heard they were getting worse, so we decided to get out of there. They did stop me from going to the zoo though. Grrr...

The train ride was pretty fun. I have never been on an overnight train before, but the beds were pretty comfy and the ride was decently smooth. I was reminded of Darjeeling constantly.

The boat ride was not fun. It was crazy wavy and everyone on the boat got sick. I stayed in the bathroom for over an hour enjoying the fine porcelin that Thailand has.

I will update more about Koh Tao when I get a chance, but for now, enjoy the pictures that I will try to get up here.

It begins

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It has been a bit hectic here in Japan. We got in at about 5 or so Tokyo time, but we were dead tired since neither of us really slept on the plane. It was warmer there than in Wisconsin, but not by much. We got to the hotel, but not after a slightly long bus ride that was not great for my car sickness. I didn't enjoy it. The hotel was really nice for about 90$. We had two kimonos and slippers set out for us. We took a picture, but couldn't get it on to a computer, so we will have to put that up some other time.



Also had some problems with the credit card right when we got there, but once you find the right ATM, it works ok.

We stayed with a couchsurfer named Yuji. He was hosting around 11 people with us there. It was pretty crowded, but the other surfers where nice (a bunch of french and german people). We spent more time riding the subway in Tokyo than anything else. The city is ridiculously huge. I did enjoy that part of it. However, the city was also pretty nice. It was super clean and a lot of people were very helpful.








Lily and I got what I really went to Tokyo for. RAMEN!!! It was delicious. The bowl was the size of my head, but I ate it all. Lily couldn't finish hers, but I can hardly blame her for that. :)









After that...Thailand.

To a warmer climate

Tonight is my last night in the good ole town of Madison. Hitting up Bluephies with some friends for a good meal and some drinks.

Packing has been hectic, but still fun. I enjoy being constantly busy. That might be hard when I go the beach in Thailand for days at a time, but I think I will enjoy that too. Packed everything I have left into my car (with room to spare) except for my grill, my bike and my bed (three very important things!, food, fun and relaxation). I kept more dishes and pans than anything else which makes me think that food is pretty important to me. :)

Said goodbye to most of the family last weekend. Only a few of them cried...I won't mention names, but you can probably guess who they were. Also played a sweet game called Mexican Train Dominoes or something similar. It was a lot of fun. Check it out sometime. My family is always playing cards or dominoes or some other fun game. That's one of the reasons I love them so much!

I will update again when I get to Tokyo. Staying there for a couple days, but don't know how much internet connection I will have.

For all of you that are worried, I will be safe. For those of you with well wishes, Thanks! and I will let you know how amazing Thailand will be.

Everything has to go, including me

...thanks Keith. :)

I have been selling off all of my stuff recently. It is amazing how much you can actually live without. I am going to be living out of a backpack mostly for the next few months. It is going to be a huge change. I won't have my computer to watch TV shows on, I won't have my comfortable bed to relax in. I am not going to have a lot of what I have now, but I won't miss any of the stuff (well, maybe the bed). I will be missing the people though.

Not a lot of people from my family move away from their hometown, which I understand, because I like Dorr and Byron Center and Wayland. It is small and not much going on, but it really has a nice feel to it. It is very comfortable there and I know a lot of people there (or at least, I used to).

This past weekend, I met one of Lily's aunt's sister (I don't know what the actual relationship term is for that) and she has traveled all over the world. She has lived in Turkey, backpacked across Europe and is moving to Florence to go to Culinary school to pursue her passion. She was a great person to talk to right before we take off. She knew about ISIC, she knew about traveling around the world and she was still excited to do it. It was a good feeling.

Lily found a place for us to stay at in Tokyo while we are there. It will be essentially free, so that is going to be nice. He seemed kind of funny too, so hopefully it will be a good time.

I got a checkup at the Dr's this past week too. Doc jokingly said everything was healthy except my mind. :) My doc is a funny guy. He seemed kind of stunned at what I am doing though, but that's kind of the reaction I get from a lot of people.

The only big thing left is getting the visa's back, which should be before the end of the week!

Hitting up Chicago before we take off too. Going to go see Wicked, which we were going to see in New York, but it was going to cost 400$. A little too pricey for me. It is going to be a good time. A few friends are coming along too, to see us off.

The first big step...

I have made the first big step in my travels. I bought the ticket. Although technically the first big step was telling work that I was quitting, I feel like that was a big step in moving away from my job, not towards my goal. November 19 is my last day in the country.

Lily and I are going to Japan at first for a layover of a couple days. Check out Tokyo and see how cool that is. I have always wanted to go to Japan, so it was nice that we get to spend a couple of days there and explore. We will be couchsurfing while we are there with an English speaker. I am hoping that he can show us around the town a little. I am also wanting to check out the country side a little bit. As always, the natural part will interest me more, but the city will be cool to check out too.

I was looking up PADI certification earlier in the month and found it to be pretty expensive for something I am not certain that I want to do. I talked to a friend at work and his mom lives in Malaysia and got certified over there. I am thinking that is the best option for me as it will probably be a lot cheaper.

Still getting mixed feelings from the family. And friends which surprised me. Although most of my friends think it's awesome, the more "responsible" ones think I am crazy. Oh well, I have never been considered completely normal. I feel like it is very hard to impossible to explain to somebody why you would do something like this if that person has never wanted to do anything like it before. Some people were just made for adventures and others were made to have their lives cozy. To each their own. I respect that, I hope that everyone else can too.

Next (and last step) is getting the Visas. I am concerned about that slightly, but the Thai embassy seemed like it wouldn't be too much of a problem. (As long as my name is black-listed, Josh Cole is kind of common.)

Talk to you all later.

My Travels...A Beginning and an Ending

My journey starts in just about 80 days. I have never been more excited for anything in my life. For those of you who don't know (and if you don't, then how did you find my travel blog?) I am moving to Thailand in November!

I have a lot of stuff figured out already, but I don't have everything figured out. Some of it I will, some of it I don't want to yet. This is my first little adventure, stepping out of America and finally exploring the world. I want to have some hiccups on the way. I want to have problems and then have to solve them. That is what I like to do. That is what I was made for.

I am getting mixed responses from my friends and families. Most are positive, which only serve to make me more excited. Some are less enthusiastic. Although I understand their viewpoints, of safety, monetary security and setting up a life, I hope they understand mine, of wonder, adventure and challenging myself.

I am going to miss my life that I have set up here in Madison. I have a great group of friends that I am very sad to leave. You know who you are. I am going to miss my roommates. After college, I didn't think that I would ever want another roommate, but I have found some good ones that I enjoy hanging out with. I am going to miss Madison itself as well. I have never wanted to live in a city before (and I don't really live in Madison right now either), but I will miss the friendliness, the outdoors-iness and the beauty of the skyline.

But, I want to leave and explore. I want to have the time of my life in another country. I am ready for this.