Christmas on Ko Adang, Thailand

Dec 21- Travel Day

Today we got up in Kanchanaburi and checked out

of our hotel in search of a computer station to skype our families. After a while of searching, we found that most the places here were truly on "Thai time", meaning if their sign says they open at 8:30 am it really means sometime around 10ish. We finally found an open shop, and after a skype session we grabbed a taxi to the bus station and booked a mini-bus into Bangkok. After a bit of trouble finding a suitable taxi (a guy trying to charge us 500 baht, when we knew it was only about 100), we were on our way to Rangsit to meet up with Nathan. We grabbed a bite to eat with Nathan and relaxed till we had to leave for the bus station. At around 4:30 ish (Nathan is on extra Thai time.... always late and never in a hurry :-) we caught a taxi to the bus station in Bangkok and soon found ourselves eating dinner at KFC waiting for Chayani (ok... so first off, their chicken sandwich was pretty awesome after 3 months of rice and noodles. But heres a tip: never order a rice dish at a fried chicken restaurant. trust me.). Our bus to Satun left at 6:30 pm and we were now off on another 15 hour overnight bus ride! Woooo!

Dec 22- Koh Adang, Thailand
With sore necks and aching backs, we got off the bus in Satun and headed to Pakbara to catch a boat to Koh Lipe. After about an hour ride on the speedboat, we found ourselves just off the coast of Koh Lipe being unloaded onto a small taxi-boat to take us to Koh Adang, a 20 minute boat ride away. Even though at first we had our doubts, after landing on the island we quickly realized how awesome Koh Adang really is. The only spot to stay on the island is run by the Thai government and it is all national park land, so the amount of tourists is really limited (I'm talking like 30 of us whiteys on the whole island. awesome.). Our room was pretty spacious but we immediately saw a ton of ants crawling on our bed. Steph and I weren't really too upset about that at the time, so we brushed it off and later found ourselves exploring the beaches (finding many hermit crabs and even a river emptying out into the ocean) and jumping into the ocean. After some dinner and

a beer (at the only restaurant on the island...it was pretty good food, but definitely over priced), we started our first of many card games and soon realized we were exhausted from so much travel and wanted some sleep. Upon arriving at our bungalow, however, we found that the ant problem was much more of a problem than we realized (seriously, there were ants crawling out of the frame of the bed. Definitely didn't want to sleep there). Chayani went and talked to a staff member and we were moved to an ant-free room. Exhausted, we were soon asleep.

Dec 23- Exploring Ko Adang

Today we woke up around 9-ish, ate breakfastat at the restaurant, played a few obligatory card games and then walked around the island for a bit. After lunch, we decided to go snorkeling at the 'best snorkeling spot on the island', where we saw some pretty corals and fish. Phil and I even saw a cuttlefish!!! We chased it around for a while, saw it change colors, but eventually its marine adaptations beat ours, and it quickly swam away :-(. After our snorkeling adventures, we took a shower, watched the sunset, and played some more cards with dinner while listening to terrible Christmas music. Eventually, at around 10pm, one of the cooler employees noticed our grimaces and put on some awesome Thai music instead!

Dec 24- Snorkeling!

After breakfast, we headed to the beach to commandeer ourselves a taxi boat to take us around for some snorkeling. We shared the boat with another Thai couple, and the six of us set out for some adventure. We stopped at several places for some snorkeling, hopping in and out of the boat. The next stop was an interesting island, with lots of perfectly round and beautiful black stones. Apparently you are supposed to stack 13 on top of each other for good luck (which of course we did). I was about to grab a couple stones to take home when I noticed the huge sign warning against taking stones--takers of stones are inflicted with extreme bad luck, which pretty much eventually leads to death. Needless to say, we left the stones, and decided to skip some off the island instead. Afterwards, we headed to the beautiful 'white sand' beach, had some lunch and then chilled on the perfect beach for a while. On the way back, we stopped for one more snorkel, and then

headed back to Ko Adang. On the way back, we saw a swordfish jumping!!!, which was the perfect end to a great day. Once home, we realized we hadn't been quite liberal enough with the sunscreen and Nathan, Phil and I were quite burned. Chayani, on the other hand, was smart and wore a shirt and reapplied her sunscreen, so she was spared. We took a quick shower, lathered on some aloe vera lotion, and had some dinner while playing cards (again...).

Dec 25- Xmas chillin' on the beach

We woke up, had some breakfast, and then went to chill on the beach. We sat there for several

hours, playing cards, nursing our sunburns, and hopping in the water whenever the heat overwhelmed us (which was about every round of cards or so). After a while, we moved into the shade, played a few more rounds, and went to grab some lunch. After lunch we decided we would check out Ko Lipe (to book our tickets to leave, to have dinner from a different restaurant, and also just to see what we were missing). Turns out we weren't missing too much--the island was ridiculously developed, the food was even more expensive than back on Adang, and the beaches were ridiculously crowded (they did have some nice beaches though). We booked our onward travel, watched the sunset, grabbed some snacks and beer from the convenience store (which was cheaper), and hopped back on the boat taxi.

Unfortunately, now that it was dark, the ferry was twice as expensive (also, as it turns out, rather dangerous since it was now low tide...we had to push ourselves out using sticks for a good 20 mins before it was deep enough to use the motor...oops...). Once back, we had a nice (and rather pricey) xmas dinner of deep-fried fish (mmmmmmmmm), played some cards, and enjoyed a nice little Christmas buzz from our beers, and then headed to bed.

Dec 26- Goodbye Thailand, hello Malaysia!

After packing and breakfast, we headed to the taxi boat, plopped our bags on, and boated o

ver to Ko Lipe for departure. After walking around FOREVER in the ridiculous heat, looking for immigration, we finally found the right spot, and left our bags there while we helped Nathan and Chayani figure out where they were supposed to leave from them. Sadly, we said goodbye as they boarded their boat back to the mainland. For the next few hours, we wandered semi-aimlessly around Ko Lipe, did some internetting, had some coffee and some food, took a quick swim, and hopped on our ferry to Langkawi. The ride was pretty uneventful (minus a gorgeous sunset). Once in Langkawi, we didn't even have to go through customs, the boatmen just took our passports and brought them

back 20 mins later. We grabbed a taxi into Langkawi after being informed that most of the hotels were booked solid (apparently this was a popular island for Malaysian tourists as well). After about an hour or so of searching, we discovered that the taxi drivers were in fact not overexaggerating, almost every single place was booked solid. We settled for a resort, got the last room, and paid $40 (instead of our usual less than $10)...ouch. Exhausted, and rather pissed, we grabbed a quick bite of food, and set about enjoying our super comfortable bed.

Wanna see more pictures of our adventures on Ko Adang? Well, too bad. Just kidding, we are still working on getting the high-res versions from Chayani. For now, check them out on facebook! :-)