Soo, it turned out that I didn’t write about the ending of my last trip. Woops. After I left Costa Rica, I flew to New York City, where I spent my last week. I stayed with some friends of us, Michael and Eric, and spent the days walking around town, shopping and meeting up with old friends. I also stopped by my old high school, which was fun. When I got home, I had been travelling for five months. It was an amazing experience, and I haven’t regretted it for a single moment. I visited so many cool places, met wonderful people and learned a lot. Probably the best period of my life (so far).
The summer went past far too quickly, and in September, I started on my year in the navy. After two months of boot camp, I started the armed forces’ medic course, which I finished this Friday. Seven very long and very hard, but also very fun weeks. My next posting is on a coast guard ship, but that isn’t until the end of February, which is why I’m here, in beautiful Thailand. After I learned about my time off between postings, I thought about traveling. On Monday, I got an email from a travel company with various offers, amongst these a two week trip to Thailand. I booked the tickets on Tuesday, and left on Saturday morning. By myself. YOLO
Anyways. This is nowhere as ’’big’’ as my last trip, but I figured I’d write a couple of posts anyways, as a diary for myself, if nothing else.
The journey from door to door was quite eventful. Hightlights are the following:
- I forgot to charge my phone (and alarm) - nearly missed my train (and flight)
- ended up between a very large guy who occupied a third of my seat and a very creepy guy, talkative guy (the flight was 12 hrs)
- Got shanghaied by the infamous taxi mafia at the airport, driver had no idea where we were going. I had to talk on the phone to his boss, trip ended up talking twice as long as it should have, and I still had to pay the overcharged fee
-Lobby was closed when I got there (5:30 in the morning), had to wait at a nearby cafe for two hours
But when I finally managed to check in, the place was great. A bit out of town, but very nice. Big, comfy room, pool on the top floor ** all for a good price. The next two days I spent around Phuket town. I went to the Big Buddha, which is Phukets version of Cristo Redentor (the big jesus overlooking Rio de Janeiro) It’s 45 meters tall and it sits on a hill with a 360degree view of the surrounding area. Very nice! Construction is still in progress, and you are able to help by buying stuff, such as a bag of cement, cast-iron rods , sand for foundations etc.. You can also buy a marble tile and write a greeting on it, which then will become a part of the monument. All of these things were relatively cheap, so this was a very cool way of doing it, instead of just saying ’’please give’’. While I was there, I also got blessed by a monk. Good shit.
My next stop was Wat Chalong, a nearby temple complex. Golden roofs and statues, ornate doors, everything was very well made and very detailed. On my way back to town I stopped at a shooting range and tried shooting a few rounds with a .45. It was very fun, and it felt a lot more powerful than the HKs we use in the navy, but I still sucked though. To my parents great relief, I’m not going to become a mercenary any time soon...
The last stop of the day was at a massage parlor. As I laid there getting stretched, I discovered that I had way more joints that I thought I had. That lady pulled me in some weird positions... I also discovered that I was sore in muscles I didn’t know I had as well. It was nice though, and I felt good afterwards. And it was cheap (250bath~40NOK). Less than one tenth of what it would have been back home. Awesome.
The next morning I set off for Koh Tao, and island a bit further north. This island is pretty much all about diving, and its kinda like Utila (where I spent a month last year), only bigger. Kinda lika a big, asian cousin. Same vibe. I havent been able to do any diving here yet, but the place is beautiful. White beaches, blue ocean, palms, nice people, good food, good parties. I think Im going to like it here. Hopefully I will be able to get off the island in time for my flight...
Thats all for now. (pics to come)
See ya!
