Ko Phi Phi

Well it's been a long while since I have made a post hopefully I can get back on track. So much has happened in the last few weeks so I will try and remember the good stuff.

We were on Ko Phi Phi for about two weeks. We hadn't planned on staying that long, but we fell in love with the island and the people. We really didn't do a whole lot of activities there. Mostly just hanging out with the locals, we tend to do that a lot :o) Brandon and I did go on a dive which was awesome. We saw some really great sea life. I wish we had done a little more diving. We are planning on going back in a few months so I will prob do it then. Another thing was going on a sunset cruise out to Phi Phi Leh (The Beach) where the movie was filmed. That was amazing. Words can't describe how amazing it was. Brandon, Will, and I all got a tattoo. It was cool because it was their first tat. I sliced my finger spearfishing with Boi. He was one of our friends that worked at the hotel, and no we didn't get any fish. The most memorable moment was when Matt entered the Muay Thai ring with a real fighter. One of the bars had a ring in it and drunk pharang would go in a duke it out for fun, but not Matt. One of the locals we had made friends with kept challenging him to a fight. So finally he said lets do it. He was a real fighter he was 60-10 in pro fights. It was quite an event. Some of the girls that he worked with said that he was mad and he would hurt Matt, but he told us he would take it easy on him so he did it. I have to admit I was a little worried that it get a little crazy, but it all turned out great. The fight went really well and ended in a draw. Of course the real fighter was going about 25%, but is was still great. Everyone around the island would see Matt and tell him great fight.

These are the most memorable moments for now. We really spent a lot of time hanging out and practicing our Thai with the locals. We have really come a long way on our speaking.

Full Moon Party

The full moon party is supposed to be one of the biggest parties in the world. Sometimes in the height season there are up to 50,000 people all packed on to one beach. After my experience in the low season I could imagine what it is like in the high.

Dur ring our stay at Ko Tao thanks to Kun we were able to get a hold of Jack. Jack was one of our tour guides from last year. He was awesome. He happened to be leading a tour that was coming to Ko Tao the same day as the party...it's funny how things work out. So we got everything planned out with Jack and we joined his tour group and we all went to the party together which was nice because Jack has been a time or two. As hopped on the catamaran for the 45 min boat ride to Ko Phangnang where the party is I didn't really know what to expect. We arrived to the island about 6:30 or so and we took a short taxi ride to the main strip were all the magic takes place. Jack took us all to a restaurant right at the edge of the beach were we all had dinner and drinks before the party began. This was also our designated meeting place for the morning or just if you needed to go to sleep. We didn't have any accommodations booked because the full moon party doesn't end. After dinner we all gather round and let Jack do his magic with the paint brush. One of the big things there at the full moon part is the florescent body paint. I hope I can get some pictures of the all the art work he did on us...I didn't take my camera because I didn't want to loose it or get it stolen. So by the time that Jack finished painting us all up it was time to make our way down to the beach and take part in the famous Full Moon Party.

As soon as we hit the beach you can feel the music basing all over. It is on a beach that is about a quarter to half mile long I would say. Then entire beach is lined with bars, from end to end. Each bars has the music blasting the lights going and a people everywhere. There was probably a couple few thousand people here at this party, which is why I couldn't imagine a big one. I spent the night roaming up and down the beach just watching all the madness. People were partying like it was the last chance to party in their lives. To be honest I didn't really see any of the crazy things I thought I was going to see. Once I got used to to just the size of the party it nothing special. Don't get me wrong I have never seen anything like it before, but it was as crazy as I thought it was going to be. The coolest part of the whole party was when day light came. The sun came out and the party did not slow down a bit. Music was still going and drinks were still being served. To me that was a sight to see, and with it being light out I was seeing it from a whole new perspective.

We all met up at the restaurant with no problems then headed over to the ferry back to Ko Tao. This was another funny sight. The waters were not that bad, but everyone on the boat was chumming up because of the night before, I thought it was quite funny. Luckily the weather was better and we could all be outside and not stuck in the cabin. We spent another day at Sea Shell just recovering before heading across the country to Phuket where we were hoping to find some sunshine. All in all the party was fun and a sight to see, but it's not something that would be dying to do again.

We made it to Ko Tao

When I last updated I was up at 4 am in a small bus station waiting for a boat to Ko Tao. Plenty has gone on since then, so this may be a little lengthy.

Finally at about 7 am we arrive to the boat the will be taking us to Ko Tao. We thought that the trip was smooth sailing from here on out...lol we were way wrong. I can laugh about it now, but the boat ride was one of the worst moments of my life. You see it's rainy season on the side of the country and of course it was pouring down, so the cabin of the boat was pretty packed. For some reason the crew keeps the temperature at about 60 degrees or so....it was damn cold especially since we were all working on no more than a few hours of sleep or none at all. These things were really not a huge deal but the fact that there were huge swells the whole way there magnified everything and made it horrible. The trip was supposed to take 1.5-2 hours but our was about 3.5. Everyone on the boat was sick. Every few minutes you would hear the sound of someone chunking up which is not a pleasant sound lol. All we could do is just lay with our eyes closed shivering waiting for this to end, but it seemed like it never would. I know for a fact that this trip was not an average boat trip because Brandon who works on a deep sea fishing boat every single day said that this was the worst he had been on. They were probably not the biggest waves ever, but the fact that the boat was rather small, we were all so tired and a bit hung over, and it was freezing cold made it the worst boat trip ever.

This all being said...I would do it again in a second. 5 minutes before we arrived the sun came out and it stopped raining. When we came up from the cabin we all recovered immediately. We had arranged to stay at Sea Shell a place where the twins and I stayed last year and loved every second of it, so we knew we were in for a treat. Kun (pronounced coon) is our friend who is in charge of all the administrative duties there at Sea Shell. She is who we have kept in contact throughout this last year. The twins and I gave her the nickname Gia Dee which means good heart. She is the nicest person on the planet. As soon as we got of the pier she was there to pick us up and greet us with a gort (hug).

It was so great when we got to the resort everyone was waiting for our arrival, they were as happy as we were to be there. It's amazing how sweet and nice everyone at Sea Shell is. The treat us like family, I consider them my Thai family :) along with Morning Mist in Khao Sok. Our time there on Ko Tao was spent just hanging out and visiting with our friends. We really just hung around all day and played with the little kids and watched movies. From time to time Kun and the others would have us sit down and eat lunch with them (that was real thai food not pad thai or fried rice). They would really treat us like family. P Tok and P leaow have daughters who are right around Marin's age and I would just sit and watch them play for hours. They are so adorable...it's funny the way they acted reminded me of Marin.

The main reason we came to this side of Thailand was for the full moon party. We used Ko Tao as a home base since we felt safe there at Sea Shell that way nothing bad would happen to our stuff when we went to the full moon party. I will continue on to my next entry about the full moon party.

We arrive

(If some of this doesn't make sense it's because my internal clock is way off and it is 4 am LOL)

So we finally arrive in Bangkok after many hours of traveling. I left at 11:00 pm on the 20th and arrive to Bangkok a the same time but on the 22nd. It was well over 30 hrs of travel which is probably why I am up at 4a.m. writing this right now.

We got to Bangkok with no problems at all right on time which we were very happy about. We didn't really have any plans set in stone for our arrival. Ryan and I were to meet Brandon and Will at a Hotel that I had recommended, but we didn't know for sure if they would have any vacancies. If that didn't work out we were just going to wing it. Luckily it everything fell into place even better than we could have expected. Will and B got the rooms no problem, but we didn't have a set time to meet (we were just going to find the room #). Turns out that at the exact time that Ryan and I come through the doors Brandon and Will are down there informing the front desk of our arrival lol (pretty crazy). That isn't the best part though. Less than 2 minutes before Ryan and I get there Will is sees the Twins from London (who he has never talked to nor had plans to meet up with). He remembered them from my pictures lol. So he asks them if they are who they are and if they know me then immediately after that Ryan and I walked in. It was so crazy for all of us to end up there in the lobby at the same time. ( totally crazy)
After we hung out and visited for a bit we just headed to bed excited about the journey we were about to begin. We all agreed on getting to the islands as soon as possible, so our main goal was to get arrangements made for the islands which was quite simple. We spent most of our first day just hanging out and walking around Khosan Rd. Our bus to the harbor left at 6pm and arrived at 2:30am which is where I am now. We are waiting here till 7 am (it is 4:30 am right now and everyone else is asleep but I can't) to catch the ferry to Ko Tao where we get to visit some old friends at Sea Shell :o) it's going to be good to see them after being away for so long.

Nothing else to crazy is going on right now I just figured I would update this since I can't sleep and don't know when I will have the internet next. I will try and get some pics posted by the end of the week. We have the full moon on the 26th so I am sure I will have plenty to talk about after that as well.

Aloha to Maui

So my 20 days here in Maui flew by...I can't believe that I am leaving tonight already. The timing is good though. I am ready to move on to the next leg of my journey. I had an awesome time here I can't believe I did it all in just 20 days.

My second week here Michelle came out and we had an awesome time. She had never been here before so the timing was perfect. It was like having a vacation from my vacation lol. We did so many cool things, but at the same time did plenty of relaxing and chillin or as I like to say chillaxin. We got to go to a Luau where Michelle had problems with her contacts. You see, the hula dancers (male) were not wearing a whole lot and she didn't want to blink. LOL who could blame her. The problem was that her contacts dried out and fell into her lap, LOL it was so funny. We got to go to Freds and have the best tacos ever. We went snorkeling out at Molokini Crater in the beautiful blue waters. We also got to drive the road to Hana and do many hikes up to hidden waterfalls, this was one of the coolest things ever. You definitely need to check out the pics of that. http://picasaweb.google.com/Bradbutler11 It was an all around a great week, it sucked she had to go back to the real world.

My last week here was pretty slow...didn't do anything to special. Went diving almost everyday and took lots of pics and vids. I also did lots of relaxing (one of my favorite things to do) I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in awhile and that was nice.

The last few days I have sort of shifted gears. I've been making sure that everything is squared away for Asia. I am now sitting here looking at my bags packed lying on the floor just waiting to go to the airport...I am so ready. I know this is going to be one of the best trips ever. I got an email from Will this morning and he has safely landed in Bangkok, and he is waiting for the rest of us to get there. Brandon left at 7 a.m. this morning, so he is flying somewhere over the Pacific right now as I'm writing this. It's kind of crazy when you really think about it lol. All I am really doing is playing the waiting game...I am about to go to Outback Steak House to treat myself to one last western meal. The cool thing is...I know that I am not going to miss a "western meal". I love the food in Thailand...I love it all. Truthfully I will feel more at home living out a backpack and hostels than I do here in Maui. That is probably why I am so excited and ancy lol.

Well I am off to Outback now...I'll get back at ya when I am somewhere in Thailand :op.

Aloha and Wadee Khrap Thailand

Commando

So Taco Tuesday was better than expected. They were even better than I remember. I was not real hungry so I just ordered two tacos, but after I inhaled the two I had to order a third lol.

When I was living here in Maui last year my friends would always tell me about this crazy hike called Commando. I heard all kinds of stories about how awesome it is, but I never made time for it. This time I did. This morning we woke up early and headed towards the famous hike.

The hike starts out just hiking up a trail that dead ends into a moderate size creek. We hike/swim up the creek for I would guess to be about half a mile. It was tough because of the running water and the moss covered rocks (super slick). I was basically crawling on all fours so I wouldn't fall too hard. After that we came to this section that was covered with thick long intermingled vines that we had to negotiate our way through. Just past the vines we came to this little pool. We had to swim across the pool to a small waterfall which was the end of a lava tube. It was a simple trek through out the first part of the lava tube. The top was open and it wasn't too slick or steep. Then we came to what looked like a dead end, (LOL) but not quite. It was about a 10ft water fall straight up. Keep in mind that the width we of the tube was only about 4ft across, and we had to climb up the fall through the rushing water. It was crazy...I mean there was a ton of water rushing down, not just a little trickle. To climb it we had to shimmy our way up one foot on each side of the tunnel while the rushing water was trying to knock us down. After the first three people make it up I didn't think it would be too bad, but then the 4th person was climbing up and the one thing that we were all scared of happened.... he tumbled down. I couldn't believe what I just saw; he was 10ft up in the air nothing but jagged lava rock below, and he just dropped straight down. It happened so fast there was nothing that anyone could do. He hit the ground and I did not know what to think or do. As soon as he hit, he looked up at Brandon and said "I am ok" he kept repeating it over and over. He stood up and insisted he was ok. I thought he was just in shock. I made him turn around and let us look at his back and his head to check him over, but there was nothing. I was sure that I was going to see a huge gash or broken bone, but there was nothing not even a scratch. I couldn't believe it...after that horrific fall he didn't even have a bruise.

So after the big scare we make our way up the fall and this time we are very careful and spot him a little closer. We continue up stream and enter the cover section of the lava tube. This part was pretty sketchy as well especially considering what had happen just before. Once we enter the main portion of the lava tube we loose 95% of the light. So we are basically in the pitch black walking in this narrow tube, and every 15 ft or so we have to feel out way up a small fall. In between some of the falls we had to swim across. It is a weird feeling swimming in the pitch black not knowing exactly where you are going. After the lava tube it was just easy hiking through the forest. We did have three cliff jumps to finish off the gnarly hike and I was not mentally prepared for those. The first jump was a little scary because it was in a narrow spot with a bridge over head, so we had to make sure not to hit the bridge with our head when we jumped off. The second jump was just HIGH. I don't know exactly how high but probably around 50ft. It's definitely the highest cliff jump I have ever done. The last jump was just a small one but we had to hit a sweet spot to avoid any accidents, but wasn't too bad.

This was an awesome hike I couldn't believe everything that we had just done. I really wish I had pics of this adventure, but it would have been tough bringing my camera along. I may do it again with a disposable cam...we will see.

It all starts in Maui

I left Maui 1 year and three months ago. I have missed this lifestyle since the day I returned to Austin last Sept. I missed the peaceful calm of the Pacific. I missed waking up in the morning and being able to look out one window to see gorgeous mountains and look out the other to see the deep blue pacific.
Today was my first day back and I could not have asked for anything more. We woke up early and headed to my favorite dive spot called Black Sands. I can't remember the last time I was this excited. The water was smooth and clear a perfect day for some free diving. After our 2 hour dive I have my fix for the day. We saw all kinds of marine life. We saw several taco, (octopus) a good size frog fish, several eels, some turtles and many more cool creatures. It was a great first dive. You can check out the pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/home

Tonight we will be heading to Freds for Taco Tuesday another big void in my life since I left last year. The best tacos ever!!! I will let you know how that goes:)

Almost to Maui

I leave for Maui in 14 days!!!! I can't believe I am leaving so soon. It seems like last week when I was trying to get my resume put together and looking for a Job. Now I am about to leave my Job and live a dream for the next year. I can't wait for that moment when I board the plane. It is going to be bitter sweet. I am going to miss my family and friends, but I know that when I return...I will have experienced something that few people get to, and I am fortunate to have this opportunity. I owe it all to my family and friends who have supported me in my decision to leave, helped me save my money, and plan this dream.