Korea to Thailand to Korea to China!

The month of December was wonderful. As you know I booked my ticket to Thailand (which was unreal). However, before I left for Thailand, my two favorite Canadians, Melissa and Lauren, came to visit me in Busan. Melissa and Lauren both worked with me when I was at Lex Kim. They are both still there! I don't know what they are doing that I wasn't, but I am amazed that they can handle it there this long. They were supposed to come Dec 9-11, but being a foreigner in Korea can be HARD! A long story short: they couldn't get on a train to Busan and had to come the following weekend. 


I was SOOOO happy to see them. I really miss my friends in Seoul. Especially Lauren, Melissa and Adrienne. I was so lucky to have met these girls. (We all worked at Lex Kim together at one point) I have been in Busan for 2 months now and haven't met anyone like those 3. I wish they could move here with me! Anyway, their train didn't get in till like 2 am or something. So of course I went out with Emma until they arrived. It was such a wonderful reunion! In the morning we went ice skating with my students at one of the malls here. It was my first "field-trip" (i say "field-trip" because it was on a Saturday) in Korea. I am happy that Lauren and Melissa got to be a part of it because I don't see Lex Kim ever doing something like that. I liked that I got to share a part of my school with them. They got to see how different the kids and staff are. On top of that we all got to go ice skating for free and we had been talking about going in Seoul for awhile. 

 lookin' good in our helmets

That night we went out for Mexican food and my friend Andrew met us there. It was pretty good. We then went home and drank a little (a lot) before heading out to the bars in Kyungsung University area. Kyungsung is virtually the only place I really go out so far in Busan. I have not been as adventurous here as I was in Seoul. Meaning I am super lazy and content. When I was in Seoul, I feel like I would go out 40 minutes from my apt. I met people and would travel to see them. Here I know like 3 people and don't care so much. I need to change that.


We went to Thursday Party, Blue Monkey and Ghetto. You can see all 3 entrances if you stand on the street. We had so much fun. We made friends with some Korean guys at Thursday Party, played darts, beat them, and made them buy us beers for it. They headed to Ghetto, and we headed to Blue Monkey. We danced at Blue Monkey and did god knows what. Then we decided it was time to get Ghetto. Ha. I love this club. Lauren danced up on this Korean guy all night. Hilarious. We ended the night eating at some meat restaurant. I was sad to see them go in the morning. It was so short lived. :( 


The weekend after they left I departed for Thailand!!!! Thailand was incredible and I recommend it to anyone who can go! I met so many people there who became lifers. They got there and just never went home. Your money goes really far there. You can get a decent meal there (curry) for 60 baht which is about $1.89. It was beautiful. The time I was there is as follows Dec. 25: Phuket Dec. 26, 27: Krabi Dec. 28, 29: Koh Phi Phi Dec: 30, 31: Phuket.



The first day in Phuket was wonderful. I spent it with Elena and Tom on Patong Beach.

 Patong

We drank and I played soccer with some Thai guys. Later on I met some Israelis and we drew a field in the sand and had a game. It was good fun. Elena, Tom and I stayed at a hostel called Cheap Charlies. It was pretty nice. We went back there to shower before dinner and going out. We ate street food which proved to be pretty horrendous.

 The squid I ate...

 We then went out to Bangla road which is just a college kid's playground. It is loaded with bars with stripper poles and Thai girls dancing on the poles and bars (not well). We met up with some friends that Tom and Elena had met the 2 nights before. It was a pretty fun night but nothing too crazy. 


The next day we were slow to get moving in the morning. We had no idea that the ferries stopped going to Krabi at 12. Needless to say we had to take a bus. I was in shock that we could take a bus since we were on an island, but I guess there is a tiny bridge. The 2.5 hr bus ride took 5. We spent the day traveling but it wasn't too bad. When we got to Aonang, we went out to eat and got a few drinks before going to sleep. We woke up pretty early and went to the beach. It was gorgeous.

 Beautiful Aonang

 We went all the way down to one end to get away from the people. We saw this tiny trail up one of the -- i realize i don't even know what they are called... cliffs? 

You decide. There was a sign that said "Danger. Do not feed the monkeys for your own safety" at the bottom so we set off up this trail/ladder that looked like something my brother would have made when he was 12.

 I should have turned back to grab my camera but I didn't! :( We kept climbing higher and higher. Finally at the top there were monkeys everywhere and an unimaginable view of the ocean and beach on both sides of this massive piece of land/rock. The monkeys would walk right up to you. One tried to take the ring off my finger. Not in a fast stealing way. Just curious. We went back down and had breakfast on the beach. 

While laying out on the beach, the monkeys came down from their cliff. They were everywhere. Drinking coffees, bananas, anything people would give them. Elena found us and put a bag of her stuff down. 

 This monkey is drinking coffee

A monkey ran up and started going through it. While Elena was in shock, the monkey grabbed her almonds. Elena grabbed them and they started fighting over them when another monkey ran up squealing. Elena let go and they ran. It was insane. At one point when I was trying to get a monkey to get on my shoulder I thought to myself "what would my mother think right now" as I tried to nudge a shoulder at a wild monkey. My face 3 inches from it. 


Around noon we decided to go to Tonsai. One of the guys in the band we saw the night before told us to go there. It was just around the cliffs. You can only get there by boat. When the tide goes out, Tonsai connects to Railay. Both of the beaches are a hot spot for rock climbers. It was extremely chill there. 

 coming in to Tonsai Beach

I wish we could have stayed there longer. (I wish I could still be there right now). We stayed late into the night and watched another reggae band. At one point a song came on and Elena, Tom and I all started singing it at the same time. We didn't know how we knew it. We ultimately decided that we heard in the night before. 

The next day, Elena and I headed to Koh Phi Phi. Tom decided to go back to Phuket. Koh Phi Phi was amazing. So beautiful. I didn't know this before I got there, but there are no automobiles allowed on Koh Phi Phi. It is a very small island so it was nice. There was a big tourist vibe, but I didn't mind. A lot of people from Europe and Australia. We laid out on the beach drinking coconut or pineapple shakes, eating Phad Thai and Curry. Green Curry is the best! At night all the beach bars had fire shows. I found a bar on the beach that played a good mix of drum and bass and dubstep. It was nice vibing with the weirdos there. :-)

 Ao Lo Dalum on Koh Phi Phi Don

 Red Curry YUM

 Green Curry Double YUM YUM

 Coconut Doughnut 

 Cute little Thai girl

 Coconut Shake

 Fire Shows

The next day, Elena and I decided to take a tour to Koh Phi Phi Leh.

 Phi Phi Leh in the distance

 A Thai man on his long-tail 

 Elena with a monkey 

We picked a tour with cliff jumping. We had to jump off the boat, swim to the cliff and climb up before we jumped. Once at the top I was so scared to jump. My heart was racing. The Thai guy named Art who was in charge of the tour asked me if I was scared. I said yes and he said it's good to be afraid. When I asked why, he told me it was good to feel something. I laughed at this. It made me think about how many times he has jumped of this cliff and how many times he has come up here with foreigners who are afraid to jump. What is he supposed to say? You're a pussy. Jump! Of course not. Is he supposed to say ok don't do it if you don't want to? No. So he settled with this. I liked it. It made all the sense in the world. If you jump and don't feel anything, what is the point. Also, when do you ever feel that fear in everyday life. The adrenaline. I jumped 3 times.

After that we went to Koh Phi Phi Leh. We went to Pih Leh Bay first. It is a lagoon with no beach in it. It was gorgeous. 

 Pih Leh Bay

We went swimming here for a little. Then we went snorkeling and headed to Maya Bay (where The Beach was filmed). Maya bay was beautiful. I don't think my pictures did it justice. 

 Entering Maya Bay

 Elena and Art

When we got back to Phi Phi Don, we showered and went out for a bit. We ran into our "tour guide" and his friend. We hung out with them for a little and then went in. 

The next day I laid out on the beach while I waited to take a boat back to Phuket. I don't know how we lucked out to get the beach so empty. It was so beautiful.

I spent my first quiet night in Kata Beach, a little south of Patong. I had to go to the airport the next night. I didn't really like Kata so I headed to Patong the next day with all my stuff hoping to find somewhere to put it while I laid out the beach. I was walking down Bangla Road when I literally ran into Tom. What a lucky chance. He brought me back to Cheap Charlies. (I would have never found it) We put down my stuff and laid on the beach all day. It was great. 

We had to head back to the hostel to catch a ride to the airport. We knew we would spend New Years there so we decided to celebrate at as many bars on the way back to the hostel.

 At 7 we headed to the airport and it was back to Busan. I spent my New Years in the Bangkok airport. Oh well.


Back in Busan I went to lunch at a buffet with Andrew. I missed his birthday while I was gone so took him out for lunch. It was delicious. In that aftermath vacation depression that I always seem to get, I decided I needed to go to China with Lauren and Melissa for Lunar New Year. I bought my ticket and am in the process of getting my visa! I am so excited. Emma is coming with too. The only downside was that our visas cost $200 USD!!! While Lauren and Melissa's (Canadians) cost like $60. Wah. Oh well. I am so excited to go. <3 I will surely blog after that experience. 


I miss you all at home and hope you had a wonderful holiday!