The traffic was awful. We were almost not moving at all. To go 100 meters it took us maybe 15 minutes. The bus driver kept on jumping out of the bus, buying something at the street and getting back and still being able to move with the rest of the traffic. We finally reached Kathi’s bus stop, so I knocked on the window. It worked, she saw me and now it was two of us in the bus, heading towards the right destination. Promising so far.
The traffic was still awful and getting to Khao San Road to find Peter took us maybe a half an hour more. Then the fun began. I was constantly checking people in my window and I saw Peter sitting there, but the bus didn’t stop. I tried to explain for the driver and ticket guy that I have a friend on the road and that they need to stop so I could get him. Somehow it worked, they stopped, I left all of my stuff in the bus and ran for Peter. He called me at the same time, maybe sensing something, so I tried to tell him to go towards the bus. Didn’t work out. I had to get to him and take him to bus. We must have looked foolishly, running, him with the huge luggage. But Thai people are so sweethearts, learned it once again. The bus was waiting for us and greeted me back in the bus with the smile. It worked. So now we were all in the bus, bus the traffic jam was still awful that we started wondering, if we can catch a bus to Krabi, since the last one leaves at 8 p.m.
We got to the station a little after seven, got tickets, got some snacks for the trip and went for the bus. The bus was VIP first class and oh my, that was the best bus ever. Seats were comfortable and plenty space for feet. We got pink blankets [Steffany was cheered up immediately], some bund, some water, some snacks. And some stupid horror kind of movie, of course. We talked a little in the bus, while riding. At some point the bus stopped and we got some orange juice and yoghurt as a night snack I guess, got back on the bus, tried to sleep a little and got to Krabi in the early morning.
After a little of consideration we decided not to waste time in Krabi and go straight for Koh Phi Phi, which is now officially known as `my paradise`. Yes, unfortunately, this title no longer belongs to Crete. Which now is `not paradise but pretty damn close to it`. We got a boat+pick-up tickets, waited a little and got on the boat. 1.5 hours of the boat ride and we get off in Koh Phi Phi, which greets us with crowd of tourists and enormous heat.
Some guy took us to the place where we could get a room. We took room for 3 people with fan for 1100 Baht. As for the Koh Phi Phi, it’s pretty cheap. We were going to the guesthouse and here I realized that they have no motor vehicles in there. Well, on the last day I saw one scooter, but that was a police guy, so it makes different. So no cars, no pick-ups, no scooters, just bicycles and long tail boats. We got into the place, but we couldn’t check in, so we just dropped our bags and went for the breakfast. We managed to find a Muslim place with no alcohol [not that I need alcohol for breakfast, but it’s just weird, or is it just me?], but with gorgeous banana pancakes, we ate and went back to check in. the room, after it was cleaned, looked much better. We took our showers took our time and went to the beach.
The beach was extremely hot, water as well, full of tourists. It is kind of destroyed by people, but still looks amazing, with all of those rocks and that amazing colour of the water. We stayed there for a little, I went for a walk, to take some pictures, walked back, talked them to go for the view point and so we left. It was a bit hard walk up the stairs and stones with flip-flops, but the view was worth it. So we stayed there for a while, catching our breaths, taking pictures and just enjoying the time.
We went back to the room after a while, changed our clothes and went for dinner. We found a very nice place and sat down. Just after we ordered our food, the rain started pouring. It was like a tropical storm and I loved it. Once again, something that goes down from the sky makes me feel like washing some of my original sin. So we ate, then ran in the rain to some almost Irish pub for some beers and went back to our place. Night in the bus with almost no sleep kicked in me very hard and I was almost sleeping while sitting in the porch, so I left them and went to sleep.
The next day we started with some very slow breakfast [how come is it that you get food in street kitchen in maybe two minutes max, and in some restaurant it takes around half an hour?] and rushed for the snorkeling trip around the islands in the area. We walked all the way to the pier, waited there a bit and finally got to the boat, than moved to another boat and waited some more. While moving to another boat, me, of course, with my clumsiness, I managed to hit one guy in his head. I started apologizing and he said `it’s ok, I’m used to get punched`, so I replied `oh, good, because I’m used to punch people` and got a smile as a response. While waiting, I was just making some pictures and observing two guys in hour boat. The language they spoke I could not completely get, but some of the words sounded Greek. If that wasn’t enough, one of them was a smaller version of one of my Greek friends and another one looked like Greek as well. This another one actually had an amazing face – it looked like a very nice piece of art. Seeing them there reminded me of my times in Greece. All of the fun I had there, all of the tragic moments, that I finally can remember with the smile and all of the people. I missed being called a bastard once again.
We made a first stop in a place, what they call `The Shark point` and did our first snorkeling. I remember I tried it couple of times in Lithuania when I was a kid, but it’s been ages. And so there, it was a definite `do one thing that scares you every day` for that day. I got a panic attack. Well, not a terrible one, but still, it was a bit frightening. But I manage to cope with it, do some snorkeling, see some fish, but no sharks though. We snorkeled for a while, got back to boat and moved for the Bamboo island. That island could easily get the name of the paradise, because it’s amazing. The sand is white, the colour of the sea is unbelievable and some palm trees around just fits into the scenery.
I always used to think that they are using a lot of photoshopping for the pictures in travel agency, but when you see the same colour here and now, you realize that it actually can look like that. In the island we had lunch, stayed a bit, shot some pictures and went back to the boat. This time we went to the Mosquito island, which is mainly just a big rock and we did our second snorkeling in there. This time I had no more of the panic attack, so I managed to enjoy it even more. I saw some corals, much more fishes, those black sea hedgehogs or whatever those things are called and got back to the boat. We moved along the Koh Phi Phi island and got into the Monkey beach. It wasn’t any special beach, only that sand was more as a powder and the water was not transparent at all and then there are monkeys in the beach, so you can feed them, get bitten or make pictures of them.
After that it was time to go to Koh Phi Phi Lay or whatever it’s called, better known as the island of the movie `The Beach`. We started with seeing some Viking cave, where, to our surprise, was some sort of street kitchen restaurant. Then we moved to some sort of lagoon, where the scenery was amazing. That baby blue colour water and big rocks around there. Amazing place to just sit in a boat and look around. After that we came to one more snorkeling spot, watch some underwater life again and finally got into the beach from `The Beach`.
If there were no tourists and endless boats in there, it would be a real paradise beach. Even with people, it was still kind of amazing. We had an hour there, so after a bit it started to be a bit boring, so we decided to make a sand castle. The sand was really bad for that, so we only managed to make a pile of sand there. We still had plenty of time, so we decided to dig tunnel under it. It went for a while, but we managed and went just went on with making pictures and laughing hardly. And then back to the boat.
On our way back we were going to see the sunset, which wasn’t very special and I had no possibility to jump over the sun. Well, maybe another time. Maybe later.
But on our way back we started talking with those two `Greek guys` and a Swedish girl. I learned soon that Greeks guys are actually from Israel and I was so confused, because for starters I was sure they were Greeks and also, they looked nothing like other two guys from Israel I met couple of days ago. We talked about traveling, cameras, making pictures and other stuff. They were very nice people. One of those Israeli guys told me he did not like Laos at all and I was seriously shocked by that. Later he said he was in Vang Vieng and Don Det only, so I said `Ok, no judgment` and his friend responded `she’s sarcastic, I like it`. We joked about pictures, talked about extreme jumping off the cliffs [one of them did it from 20 meters height and if you ask me – that’s insanely extreme]. I would have loved to hang out with them for some more later, but once they got off the boat, I lost their sight. Oh well.
We got back home, got a little rest and went for some dinner. We went to The Pirates House, if I recall correctly and had some tasty curry [at least me]. After we were just going along the street and I saw Carolin standing in one of the bars. So I went to say hello to her and surprise her with me being in the island. So Kathi went for a massage, Peter went home to work on something and I stayed with Carolin and her new friends for a beer. There were two Australian and three American guys, later on Argentinian and Brazilian girls joined as well. It was pretty funny, especially when one of the Americans proved their sometimes big lack of geography knowledge, since he have never heard about Lithuania. Another guy knew about it, but mainly only because of the basketball and some Lithuanians playing in NBA. Another one hit Carolin’s bottle of beer, so it would run out as a fountain, but it did not work out for him and I was just in time and in the right place to do the same for him. Unfortunately this is how I made two enemies and they both tried to get revenge on me. They managed at one point and spilled at least half of my beer, but at least after that it was over. Kathi joined us after her massage, after a while Peter showed up as well and we all went to the beach, to some sort of beach party. We danced there a little and then we somehow separated, so I decided to go home, hoping that someone with a key is already there. I got back and found locked doors. So I called Kathi and learned that she has no key, but is going home as well. I started calling Peter, but no luck. So we were sitting there, in front of our doors, desperately trying to pick up the lock, which wasn’t really successful and constantly calling Peter. And just at the moment when we thought we will have to go back to look for him he answered and soon enough got back. The day was over.
The next morning we woke up and went for the beach. We sat there and in the beginning I was planning on going for a walk anywhere there around, but after some consideration, decided to take a day off and just do nothing for a change. Mainly just enjoy the paradise. We stayed there, swimming from time to time, up until some dark clouds came on the sky and we decided it’s time to go back home before it started raining like crazy. It didn’t rain, but we again, had some rest, changed clothes, went for some dinner and then we were figuring what to do next and where to go next. So we ended up with them taking the buckets and me taking a beer and just sitting in the beach, watching the fire shows and listening to the music. Kathi at some point went home, after a while Peter did the same, but I did not feel like going home, so I stayed.
I walked around a little bit, hoping somehow to meet someone I met during my trips, since SEA is such a small place and you always run into the same people, but there was no one, so I ended up back in the beach, sitting by myself and going through the mess in my head. I was sitting like that not for too long when two guys asked if they could join me. Two Swedish, very nice and very young guys they were, apologizing constantly that their English is not that good. But they were sweet and we talked a bit, but soon enough they decided to join their friends on the dancing floor and I decided to go back home.
The next morning, as usual, I couldn’t sleep. So I left the room, went outside and settled once again for going through my mess in my head. I have been writing some e-mails and some stories before it was almost time to Peter’s boat. I went inside, saw him still asleep, so I woke him up, but he said that his boat was later and slept again. After a while he woke up, packed his bags, we hugged goodbye and he left for Koh Samui. Me and Kathi, we packed our bags, went for breakfast, went for a little shopping [yes, finally Steffany was happy, even if for only a little bit] and went for a beach, since we still had some time before our boat.
We came to the pier a little too early, so we went into one of the bars, took the last Chang in the paradise, got onto the boat and sadly had to say goodbye to the place that will now be known as the place that competed with Crete and became my official paradise.
The boat was changed into the pick-up, the pick-up was changed in to the Khao San Roadish bus and we went to our 12 hours ride to the Bangkok. It was supposed to be a long and tiring trip. It was horrible in the beginning, after battery of my computer went dead, since I had no book to read and couldn’t sleep, since it’s a bus. But after a while, with all of the lack of sleep for the last couple of weeks and having completely nothing to do, I managed to fall asleep. It was going on and off, my sleep, I mean, and then finally, 5.45 a.m. we got back to Bangkok. It’s amazing, how both of us, Kathi and me were so happy to be back in Bangkok. After such a horrible trip [she also had troubled sleep this time] it was great to stand on the Bangkokian ground. Since we are already almost locals in the city, we rejected all offers for the cabs and tuk-tuks, went to the bus stop, caught the bus and minutes later, I already enjoyed being in my own room.
The tripping was over. Time to catch up being with Bangkok for the last time. Well, for me at least. Damn, I’m going to miss this part of the world, big times.
Off Topic
I’m going mad or I’m going crazy. Or maybe both at the same time. And I don’t know what is happening. I’m trying to write it off as an anxiety attack due to the changes, but I cannot even recognize myself. I’m not used to see myself like that. And it makes me scared.
Once again, I’m making a promise here, out loud, to myself – it’s over. I don’t look back, I don’t give up, I don’t question. I’ve made my choice and I will stick to it. At least this way I’m going to be honest. With myself. Well, and with Steffany as well.
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