The next morning I was off to Phuket and I was ready to get
my beach on. I got there tooooo early though. I had so much stall time
before I could actually check in to my hostel. On top of that I had to
use the bathroom so bad. I dropped my luggage off and waited until the
shopping center opened up so I could use a nice restroom...for FREE!
Please be advised the public restrooms in Thailand are hard to find and
will charge you money to us it. After that order of business was
settled, I got a traditional Thai massage and ate lunch. Finally, I
could check in and get beach ready. The only problem was, how can I get
in the water and make sure my towel, phone and money are safe. That is
the beauty of traveling with people. So I just baked in the sun and
played in the sand.
Locals kept approaching me asking if I want to Parasail and
do other water activities. They all asked me where I am from, to which I
replied "guess." Most of them guessed correctly except for one man.
First he yells out Bob Marley when he sees me. Then he guesses I am from
Africa. This prompted me to ask him where he thought Bob Marley was
from. Africa of course! I guess after he said that I didn't feel so
annoyed because he didn't know anything about geography if Jamaica is in
Africa. Just because I changed my hairstyle and got braids many Asians,
even in Korea tell me I have reggae style. It's annoying but what can
you do. One night in Bangkok I kept hearing some guys yell Africa...hey
Africa. All this just from a hairstyle. If I was darker skinned I would
probably hear it all the time.
Anyway, the sun drained my energy so after eating I went to
my hostel and took a nap. I woke up with the worst headache but I still
managed to get dressed and go out to see what this party town looked
like at night. Luckily, my hostel was in the middle of all the action.
That was the only good thing about my hostel though because it was the
worst, especially the bathroom. I sucked it up because it was knly for
one night and I wanted to be where all the action was. Once again, being
alone with a banging headache was a downer. It was definitely a sight
to see with all the go go dancers, bars and loud music. I went to a bar,
had a pina colada and left. Boooo! After walking around a little more I
decided to call it a night and mentally prepare for the next beach
destination.
The next day, a shuttle van picked me up to go to the
ferry. The ferry ride was so relaxing that my lingering headache flew
away in the breeze. I thought it would be smooth sailing all the way.
Then, they started dividing the boat. I could not understand a word they
were saying over the speakers and when I asked other people they said
they didn't know either. I just stayed on the boat all the way. When I
got there they looked confused and put me in a taxi. The taxi took me to
the ticket booth to buy I ticket to go to the island I was supposed to
go to in the first place. After almost an hour of walking around trying
to come up with an alternate plan I finally gave in and bought a ticket
for the next boat. When I got to the island I quickly realized how it
would have been better to check into my hostel first so I could reboot.
Once again, I needed a restroom, needed to leave my luggage
somewhere and change and needed to eat. As soon as I got to the island I
realized all this and didn't stop to enjoy it. I rushed straight to the
opposite side of the beach to take another boat to town where my hostel
was. The boat operators told me to wait a little for them to get enough
people to fill the boat. A little turned into hours. I kept watching
other foreigners getting in boats in leaving. Why? The operators kept
telling me that those people scheduled a ride through their hotel. I
figured that meant they were hotel guests. Finally I couldn't take it
anymore and went in the hotel to use the restroom and eat. Just when I
was about to order, all of a sudden the boat operators were ready to
take me and found some more people.
I think they were afraid I would schedule a ride through
the hotel. They kept trying to charge me more to take the boat by myself
but when I entered the hotel they suddenly found people. Suspicious?
Despite that it was nice to talk to the locals. Even when I take the
shuttle buses or taxis I try to talk to the locals and see what they're
about. As soon as I got to my hostel I was able to meet some other nice
and friendly travelers. Two Irish girls invited me to come with them to
the Tiger temple. We had a funny cab ride to the temple in a broken down
car. Then we had to hike up 1237 steps to the temple. Needless to say I
was the slowest one but it was still nice and I got to talk to a lot of
people along the way. The girls were nice enough to wait for me too. I
victoriously made it to the top. It was very rewarding to accomplish
that and take in the view.
On the way back to the hostel I was so exhausted and I
realized I never got to eat. I felt like I could faint. After resting
for a few minutes, I went with another girl I met at the hostel to eat some dinner.
Before I knew it the day was over but there was still so much happening.
The hostel next door even had live music. But I was just happy with how
the day turned around. The next day I went to breakfast with one of the
girls. It was so nice how Thailand serves a real breakfast at many
restaurants. It was one of the things I really missed from home. After
breakfast it was on to the train station to ride back to Bangkok. It was
definitely a journey to get to the Suratthani train station. I had to
take a taxi to a bus to a car to a local bus. Even with that I still
got there too early and waited several hours for the train I bought a
ticket for. Even the workers were laughing at me.
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