Take a look at all of your possessions. What do you want? What do you need? What are you willing to give up?

It sounds like an incredibly hard decision. Once you’ve made up your mind, it’s really not.

Think of it in these terms: What do you need to survive? What giant TV? Nope. Your BluRay/ DVD collection? Nope. The knickknacks that you’ve gathered throughout the years that you always thought so important to your life? Nope.

(more…)

We walk to a coffee shop and get on the Wifi. Jay looks for places to stay. Maybe we’re getting used to this because there’s no stress or tension this time. There’s a bunch of places to stay, but Jay, sweet girl that she is, picks one with a gym for me, despite the online reviews saying the rooms stink. Not stink in a “this place sucks” kind of way, but a literal bad aroma emanating from the room. We figured it was just uptight travelers.

I can’t help but notice a sculpture of a giant crab while Jay researches.

(more…)

This deserves it’s own post and header as it was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. The ferry itself was fine, but why does one dick always decide to watch Anime videos while everyone is trying to sleep? This is not a child, mind you, this is a grown ass man. I went on the deck a few times to watch the moonlit ocean wash beneath us and to take in the cool breeze. Unfortunately, my camera wasn’t able to capture a quality image of the moment.

Arriving on the dock in Surat Thani at 4:40am, we were told to go to the right because we were going to Krabi. We thought we’d be waiting an hour or so for a bus. Other people from the boat got led to the side, and others went in various pickup trucks/ taxis. After a few minutes, we were told to get on a pickup with a French couple. We were told we were going to the bus station.

(more…)

Ko Tao. It’s time to go.

There’s a skinny cement path that goes all along Soiree Beach to the pier. It’s littered with stores, resorts, people, dogs, motorcycles, scooters, and motorcycles with a side attached to carry supplies. It’s very annoying to walk down.

To get to Krabi, we have to take a ferry, then a bus. The ferry leaves at 9pm and we’re to get to Krabi at 8:30am. It sounds long, but at least places should be open when we arrive.

We walk along the path to the pier, trying to find the best price from a travel agency. Our packs weigh a ton. After traipsing all the way to the pier, the best price was actually kilometers away, close to the resort we stayed at. We had stopped there, but no one was working it seemed, and thus, moved on, thinking we’d find the equivalent price along the way. Nah. So we walked all the way back, discovered someone working there, bought our vouchers, then went all the way back to the pier to wait. For hours.

(more…)

We’re now in Krabi Town, which seems like the biggest town we’ve been in so far, other than Bangkok, which I don’t really count s we never left Khaosan Road. How we got here was a trip, let me tell you (I made a pun), but more on that later.

Ko Tao: Never have I seen more Englishmen and Germans in my life. It was like being on the front lines of World War II, if that war were fought topless and the goal was to be the first to obtain pancakes. Actually, that could lead to a fairly homoerotic war. (more…)

We haven’t noticed much of a culture shock here; either because we knew what we were getting into, or because, as Jay thinks, we hail from Toronto, which is very multicultural.

Safety be damned! – There are no lifeguards anywhere. There’s no warning signs. One could easily have a heart attack climbing up that monkey temple and there’s no one to save you. It’s common to see a family of four and a dog on a single scooter. Speaking of which…

(more…)