South East Asia Packing List

AAAAAAAAAAAAND WE’RE BACK! As some of you know I am now living in beautiful Melbourne Australia working for Lululemon by day and slinging drinks as a bartender by night. One might say that I have reintegrated myself into the matrix and I am walking amongst the unsaved. One of the down sides to doing this is time really flies by. I was thinking back to my trip yesterday while on a tram home from work and I realized something horrible… I WAS FORGETTING PARTS OF IT! SO I am really going to try and hammer out my next few blog posts. Also, one thing I really wish I did was document my whole experience better. If I had brought a little netbook computer with me I could have been blogging, making notes, editing picture, and uploading files while backpacking! I also wish I brought a “Go Pro”! They really aren’t that expensive and you can use it under water, which really would have come in handy! Unfortunately I did not any of these things. But you live and you learn and you know what they say “Experience is what you get with things don’t go your way”. SOOOOOOOOO I thought I would post my South East Asia Packing List and a list of things I really wish I had brought with me on my trip. So any of you can learn from my mistakes.

Things I wish I brought:
- A little netbook
- A waterproof camera
- A rain cover for my bag
- Big tube of Polysporin and tons of bandaids 

Things you HAVE TO BRING!!!:
- Headlight
- iPod touch (kindle app, good player app, know how to use GPS, Skype with credit, skyscanner and Agoda app)
- Debut/Visa card
- Camel pack equipped daypack
- Good slip on shoes
- A solid neck pillow

Things To Get Before You Go:
- Flight
- Visas (Vietnam and China are the only ones you have to do in advance. Ask me
any info you want about these specifically. I also got a two month visa for Thailand the second time I went back in and a two month visa for Indo.)
- Shots (I got Jap-enseph shot and don’t regret it. It was all piece of mind)
- Fill any prescriptions to last the length of your trip
- Ensure your passport is valid for at least 2 years
- Register with the Canadian Embassy to let them know where you will be and for
how long

South East Asia Packing List:
- Large travel pack 45 Litre is the best because it’s the biggest bag I believe that will fit in overhead compartment on a plane! Low cost airlines charge a lot for checking a bag. So if you cannot have to get hit with these charges each time you fly that is awesome! (Bring a backpack rain cover!)
- Money belt (waterproof is a good idea!)
- Smaller daypack (Mine has a camel pack built in and I LOVE it)
- Photocopies of passport, travel insurance, any other important docs
- Passport photos (BRING LIKE 6 EXTRA!)
- iPod and headphones (You need a solid ipod touch or iphone SOO USEFUL!!!)
- Small laptop/netbook. I really wish I had brought a little netbook. For movies, surfing the internet, blogging, but most of all uploading pics. My camera’s memory card got three viruses from random computer cafes. Have a plan for uploading pics!)
- A Kindle is a good investment but you can just get the kindle app for your ipod touch!
- Camera (Extra batteries and memory cards)
- Chargers for all electronics and adapters. Just buy one universal one. (You really don't need an adapters for most of SEA. Every wall socket is north American accessible! Except indo and Oz)
- First aid kit
- Solid shampoo, soap/face wash (the least amount of liquids, the better. I just took tons of extra soaps from hostels and never bought one haha.)
- Sunscreen and Zinc!!!!!!!!!!  spf 60 waterproof worked wonders for me.
- Sleeping bag liner OPTIONAL (light weight) I only used mine three times the whole seven months haha. But it was nice to have when I did need it.
- Runners, flip flops, and slip on shoes
- Long sleeve shirt and at least 1 pair of long pants
- Pack light for clothing, a handfull of tanks/t-shirts, shorts and bathing suits. (Its great I just wear bathing suits all day log! NO UNDERWEAR! U WILL LOVE IT!)
- Don’t bring a Mosquito net (Most places have one set up if needed)
- bug spray/lotion
- Padlock (bring 2 or 3 small ones to lock up your back and for mini lock boxes at hostels)
- HEADLAMP!!!
- Swiss Army Knife
- Safety Pins
- Ziplock Bags
- Ear Plugs
- Don’t bring toilet paper (you can grab a roll when your down here)
- Towel (one of those dope lu lu quick dry towels)
- Silk Long Johns of very breezy hiking pants
- Rain Gear(MEC Jacket)
- Hat to protect from sun (YES!)
- Sunglasses (you can buy them down here if you want.)
- Travel alarm clock (just use your ipod)

Diving, Islands, and BURGER CHALLENGES!!! Ie (Thailand Part 2)

 So much for consistent blog posts eh team? I do have an excuse though so hear me out! I finished part two (ie this blog post) and half my Malaysia blog about two or three months ago. BUT… because I am a cotton headed ninny mutton I didn’t bring a small netbook to upload pictures from or type out blog posts. Thus, I have been using the Swiss army knife of travel tools…. An itouch. Unfortunately this amazing lifeline was destroyed when a power transistor outside my hostel in Kuta Lombok blew up and sent a power serge back threw the sockets frying anything plugged into the wall, which… included Jessica (my itouch). As you can imagine it took me many a moon to complete a blog post use an itouch and there were tons of other important documents and random memories on there. So living with this loss has been hard. I am sure you guys have all been there right? It’s really annoying when you have worked hard on writing something and then it gets lost or destroyed and you have to rewrite the damn thing again; and you know it’s going to be exactly the same but only with an extra long paragraph at the beginning bitchening and complain about how you lost it in the first pla…

So Koh Tao!!!! That sounds fun right? …… YOU’RE RIGHT, IT’S AMAZING!!!

Koh Tao, Thailand

Out of all the islands I visited on my trip in South East Asia my favourite was Koh Tao! The chill vibe, small to medium size, nice people, beautiful beaches, amazing diving, and endless options of things to do made this island a real paradise for me.

When you get to Koh Tao there is one question you should ask yourself. Do you want to get your PADI certification? The answer to this doozy is: YES! It’s an amazing experience breathing underwater and exploring the world that’s under those big old wave! I personally think it should be on everyone’s bucket list.

This is the diving mekka of… well I think the world! There is one other place in South America I have heard of that is similar. I am told that Koh Tao is bigger, cheaper, and better but this information comes from stinky, drunk, and unreliable backpackers. SO WHO KNOWS! The important thing is that diving in Koh Tao is unbelievable! The conditions to learn and begin scuba diving are perfect! The macro and micro are great, the reefs are amazing, and you sometimes get to see whale sharks if your super lucky (damn you Krysten!!!). There is something insane like forty three dive schools on Koh Tao, which is nuts because this is a small island! So it’s a buyers market for sure!

Not a diver? That’s okay there is still sooooo much to do and see while on Koh Tao! I stayed there for over two weeks and could have easily stayed there for another two weeks!

Quick Recap

HOLD UP! I forgot to tell you all how I got to Koh Tao. After Fullmoon, I quickly flew up to Bangkok to grab the vivacious Courtney Ross who was just starting her adventure around South East Asia. Court had never traveled before so I promised I would be there when she landed… and I was! Unfortunately, the very first meal Court had made her… well a bit sick. As Canadians we always like to make even the most vulgar situations sound cute and this is no exception. Court was hit hard right out of the gate with some good old… jelly belly. Thus, we had to stay in Bangkok for a few days. This was fine with me because I had a few friends in Bangkok so it was a great way to send them off. I also got to see two beauties from Canada and my JDC West family so that was awesome. Once Court was feeling a bit better we then bused on down to Koh Tao and BAM! You are up to speed!

Dive Schools

I was recommended by some fellow Canadians to go to Big Blue and dive and stay there. Unfortunately when I got there they were all booked up. I was also told by my good friend Brittia Thompson to try Bans, which is the biggest company on the island. What would I recommend you ask? Well Bans has more of a resort feel to it and Big Blue has more of a summer camp feel. The boats and whole driving process is better at Bans and they have really nice accommodation options if you want that. Big Blue like Bans has a restaurant everyone goes there after an awesome day of diving and parties and it is a lot of fun. Honestly I would go to both and just choose the one that gives you the best deal haha. I love freebees and bargaining so I pushed hard at Bans and got hooked up. I got my PADI Open Water for $270 and my Advanced for $253 and I got thrown in nine days of free accommodations! I had an amazing time! It was definitely one of my highlights of my whole trip. I would suggest to anyone that if you liked the Open Water course do the advanced course! My night dive during my advanced course was my favourite dive in Thailand! I got to stun fish with my flashlight then see a HUGE barracuda eat it! I WAS ESSENTAILLY HELPING A BARRACUDA HUNT!!!! The phosphorescence there was really cool and it’s just a totally different world down there at night!

As I previously said Big Blue was full when we got there and so we checked into Bans and I slept for about two days haha. I think all my aggressive partying from the last two weeks… who am I kidding last four months, finally caught up to me. I was pretty sick for the next nine days haha. My first full day in Koh Tao all I had to do was walk about 40 meters to watch a three hours of PADI educational videos to begin my Open Water Course but that was even too much for me to handle haha. So I ended up doing my Open Water course pretty sick but every time I jumped into the water I felt ok. Everyday I would come back to my room, chug a ton of water, then sleep about fourteen hours, and then wake up early for a few more dives haha. I had such an amazing time doing it sick I don’t even want to think how amazing the experience would have been if I was healthy!!!!

My first four dives were pretty insane! I wish I had a couple thousand-dollar scuba diving camera! My awesome dive instructor Dom was amazing and was the biggest pro environment, super chill, teddy bear, Englishman haha. He really focused on making sure none of us were over weighted, which now that I have done a few more dives with other dive shops I really appreciate! Some of the fish I saw on my first four dives were: blue spotted sting rays, A Bans sea snake (the most poisonous snake in the world!!!), clown fish, huge barracudas, trigger fish (the first one I saw attacked Dom my instructor it was dope!), huge groupers, big travelly, butterfly fish, banner fish, fusiliers, parrot fish, bat fish, blue ring angle fish, box fish (which I love!), puffer fish, massive eels, and a ton of nudi branches. It was like swimming in a huge fish tank! So much life! 

Here's my open water class 

This is a pic of Dom (my instructor) and I after the last dive of my course!

I think my fondest memory of my first four dives was getting our whole group down to the bottom of the dive site and then we all took off our flippers and had a slow motion underwater kung fu fight!!!! In my humble opinion you haven’t really lived until you have partaken in a group underwater brawl! It was so much fun haha. Each open water group has a camera man following them on a few of their dives and this videographer edits all the footage and makes a pretty sweet video of your Open Water group. Then on your last night you all watch it together in the Ban’s restaurant on a big projector screen while sucking back on some big Chiangs (beers)! It’s great! Our fight looked sick! The video costs about $50 though and I was on a pretty strict budget so I didn’t buy our video but my friend Robin did so I am hoping to see it in a few years when I go and visit him in the Netherlands.

During my Open Water Course I had the fortunate opportunity to share a room with Arin Veerapen! Arin and I met in first year uni and have been friends all throughout business school. The two or three days we spent extremely sick together in our room put us in a whole new friend category. Some scary, unnatural, and just plain bad things happened during our time together and I don’t think either of us will ever see each other the same way again ahah. While I was doing my Open Water course Arin was finishing off his Advanced Course. The last night of his course we went out to celebrate and I met a few other backpackers that were in Arin’s course with him. One of these beauties was Christoph Ludvik! How can I describe Christoph… picture if you can Tom Cruise and Zues’s love child at age twenty-two with a hardcore Swede under cut! Haha anyways Christoph is awesome and we got to talking that night and realized we both wanted to head down through Malaysia especially the Perhentian Islands so we decided right then and there that we would meet in Krabi in a few days to start a new and exciting backpack gang! We of course called ourselves: The Wolverines.

After my Open Water course I took two days off to recover and get back to my normal 100% self. I went on a sick hike with my friend Robin (from my Open Water course) to a little Buddhist temple on top of this mountain. If memory serves me right you take your first right (down a drive way of a resort) after the big main gym and then you find this trail up the mountain. Ask anyone in town about it for better (real) directions. Most dive shops give out island maps and it’s on there. It had great views and was a solid hike.

After my two days of recovery I was ready to get back to diving. I did my two day Advance course and it was insane! As I said before if you enjoy your Open Water course you will LOVE your advance course. You get to learn really cool navigation skills, which allow you to dive on your own and IT CERTIFIES YOU TO GO ON DEEP AND NIGHT DIVES!!!! My deep and night dives were insane! The sheer life you see on a deep dive is soooo cool! You feel like a cameraman in a national geographic movie! For my night dive we jumped in the water around 7pm. The sun was just starting to set and once we all got down to about eighteen meters it was pitch black! You’re given a flashlight or a “torch” (haha silly English bastards) and the world you were just starting to get use to has completely changed! Most fish are sleeping or hunting so it’s a very different feeling. We found a few huge Barracuda, which at first was kind of freaky but then became amazing! We used our flashlights to stun passing fish and then the Barracuda would snatch them up. It was so cool helping this massive beast hunt! We also saw stingrays hunting, which you don’t see in the day because they are always sleeping then. Koh Tao like Victoria has really cool phosphorescence so all you have to do is get away from any light and then move your hands around really fast and the water lights up! IT’S LIKE AVARTA… BUT IN RL!!! (real life). It was an amazing experience!  

While all this was happening Court and Mick Mack went off on a (haha insanely expensive) trip to Borneo to attend the World Rainforest Music Festival. They came back and I stayed in their room in Big Blue for two days while they started their Open Water course. It was during these auspicious couple of days when Courtney Juliette Ross convinced me to do something I thought I would NEVER DO. I am ashamed to say that she convinced me to try… coffee! Be this I have never had coffee before in my life! She even ended up mind fucking me into chugging a ton of that hot dark muck! What a tricksy minx! Here are some pictures of the gruesome act taking place.

That same fateful day we actually went on the coolest hike my Advanced Diving instructor (Jen, who was DOPE!!!) told me about. I am going to try and recall how to get to the huge rock lookout we finally found:

Koh Tao Rock Lookout Instructions:

If you are in front of Choppers bar where the Koh Tao Pub Crawl begins (WHICH YOU HAVE TO DO!!! I never got to do it because I was always sick when it was happening!) turn left and start walking away from the water. Keep going straight when you get to the intersection. Pass the gym. You will get to a HUGE resort looking development (that was just getting built when we were there) and go left. You walk up a REALLY steep road and there is a sign on the left that says “look out” THAT’S A TRAP! Well not really, that’s just not the one I’m talking about. Keep walking and there will be a driveway on the right hand side right after the lookout sign and that’s what you’re going to want to go up. If you find the lookout bar or the other side of the island with the beautiful little beach and resort you have gone to far. If you walk for about 20 minutes up this driveway (the owner is the nicest dude in the world! His dogs aren’t tho!) You will come onto this HUGE ROCK it has a sketchy ladder built onto it. Climb that and then you are on top of Koh Tao! It’s an amazing lookout spot!!!! 

 Restaurants

The Crazy Viking!!!!

I love this place! If you’re looking at the Bans main office turn right and follow the road past the Ban’s convenience store. It’s on the left and usually has tons of food out on this big table at night! Its like $7 for all you can eat food and the option to watch two new release movies! Here’s a tip for young players… they have a little movie theatre set up inside the restaurant at the back. So grab your food then go get a good spot!

The Koh Tao Seaside Restaurant (or something like that)

I went to this place three times and had their BBQ each time. For $3 or $4 you got two huge skewers of chick or beef with grilled vegetables, a baked potato, and salad. If your looking at the Bans main office you go left on the main road for a bit and it’s a nice restaurant on the beach on your left.

THE SAMOSA GUY!

There is an extremely kind fellow selling the most delicious samosas you have ever had for .50 cents a pop! He is always hanging out just opposite the Bans main office down the alley in between the Bans restaurant and the Bans dive shop at around 12:30 I think it is. He’s there when the morning divers are coming back and the early afternoon divers are just about to leave.  So ya I think its 12 or 12:30.

My Museli, Fruit, and Yogurt place

This is where I went for breakfast everyday because it is as cheap as a Cambodian hooker and it had big portions! I loved it! If you’re looking at the Bans main office go up into their resort and walk up the path. You will walk up a hill and past one of their training pools on your left. Keep walking and you will hit a road. This restaurant is on the right on the corner across the road. They have wifi and are super nice. WHAT EVER YOU DO DON’T ORDER THE LEMON SHAKE!

The Awesome Sandwich Place

I realize it would be helpful if these places had names but Jessica (my itouch had them all saved but then…). This restaurant is big and sold lots of food but I only ever got the sandwiches from them. It was on the opposite side of the crazy Viking and I think a bit closer to the Bans main office. Just check some menus there or ask any of the dive masters at Bans. My advanced diving instructor Jens told me about it. They all went to get a take away sandwich from this place. So good and only cost like $1 or $2! I think it had a bit of a silly name…. dammit!

The Bans Restaurant

This restaurant had really good curry and it had live music every night! Such an easy place to meet people and hangout!

Hostels

Be warned accommodation options on Koh Tao are kind of expensive. The hostels are kind of poopy and just as expensive as some of the bungalows! If you know how long you want to stay try and get some free nights accommodation built into your diving package ;). Here are some pictures of the pool and lounge that were right beside my room at the Bans resort. 

 

Tips for Koh Tao:

-       Don’t even attempt to look for a skimboard there aren’t ANY! Trust me I looked!

-       Do the pub-crawl! But if you’re a female watch your drinks. I met a ton of people that got drugged on that pub-crawl!

-       Go to the restaurants I listed!

 

Krabi

I then journeyed on to the West coast of southern Thailand to meet my new bro Christophe in Krabi. We met at one of the nicest hostels I have ever stay at. It is called “Pak Up” hostel and its phenomenal! I would highly suggest it. We spent no time at all in Krabi and jumped on the boat to Phi Phi right away. I did spend another day in Krabi on my way back from the islands and I would highly suggest you all check out the famous Tiger Temple. It’s only about twenty minutes from the city and it’s AMAZING!!! It is a really cool temple on top of a HUGE mountain. You have to make a life changing pilgrimage up 1,237 knee high steps! The panoramic views at the top are totally worth it though. If your competitive like Christoph and me try and do it under fourteen minutes (I think was our time).

Phi Phi

This is indeed the party mekka on the West of Thailand! If your looking to sunbath, meet a ton of other young backpackers, and party your face off… be here! After meeting up with Christoph and his new German friend Marco we jumped on a ferry and headed to Phi Phi. We had about thirty minute to wait before getting on the ferry. We were just sitting in the… sitting area… and started chatting up some (dare I say it) Really cool Amerrrrrikins! Thomas and his girlfriend Kelsey had just come from Indonesia and Malaysia (where our gang was headed next) and after the South West of Thailand they were headed to the South East of Thailand and then onto the rest of the big 4 (where we had just come from). So we just exchanged helpful tips the whole ride. We decided it would be cool to grab a hostel together so we left the dock and headed out to two different hostels we had heard were FANTASTIC! Unfortunately both these hostels were full so we tried our third choice “Tropical Garden Bungalows” It is a bit back from the beach so a bit of a walk, but it had a sick pool and moderate rates for their rooms. If you walk from the dock and make your way to the “Island Look Out” stairway your basically there. Just walk past the entrance up to the Island Look out and keep walking and you will find it.

Since I’m yammering away about this lookout I should mention that I would highly suggest you all check it out! It is definitely worth the few bucks it is to get to it! 

 Another must, is a full day island-hopping trip. Most tours are the same but you can, like always, get your bargaining on. Try and get the cruise that include a big boat BBQ. Each tour includes a trip to the famous Mia Bay (a beach from the movie… the beach) but only a few actually drop their passengers off in the bay. 80% of them make you swim ashore to a sketchy grouping of ropes in order to access the beach. If you do this I wouldn’t bring your camera haha. Try and get a tour that goes in the bay and drops you off right at the beach. Here are some pics of our day tour: 

After our all day boat cruise Christoph, Thomas, and I finally were mentally and physically ready (we were drinking tons of water all day to expand our stomachs) for THE BURGER CHALLENGE!!!! Ever since I did my triathlon in the summer of 2011 I have been able to eat an OBSENE amount of food. A backpacker told me about this fabled BURGER CHALLENGE that happens at the reggae bar in Phi Phi. He said “unless you are a professional eater there is no way you can physically complete this challenge”. So naturally being the competitive buffet slaying machine that I am I vowed to complete this challenge. The challenge is you have to eat three massive paddies of beef piled on top of each other (three burgers), a pile of the biggest French fries you have ever seen, a heap of the greasiest onion rings you will ever eat, and a big old bowl of coleslaw in thirty minutes. If you succeed in doing this you get the meal for free, a sick trophy, and your picture on the hall of fame. If you fail you have to pay $15 (which is insane for meal in Thailand haha) and instead of a trophy you receive eternal shame and regret. The plate that all the food is on isn’t a plate at all but a giant platter! It was quite daunting and it really was just as much a mental battle as a physical one.

Long story short I… WE ALL FAILED!!!! I hit thirty minutes and I had one bite of the last burger left, one fry, three onion rings, and some coleslaw. I think if I have four or five more minutes I could have down it haha. It was EXTREMELY HARD! Christoph, Thomas, and I had an awesome time attempting it haha. I unfortunately did go back to my room right afterwards and passed out while having the worst stomachache ever haha.

 I just didn't make it!

So close yet SOOOO far :).

Like I said before if you want to get blitzed out of your mind, party your face off, and meet and possibly experiment with a lot of young backpackers who have loose morals Phi Phi is the place for you. A lot of backpackers get stuck here and just end up working a couple of hours each day for one of the many bars or clubs in order to get free accommodations or alcohol. Now as you are reading this I am sure you are thinking: “This totally sounds like something Derek would do! Why didn’t you do this?” Well, I basically did live a similar lifestyle in Shinookeville and Vang Vieng and at this time I was really stoked on hitting the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia and meeting back up with Court in KL. So I never worked as a promoter here but I would suggest it for a week or two. It would be quite the time. The huge beach parties that happen every night are tons of fun, just make sure not to jump off the pole of death! I saw a guy break his arm and a girl knock herself. Everyone thought she was dead! You will know what I mean when you see it haha.

Railay and Tonsia!

After Phi Phi Christoph and I left our German and American friends and hit Railay and Tonsia! Railay and Tonsia are beaches on an amazing peninsula that juts out from the mainland. I thought they were beaches on an island but I was wrong. There are massive cliffs disabling anyone from making roads out to these beaches. So these beaches and the little village on Railay are actually cut off from civilization and the only way to go to and from these beautiful beach is via long-tail boat.

This picture illustrates the setup pretty well. On the far left you have the smaller beach of Tonsia. This is where most of the cheap bungalows, restaurants, and climbing schools are. If you’re a backpacker trying to say money I would suggest staying in Tonsia. It’s more chill and down to earth. Then on the right of this picture you have Railay West (close to you) and Railay East on the other side. There are a bunch of expensive bungalows and a few resorts on Railay so it’s a bit pricier. When the tide goes out in the afternoon and night you can easily walk along the beach from either beach. If the tide isn’t out you can climb through a rock climbing path or go the back way around which takes a good twenty-five minutes.

Rock Climbing

GO CLIMBING!!! Railay and Tonsia are world renown for the amazing climbing that you can do here! The cliffs that surrounds these beaches are perfect for rock-climbing so definitely sign up for a day class it was so much fun! We did our day course through Base Camp I think it was called and we had the DOPEST instructor and had a pretty amazing day! I think it was only $20 and we learned all the basics of rock climbing like how to tie the knots and how to belay someone. Our guide started us off at the easy cliffs on Railay East then we went hit a cave and climbed out of it. We also went to one of the highest cliffs on the end of the peninsula and climbed up thirty-seven meters high into a little alcove so we could take pictures at the top. That is where the first picture at the top and all these pictures came from.

Hostels

There aren’t really any hostels on Ton Sia so we just booked a HUGE bungalow just up from Base Camp (our climbing school) at a place I was recommend to stay at by my friends I met in Chiang Mai. The place was called “Mountain View Resort” (It was not a resort haha). The guy that owned the place was named Yani. He smoked a ton of weed and was EXTREMEMLY friendly!

Tips

-       If your leaving Base Camp and headed to the beach you will go down this one little street right before you hit the beach and on the right side of this street there is a woman who makes THE BEST AND THE CHEAPEST fruit shakes and yogurt and granola! My advice to you my friend is to GORGE YOURSELF!!! Two stalls up from her (away from the beach on the same side) is a guy that makes REALLY GOOD AND CHEAP sandwiches. Check him out too. (If you’re on the Ton Sia beach looking at the water these places are on the far left side.)

-       Make sure you take some time on a nice day and go climb up to the Railay Beach lookout! The view is okay but what your really after is the secretish (not really) lagoon that is behind the viewpoint. You have to do some really easy rock climbing to get up to the look out and then you have to follow a little path to some ropes that take you downwards. If you climb all the way down these ropes (BRING RUNERS and just know you will be getting very dirty) you will eventually get down to the most AMAZING crystal blue lagoon that is surrounded by cliffs. It’s so amazing! Make sure you don’t go to late in the day and be very careful if it has recently rained. Make sure you go with someone because the climb down to the lagoon is a bit sketchy BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! Christoph didn’t come down with me because haha… he didn’t want to get his white clothes dirty (what a European!) so he chilled at the top with my camera and bag. So I didn’t get a picture of it. We planed to go back the next day but we were bagged after rock-climbing the whole day ahah. I am really sad I didn’t get a picture of it. It was such an amazing little lagoon!

-       If you are planning on leaving try and coordinate with other backpackers because a boat won’t leave until it’s full (eight people) so we saw some people just waiting for hours for more people who wanted to leave. If you’re a BALLER and got mad duckets you can just pay extra and go whenever you want to though.

Christoph and I spent only two and a half days here because we really wanted to hit Malaysia so we jumped on a boat and went to Krabi for the day where we did the Tiger Temple and then peaced to George Town Malaysia!

I had an absolutely amazing time in Thailand and I am so glad I got a two month tourist visa so I didn’t have to do any visa runs and I could go at my own pace and stay where ever I wanted for however long I wanted. I loved how easy it was to travel around Thailand! Boats, buses, trains are all running all the time and for reasonable prices! Every place you go in Thailand has tourists but if you really try you can get off the trail a bit. Ton Sia really didn’t have too many backpackers and the ones that were there were older and most of them were hard core climbers. I completely understand now why Thailand is the tourist hub for South East Asia. Like I said before it has it all!

Lady Boys, 7 11s, and Beaches! (Thailand Part 1)

What else could you want? Right?

Thailand! You all know it! You all love it! What a place! This South East Asian tiger started mass tourism in SEA years ago so it's no wonder EVERYONE can find something that appeals to them in this cornucopia of pleasures. It really is anything you want it to be. If you're a rich fat cat from Amerrrrica go to Thailand, if your a party seeking graduate go to Thailand, if your a experienced backpacker looking for untouched towns and culture.... Go to Burma but then Thailand!

Whatever kind of trip you want you can get it here in the land of he-shes and pad thai!

The second place I visited on my grandiose adventure, after Beijing, was Bangkok in order to experience their New Years celebration "Songkran". This is essentially a nation wide water gun fight, which in my humble opinion was the best holiday I have ever been apart of. If you want to read more about it go back a couple months on my blog.

The second time I entered Thailand I had already experienced a little taste and I was dying for more!

I heard amazing things about Chiang Mai(CM) and they were all true! My plan was to stay for five days and then head to Pie but I ended up having such a good time that I spent nine and a half days there.

There are just so many activities one can take part in in CM! There is an abundance of hostels in old town (which is where most backpackers stay) so there are tons options!

When I arrived from Houi Xai Laos I was traveling with an awesome American named Joe. Our minibus pulled over to the side of the road in a main square in old town and Joe woke me up. I woke up and looked my window and who should I see but my old travel buddy life guard Chimone! Yet another miraculous small world story! We all had beers together that night it was tons of fun.

Afterwards Joe and I walked over to an AWESOME hotel a friend had told me about. It's call M.D. House. Although it is a bit pricey ($12) it is in a perfect location a few blocks from Zoe's and the rest of the popular clubs and bars. It has a pool, hot tub, work out room, computer room, and free breakfast! This is a great place to stay if you have been slumming it for awhile. My first day in CM I hardly even left MD Hostel! I uploaded all my pictures and videos (because I could use their free fast computers), worked out!!!!!, went for a swim and explored a little bit.

That night Joe and I walked a bit of the old town perimeter. Old town is surrounded by a square moat so it is easy navigating within the square. That night I found a bakery with a line of about 15 Thai people outside of it. Now anyone that knows me knows about my affection for baked goods. So I jumped in line as well. This bakery was turning out savory and sweet hot pies! After eating one if you don't go into cardiac arrest you will be amazed! If you want to try and find it go to the top north west side outside part of the moat that goes around old town and look for a yellow store that has two huge ovens outside. It was about 6pm when we went.

This is a city where you can interact with a lot of animals if you are interested. So let's start here. Elephants, tiger, no bears..... Big sigh. I would caution everyone before partaking in any animal related tourism activity. Not just in Thailand but all over SEA animals are treated terribly and like objects. They are made, mostly by physical abuse, to entertain tourists in order to make their owners money. So please think twice before supporting any company or person who uses animals to make a buck.

I would say 90% of people wait for Chiang Mai to interact with elephants because there really are so many opportunities to do so.

Elephant Nature Park

If your one of these people I'm going to make life super easy for you right now..... Are you ready? Go do the day trip or volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park!!!!! It is SUCH an amazing organization! I was told by a few friends I had to make sure if I did anything with elephants it had to be with The Elephant Nature Park (ENP) and I'm so glad I did. It is a more expensive option but you get what you pay for!

I went with my two English friends Alice and Jaimee and we had such an amazing experience! You get driven out in the morning to the sanctuary and on the way you watch a super informative (yet VERY cheesy) mini documentary on how elephants are treated in Thailand. You then get to the most amazing 100 acer sanctuary and you are introduced to the different herds of elephants and told how the ENP works. The ENP is ran by an amazing elephant advocate named Lek. Her mission in life is to rescue as many elephants as possible and get their legal status changed so they are no longer just consider simple live stock that have next to no rights. After being educated a bit by your guide and shown the different herds you take a tour of a small portion of the sanctuary. On our tour a huge herd of water buffalo came up behind us while we were taking some photos and it was amazing. You can see some of the hilarious photos we took with these curious guys in the background on my Facebook.

Then it's feeding time!!!! You feed a metric fuck ton of fruit to an elephant, which is such a cool experience! Then you have an amazing buffet lunch. After this you go down to the river and bathe the elephants. It's a fantastic day, an amazing organization to support, and no animals are ever mistreated in the process.

Riding elephants destroys their spine especially when they have those wooden seats on their backs... I could go on and on but I won't. Just go to ENP and have an amazing time!

The Tiger Kingdom

Now this is a touchy subject..... I have had so many discussions/debates with other backpackers about the tiger kingdom and if they drug their tigers and if it's ethical to go and so on and so forth but I really don't want to get into all that so I'll try and summarize my views and experience.

There are three places to go see tigers in Chiang Mai and the best one is Tiger Kingdom because they say they don't drug their tigers. The others two places do.

I was on the fence for a long time whether to go or not. I did a lot of research and in the end I went and had a very unique experience. For around $40 I got to go in a cage with a full grown tiger and pet it and sit beside it. I also got to spend twenty minutes playing with a two month old baby tiger cub! I have always wanted a tiger as a pet since I was young so it was childhood dream come true! Would I go again? No. If I could go back and do it over would I still go? I honestly don't know.

The Tiger Kingdom is in no way a sanctuary or rescue center for tigers. They bread them to make money. It is a zoo but with only tigers. While I was there I felt a bit uneasy because I don't support zoos for this exact reason. So I feel if it was any animal but tigers I wouldn't have gone but the tiger cubs got to me in the end I think.

Haha So some of you may think of me as a hypocrite considering I was just going off about animal rights and then I told you I went to a place that breeds tigers for money. Maybe I am but I talked to two volunteers that were backpackers working at the tiger sanctuary and they all assured me they aren't drugged, their taken great care off, and their living conditions are similar to a North American zoo.

Trekking

Chiang Mai is a great place to do some trekking but considering I just came from the World Cup of trekking (The Gibbon Experience) I didn't do any. I how however caution you not to support any treks where you ride elephants and not to do "The Flight Of The Gibbons". I heard it sucks.

Hostels

Like I said the first hotel I stayed at for two days (M.D. House) was super nice and amazing but once my Amerrrican friend Joe left for Bangkok I had to vacate and find something..... A bit shittier. So I left M.D. House and went to talk to a tuk tuk driver to take me to Spicy Chiang Mai another hostel out side of old town which I heard was really good. While negotiating with a tuk tuk driver however I was approached by a nice young feller and his friends and asked if I was looking for a hostel. I said yes and this awesome duder said "Hey man my name is Mehdi and I am staying at this really cheap hostel a few blocks from here. We have a solid crew of people there and we have been partying hard and having a great time. You should totally join us if your down!" I assumed I was being propositioned to join a cult so I of course joined this marry, yet quite intoxicated, group of misfits and proceeded to their hostel. Along the way I began talking to Mehdi and after a few minutes learned that he was from Calgary Alberta, went to business school at U of A, he was on the U of C finance JDC West business competition team, we actually met at JDC West 2011, and that we have a ton of friends in common! Yet another miraculous Derek Juno small world story!

I was taken to what would be my new home for the next seven days JJ's Guest house! I paid 60 baht a night ($2) for a dorm bed and loved the place! It is definitely barebones but run by "Momma" the nicest little old lady entrepreneur in Chiang Mai!

JJ's hotel is just across the road and offers nice private rooms and the famous Julie's Guest house is right beside that.

Thai Cooking Courses

I would highly suggest doing a Thai cooking course especially while in Chiang Mao. There are so many to chose from but make sure when you do chose its a cooking school that has its own farm and gives you a detailed cook book of all the receipts when your done. I did my class at "The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School" and it was phenomenal (and I was extremely hungover the whole time)! You go to a market in the morning and then driven out to their organic farm. Here you go harvest all your ingredients and cook in a spotless open air concept kitchen. We were given great receipt books and made delicious Thai dishes all day. Here's their website:

www.thaifarmcooking.com

Story Time

For the next week our band of drunkards and techno lovers partied almost every night and had quite the time! I have been trying to keep the details of my drunken escapades down to a minimum on this blog due to the amount of family that might read it but there were four consecutive nights where something progessively crazier happened to me each night. I think you are all pass due for some solid Derek Juno party stories so here we go.

On the 1st night of four there were political elections being held throughout Thailand, which meant no stores were selling liquor. As you could imagine, that made it a bit hard for a good honest group of scholarly youth to acquire an alcoholic beverage or.... two. After regressing to eighteen year olds again, pleading with mom and pop shop owners to sell us beer, we were golden! We had a few wobbly pops at JJ's and hit the town. I led our group to the night market and we had a huge debockle over 35 baht pad Thai haha; we all left this little restaurant because the owner told me 35 baht for pad Thai, but then told us 60 after I brought 12 people to her restaurant!!! I then met up with Simon and his friend Dan. I said I would meet my group at the rooftop bar after visiting with my friend Simon for a bit. But after leaving Simon and his friends and walking to the bar, I realized it was closed. Thus, I was on my own but not for long. I met a group of american high schoolers dying for a party (because it was their one day off from volunteer work and due to the elections they couldn't get booze), so I became team leader and asked some tuk tuk drivers to take us somewhere we could drink. We were unfortunately taken to the dirtiest strip joint I have ever been to! Not only was it skeezy but it had INSANELY expensive drinks. So I resigned as team leader and tuk tukked home. The tuk tuk driver tried to rip me off so I ran off when we stopped in old town. I unfortunately jumped a fence and ran into a group of wild/farrel/angry dogs. I had to climb a building and hangout on the roof for a while to get away from them. I finally arrived back at the hostel where everyone was drinking and having fun and wanting to know where the hell I had been haha.

The 2nd night we went to a Mui Thai boxing fight where I won 700 baht by betting on fighters with the best looking head bands. We saw three knockouts and i became friends with an Australian who fought and knocked this Thai guy out! We then went back to our hostel, grabbed our friends the british girls, and hit Zoes (a great club) but half the group got lost along the way! I went searching for them for like an hour, then found them at Zoes haha. We partied and drank there for a few hours and had a merry old time. We then walked home where I apparently went into my dorm room turned on all the lights and packed up all my stuff haha. I grabbed my big back pack, walked 30 feet down a deserted alley and passed out. Some of our group found me on their walk home haha. They brought me back to JJ's and put me to bed. I woke up the next morning at 8am to go to a thai cooking class with a terrible hang/chiang over, dirty looks for some reason from all my dorm mates, and no recollection of this at all. The one bucket my Mehdi bought me just destroyed me!

The 3rd night we played ring of fire, then hit reggae bar and Zoes and danced our faces off! At the end of the night I came home VERY late and passed out wearing only my boxers in the common area just outside our hostel (don't ask me why). I woke up to someone yelling. There was a thai guy just outside our gate yelling "Hey... Hey are you okay?" I woke up drunk and confused and didn't say anything. The guy pushed the gate open and walked in and said "I look for friends at JJ's guest house. You know where is?" I said "yes this is it". He smiled and looked around a bit and said nerviously "are you drunk?". I lied and said "no just tired". He came over to the couches and sat on the couch next to the one I was on. He looked at me straight in the eyes and undid his top three buttons of his dress shirt. I was getting really weirded out so I got up to leave when he asked me "have you seen my friend?" haha. I said "no sorry, I don't think they're here". He looked me dead in the eyes and asked...... "do you want to be my friend?" and then he undid the rest of his buttons on his dress shirt and.... HE HAD BREASTS! haha he/she started fondling himself/herself and just looking at me..... After about 15 seconds of the most awkward moments of my life I said ".... No thank you I'm going to bed!" He/she then yelled "NO!!!! Wait! I give you free boom boom because you so handsom!" Then he/she started pulling down his/her pants! I yelled "NOPE!!! I'm done! I'm going to bed!" I turned around and went into my dorm room, locked the door and went to bed.

On the 4th night most of our crew had left for Bangkok on the night train so it was just my British friend Nick and myself polishing off a 26 of whisky. We then hit Zoes. We had a great time drinking with the owner and making new friends. At the end of the night I lost Nick and ran into a tuk tuk driver that wanted to give me a free ride home. Now im not an idiot so i told him "Nothing's free!" He had great english and retorted with "this is mostly true but im headed up this street anyway. Do you want a ride?" I talked to him for a bit and thought I might as well. I told him I was staying at JJ's Guest House and he said he would be going right by there, he just had to go grab something first from a bar. We got to this bar, then he got super weird. He told me "you have to just come in with me quick". I said "no I'm just going to walk home." He then stepped in front of my way out of the tuk tuk. The other way out was blocked by the passed out Indian dude (I forgot to mention this. There was a passed out Indian dude beside me in the tuk tuk this whole time). He then said "you have to come in but you don't have to buy anything or participate. I just get money for bringing people." I said "not tonight man, maybe tomorrow". He wasn't moving so I was about to make a move over the passed out Indian guy when he grabbed my hand and he said "just come in we have drinks, women, ladyboys, and children....." At this point I was kinda freaking out. So I said "Uhh I dont know...... I do feel like another drink though." I got out of the tuk tuk, he turned and I just bolted. It was pretty fucked. I'm not sure if he tried following but I lost him if he did, and eventually I made it home while the sun was rising.

That's the last of some crazy nights in Chiang Mai.

That's about all I got for Chiang Mai. On my last day there I met up with Mick Mack and grabbed a train with her down to Bangkok.

NOTE: whenever going to Bangkok to Chiang Mai or the reverse take the night train! It's only like $15 and it is really comfortable (it can get pretty cold if your not in separate compartments though eh Mick Mick?)

I was in BKK for the day where I went on a crazy local bus adventure, walked around near Khao San Road, and bought a bunch of Canadian flags for Canada day.

That night we bused to Koh Phanang to celebrate Canada day on July 1st and MY BIRTHDAY AND THE JULY FULLMOON PARTY ON JULY 3RD!!! I was a bit excited.

A lot of backpacker I meet and old friends ask me variations of the question "whats your favourite place you have been to?" and one of the more popular variations I get asked is "what is your favourite hostel, hotel, and bungalow you have stayed at while traveling?". Well my favourite bungalow of my whole trip is Rainbow Bungalows on Koh Phanang! it was around $8 a night if you get three people in there. It is on a private part of Banthai Beach about a seven minute tuk tuk drive from the main fullmoon beach (Hadrin). So at night you would go into town and get crazy and have tons of fun then during the day you could recover on this paradise beach! The place is run by a great family. Martin, the dad is Australian but don't worry he is a really nice guy. His wife (whose name escapes me) makes the best Thai food I have ever had at their little restaurant! The beach is perfect for skimming and I think Martin is the only one on the island who knows what skim boarding is and who owns one!!!! Every evening at around 4:30 there is a game of volleyball on the beach that anyone can join. The place was paradise!

Now I'm going to recount these days separately because they were so much fun!

June 29th I got to Koh Phanang and I found most of my Chiang Mai crew and partied with them. It was an awesome reunion! We checked out Hadrin Beach then made our way over to the Coral Hotel Pool Party, which was tons of fun.

June 30th I hung around Rainbow and skimboarded with Martin's son Jack and chilled out. I met a group of awesome canadians from a resort a few km away and invited them to join our Canada Day festivities the next day. That night we partied at Rainbow Bungalow and tried to see the moon haha.

July 1st was CANADA DAY!!!! So I put on my best red and white and hit the beach. Our Canadian friends came out from up the beach and we ended up having a Canada vs England SOCCER match, which Canada came out on top of course! We all then crammed into a tuk tuk and went to Hadrin Beach. To all of our amazement there were tons of Canadians all decked out in the glorious red and white. We all gathered together in the middle of Hadrin beach and represented Canada as best we could. We sang, we played drinking games, and we apologized for things even when it wasn't our fault! It was beautiful! That night we tried to all go to the jungle party but it was a huge rip off and the guys running it were huge assholes. Thus, we took it upon ourselves to warn as many people as possible haha. We got about 100 or 150 people to turn around and follow us to the beach party at Hadrin. It was epic.

Now July 2nd was magical because three awesome individuals arrived on Koh Panang! My good friends Arin and Steph who I know from Victoria. Arin and I rented motorbikes for the day and bombed around the island. If you ever get the chance make sure you go find bottle beach which is on the other side of the island! Then at the end of the day who should arrive but the craziest Ozzy I know!!! Good old Elloit Davis! I told him it was my Bday on July fullmoon and he told me he would be there for it but I wasn't really sure if he would show up haha.

We went out that night with a huge crew to the Coral Bungalow Pool Party in order to kick off my birthday! There were handstands, backflips, and Elloit may or may not have picked up a fully dressed girl and threw her in the pool. She also may or may not have had an iPad in her purse haha. The night got a bit out of control and I don't remember everything but I do recall walking down the road to Rainbow Bungalows and finding Mick Mack face down in the dirt and Elloit sitting criss cross apple sauce beside her playing with a disgustingly cute puppy dog that he had dubbed "Bowdy". I had to fireman carry Mick Mack to the bungalow and interagate Elloit to find out where he had stolen this dog from haha. He told me he "found" it running around on the road and that he "rescued" it from death. We now know he broke into some guys property and stole the mans bran new puppy haha. Elloit found the owner the next day and gave "Bowdy" haha back. I remember being in bed that night laughing at Mich Mack passed out in bed, Elloit trying to spoon me, and our new feline friend pissing on our floor haha. If that's not a good start to a birthday I don't know what is.

July 3rd was my birthday and the day of the fullmoon party that every young backpacker dreams of. Unfortunately the morning and most of the day sucked but the night did not disappoint!

My new Canadain brothers Drew, Daniel, Hayden, and sure why not Lewis came with some more cool cats to Rainbow for dinner. I got iced we ate great food it was awesome! Everyone but Elliot headed back to their resort to start partying, painting, and getting ready for the nights shenanigan. We invented a new sport called bucket pong, painted ourselves in colorful colours, and took some pretty awesome pics. Just as we were about to leave Elloit shows up with a bag full of booze and fire works haha. So we all quickly paint him then head out. About sixteen of us are jammed into one tuk tuk and Elliot pulls up on his scooter. I tell him "bro jump in, there's tons of room". He says "nah I like having my scooter there at the beach so I can drive home in the morning". I then say "dude you've totally been drinking you can't drink and drive." Elliot looked at me square in the eyes and says "how dare you Derek. I would NEVER drink and drive...... I sip and ride" he then lights up a huge firework which screeches and shoots off a ton of sparks and then basically blows up in Elliot's hand right after he tosses it. Everyone ones quiet because we think Elliot just lost his hand but then he yells "WE'RE OKAY! LET'S GO!!!!!" I'm a HUGE advocate against drinking and driving but there was nothing I could do and in the moment that whole situation was hilarious.

We all drove to the beach drinking in the back of our tuk tuk and singing with Elliot driving shooting off fireworks behind us. We then hit a makeshift roadblock. A cop checks our tuk tuk then waves us on. They pull Elliot over though. We then realized just how screwed he is. 1. He is driving with an open beer in his hand. 2. He's driving a little intoxicated and 3. He has a huge bag full of fireworks which are illegal on Hadrin haha. I wanted to go back and grab him but everyone said there's really nothing we could do so we pressed on hoping Elliot wouldn't get stripped searched.

Fullmoon

The party is insane! The beach is sectioned off into different stages, dancing areas, and sleeping zones haha. The whole beach is SUPER packed so it's imperative you make a meet up location if you want a chance in hell of ever finding your friends. Our crew got to the beach and all stuck together at the first dancing zone and bucket selling strip. I met some friend I made in Vang Vieng Joe and Casey who are actually from Victoria haha. I was also reunited with my bar promotor friend Tony who worked at Q Bar in Vang Vieng! Also, right before we all adventured down the beach we found ELLIOT! He didn't end up in jailed. I ran up to him and I was like "man WHAT HAPPENED?" he said "Derek.... It was terrible.... They took my fireworks!" I said "Dude, are you serious if that's it that's great news! I thought they would put you in jail" he said "nah Derek! I had big plans for those fireworks!!!! They did say I could go pick them up in the morning though" haha what a guy!

The rest of the night was a blur of dancing, M-150s (an energy drink that's illegal everywhere but SEA), and finding people. I even stumbled upon life guard Chimone and his cousin haha.

My big goal for my birthday this year was to not passout until July 4th I was determined to stay up all day and all night and I'm happy to say I achieved this goal haha. Around 6am I found my Canadian friend Drew and we went looking for everyone so we could all watch the sun come up. We found some people and sat on the beach watching a wicked sunrise. It was a really cool moment and not because of all the M-150s I drank made me feel like I was flying. Throughout the night I had met up with people I had seen in different countries since I started traveling. Just thinking of all the good times we had shared and what I just experienced, it was really cool.

After being deep in thought for a few minutes I looked down the beach I and who should I see just COVERED in sand? That's right Elliot. I called him over. He sat down then passed out drooling at the mouth haha. Drew went to our meeting point and found the rest of our friends we hung out and talked for awhile then at 10am we decided to get some food. I woke up Elliot and told him we were going to grab some food then head home. He looked at me with a very confused look then said "ya ya that's like a great idea. You go do that I'm going to go do some mushrooms" HAHA. So he walked off towards mushroom mountain. We grabbed some chicken sandwiches and headed home. I dropped down on to my bed around 10:30am and went to bed. Just when I thought it was all over I get woken up by Elliot. He brought back a fucking monkey and some dude name Lex and they wanted to party haha. He soon realized he left his camera at the beer store so he went to go find it. He then he came back a little while later with a bag full of beers we shotguned then hung out for about two hours. He passed out on our bed. He woke up six hours later and jumped in the bath tub and said "I am either going to shit myself or puke but I don't know which one" haha. I was going to bed so I flopped down onto the Queen mattress Elliot (the sand serpent) and I were sharing and then realized he had pissed the bed haha!!! Haha and that ladies and gentlemen is the last of my fullmoon/ 23rd birthday story.

This post is already WAY to long so I will continue my tales in part 2! Stay tuned kids!