adventure shoes.: From Bangkok to the Similan

What a crazy 24h! We started off in Bangkok and ended up where we are right now, sleeping in a Bungalow on one of the Similan Islands in the south of Thailand. But, I'll start from the beginning...

Yesterday, our second day in Bangkok and feeling well enough to stay at a hostel [instead of hotel], we caught a tuk tuk (a motorbike-rickshaw-taxi hybrid that seems to be equally popular amongst locals and tourists, alike) and booked a room at a nice looking hostel.

{Turn on your speakers for a ridiculously mismatched soundtrack to this amateur clip; it's important to receive the full experience}

From there, it was a short walk to...the snake farm! A sanctuary run by the Red Cross Society, which uses the venom from a variety of different snakes to create anti-venom. So cool! As such, they keep several snake enclosures and put on snake shows everyday for the public.

After rushing to make the snake handling show at 2:30pm, we realized someone (ahem, J) forgot the time difference and we arrived with a mere 60 minutes to kill before the show actually started. Ah, so much snake gazing to be had. (I'm scared of snakes, but it was pretty cool even for me.)

The show was fun, and a great opportunity to see some cool snakes (hello Mr. King Cobra) up close, and for the brave of heart (read: not me!) to hold them too. After some quality time with our slithery friends, we headed back to the hostel to better organize our following days in Thailand.

After learning that a car rental would be difficult (an idea we previously had for covering the distance we wanted to cover while in Thailand), we started looking into bus tickets; here we learned that buses run from Bangkok to the southern provinces (Krabi and Phang-nga) every evening. Hmm...

We knew we would be venturing South and the Similan Islands were on our list; it would be possible to get there from either Krabi or Phang-nga provinces. Thus, our great plan was born and the exhausting, whirlwind of a 24 hours that would follow. Instead of spending money on a hostel and spending another entire day in Bangkok to catch the bus the following evening (eating into our remaining Thailand time), we decided to cancel the hostel and flag a taxi to take us across town to the bus station (no subways running there unfortunately), keeping our fingers crossed that there were still seats available on the bus.

We found the ticket booth, and with limited communication, explained that we were ultimately trying to get to Similan. The lady at the counter informed us that, in fact, Tablamu would be our best bet, the bus stop there being the closest to the pier and Similan ferry. Who were we to argue?! The fact that neither of us had ever heard of/knew where Tablamu was on the map didn't stop us from buying a ticket (nor did the fact that we weren't entirely convinced we had conveyed our intention/destination very clearly). Time for an adventure!

Before we knew it, we were boarding the bus for our 12h journey which would take us to Tablamu by 8am the next morning. The bus was great-much better than either of us was expecting (within the first 15 minutes, they handed out cupcakes!) and the drive went by surprisingly quickly, though neither of us did catch much shut eye (J less than me).

The night sky slowly turned to bright morning sky, and we forced our sleep deprived eyeballs open. Soon enough we were deposited at the side of the dusty road next to a few stalls and left to our own devices (dangerous) as the bus continued its southward journey.

Grabbing our packs, we managed to dodge traffic in all four lanes and crossed the street, finding a coffee shop with wifi to figure out where exactly this pier was and how we might get there.

The internet didn't prove exceptionally helpful (other than to confirm that Tablamu is very close to the pier). But, the locals told us it was 3km down the next intersecting road. "Any taxis?" we asked. "No, just motorbike taxis". Hmm, two of us and two backpacks, all on the back of a motorbike? Not likely. Besides, 3km isn't THAT far to walk, is it? So we set off.

We figured we'd try our luck and see if we could hitch a ride. By some miracle, the second vehicle to drive by, stopped, and told us we could chuck our things and ourselves into the back of the truck/bakkie! Woo hoo, a ride!

We made it to the pier and wrangled our way onto a Similan Island tour boat. After a few snorkelling stops, we wound up at our island destination. Finally! Thoroughly exhausted, but excited to have made it.

Boat, snorkel, beach, repeat. That was our day!

Not a soul in sight. Needless to say, we were more than excited to escape the hoards once we finally made it to our island bungalow.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and snorkelling on the beach here, and tonight we're sleeping in a little bungalow on a hill, listening to the waves crash, and praying the mice stay on the outside of the bungalow. Its been a whirlwind 24h, and I'm not sure where we'll be tomorrow, but for now it's time to rest these sleepy heads and dream up new adventures for tomorrow, wherever it may be that we end up.

Bungalow house

An isolated beach, finally

Image credits: wave, shark, pink fish, orange fish

"Let's imitate the Russians and their model photoshoots on the beach"

"OK"

"You should do a hair flip"

"OK"

...

5 seconds and a few cuts and scratches later, after falling into the rocks, it is determined that the posing is in fact best left to the Russians. That's what we get for making a mockery.