On September 17th, Char and I boarded a flight from here to Bangkok, stayed in a hotel nearby the airport for about 5 hours and had an 8am flight from Bangkok to Phuket. It was exciting and overwhelming and just awesome to be back in an airport again. When we got to Phuket, we got on a bus and waited over an hour (but it was okay - the air was good and the sun was shining!) to get shuttled to Phuket Town - about a 45 minute ride from the airport. Charlotte and I both put headphones in and blasted some inspiring and uplifting music while we soaked in the new country we just arrived in. We were absolutely amazed at how there were temples, rundown buildings, and beautiful hotels all on the same street. We passed farms and fruit stands right next to places still crushed from the tsunami. It was unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Driving on the other side of the road was another thing that was exciting and new. We got dropped off at what we thought was our hotel - but turned out to be a hotel with a similar name to ours and a few streets away from ours. We had about 3 hours until checkin anyway, so we weren't in any rush. We ended up walking into a hotel with a spa to see what all the hype was about the Thai massages that we heard and read about. We paid the equivalent to $9 for an hour long massage. It was not just any massage. First of all, they gave us giant pants to wear which was of course a great photo op before it started. Char and I were in the same room so of course the giggles began as soon as the Thai women hopped up on the beds we were laying on so they could really dig into each muscle they were massaging. It was pretty rough, definitely not as relaxing as expected when you hear “hour long massage” but definitely worth the experience. It ended with a crazy move they did where they cracked our backs and hopped off the table. We were then ready to go on our way and seek out the hotel we were staying at. They were able to point us in the right direction and it was an adorable hostel with bright orange and white striped furniture in the lobby. Our bed was the most comfortable bed we’ve slept in for 3 months and the shower pressure was probably triple what we’ve got here in Beijing. We relaxed and enjoyed being in vacation mode after so much traveling. We had a few hours to explore and get our first Thai meal before we got ready for the elephant trekking! We found a little diner with great Thai food and sour lemonade. We headed back to the hotel to get ready and get picked up to head to the elephant camp. When we got there, we paid and were lead right onto the elephant. We didn’t sign anything or hear any rules or instructions - except “no shoes on the elephants.” There was a guide who sat on Pancake the elephant’s head while we sat in the metal chair on her back. We were shocked by the feeling of Pancake’s skin and hair. It was so rough and the hair was about two inches long and really thick. It tickled our feet so much! As soon as Pancake took the first step, Charlotte and I grabbed onto each other for dear life. We quickly realized how scary this next 50 minutes was going to be! Somehow I didn't think about it ahead of time and didn't think about the fact that not only would we be very high off the ground, but that we were trusting this wild animal to not just take off running or do something ridiculous with us on her back! As we ascended up the hill (very steep!) we tried to calm ourselves by making conversation with the guide. He made us feel exponentially better when he said he’s worked with Pancake for 15 years of the 18 years she’s been alive. Every once in a while, Pancake would stop and he would have to yell (in Thai) at her to keep going. The footprints she was leaving behind were just massive. And some other things she was leaving behind… but we won’t talk about that. When we got to the top of the hill, the guide hopped off and asked us for our cameras to take pictures. We were shocked but also relieved because the selfies we had taken on the way up definitely didn’t prove that we rode an elephant. He took some great pictures for us. He told me to get off the chair and sit on her head! I had to basically stand up on this elephant and balance enough to sit on her without a seat. As the pictures show, somehow I did it. And so did Charlotte. It was scary for sure! When we got back up on the chair together, the guide kept walking alongside us and then even wandered away for a bit! We were shocked at how trusting he was of Pancake. They were able to communicate in such an amazing way. He finally got back on her head and lead us down the mountain (just as scary as going up) and back to the camp. There was no one else there, and there were two other elephants just hanging out. The guide said that we could feed them mini bananas and we were excited and nervous to try. The best way to describe how the elephant ate it is that they used their trunk to vacuum the banana to suction it and throw it into their mouth. They ate banana after banana and just continued to put their trunk back out to us to keep feeding them. At one point, Charlotte put a bushel of bananas on the post near them to take a picture of me and one of the elephants ate the WHOLE thing! Probably 20 mini bananas at once. It was hilarious and so crazy! We had so much fun hanging with these elephants. They were nuzzling each other and just being so sweet. Such amazing animals. I am so glad that we got to meet these elephants and that we had such an awesome experience at this camp. We went back to our hotel to wash up and get dinner and head to bed before an early morning the next day. When we woke up, we got picked up by a driver who took us to Phuket Town Pier for the ferry to Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island .. pronounced Pee Pee). It was so sunny and that’s probably when we got most burned/tan the whole trip. We got to the island and were greeted by a guy who walked us to our hostel. There aren’t any cars or motorcycles (except police motorcycles) allowed on the island which was an awesome change of pace from crazy Beijing. Our hostel was great. 2 minute walk from the beach and all the restaurants and bars that we ended up checking out. Our first meal was Mexican and second was Italian. Since Thailand is so much more touristy than China there are so many more Western food options. We were thrilled to see Reese’s and Pringles in the convenient stores! We unpacked a little bit and got ready for the beach. The first day was the worst of the 3 we had to spend on the beach, but it was still so nice to lay out by the water. It was such a young traveler’s place - full of 20-somethings from Europe, South America, Australia, and so many other places. Since it’s so challenging to travel to the island, there were so few people and those who were there seemed to be pretty experienced travelers. We only saw one family on the island. It was just such a refreshing change of pace for us. We called it an early night that first night because we were exhausted and might have even had a little sun poisoning from the ferry. The next morning we were up early and headed to the little restaurant that provided a free breakfast for the guests at our hostel before headed to the beach for the day. We decided to do a longboat tour to some of the surrounding islands. It was one of the best things we did on the trip. We got to see such beautiful places and the water was so clean. We went to Maya Bay where the film The Beach with Leo DiCaprio was filmed. We had to crawl through a cave and climb up a rope ladder to get there because boats aren’t allowed into the bay. It was absolutely worth it. It was amazing. The sand was soft and white and the water was so turquoise. The sky was a beautiful blue with perfect white clouds. It looked just like the postcard I brought home. That night we went to the beach bars and saw the fire shows and met some cool people from all over the world. The next two days we repeated the morning (even got banana pancakes every day for breakfast because they were so good) and added another Thai massage, shopping, smoothies, and some other vacation-y things. On our last day, we heard that Rihanna was coming to the island and we found out where she was going to get brunch so of course we decided to check out the place before we got on the ferry to start our long journey back to Beijing. We ordered lunch there and assumed either she had already come or wasn’t coming but I decided to ask our waiter anyway. He had no idea what or who I was talking about when I asked if Rihanna was here this morning. He had me write down “Rihanna” and asked his brother. He confirmed that she was coming that day at 4pm! We had to get on the ferry at 2. Oh well, we ate at the restaurant that Rihanna ate at hours later! While we were walking to the ferry, we saw a man with a monkey on his shoulder and he let another guy hold the monkey and take pictures. After carefully evaluating the situation (was the monkey calm? was he wearing a diaper? yes to both) I decided I wanted to hold him and take some pictures. Charlotte was my photographer for a few minutes and I held the baby monkey first in my arms and then on my shoulder. He was so silly. He was much more focused on eating the fruit his owner was feeding him than anything else but was just so soft and cuddly. We boarded the ferry back to Phuket and another bus to Phuket Airport and flew to Bangkok and then to Beijing. The last step was to wait in Beijing airport for 6 hours for my mom and Iris to arrive. It was easy to do with the help of Starbucks and the pure excitement of seeing them. It was a trip of a lifetime. It was the perfect amount of adventure and relaxation. We are both determined: we will see you again someday, Koh Phi Phi.
Having fun with "Pancake" the elephant.
The pier on Koh Phi Phi
Around Koh Phi Phi
Enjoying the Andamen Sea
Island Hopping
Monkey Bay
Maya Bay a.k.a. "The Beach"
Taking a Long Boat Taxi
Jacky's new friend
