The Hong Kong skyline from the Kowloon ferry

Consisting of a few islands and a chunk of mainland connected to China, Hong Kong is really a large and spread out city that also doubles as its own country: much like Singapore. Ferries are the most popular way to get around the islands, offer amazing views of the skyline and were my personal favorite transportation mode. However, for actually getting somewhere quickly and efficiently, the subway is top notch and connects all of Hong Kong’s islands as well as every place a tourist like me needs to go.

Hong Kong Island itself is one of the most amazing architectural things I have ever seen. More than 7,500 skyscrapers stretch across a riverfront for miles to the east and west. However, less than a mile behind the water Victoria Peak cuts off development and rises above the tops of the buildings. Visually, this massive mountain range provides a stark contrast to the city and helps to put the size into perspective.

A view of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

Once a spot only for the city’s elite, Victoria Peak is now a popular tourist destination reachable either by climbing hundreds of stairs or via a 100-year old cable car. The view from atop is spectacular with the Hong Kong skyline in the foreground and Kowloon and the other islands in the distance. On a clear day (not the day we went up) you can even see China.

The Hong Kong skyline at night from Kowloon during the Symphony of Lights

Another amazing viewpoint is the Victoria Harbor Waterfront promenade on Kowloon. Located directly across the river from downtown Hong Kong Island, the entire skyline seems to be a wall of skyscrapers facing directly at you. Many buildings are topped off with a large neon sign featuring the name of a big global company (ie. IBM, Sony, MGM) though not necessarily the company who occupies that building.

These signs all face out to Kowloon, furthering the feeling that the skyline was meant to be viewed from that spot. Best of all, every night the city puts on A Symphony of Lights where the buildings all flash different neon colors while strobe lights fill the sky to the sound of music. I hate to say it as a New Yorker, but it might just be a little cooler than our skyline. If only we had nightly neon shows…

Kowloon

The Golden Mile in Kowloon is filled with shops, signs and people

While Hong Kong Island is where all big business takes place and many of the city’s richer folks stay, those on more of a budget opt for living in Kowloon. Skyscrapers still fill the sky, though they are not as densely packed and tend to be more residential. While the area is filled with tourists, it also seems to house most the country’s international residents. We met countless African, Indian and Middle Easterners, many of whom came to Hong Kong to try to eek out a meager living while sending home whatever money they can.

Many of these international residents run or work at the thousands of shops, markets and restaurants that fill up Kowloon. The most famous stretch is the Golden Mile, which is longer than a mile and is literally wall to wall shopping, neon and crowded streets. The indoor markets are the craziest of all, like the Mongkok Computer Center that has four floors of shops no bigger than a closet all sandwiched in and selling the same exact thing. There were similar markets around Kowloon for pretty much every genre of purchasable item.

Hong Kong traffic at night

Sadly, as much as I wanted to purchase everything in sight, we had to save our money just to pay for living because man is Hong Kong expensive. Well, expensive by Southeast Asia/two backpackers at the end of a long trip standards. In reality, things were just city prices. I had heard that laptops were dirt cheap (hence the trip to the computer center)…it wound up being cheaper to buy it at home. Even the smallest dirty closet-sized hotel room was at least $20…versus paying $2 in India. Food was no bargain either…even street food. But regardless, the city was awesome and a great way to finish off the trip. So now, on with the details…

A Symphony in Lights as seen from the Victoria Harbor Waterfront promenade on Kowloon

A fruits and veggies vendor takes a break to chat at the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

The Floating Market of Damnoen Saduak is a highlight of the tourist trail through Thailand and one of the main reasons we booked one final week in the country. Boats line up to take visitors on a tour of the canals that weave their way behind and through a large neighborhood. All along the water are shops and stalls on stilts as well as hundreds of locals in canoes selling everything from fruits to hats, snacks, souvenirs, housewares and more.

For an hour, our motorboat drove us around the bustling floating market, stopping at various vendors along the way to shop for souvenirs. However, once our pilot realized that we were not actually going to buy anything, these pauses became less frequent. Instead, we got to see a slice of Thai life that was unlike anything I have ever seen before. Vendors were pretty evenly split between men and women of all ages, though my favorite were the old women who often were too busy chatting with each other across their boats to stop and try and hawk their wares.

All smiles for this female coconut vendor at the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Unfortunately, as the floating market it is close to Bangkok, thousands of day-trippers descended on the market by 9am. We tried make it all the way from Kanchanaburi before they arrived, but by the time we began our tour there were more tourist motorboats than actual vendor canoes. The waterways were narrow and every time a boat zipped by, all the others around it would splash around.

Boat traffic jams were frequent and the most common sight was of a Western tourist snapping a photo: not that I wasn’t amongst the guilty in this regard. In addition, the arrival of all these tourists has transformed the market into just another tourist trap trying to sell Buddha statues and other souvenirs. Gone are the days when it was frequented by locals just hopping onto their dingy for a quick trip to the veggie boat. Still, well worth a visit.

Views from outside the Hang Da Gu cave in Halong Bay...every single one of these boats was filled with at least 16 tourists

“No way,” was all we heard as a familiar face came running up to us at the bus stop in Hanoi where we were waiting for our tour bus to pick us up and take us to Halong Bay. It was Tony, who we had met five months earlier at Sadhana Forest in India and not seen since. So, after a lengthy argument with the people in charge of assigning passengers to their boats, Carrie managed to get all three of us aboard the Dream Voyage for a two day/one night boat tour through Halong Bay: the most iconic destination in Vietnam.

As the most iconic destination in the country, it is also one of the most visited. Our boat left at the same time as dozens of others: each carrying up to 16 passengers. When we made our first stop at the Hang Da Gu cave to view the amazing stalactites and stalagmites, we joined hundreds of other tourists in being ushered through the place as fast as possible. However, that is where the annoyance of the other boats ended. On the open sea one could not hear the noise coming from the other ships and they just became a part of the landscape.

Kayaks docked in Halong Bay...we took one of these out and kayaked in the bay while monsoon rains fell

Halong Bay’s main feature is a series of giant crags sticking out of the water for as far as the eye can see. Our boat stopped a few times in some of the most beautiful spots where were were surrounded by these crags as well as local floating villages. During one stop in the bay we got into kayaks and paddled around. In the middle of kayaking, monsoon rains began to pour down on our heads in a moment I can only compare to when Tim Robbins escapes from the sewage pipe in The Shawshank Redemption and thrusts his hands into the air. Truly amazing and unforgettable.

That night on the boat, we were treated to a traditional music demonstration by our tour guide before joining hands in a circle with our boat-mates to do a series of traditional dances together. When we spoke to people from our bus who got on the boat we would have been on had we not seen Tony and demanded a change, they said they had no such performance and just had a tour guide who yelled at them all day. Whew.

Women in boats filled with snacks, drinks and other items for sale float from ship to ship in Halong Bay selling their wares (taken by Carrie)

A few other highlights from the Halong Bay boat trip were jumping off of the top of the boat into jellyfish infested waters and local women rowing boats full of cookies, snacks and drinks came to the side of our boat to sell us stuff.

Pirating was also the theme of the night, both when Carrie and Tony swam across the bay and boarded a boat that had music playing to look for a party (there was none) and later that night when a different boat docked right next to us and Tony jumped from our roof to theirs. Of course, the boats quickly started to separate, leaving Tony atop the other boat with no choice other than to toss his wallet and playing cards across the span (the cards exploded upon hitting our boat and all landed in the water), jump into the water and swim back to our boat. Classic.

A panoramic view of Halong Bay:

A house on stilts outside the flooded forest of Kompong Pluk in Siem Reap

One of the main attractions in Siem Reap, other than Angkor Wat, is a boat ride through the Flooded Forest and stilted village of Kompong Pluk. Located on the banks of a river that leads into a lake, the entire forest is flooded annually by the monsoon rains to the point where only the tops of the trees are visible. All houses in the village are built on high stilts that protect them from the rising waters.

Depending on the time of year there are two possible ways to get to the tour boat. During the monsoon season the water is high enough that a tuk tuk can drop tourists off at the side of the river where the boat waits. If it is dry season the river begins much further back. As such, the tuk tuk drops people off in a small town before transferring to the back of a motorcycle to drive down a bumpy dirt road to where the river is high enough for the boat to pick up passengers.

Our experience was neither of these, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Originally we wanted to do something else that day, but the hard sell of our driver/guide convinced us that this three hour tour was the way to go. So we hopped into his tuk tuk and after a brief stop for tire air and gas (bought from a shack on the side of the road and poured from a whiskey bottle) we were on our way.

High fives with the local kids in a village outside the flooded forest

A short while later while driving down a very rural road we heard the unmistakable sound of a flat tire and had to stop again, this time in front of someone’s house that happened to have an air pump. We sat there for nearly a half hour while they tried everything to repair the tube before eventually replacing it. While waiting, I tried my hardest to befriend a dozen curious but shy local children by making faces, playing peek-a-boo and more. In the end, I won them over with high-fives and by the time we left they were all smiling and waving and high-fiving each other.

Back on track, despite nonstop rain over the past few days, the monsoon season was still young enough that we had drive over the dirt road to reach the far away boat dock. So, at our next stop Carrie and I hopped onto the backs of two separate motorcycles driven by our guide and his younger brother and headed out. The tuk tuk remained behind for yet another tire repair.

While there were a few puddles in the dirt road, there was enough space for the bikes to maneuver around them with little effort…at least in the beginning. As the drive continued the puddles became more frequent and the dirt road got more muddy. One puddle was actually more of a pool and, with no way to get around it, we drove through water at least two feet deep that engulfed half of the motorcycle and reached my shins.

By the time we passed the pool puddle the road was entirely mud. Still, our drivers pressed on: slipping and sliding the whole time. The bikes were all over the road and, despite his best efforts, my bike slid out and fell four times. Fortunately, falling off a bike in a mud pit is more funny than painful so it really wasn’t bad. As for Carrie, I guess the younger brother was a better driver because he didn’t fall once.

The road we had to walk through for a mile to get to our boat to head to the flooded forest of Kompong Pluk in Siem Reap

Not wanting to turn around, we kept going until a local man told our drivers that the road got even worse up ahead and we could not possibly make it on the bikes. So, with no other choice, we took off our flip flops and began to walk the final mile barefoot.

At first the walk was no problem; I even had fun sloshing around in the mud. However, shortly after we began walking the road dried up and became hot and hard. Making matters worse were the tire tracks all over the road that had hardened and become razor sharp. Needless to say, it went from a fun walk to a painful one very quickly.

Laughing at the absurdity of our tour was the only way I made it through the experience, but finally, about 30 minutes after we got off the bikes, we arrived at the dock. Here, our driver handed us off to the boat captain (a 12 year old boy) and the pilot (his 10 year old younger brother).

The boat tour itself was outstanding, even if the water level only flooded the trees half way up. I went nuts taking photos of the village on stilts, which was on a scale the likes of which I have never seen before. The entire village is based around the river that floods every year and boats are the only way to get from one side to the other.

Buddhist celebration in the streets of Kompong Pluk in Siem Reap

Sadly, the villagers have tourism down to a science. At one point, a woman jumped onto our boat and got me to buy 10 notebooks to donate to the school children. When she got off there were four other women waiting to do the same thing who were disappointed to find that she had beaten them to the punch.

After spending a few minutes in the middle of a lake we were dropped off in the actual village for a walk/tour. How surprised were we to find a Buddhist celebration going on and a parade winding it’s way thorough the street. Townsfolk were all dressed up in their Sunday best, music and speaking blasted from a loudspeaker and everyone had a big smile.

The inside of the monastery in Kompong Pluk in Siem Reap where Buddhist monks are about to enter a three month period of isolation and silence

All around, people hoisted up money trees and other gifts for a group of monks about to enter a three month period of silence and isolation. We followed the parade to a temple atop a hill where the monks sat accepting the donations while villagers banged ceremonial drums as loud and hard as possible. The scene was amazing and the people were super friendly, though it was very awkward when I had to give out the books.

Originally, I thought we were going to walk into a classroom and just hand the teacher a stack of notebooks. However, due to the celebration the kids were all in the street. So, at the urging of the girl who sold me the notebooks, I stood there and handed them. One by one, kids came up, accepted the books, bowed their heads and said thanks. The whole thing seemed incredibly fake and scripted and I was so glad when I got rid of the last book because it was also very awkward. Like, are these kids actually going to use them? Do they want them? Is the girl going to take the books back to sell to the next boat of tourists? I don’t know nor do I want to.

Coming down the river at the flooded forest of Kompong Pluk in Siem Reap

Waving goodbye to the townsfolk, we got back onto the boat for our walk back to the motorcycles. However, upon returning to land we were happy to find that our guide had found someone to drive us back to where our bikes were waiting. So, Carrie and I hopped on back of the best driver in town’s (according to our guide) bike and were amazed as he easily navigated through the mud and dry patches. The only problem with the ride was that the best path to drive on was right next to a wall of spiky bushes that often whacked us in the face, arms and legs. Still, we were too busy laughing at the absurdity of it all to care.

Once back on our original bikes, the rest of the return trip was much the same as the trip out there. Lots of slipping and sliding, another trip through the pool puddle and a few near falls. By the time we got back to the village and boarded the finally-repaired tuk tuk the sun was already setting, filling the sky with an awesome display of oranges, reds and blues. We finally pulled into our hotel after dark, having spent double the forecasted time on the tour and full of memories to last a lifetime.

A boat ride through the village on stilts next to the Flooded Forest of Kompong Phhluk

Buddha celebration at the village on stilts next to the Flooded Forest of Kompong Phhluk

The inside of a sleeper bus

Tourist Travel: Buses, Sleeper Buses and Minivans
Like most countries, Laos offers tourists pre-packaged ways to get from one popular destination to the next at a price way higher than local transportation. The advantage of taking one of these AC minivans or comfy first class buses is that they pick you up at your guesthouse and take care of all transfers along the way.

Overnight trips are taken on sleeper buses that literally have beds instead of seats. Some beds are big enough for one, others have space for two, though barely. The twin beds are very narrow and too short to lay straight on the back. This worked out fine for Carrie and I since we just curled into a ball and fell asleep next to each other, but we know some people traveling alone who got stuck with random strangers in their bed.

A local Laos bus

While we sometimes took the packaged buses, we also tried to do it ourselves in order to pay less and travel like the locals. While we always got to our destination, we often found that it took far longer, was more uncomfortable and cost just about as much. We still got the foreigner price, even on local transportation, and got none of the frills. Still, that didn’t stop us from trying.

Songthaew:
Take an oversized, rickety and old flatbed truck. Put benches on either side of the cab and possibly a third bench in the middle. Then put a canopy attached to poles overhead and cram on as many people as humanly possible. That’s a songthaew and the most common way to travel as these are the only public buses offered. Bags, chickens, bikes and anything else people carry are placed on the roof or tied to the rear bumper, which usually has an extended grate for stepping or storing.

Carrie squeezes into a Songthaw

On one particularly uncomfortable three hour ride from Champasak to the 4,000 Islands we joined 21 other people in the back of a songthaew, bumping our way over potholes and dirt roads. Tied to the back bumper were about a dozen pigs in a wicker basket and a few more stuffed into sacks: all tied down with rope, squealing and sending their stink wafting into the songthaew. I had a guy next to me for a while who used me as a pillow. Carrie was pointed at and discussed in the local language for a few minutes after we got on. Best of all, we paid as much as we would have if we had taken the AC bus. Gotta love traveling!

In towns there are other types of songthaews that are a hybrid of pickup truck and tuk tuk. Maybe 10 feet long, they run on three wheels, have a single seat up front for the driver and a cab-like back with benches on either side. They hold less people than their truck counterparts and go way slower, which is why they are not used for long distances.

A Laos tuk tuk

Tuk Tuk:
Aside from the songthaew tuk tuk, Laos also has smaller versions of these popular Asian taxis. Still using only three wheels, the driver sits on what looks like the front half of a motorcycle (it is also driven like one) with an area to put his feet. The back part has two benches like a songthaew but is significantly smaller and can fit only four people (as long as they don’t have bags) comfortably…or as comfortably as one can sit on a wooden bench in a vehicle with no shocks.

Boats:
With the Mekong running through the entire country as well as tons of other rivers and lakes, boat travel is very popular in Laos. Options range from speedboats to ferries, motorized canoes, barges and even a long wooden boat big enough for hundreds. But more on that later.

Street vendors selling chicken, drinks and more surround our sangthaw in southern Laos

One of the slow boats on the Mekong River

The Mekong River is the lifeblood of Laos, running through most of the country and providing resources for more than 50 million people. The shores are filled with villages, farms, boats and locals going about their daily lives. A glance into the horizon reveals beautiful mountain ranges, rock formations, blue skies and more. What better way to take it all in than a two day slow boat ride from Houayxai to Louang Prabang.

Filled with all Western tourists except for one Lao family and a few monks, our boat the first day was long, narrow, wooden and reminded me of a short ceilinged hallway. Our seats switched between the floor and thatched wooden chairs, as all of the comfy bus seat chairs were taken before we got in. The scene on the boat reminded us of a bar, as many travelers spent the day boozing it up on Beer Lao, singing and mingling. In fact, the most popular meeting spot was the line for the toilet.

An old man on a boat on the Mekong River, Laos

While the party raged around us we relaxed in our chairs, watching the world go by. Fishing was a common theme as many local fishermen sat in small dinghies with bamboo fishing poles waiting for a tug. Others cast out nets to catch their day’s meal while others still just placed their fishing poles on rocks with a line in the water and left them there until later.

Every few hours the boat would stop on the shore somewhere to drop off something being ferried on the roof or to pick up more cold beer and we would be invaded by hordes of vendors: usually children. The boat was quickly filled with the sounds of “chips, coca cola, Beer Lao, pineappllllllle?” Literally, they were selling the same goods as the boat had for sale but for some reason they made a killing and left with their baskets empty.

The town of Louang Prabang with the Mekong River running through it

Eight hours after leaving Houayxai we arrived in Pakbeng, a river town whose sole means of income seems to be the daily stop over of hundreds of westerns. There is one street that makes its way up a hill and features nothing but guesthouses, restaurants and little stores. While I’m sure that there is a whole other side to the town, it is one that tourists never get to see. After getting off the boat and a mad dash to find a cheap and good guesthouse, we spent the evening wandering around before the power went off at 10pm, as it does every night.

Day two of our boat ride began with a surprise: the two boats leaving that morning had been consolidated into one. So, instead of leg and walking room we now had more than 100 people crammed into a space big enough to fit maybe half of that comfortably. Our seats for the next seven hours were benches with little leg room and, although the scenery continued to be stunning, we were very ready to be done with the trip by the time we got off at Louang Prabang.

A panoramic view of the Mekong River from the slow boat including a look inside

Getting a Thai exit stamp from the Chang Kong, Thailand, border office

Land border crossings vary from country to country. To get into Singapore and Malaysia we had to enter big buildings with lots of security and lines and have our bags screened by x-ray machines. Before entering Thailand we had to pass a health examination. And then there was Laos.

Six hours after leaving Chang Mai by bus, we arrived in the small border town of Chang Kong, located on the shores of the Mekong River. A quick tuk tuk ride later we were standing in a line to get our passport exit stamps from a small booth on the side of a dusty road. Once stamped, we headed down a hill to a dock area, bought a ticket from a tent for double what the locals pay and boarded a dinky wooden speed boat.

Once another dozen people got on board, the boat departed Thailand and made the two minute journey across the Mekong to the shores of Houayxai: the Laos border town. Some passengers had to step in shin-deep water to get off the boat. I jumped the few feet onto the shore and had Carrie pass our bags over. We walked up a small barely-paved road for around 25 feet before hitting the arrival section, which was nothing more than two small office windows and a few tables with benches to write on.

Laos visa on arrival

Unlike other countries where you must have your visa before leaving home, Laos offers visas on arrival. For $35 per person, payable in US dollars or Thai Bhat (for a $10 surcharge), the Laos government gives you the legal right to stay in the country for 30 days without leaving (aka, a single-entry visa). Want to go check out another country and come back? Another $35 please.

We filled out the forms, provided the passport photos that we’ve been carrying around since NYC, paid the cashier and moved onto the adjacent window for a passport stamp. With all paperwork taken care of, all that was left to do was finish walking up the small hill, show the one police officer at a guard post that we had our stamps and visas and enter Houayxai.

Carrie and I were joking that we couldn’t imagine a border anywhere with one single guard. What happens if someone runs by? Do they chase after him/her and leave the border unguarded? Do they just shrug their shoulders and say meh? Who knows!

Carrie walks into the Thailand section of the border

With our new friends Claire and Karen in tow, Carrie and I left the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia at 7:30am to head to Koh Phangan, Thailand, for the Full Moon Party. Referred to as the best and biggest party in the world, we had based our entire schedule for Malaysia and Singapore around getting to the party. It was something that we just had to experience. Little did we know that getting there would be an experience all in itself.

Our day began with a quick boat “taxi” to the speedboat ferry that would take us from the Perhentians back to the mainland. From there we hired a proper taxi to take the four of us to the Thailand border at Sungai Kolok. Getting our passport stamped to leave Malaysia was quick and painless. Getting into Thailand was not.

Checking to make sure no on has swine flu before entering Thailand

First we had to undergo a health check, which involved filing out a form swearing that we had no swine flu symptoms and getting our temperature checked. After mine came out at 36.7 degrees Celsius the nurse showed it to me and said, “very close.” I freaked out a bit until I saw the sign that said 38 was the minimum for concern. What was she scaring me for?!

Next we had to wait on a long and hot line to get our passports stamped with our Thai visas. While waiting, a money changer approached me and tried to give me a terrible exchange rate. As everything does, it turned into a little scene that ended with me refusing to give him my money.

The encounter did have a positive effect though, as Reuben, a Spaniard traveling alone and standing behind me in the line, asked me why I didn’t want to change money with that guy. We continued to talk about traveling and soon established that he too was going to the party without pre-booked accommodation. And just like that we had a fifth member of our crew.

The full moon gang (from the left: Claire, Karen, Reuben, Carrie and Me)

After successfully getting through the border check and entering Thailand we found that the train station we needed for the next leg of our journey was about 4 kilometers away. There were no car taxis anywhere so we had no choice but to all hop on the back of motorcycle taxis with our big bags. For ten minutes we caravanned through the streets of Sungai Kolok: waving, hooting and hollering at each other. Depending on whom you ask it was either a fun or terrifying experience; Claire said she had never been more scared in her life!

Safely arriving at the train station and buying our tickets to Surat Thani, we joined a train full of other Western travelers heading to the same place. The ride was long, dusty, hot and highly entertaining. Reuben was sitting next to a Thai who was drinking beer for 10 hours straight. Karen and Claire drank whisky with a Thai police officer in the food car. Carrie and I met an army officer who loves scuba diving as much as we do. Good times were had by all.

The sleeping quarters on board the overnight ferry to Koh Phangan

We finally arrived at Surat Thani at around 9pm and quickly started looking for cabs to take us to the boat dock. However, we had somehow picked up a straggler (we’ll call him San Diego because that’s where he’s from and I don’t know his name) who invited himself into our group to try and save money on the cab. He alternated between making sure to latch onto us and trying to find his own cheap deal. In the end he tagged along with us, which made us need two cabs instead of one and we all had to pay an extra 10 bhat for helping him. No problem, I would hope the same would happen to me in that situation.

The boat, which doubled as a cargo ship filled with food, beer and other dry goods, wound up costing double the normal price due to the party. The inside was lined with mattresses both on the floor and elevated in the aisles. Everyone had an assigned spot, though we did have to kick a few sleeping locals out of our beds after playing cards until nearly 1am. It took a while, but we all finally fell asleep to the rocking of the sea.

We made it!

Arriving at 5:30am, we were awoken by the sounds of the ship’s horns and countless taxi drivers on the jetty shouting “good morning! You want taxi? Where you go?” through the boat’s windows. Still groggy, we had no choice but to enter the taxi gauntlet waiting for us and try and figure out where we were headed. Not surprisingly, it was at this point that San Diego reappeared after being MIA all night and tagged along with us. Our destination: a hotel with a room big enough for six.

The epilogue to the story is that Claire’s place didn’t work out but we did find a wonderful AC room that we could cram the original five into. San Diego had been both trying to find his own place and make sure to stick with us all morning just in case, so we were a-ok with him doing his own thing. We even helped find him a cheap single room, but were completely done with him. Finally, at around 8:30am we all plopped into our beds and passed out.

Final tally
1 train ride
1 motorcycle taxi
3 car taxis
3 boats
26 hours of travel

Views from the back of our motorcycle taxi to the train station

The scene on the dock when our boat arrived at the full moon party at 530am

Carrie and I with our big bags in front of our hotel getting ready to leave the full moon party

We spent the night dancing and having a blast before going to bed at around 8am. Reuben returned. Karen came back. But where was Claire? This was the question we were still asking at 7pm when I hopped onto the back of a motorcycle driven by a Thai friend I had made. Our destinations? Health clinics and the police station to see if anyone had seen the girl whose passport I held in my hand. None of us knew what to do but we were very worried.

My friend told me that people go missing all the time and if she didn’t show up and we filed a police report that we would have to stay on the island until she surfaced. I had no luck on our motorcycle ride, but upon returning what did I see? Claire chatting with the girls telling a story about meeting new friends and winding up on the other side of the island with no cell phone. Thank goodness she was ok but what an experience for us.

The next day we all said our goodbyes and Carrie and started our 700 kilometer journey north to Chang Mai for some trekking. We had gone against our usual method of travel and booked a direct trip to Bangkok through a tour agent to make our life easier. Our taxi left the hotel at 11am and we next joined thousands of Westerners boarding a boat to what we thought was Surat Thani.

A huge pile of backpacker bags loaded onto the boat from the full moon party

In reality the boat dropped us off a few hours later at some dock somewhere in Thailand where busses waited to take us the rest of the way. We were among the last people off the boat by the time we finally got our bags all of the busses were full and we had to wait on this random dock for nearly two hours before the next bus came.

When we finally arrived in Surat Thani we were left at a bus terminal in the middle of nowhere so we had no choice but to buy their overpriced food. Our bus left 30 minutes late and got into Bangkok 30 minutes early: at 4:30am. We hopped in a cab to the train station, booked an 8:30am train to Chang Mai and waited in the terminal for it to leave.

A twelve hour train ride later we got to Chang Mai. got in a cab, found a hotel and passed out.

Tons of tourists waiting to board the boat to leave the full moon party

Final tally:
3 taxis
2 bus rides
1 boat ride
1 train ride
34 hours of travel

Add the 26 hours to get from Malaysia to the full moon party and you get 60 hours of travel in 6 days. Had we skipped the full moon party and flown from Malaysia to Chang Mai it would have taken 3 hours. Was it worth it? 100%!