vang vieng.

after a boat from koh tao to the mainland, a luxury bus to bangkok, a sleeper bus through the north of thailand, a stopover at the laos border for visas and fees, and a public bus up through the mountains, india & bryn arrived at their first official stop in laos: vang vieng.

boats on the nam song river in vang vieng.

here is must be said: vang vieng is exactly what you think it's going to be. like shasta lake on memorial day weekend, or vegas on new years eve, vang vieng is a non stop party, a rustic disneyland-like natural adventure park for twenty something travelers. it is, truly, a different world.

bryn & india arrived knowing very little about vang vieng other than it being party central. the majority of what the knew sounded like an urban legend: rope swings over rivers, homebrewed booze flowing, loas hospitality bursting at every open cafe, each equipped with old televisions that blared fuzzy viewings of your favorite american sitcoms.

turns out, that's exactly what it was.

making friends with the livestock on the side of the road.

bryn & india were dropped off in the middle of the six block stretch of road that made up vang vieng. they walked three yards to the first hotel and booked a space - a creaky corner room with big windows and a lavatory that held the toilet in the very middle of the tiled room. they paid about 50,000 kip (or 6 u.s. dollars) a night, and were pressed to take off their shoes at the entrance, as keeping the floors clean kept the maids happy.

after a breakfast at one of the dozen cafes on the street, bryn & india followed the small but steady crowd of white tourists to the rent-a-tube station in the center of town. here, they paid 8,000 kip each (or about 10 u.s. dollars) to rent an industrial sized black rubber inner tube and hitch a ride in a crowded truck towards the start of the float. perhaps two miles up river, bryn & india were dropped on a muddy bank among a thick green jungle, and dove into the rushing brown river.

tubing is for lovers #1

tubing is for lovers #2

because this is why tourists come to vang vieng: about ten years ago, a pair of australian boys (or british? or american? is it urban legend?) came to vang vieng and saw the potential of it. it was a tiny native community with zero tourists but beautiful scenery - and a river perfect for tubing to boot. they built a river side bar where inner tubes were rented out and the rest was history. today, about two dozen bars dot both sides of the murky river for about a five mile stretch. some have rope swings, or gigantic slides, that will push you back in to the water after a few beers, a few shots. some will hand you a pre-rolled cigarette filled with dry marijuana if you purchase a fifty cent beer. whichever ones you stop at, you'll meet friends and have fun. (though favorites are inevitable: bryn & india were fond of rope swings, power slide, and 'slingshot bar'.)

beer pong at the first annual 'tubefest' on the nam song river.

one of the many rope swings.

the rope swing before an impressive cannonball.

team u.s.a. - clearly a dominating force.

two days of tubing left the pair exhausted. beer pong tournaments, shared shots of warm liquor, countless jumps from the rope swing, high fives between new friends, buddhist blessings for safety in the form of colorful bracelets.

for a brief moment, after making friends with a brit who had been there for months, india & bryn entertained the idea of staying in vang vien. work in my bar! i'll pay you in room and board, and you'll drink whatever you like, whenever you like. but as the liquor wore off, the charm wore off, and as gorgeous as the surrounding jutting mountains were, bryn & india left on their third morning, exhausted by the tourists and the alcohol.

view from the pitstop on the bumpy bus into laos.

koh tao.

after a long night celebrating the full moon on koh pha ngan, bryn & india and their friends zach, tracey and aric returned to their hotel on the next island over, koh samui. exhausted but determined, the five celebrated a crazy last night together on the island before all parting ways the next day. tracey and aric headed up back to bangkok to catch their flight back home to toronto. zach was also homeward bound; he hopped a ferry south to phuket and then on to sydney. bryn & india, ready for a serious detox, headed north through the bay of thailand to the warm island of koh tao. 

on the ferry over, boys bombarded them with pamphlets for different scuba resorts, packages of hotel rooms, scuba lessons, and breakfast options. but india & bryn were determined to learn at ban's resort, a scuba resort recommended to them by their friends liana and tristan and recently visited by tracey and aric. both teams had nothing but good things to say – so, upon docking, bryn & india jumped in the back of a pick up truck with a bright yellow ban's scrawled on the side, and set off for the beach.

mango smoothies on koh tao.

ban's was like disneyland – a picture perfect paved village in the edge of the small island. there was restaurants with traditional thai and overpriced americana cuisine. there were movie nights and glow parties at the bar. there was a 24 hour mini mart that sold grilled cheese and 20 oz. chang beers. everyone was barefoot, most were shirtless. everyone was tan and crunchy from the saltwater. and everyone was happy. the pools were filled with laughing and the staff at the bar poured shots for themselves when you bought one for your friend. bryn & idia were happy. they signed up for a three day open water diving course.

winding paths cut through ban's lush gardens.

their diving instructors, jimmy and jessie, were from ireland and england, respectively, and took bryn & india, and their 11 other classmates with patience and encouragement. after a classroom session and a night of homework, bryn & india took to the water immediately, and passed their water certification easily. they swam with schools of orange clownfish and pairs of bright butterfly fish. after five dives, the class took their final written exam, all passed, and celebrated by having a long night of partying on the beach.

staying warm on the boat after a stormy afternoon dive.

the beach at ban's lights up at night.

over their three day open water course, bryn & india got to know a nice irish boy named A who had been living in koh tao studying to be a diving instructor. after months of the island life, he had grown tired of it and had decided to move back to the u.k. it was his last week on the island and with his encouragement, and the promise to be their diving partner again, bryn & india signed up for the two day advanced open water diving course.

the next two days, bryn & india were spent back on the boat in rocky waters. the sun had given way to monsoon season, but under the water, bryn & india could have cared less. they swam 30 meters deep, did a night dive using only flashlights to see, and dove guideless, just the two of them, floating in the underwater world. it was a surreal and wonderful feeling; breathing underwater, swimming so deep you couldn't tell up from down, was like being the most alive you've ever felt while totally disconnected from the world.

two days more of that, of movie viewings on projection screens, of fresh mango smoothies and coconut milk curries, of nighttimes walk with A, and they never wanted to leave.

scuba is sexy.

india and a: ah! real monsters. 

unfortunately, bryn & india's 30 day tourist visa they had received when they flew into thailand was about to expire. and to renew a short term tourist visa in thailand, you needed to leave the country and re-enter. so bryn & india kissed their friend A goodbye, swam in the warm turquoise waters around koh tao one last time, and headed back to bangkok where they boarded a bus bound north for laos.

on koh tao, the bartenders pass out condoms with the drinks.

koh pha ngan.

full moon is an experience.

highlights of our party included the following:

1. an afternoon spent swimming in the hot water of the ocean with tracey and aric, their tans set in to a burnt marshmellow coloring.
2. drinking whiskey out of sturdy blue plastic cups as the sun set.
3. watching thai boys poi and juggle with burning instruments, their hands seeming to fly with fire.
4. painting their bare feet and faces with glow in the dark paint; everyone's feet showed glowing bones of their skeletons.
5. the whole beach being filled with people of every color, age, shape, nationality, humor, personality, scent.
6. house music. everywhere. forever.
7. rain storms in the middle of night night, short bursts of hiding from the pounding water under flimsy umbrellas.
8. morning arriving, the dim light purpling the sky, at six in the morning.
9. falling asleep on the five dollar speed boat ride back to koh samui at seven in the morning.
10. very few photos.

#1.

#2.

#3.

koh samui.

searching for monkeys in krabi.

koh samui, the biggest of the three coastal islands in the gulf of thailand, beckoned bryn, india & their friend zach for a few reasons. first, they had been promised elephants. secondly, bryn & india were excited to reconnect with their friends tracey and aric whom they had met a few weeks before in krabi. and thirdly, koh samui would be the groups base camp for the epic journey to the island of koh pha ngan for the full moon party at the end of the month.

bryn, india & zach rode a large ferry into the port of koh samui, playing card games and drinking coconut water. after finding a map and reorienting themselves, the group strapped their backpacks to the top of a pick up truck and hopped in the back, speeding along to the hotel that they had previously booked. walking into the lobby of the chaweng lakeview condotel, the three whirled. a sky blue pool surrounded by flowering trees. a collection of couches overlooking the nearby lake. when they were shown to their room, the three knew they had found the best deal on the island. the apartment was gigantic; a full kitchen, a large balcony, towels folded like swans on the bed. the owners were bubbly, fussing over the group, bringing up an extra bed and chair for zach, making sure we felt as at home as possible. india blushed over all the attention. the three felt like movie stars.

that night, the three explored their neighborhood, a stretch of road that curved around the lake. they stopped in the sole second hand shoe shop on the island; rows and rows of leather cowboy boots and dusty adidas charmed them. they ate at a korean grill, where vegetables were thrown into a pot of boiling savory liquid and cooked fresh soup at their table. and they found a bowling alley, where they bought a tower of chang beer and india beat both the boys. (that's... a lie.)

        

great form, sir.

india upon defeat.

the next morning, bryn, india and zach took a long stroll towards chaweng, the long stretch of white sand beach, to find a rent-a-scooter shop. when they found one, bryn was reminded of renting a scooter in goa in india: no drivers license check, no 'have you driven one of these before?' unfortunately, the group learned the importance of practice as, minutes later, vroom vrooming down the street, zach's wheels got caught in a rut and he was thrown from the scooter.

here was a moment in which everything could have gone wrong - and the thai people made everything right. immediately swooping around to tend to their friend, bryn & india were already moments too late as a group of shopkeepers had come rushing into the street as soon as they saw zach fall, roll his scooter up into their shops, assist him into a chair, tend to his cuts with neosporin and band aids, and forced two bottles of water in him. so often these guys must see tourists without the proper skills renting scooters and jumping on, you would think they would be sick of saving them! but these study and sweet thai men took such good care of zach, the group left them feeling relieved.

the traveling trio poses on a break from the scooters.

india took over the scooter and the three zoomed around all day, discovering rolling hills dotted with palm trees and shops set up along the deserted dirt roads selling fresh tropical produce. india grabbed some mushrooms, peppers, and spices and the three went back to their hotel where they cooked up a delicious noodle soup in the kitchen in their room.

that night, bryn & india's friends tracey and aric (from toronto, who they met in krabi) showed up and the group headed off on their scooters in search of an interesting bar. down a sketchy alley in a dark area of koh samui, the group found an open air bar owned by a sweet british guy and his thai wife, who served them cold beers and rolled them harsh cigarettes and talked with the group over pool for hours.

the next few days with the five friends on koh samui were spent on the scooters. zach quickly gained his confidence back and tackled the rough road. the group rode a gigantic elephant, through the jungle of palm trees, taking turns riding the elephant's neck. after their ride, they fed her gigantic sugar cane stalks and whole bananas and pet her trunk and gushed over how gorgeous the 47 year old elephant was. the group hiked some lush mountains alongside beautiful crisp cold creeks, perfect for swimming. they visited big buddah, a giantic gold homage to the god, surrounded entirely by water, where they got caught in a rainstorm and was forced to wait it out in a rickety cafe with wooden shutters. they lounged on the beach, populated with henna artists and volley ball courts. they ate bowls thick with spicy noodles and drank snowy glasses filled with cold thai beer.

channeling the jungle book.

our elephant was as old as the hills.

warm hikes and waterbugs.

after a few days in the very modern jungle island, the group began to prepare for their next big adventure: the full moon party on koh phangan.