In THAILAND!

Before we dive into Thailand, here is my quick China update: Ty is awesome, I got my wallet stolen (Cari had to rescue me in downtown Xi’an) and the city is being covered with Chinese New Year Decorations: Year of the OX! Now, on to the main event:

Amazing Race: Thailand Style!

That's right, it's official! I am in Thailand! I was a long a crazy trip to get here. Originally, I was to leave my apartment at 5:20 am to catch my flight, but it was delayed 2 hours. Then, when I arrived at the airport- delayed another hour! And finally, after getting on the plane, we sat on the run way for- yep, you guessed it- another hour. Finally I left Xi'an, China for Bangkok, Thailand 4 hours behind schedule.

This wouldn't have been a problem except I was foolish and booked my second flight with a different company. So I missed my flight from Bangkok to Krabi (I feel like the more excited you are to travel, the more problems you are likely to have) and I had to buy another ticket. Thankfully, another plan was leaving in only 40 minutes- great timing! I was relieved to finally be on a plane, but the last leg of my journey to the rural city of Ao Luk was still uncertain.

I was warned about overpriced taxis at the airport in Krabi, so I walked to the main road (point "A" below). Using the Google map of the area and my GPS system, I started walking down the Highway 4 towards Krabi... at dusk (sorry mom!). As I walked a large man on a moped approached me (point "B" below). I said "Krabi" and he motioned for me to jump on the back. How could I refuse? He took me to a booth on the side of the road where an older man who knew a little English was sitting. I think it was a moped rental shop, but I showed him my map and told him I wanted to go to Ao Luk. Then he said "big bus" and I smiled and nodded.

I was back on the moped with the large man who reminded me of a Hawaiian local. Side note: both I and the large man on the moped were wearing blue Hawaiian shirts, just to give you a visual. We arrived at one bus stop, but we literally saw the last bus for Ao Luk pulling away. Thankfully, there was a bus heading to Phuket (point "C" below) and I was able to ride that bus and get off early.


View Larger Map

Now dark and in the city of Ao Luk (point "D" below), I used a picture Tracy had sent me to navigate to my hotel. On the way, I found an internet cafe full of little children. I might have been closed, but they let me come in. I was able to contact Tracy by Instant Messaging. After all the children introduced themselves and taught me how to count to ten (although I've already forgotten their names and the numbers), I headed down the dark rural road to the Ao Luk "Bangalows" (that's right- bungalows spelt wrong!). After checking in buy pointing at a sheet of paper I had with Thai words on it, I dropped off my luggage and went to meet Tracy and Sarah.

I had finally arrived after a 12 hour day of traveling (which should have taken only about 7). Aren't travel stories fun?!

First Impressions/Day

Ao Luk, Thailand is the exact opposite of Xi'an China. Here are some of the differences:

Xi'an, China...	Ao Luk, Thailand
... is HUGE (pop. ~9 million)	... is not (pop. ~45,000, and that's the whole district!)
... is a dry-as-a-bone desert city with a concret jungle	... a lush rural town and has literal jungles
... is cold (today's temperature in Xi'an: 0 C/32 F)	...is hot (today's temperature in Ao luk: ~27 C/80 F)

On second thought, Xi'an and Ao Luk are not totally opposite; rice and spice is just as important (if not more) in the food, people love to ride mopeds and motorbikes and everyone is very friendly- just like in Xi'an.

Like any good foreigner, I spent most of the first day in Ao Luk getting way too much sun at the pool with Sarah and Tracy- I am a lovely shade of red right now!



I love it here; it is absolutely beautiful and the people have the relaxed islander feel of Hawaii. Also, since Ao Luk is so rural- there are not many foreigners or tourist spots, so that's nice!

Well, it's about time for me to go! I've been typing from an internet cafe in the big part of Ao Luk (there's a cute little kitten who sleeps on top of the computer screens and chases the mice... pun intended!). I'll be trying to update again from Thailand and hopefully I'll be able to upload my pictures by then!

Thanks for reading!