It's been a while and quite a bit has changed. I left Lembongan to change scenery and there was no ATM on the island. I also judo chopped my board and kneed it, so it was in need of repairs. I made my way back to Kuta. Kuta is where I spent the rest of my days doing trips from there to the Bukit peninsula to surf. I scored Balangan at 6 to 10 foot which was epic. Huge, fast left that was heavy and long. I surfed there a couple of times then to changgu a crowded beach break. I ventured around on the scooter a couple hours to see the sites and then I packed my bags, sold my boards and made my way to Thailand. I got the waves I needed and decided to surprise Laura a few days early. 
Two hour packed ferry with people hurling everywhere as it was choppy and we finally made it to our place Viking Resort. Beautiful island, with clear waters, white sand and huge rock formations. It is next to the island where they filmed The Beach for all you die hard Leo fans. It has been three days now here and it has been fun. We did a hike (10 min) to a view point of the island and today did a boat ride to snorkel and see "The Beach". Snorkeling was fun and Maya beach where they filmed the movie would be nice and picturesque but has become over run with tourists, boats and there is an admission fee. We decided against docking and being on the same sand as him to avoid paying the 8$. Later we same up to another entrance and saw it for free. Other than that is has been catching up and soaking in the sun. No complaints!
We are in the process of creating or next stage of the trip.
VIDEOS
Balangan
Underwater Phi Phi
The Beach
Laura and Kristen's Journey
Where to start, where to start…?! It’s been a busy last week. Well, I guess I’ll start off by giving a brief lesson on scooter safety while traveling abroad. #1) It’s probably best to have some prior riding experience before embarking on a day-long adventure through a fairly secluded national park. #2) Make sure you wear a helmet and it should fit. #3) Bring medical supplies (ie: band aids, gauze, alcohol swabs, etc) if planning on being far from help. #4) Be able to laugh when you should maybe be crying! So, wondering what happened? It was more or less a case of a first timer on a scooter who had no fear, or better put, no ‘idea’ of what she was doing when flying down a winding, gravel road. When Kristen yelled out to me “someone fell”, our hearts dropped. We saw one scooter in the middle of the road and the other in the ditch. Braking quickly I ended up cutting my toe but that was nothing compared to the others. The one girl was covered in blood. She had scrapes everywhere and THANK GOD she was wearing a helmet because that was dented from the impact. She was conscious, with no broken bones – it was a miracle! Her friend also ended up falling when he turned to look back but thankfully he wasn’t nearly as busted as her. We had a count of about 3 Band-Aids which could cover one part of her hand. We were out by about 30+ Band Aids! Being in the middle of nowhere we made due with the little supplies we had and, with pretty much no other choice, we had to scooter back slowly to the Chiang Mai hospital. She ended up getting cleaned up, prescribed about 5 different drugs and lived to tell the tale.
In hopes of counteracting the copious Pad Thai and beer, we’ve been keeping super active. A few yoga sessions and swimming laps were done and one evening we decided to enroll in an authentic Thai boxing course at Lanna Muay Thai Boxing Camp. Holy shit. It was probably one of the toughest training sessions we’ve done in our lives. It only started off with a 5km jog up a hill in 30+ degree heat, followed by them ‘wanting’ us to skip for 15 minutes. Yeah, that lasted about 4 minutes and then we got our hands wrapped up for our brief lesson in punching, kneeing and kicking. About half an hour later, we’re in the ring attempting to kick ass. We learned that boxing is very hard work, if you want to get fit fast than that is your solution and the pain from the training will hang around for at least 3-4 days after. Was it worth it? Completely!
Chiang Mai is lovely but we wanted to get into the mountains and see the city from a different angle. We came across a mountain bike adventure company called Crank with a day-long downhill bike tour. Sold. Well, I was. Kristen was a bit hesitant but I told her it’d be fine. We started the day by heading up to the top of one of the highest hills, about 1,900 meters above the city. We stopped to see the most famous temple in Chiang Mai called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, where Kristen and I were blessed by a monk. Very interesting and the temple was gorgeous. Once we got to the top we made our way down, stopping at a coffee plantation, small villages and farms. As we made our decent the trails got more and more difficult, mostly because of rain damage. A girl flew over her handlebars twice. Most of the trails were covered with red, extremely slippery, clay. The roots, rocks, rivers and moss also didn’t help and I forgot to mention that the last hour or so it downpoured. There was a few moments were I potentially thought I lost a sister. It wasn’t tears of joy down her face, that’s for sure. Somehow we managed to get down scotch free (minus Kristen popping her shoulder in and out) but I think I can even safely say that was the most technical downhill I had ever done. It was awesome!! To end the day we had lunch on a floating bamboo raft. The menu was completely in Thai so our guide picked out his favourites. They were delish! Kristen also tried dried maggots. Now that’s gross! 
Our last excursion before leaving for Phuket we decided to join full day tour that encompassed a bit of everything. We started off at a subpar butterfly and orchid garden. It was pretty dull and uninteresting after seeing the one in Niagara on the Lake. After that we went to visit a Karen Hill Tribe. The Karen, or the “long neck tribe” are the largest hill-tribe group in Thailand and are known for the many brass rings that the women wear around their neck. Although we wanted to visit some remote hill-tribes during our trek, I don’t think we anticipated how touristy and staged the visits would be. The Karen village was just off the roadside and was more like a little shopping strip than an actual village. We walked in and along a small dirt road were little bamboo stalls with Karen women sitting in front, making scarves and trying to sell you the same items we saw at every street vendor throughout Thailand. It felt more like we were at a zoo and observing these women in a fake community. It was a little unsettling.
The next journey was a walk through a deserted rice patty field to an elephant farm. This was definitely a highlight of the full-day trek. It felt like we were off the beaten track and away from the main tourist area. We slowly made our way through the extreme mud, being careful not to slip and grab onto the barbed wire fence, and climbed onto some very large elephants for a slow ride through a rocky river. It was a miracle we didn’t slide off the rickety seat while the elephant was maneuvering some steep and muddy hills while the rain poured down. Let’s just say it was slightly terrifying.
We drove to a new location after lunch and took a quick hike into the forest to find a gorgeous waterfall hidden behind a small village. We then headed on towards the river, where we found out (surprise!) that we were going to be going white-water and bamboo rafting. This was not on our list of activities for the day but, what the hell, we were going to do it! It was awesome. Our guide loved to shout “get down!” like Arnold Schwarzenegger as we hit big drops and we just hoped that the dark brown water wasn’t going to give us pink-eye. After the adrenaline rush of the white-water, the bamboo raft was a quick, relaxing ride to the drop-off point. We don’t know if it can really be considered a raft, though, if you’re sitting a foot into the water as it’s going down the river… It was a great end to the day.
All in all, Chiang Mai was a fantastic place to visit and settle in for a good few days. No shortage of things to do and a great place for the adventurous. We’ll definitely be back!
Few extra points:
- The Thai massage at Fah Lanna was incredible – well worth it!
- Stay at Banilah – the three Thai ladies who run this amazing boutique hostel/homestay felt like family…so helpful
- Explore the Saturday Night Market – amazing little vendors with everything you can imagine and more. The prices are also super cheap if you bargain
- Best yoga studio – The Yoga Studio – Chiang Mai
- If you want to order food to your room use - http://www.mealsonwheels4u.com/restaurant_show.php
Laura and Kristen's Travels
Phi Phi Isand
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