Thaim-out – Koh Lanta, Thailand

Now, there are some key differences between travelling in your 30s compared to your 20s that we learned in the first four days.

#1 hostel rooms – in general I am good with sharing a room with other people. I am happy to meet new people, and can sleep through anything. But when you come home late at night and have to tip toe around, shining your phone to find your toothbrush and climb up a squeaky bunk bed trying to be as quiet as possible. I am over it. Not to mention with two people, it’s barely more expensive to get a private room. Bungalows are now our new way of living.

#2 public washrooms – kind of goes with the whole dorm style living. I am proud to say that I want my own flipping bathroom. I don’t want to have to lug my bathroom stuff to the bathroom every time I need to brush my teeth, shower, wash my face, etc. I want to unpack and repack once. I’m too old for this sh*t and frankly, I have more money at 30 to pay for it. Private washrooms are now on the requirements list.

#3 constant partying – nobody loves a good day drunk more than me! I spent most of my early 20s drunk (which is probably why I am faced with constant heart burn and a few extra pounds).  The reality is – we have over 6 months to vacation. I can not get drunk everyday.

So with this new found knowledge, we continued on!

With some great advice from Pam’s sister and a friend, we headed to Koh Lanta. The minute we arrived, we knew this is exactly where we wanted to be.

Amazing beaches, restaurants and bars lining the beach and massage beds every where, we found a cute bungalow less than a 2 minute walk to the beach.

While we upgraded ourselves to a private bungalow with a private bathroom, we still roughed it by Thailand standards with a fan only room and moderate temperature water in the back of the property. We liked to refer to the section of our bungalows as “the slums” as you walked along planks to get there past the nice bungalows.

We found our perfect compromise.

With that, we headed out for Day 1 with the following goals for the afternoon:
Find amazing Pad Thai – check!
Get a massage on the beach – check!
Walk the length of the beach and stop in for drinks for happy hour and watch the sunset – check!

Seriously, is this my life now?

Tori’s regular goals for the day (if you know me and my obsession with planning, I start everyday at work with a piece of paper titled “Tori’s goals for the day”. I write down 10 things and complete 3. Everyday. No wonder I am always so behind):

Call back clients
Email back clients
Complete the 5 things I have been trying to complete for the last 6 months
Complete everything due tomorrow
Try and not get up and talk to everyone that I have not talked to in the last 20 minutes (this is hands down the hardest and I rarely succeed).

I much prefer my current life! Stress level – 2. Because I am still worried about what I will eat, drink and whether or not I should reapply sunscreen.

Speaking of which, the tan is going well! Slow and steady is my motto over here! Hard to see any progress when you are travelling with an Indian girl, however…

Other than tanning, I always forget Pam is brown. A few times when we have been treated poorly by locals, I have exclaimed that it is because we are white! And then I am like… oh …. never mind…**

** Note – this was a Pam approved comment

So after our first day of relaxation, we headed out on speed boats to the islands surrounding Koh Phi Phi! Holy smokes – incredible!

The first island we went to was Maya Beach on Kho Phi Phi Leh. You may have seen it on the movie THE BEACH. It was gorgeous. A little crowded with all the other tours, but it was the first piece of crystal clear water we have encountered and I am now hooked.

From there, we had a couple of stops for some snorkelling. The water was so clear and warm, every time it was hard to get out. Lots of schools of fish, however, not very much corral as it was destroyed when the tsunami hit 10 years ago and is still recovering.

The second island we went to was Bamboo Island. This was PARADISE. There was almost nobody on the island and it was filled with the softest white sand and the water was even more clear than the first island (didn’t even know that was possible). There we had an incredible lunch and Pam laid on the beach.

I spent most of my time in the ocean working on my inability to pee in water. It’s a serious disability. Never encourage your children not to pee in water – it is a gift they should keep.

After that, we spent some time walking through the island of Koh Phi Phi Dom. We were happy that we decided to skip staying on that island and stay on Koh Lanta instead. It was a bit more commercial and didn’t have the same vibe we were going for.

So that was our tour of the Kho Phi Phi islands! We headed back to Koh Lanta for, once again, an amazing dinner that night!

Tomorrow, we are going on a 4 island tour to see some more remote islands (can’t even imagine how it can get better)!

Today, we are going to rent scooters. Wish us luck.

I think we might need it.