Monday, October 21, 2013

10-14-13 and 10-15-13 Krabi: Getting Sick!


10/14/13 
     My friends and I went to Krabi on a 4-hour bus ride and stayed in a hostel called Pak-Up, which was really cute! It was like a dorm room and had a school theme, which really appealed to me as a teacher who LOVES themes. Because the day was quite old, we decided to just explore Krabi Town (just kidding about the "old" day, but we had arrived too late in the day to really do anything). 

Our hostel, Pak-Up

PE dorm!


Going downstairs at night

I was in the PE dorm room 
(females only!) in the Rugby bed :)

This is one point of view of the room


     We visited a temple, the painting street, and tried to figure out why my phone wasn’t working. Of course, my phone runs on 4G and the only SIM cards they had available were for 3G phones. Hopefully in Bangkok I’ll have better luck. :(


Traffic light holders (they were on
all four sides of the street)

Wat Kaewkorawaram with my family, Kiel and Yeonji :)

Monks praying in the temple


Eerie painting on the Painting Street
(Spirits leaving bodies during a festival)

Very pretty picture

The temple I visited above!

They used light and darkness very well in this one.


Ooh, it's the traffic person!

Yay, lonely elephant :)


Random picture we walked by that we couldn't
stop laughing about... which does not belong?
(Photoshop skills need working on!)



10/15/13
     We went to Railay on a boat, which was driven by a man named Mr. Photo. He was really thoughtful, turning the boat side-to-side so we could take more pictures of the mountainous views. When we reached Railay, we wanted to head over to Railay West from Railay East to rock climb. The boat drivers on Railay East’s beach wanted to charge us 50 baht to go around some rocks--we could see the Railay West beach and it was RIGHT THERE literally, so we thought this price was horribly high (even though in America, it’s technically less than $1.50.) 

Mr. Photo's boat

Kiel, Yeonji, Jess, and I on a boat! :)

One of the beautiful views


 We wanted to check if there was an easier and cheaper way to get to the other side of the rocks, so we went into a lobby and asked. The lady at the counter told us there was no way across and that we HAD to take the boats. We decided to just pay the 50 baht, but when we walked out and told the boat drivers we would pay the price, they laughed and raised it to 100 baht. JERKS!


The JERK BOAT PEOPLE (See the green stuff on the right
side of the picture? That's all we had to get past.)

The other side (to the right were the boats and this was my view
as I turned left)

Me in the way :D

     We left them and walked to the other side to find Mr. Photo (he probably worked for a different company, so he actually couldn’t take his boat to the beach we wanted to reach), and his partner said we could take 2 trails to get to Railay West. We could either climb the rocks that everyone told us we couldn’t pass by OR we could walk a few miles around a whole bunch of trees. Deciding to climb the rocks, my friends and I walked past the jerk boat people and started climbing. Two of my friends had flip flops so they decided to wait to see if we could actually make it, but thankfully, other people came from the other side. They said it was completely doable and that there was actually a trail that we could take.
     Well, we found the trail :) and it was a fun hike--you could tell that a lot of people used it because there were ropes hanging in some areas and rocks that formed steps everywhere. We made it to the other side easy-peasy! :) (Well, I was always scared I was going to slip, so I walked really carefully, but still, it was generally an easy trail to follow.)


The trail is behind me in those rocks


Yes, in that crevice I am gesturing toward

Pretty view! :)


     We actually ran into some friends who were rock climbing already, but we couldn’t find the friends we had originally set out to find. Instead of going climbing, we decided to kayak instead. We kayaked to Ao Nang and hopped into the water to cool ourselves down. Unfortunately, Yeonji and I both got stung by jellyfish in the water.

Jellyfish stings!


     It felt like little shocks, as in if someone prodded you with a little bit of electrical current. Small bumps formed in a line from the stings, but before I could panic, my friend Jess told us the simple solution of using vinegar to help the bumps subside (well, either that or you could use urine). And yep, it--the vinegar--worked!
     As Kiel and Yeonji went to find cheap food, Jess and I sat in a little cocktail bar area; we felt that with all the heat, hard work from kayaking, and having finished our TESOL course, we should celebrate. I bought a Coco Loco cocktail drink and actually asked for them to add sugar. It was pretty good in general, but definitely not as good as the ones I had in the Dominican Republic. 


Me with my Coco Loco



     About halfway through my drink, Kiel and Yeonji came back with some really bland fried rice, which I thought would suit me, but even for me, it was tasteless. There was literally no taste in it, but I tried to stuff it all down anyway. It made me so full I didn’t even want to finish my drink. Around this time, we noticed that it was about 2:00 PM, so we decided to head back in our kayaks.
     The kayak trip back was so much more fun because the waves were a lot stronger; Jess and I (well, mostly me because I originally couldn’t work at the same speed as her) amped up our teamwork, made it through some rocks, and made it almost all the way back! We decided to just sit and relax on our kayak, letting it drift along with the waves... that is, until I suddenly felt really nauseous. At that time, I thought it was because of the rocking of the kayak on the waves, which has happened before. 
Basically, I was sick from probably a few different factors, such as a bad cocktail, heat exhaustion, and maybe even food poisoning. I was sick before we returned on that trek through the rocks (the hiking one) and it was just very disgusting. I returned to the hostel quiet, annoyed, and exhausted. For many hours afterward, I hung out with my new best friend, Mr. Toilet because I just did not want to get up from the floor. 



The boat ride back yielded a beautiful view, which I could
barely enjoy due to my newfound sickness

     Yeonji was like my mother and sister during this time; she brought me medicine and soup, and tried to call someone to take me to the hospital. After hurling it all up, I decided with her that it was better to wait a night first, and if I really felt horrible the next day, I could go to the hospital or clinic. I ended up sleeping and sleeping and sleeping... without a shower. Ewwww :D!


10/16/13
     I checked out of my hostel the next morning, feeling better, but knowing I was not quite fully back to health. Jess took me to eat some breakfast, and I gratefully enjoyed some muesli with fruits along with a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice (yum! one of my favorite things). I then proceeded to just sit in the lobby for hours because it was a test every single time I had to stand up. My stomach felt very heavy and I would painstakingly and slowly do whatever I needed to do.


Pretty orange juice :)

My muesli :)


     Jess and I said our sad goodbyes (for now!) to Kiel and Yeonji and embarked on our journey to Bangkok. The little bus we sat in had a grouchy driver who wanted to charge us extra for our luggage. The normal Thai price per person was 20 baht, and he wanted to charge us 100, but Jess refused and said 40 was our maximum. The man made a snide comment in Thai, which was incredibly rude, but oh well, at least we didn’t understand it... I guess.
     Bangkok, here we come!




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