Our first sunset back on Blue Sky
The tastes, smells, colors, sounds, and feelings of Thailand have aroused all of my senses. We have now spent over a month on the friendly island of Koh Lanta just off the west coast of the mainland. We are just starting to get settled in to the way of life, the food and friendly faces. Which means for us, it must be time to leave. We both feel we are leaving too soon but with little work and a incredible opportunity ahead of us, it is time to go. We will leave here this week to explore the rest of the islands as we sail south to Malaysia. We will be getting back on board Blue Sky and spending the holiday and the following three weeks with Jim, Emma, Phoebe and Drake. Before I look forward to what our future sail may bring I want to finish feeling everything Ko Lanta has offered.
Our favorite part of Thailand by far is the tastes. Our palates have been overwhelmed with a beautiful assortment of snacks to try as well as a wide variety of dishes to devour. The food stands have offered us many options and we try each one with no clue of what we may get. The banana leafs are by far our favorite and no matter what has been carefully wrapped inside they tend to be sweet and delicious. Sticky rice with sweet egg, or coconut goo; who knows what they add to these things but each one is scrumptiously delicious. The tastes and textures always tantalizing, and never too sweet.
Hot Peppers
Food stand YUMMY
Meat at the market
Our favorite foods
The rest of our senses have been inundated as well. With the strong smell of fish in the market, the colors of temples and mosques against the brilliant blue sky. The sounds of locals smiling hello and Muslim prayers in the distance, and the textures of everything from exotic fruits, to soft hands in traditional massage. The combination of it has us craving more and now feeling sad to say goodbye to it all. But we are excited about the different sensations to come. With still 3 weeks to enjoy Thailand, a more deserted island landscape should be fascinating.
We have spent the last couple of nights in Patong, a crazy tourist mecca of Thailand, it is a bit intense. Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, all the comforts of home. Surprisingly we can not afford any of it, as it is 5 times the price of what we are used to spending on a meal, and the coffee is the same price as a big mac. A bit ridiculous, but okay as we will always know where to find American crap food and it forces us to continue to enjoy the Thai treasures before we leave. There is a tourist carnival on the streets here this week which is giving us a chance to see Patong full of culture. The beach sidewalk is bursting with massage booths, art stands, tourist shops, shows, and tons of local food stands. A huge variety of food, everything from fried whole baby chickens, to ribs, clams, papaya salads, coconut pudding, king crab eggs, the list goes on and on.
After a few beers I insisted on finding us some bugs to eat, you can’t live in Thailand for a couple of months and not eat bugs, right? We found the crazy street full of people and lady boys everywhere. Frogs, beetles, grasshoppers, maggots and more. In conclusion, they all tasted like bugs. Some of the smaller ones were salty enough to hide the taste a bit, and we bought a sauce to dip them in, but they crunch and ooze and taste like bugs. We will not be buying them again, but we did it.
The romance of sharing a bug
Bugs
Fish Eggs
Today we will go Christmas shopping, it is a real treat for us to have so many options for things to buy, but a bit overwhelming. All the vendors were begging us to come see their Armani shirts, fancy Dolce purses, fake watches and sunglasses galore. All I really want is to buy some cute local clothes but I have to weed though the knock off western fashions to find them. Oh well. Then we will be done with the tourist circus and ready for a tour of quiet islands as we sail south.
Our plan from here is to sail south to Ko Kraden for Christmas, they know of a Christmas party at a resort there. We will then explore a bunch of beautiful untouched island as we go further south to one of their favorite islands Ko Lipe, where we will spend New Years. Once there maybe we will find some freelance work for a few days, or for longer who knows. From there we will end up in Langkawi around January 11th and then come up with a plan. I have added a bunch of new photos of us, food and people. I hope you enjoy and there will be more to come next month. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a safe New Year.
Love Always,
Rachel
Us on the boat
The family
Thai Temple
Our motorbike
On our hammock at home in Lanta
Me and cute puppies in Lanta
