Greetings from Koh Lanta, Thailand!
I’m currently typing this blog post from my hostel on Koh Lanta, an island off the coast of Krabi, Thailand. I arrived here a few hours ago via speedboat, checked into Hub of Joys Hostel, and immediately walked straight to Long Beach just a stone’s throw away. One of my favorite things to do is jog along the length of every beach that I visit. I stopped into a place that offers Thai massages on the beach, realized I didn’t bring any money with me, and promised to come back later. I’m only 33 years young and often feel like I’m semi-retired even though I have less than $2,000 in my bank account. It’s unnecessary to be a millionaire to fulfill your dreams of traveling the world. I truly believe richness is a state of mind.
Without further ado, I would like to dedicate this blog post to my mother Maxine Hire. She brought me into this beautiful world and I’m forever grateful to be alive. Also, I was very fortunate to get a donation for my travel fund after she recently sold her house in Dallas. Mom, if you’re reading this, I just want to say thank you for always believing in my goals and aspirations! Lately my life has felt like a waking dream, because I’m fully in tune with my true passion. Every day is a new epic adventure!
I arrived in Krabitown after a 2.5 hour drive in a private shuttle from Patong Beach in Phuket, a peninsula in southern Thailand. My direct flight arrived from Singapore about two weeks ago. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy to write about these places. I worked with a few hotels in Singapore in exchange for free accommodation. The cost of living is very expensive with a typical hotel stay costing upwards of $300. It’s a technologically advanced metropolis, but the people are often quite rude, privileged, and depressive. There’s CTV cameras everywhere. Talk about an invasion of privacy! I also happened to be there during the Coronavirus outbreak in China, so the majority of people were wearing face masks. It’s one thing to read about these things in the news or watch the media talking heads rant about it, but it’s entirely different to actually live through it. I encourage everyone to get out of their protective bubble, experience different cultures to gain more wisdom, and appreciate the beauty of this world. The best things in life are at the edge of your comfort zone. Break out of the routine!
I was relieved to buy my plane ticket to Phuket for only $45 and get away from this overpriced lonely city that is Singapore. I’m going to skip over my time in Patong Beach. In short, it’s a very touristy place! You go for a walk along the beach and it’s full of anti-social unsmiling Russians everywhere. Bangla Road is like the famous 6th Street in Austin on steroids. My first experience of Phuket was walking along this crazy street with a somewhat racist, very talkative, pro-Trump guy I met from Dallas on the bus ride. He was directing me to the closest hostel, wheeling a large suitcase through the large crowd, crushing the toes of drunken tourists, with strippers on the left and right dancing in bars, lady-boys and Russian hookers grabbing my arm asking for a massage or “Boom-Boom”. It was definitely a full assault on the senses. I spent almost one week there, which was about 5 days too long, but I was running very low on funds at the time; just coasting by staying at hostels and biding my time waiting to reach the next destination — Krabi, Thailand!
Krabitown is my favorite region of Thailand thus far! It’s a small quiet hippie village surrounded by beautiful granite cliffs; there’s a night market with delicious cheap food by the pier, reggae bars, massage parlors, and just 25 km from the nearby town Ao Nang with beaches and longboats to hundreds of islands off the coast. There’s so many things to do around the area of Krabitown — hot springs, emerald pool, waterfalls, national parks. It was such a blast riding my Honda Click scooter (only 250 Baht per day) around with the wind rushing through my hair and a beautiful Argentinian woman on the back. It also has one of my favorite hostels I’ve ever been to by the name of Pak-Up Hostel. It used to be an elementary school and still has a playground which was converted into a bar and kitchen area. This hostel is super clean with friendly staff, comfortable beds, warm showers, and even a gym.
The first person I met at Pak-Up was a doppelganger of Mark Zuckerberg. He was like the cool Swedish hippie version of Zuck, looked almost identical, and even spoke in a similar manner. His sister also went to Michigan State University; my alma mater. He decided to join us for a day-trip to Railay Beach; widely considering to be the most beautiful beach in all of Thailand, and I can affirm it certainly didn’t disappoint. It’s a paradise island only about 45 minutes from Krabitown (longboat is 300 Baht round-trip). Very popular spot for rock-climbing since there’s tall granite cliff faces on Tonsai, a beautiful secluded beach which can only be accessed by cutting through a hiking trail. We were rushing to catch the last boat at 5PM back to Krabi when I crossed paths with a Canadian fellow named Pavan who I originally met on the bus to Krabi. He started telling me about his plans to charter a boat to visit a few islands off the coast of Ao Nang. We exchanged contact details on WhatsApp and a few days later were on a long-boat to Hong Island. You never know who you’re going to meet during your travels abroad; that’s one of the reasons I love the creative nomadic lifestyle so much.
Just yesterday I went on an island-hopping tour with a few inspiring worldly friends from Netherlands, Canada, and Argentina. This was definitely the highlight of my Southeast Asia tour lasting nearly 4 months so far. Wouter has been sky-diving over 500 times! Very interesting guy with a great sense of humor and never runs of things to talk about. His travel companion Cleo is only 19 years young, just graduated from high school, preparing for her college entrance exam, and meeting her family in Vietnam after traveling around Myanmar for awhile. Clara is a beautiful and smart lady from Buenos Aires, Argentina living in Barcelona when she’s not traveling the world. Amazing storyteller! She told a story at dinner a few nights ago about how Jimi Hendrix first met Eric Clapton at a bar in Italy. I was totally captivated and literally felt like I was drinking a beer at that exact bar during their fateful meeting.
We rented scooters and rode to Ao Nang Beach early in the morning to meet up with the rest of the gang. The chartered long-boat was 3,000 Baht total split between 6 people = great deal! After roughly 45 minutes on the water we arrived at Hong Island. Beautiful white sandy beaches with turquoise blue water and tall granite cliffs all around. We practically had the whole beach to ourselves. It felt like something out of a dream. We enjoyed a quick lunch at the only restaurant and returned to the boat after just over an hour. From there we went to an emerald cove inside an inlet of the island. Stunningly beautiful! The clear water was very shallow and you could watch crabs crawl along the sandy ocean floor in search of tasty morsels. I enjoyed impromptu photoshoots with my friends and then we headed to the next island. This one was ideal for observing the many varieties of fish with the included snorkeling gear. I immediately noticed a large school of fish swimming close to the beach. Every step I took they would scatter while staying in perfect formation. I spotted a multitude of colorful fish near the surface and dove deeper to get a closer look at the coral. Side note: I’m excited to finally get my PADI Diver’s Certification on the island of Koh Tao next week! With over 25 dive sites, vibrant coral reefs, and great shipwrecks to explore, it’s widely considered to be one of the top diving destinations in the world… not to mention the cheapest.
I’m going to wrap up this lengthy blog post now since I really want to get a massage on Long Beach during sunset. If you have dreams to travel the world, go out there and just do it! I left home with only $1,500 in my bank account. I’ve run out of money multiple times and found various techniques to build it back up again and again without consistent paying clients. Money comes, money goes, but you’ll never get your time back! I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite photos from the island tour in Thailand. By the way, did you Thailand means “Land of the Free”? I learned that from a Buddhist monk at Tiger Cave Temple with incredible panoramic views of the beautiful countryside.
Beautiful Sunset in Koh Lanta, Thailand
