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Thailand – Day 11 (off to Bangkok!)

I woke up before sunrise to a very wet, rainy morning. The trip to the airport was uneventful, and although the flight was delayed a bit I made it to Bangkok. I had a moment of panic when the light at baggage claim flashed that all the suitcases had been unloaded, only to feel a wave of relief when I saw my suitcase was the literal last bag off. After getting my bag I took a taxi to the hotel and checked in, then changed and navigated the subway to meet my friend, Andrea. She and I met about 3 years ago at the Women’s March in Chicago and kept in touch through Facebook, but hadn’t seen each other since. We went to Charley Browns for tacos and nachos and a pitcher of margaritas, then headed to an Irish pub of sorts for more food and booze. A few of her friends joined us there, and they were all very nice and very funny people! It was a lot of fun catching up with Andrea and meeting her friends, 5 hours seemed like 30 minutes. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! Alas, it is Sunday night and they have work in the morning, so we split up just before 8pm and I made my way back to my swanky hotel with a gorgeous balcony view. Bangkok walking adventures tomorrow!

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Thailand – Day 10 (Patong, Phuket)

I woke up to the sound of waves crashing on shore and pulled back the curtains to a gorgeous sunny day. Finally! After coffee and breakfast I spent most of the day bouncing between the beach, the pool, and my balcony. My fingers were pretty much prunes the whole day. Since it wasn’t raining, I actually got to see a sunset here which was pretty nice. Then I walked over to the nighttime clubbing district, Bangla Walking Street, and was overwhelmed by the crowd and bars and lights and people advertising “ping pong shows” (no, thanks) and various types of drink specials and gambling. It was all a bit overwhelming, kinda like the Vegas strip, so I continued on to the big mall right down the street from there and watched their water fountain show while eating ice cream. I touched on it a bit before yesterday, but I can’t help but notice that blackouts seem pretty common here. Although with the way their electrical wiring is here I’m surprised the entire island hasn’t caught fire every time there’s a firm gust of wind. I made my way back to the hotel to pack up for my trip to Bangkok tomorrow, but tonight is the Patong full moon music festival which they have every month during tourist season starting in November so it’s SUPER noisy outside even at this late hour. I’m not going to say I don’t like Patong, I just wish I had come here about 15 years ago…10 years ago even, when I actually enjoyed clubbing and partying and stuff. Now, it’s just kind of annoying. I prefer Krabi, by far, at this age.

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Thailand – Day 9 (Phuket)

Today was a super, super lazy day. Partly due to the weather, rain and storms kept moving in and out all day. It wasn’t too bad in the morning so after coffee and breakfast I walked the length of the beach (no shells in Patong, but the beach sand has so much silica it sparkles like glitter) and watched the various beach sports going on for a bit. So, so, so many ill-fitting banana hammocks my god this beach is totally different from Krabi.

I went back to the hotel and jumped in the pool and read my book while sunbathing for a while. Some storms rolled in, so I went up to my room, and when they passed I got some food and did some shopping while dodging the overly aggressive souvenir shop people. Look, I can take heckling but draw the line at touching. Once a lady grabbed my arm to show me some cheap thing in her booth I shrugged her off and left entirely to another area where the sales people were more respectful. One thing I noticed here that’s kinda scary, the power lines are just massive tangled messes that constantly buzz and pop. They aren’t even high up, you could just reach up and grab them in some places. Super dangerous.

Another round of storms rolled in, so I went back to the hotel and farted around on the internet and played video games for the rest of the day. I was thinking of booking a tour or something for tomorrow, but I kinda liked just laying around the pool and on the beach so I might just do that again. Not many photos since I kept my phone at the hotel most of the day to avoid it getting wet.