Port Angeles - First Twilight Sightings

Hello Port Angeles!
After we left Port Gamble, we spent about an hour on the road , driving through mountainous terrain and getting angry at grandmas driving under the speed limit. Edward Cullen wouldn't drive that slow!

Shortly after our arrival, we had our first sighting. We found Bella Italia where Bella and Edward had their first date.

Now, this may not look like the one from the movie, but let me assure you, it is the one for the book. See below where the restaurant shows us that it has been ordained by Stephanie Meyer herself as "the Italian restaurant where Edward and Bella had their first date".

Much to our dismay, the restaurant didn't open until 4pm and we would be in Forks by then. Looks like we wouldn't be able to eat at Bella Italia. We were crushed. Luckily, we stumbled upon something that made us feel better. Behold - DAZZLED BY TWILIGHT, the store.

Anything and everything Twilight was here, and it could be yours for an inflated price. We found shirts for Jacob, we found shirts for Edward, we found shirts for Bella, Alice, Dr. Cullen, and even Team Emmett and Jasper. Why do you have to like both of them at once?

Before continuing with our journey, we ate at a little burger place across the street from Bella Italia. I bet its where Bella's friends had dinner.

After climbing several steps to get a better view of the city, I'm pretty sure I found the place where Bella was about to get attacked by some hooligans. I ended up behind some shady motels in an empty parking lot. Thank God it was daylight.

When we were headed back to the car we got some cat calls from a guys in an over-sized truck. Probably the same guys who tried to attack Bella. Come on Port Angeles, get your young adult males under control!

SEAHORSE!

And then we were back on the road. We had at least another hour before we would reach our final destination. Forks, we are coming for you!

The Journey to the Land of Twilight - Day 1

Wednesday, August 24th, my sister and I set off for an adventure that thousands of teens had embarked on before us. An adventure that involved vegetarian vampires that sparkle and an incredibly ripped werewolf. There is only one place in there world where you can have this legendary Twilight experience. It was Forks, Washington and we were on our way.

EXCITEMENT.
The first leg of our journey was to travel from Bremerton to Seattle to meet up with my sister's roommate who would be joining us on our journey. We rode the ferry, which we've done so many times in the past its hard to appreciate the beauty of the scenery. But it was a beautiful sunny day and Mt. Rainier was picture perfect.

We were spending the night in Seattle and setting off in the morning as soon as the roommate was ready. She had to work until 7am, but she wanted to leave without sleeping. That is how pumped we were for this trip. The next morning after some extreme caffeination and filling the Prius up with gas we headed out at 10am. We decided to take the Kingston/Edmonds ferry because that is what the GPS told us to do. Who were we to argue? Unfortunately trying to catch the ferry from the Edmonds side was incredibly confusing. We somehow managed to pull into line without going through the toll booth. It was an accident, I swear. After asking how to pay to get on the boat, we were instructed to get back on the highway and turn around and aim at the toll booths in the far right lanes. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. We pulled a u-turn and got in line. After a 10 minute delay and ample confusion about who's lane got to load when, we made it on to the boat and proceeded to explore the vessel.

Goodbye Edmonds!

At one point on our ferry ride, we wanted to get a picture of the three of us. The roommate asked a nearby "gentleman" to take it for us which he enthusiastically agreed to. As we readied ourselves and put on our best smiles, the man says "Ok, now kiss!" Alarmed at his off color humor, we chuckle a little to ourselves without ruining our smiles. Instead of just taking the picture the man says again, this time a little more forcefully, "Kiss! KISS!" At this point I've stopped smiling and just started muttering under my breath "get the camera back, just get the camera back now..." So we quickly disbanded and got our camera back. We settled for pictures in groups of two after that.

Hello Kingston!

Upon arrival we drove through the town of Kingston headed toward Port Angeles, our first scheduled pit stop of the trip. However, on our way, we discovered we would be driving right through Port Gamble an adorable little lumber mill town, so our first stop of the trip was Port Gamble!

Upon arrival we searched high and low, but didn't not find anything Twilight related.

But we did find a stuffed seagull featured in the Barbara Streisand film "What's Up Doc?"

This was discovered in the ocean and sea museum above the general store in Port Gamble. I highly recommend visiting if you are ever driving through! Where else can you find the remains of a famous bird?

And so begins our trip to the most famous city in the vampire crazed preteen world. Next stop, Port Angeles!

Last Day in Thailand

On the last day, I stayed in the Bangkok Centre Hotel for my third and final time. The kindergarten teacher was interested in visiting the giant outdoor market, and I was interested in taking a nap. No matter where I am in the world, I do not enjoy shopping. Besides, I had no room in my backpack for anything else. I already was throwing away underwear and socks just to get the few souvenirs I did have back home. I slept, I went on the internet, I watched Toy Story and Cars, and I had a delightful coconut milkshake. I thought it was a great way to end the trip.

When the kindergarten teacher returned, it sounded like her shopping experience was a nightmare. From the heat, the crowds, and getting lost in the market and trying to find the metro to ride back, I was very glad I didn't participate.

That evening, we met up with the British couple one last time on Khao San Road.

We did some shopping and had dinner. There were fake IDs for sale and men advertising the Ping Pong show. I decided that was not a Bangkok experience I wanted to have. I ended up buying one last t-shirt. We caught a cab back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to the couple.

I was tired and ready to head back. I could have stayed in Thailand forever, but I needed a break from traveling. It felt like we had been on the move for three weeks straight. When I got back to the hotel I packed and slept a little before we had to go downstairs to meet Kitti. He showed up with his niece, who was apparently there to help keep him awake on the drive to and from the airport. Kitti drives a BMW. I drive a 12 year old Mercury handed down from my parents. I need to be a tour guide in Bangkok.

We got to the airport very early. The ticket counter wasn't even open yet. After checking in for the flight we wandered. There were plenty of duty free stores. I bought a $5 bag of M&Ms for the flight. Thank God international airports don't have normal operating hours, I was able to buy hash browns from Burger King at 3am. When our flight began to load, I had the most thorough search so far on the trip before or after a flight. Apparently Thailand really doesn't want to be responsible for letting people loose around the world with contraband from their country. Even when I ended up back in the States, they didn't even give me a second glance before letting me through. Even though everyone had already gone through security, there was another security check point set up at the gate in Thailand where we were all patted down and had our bags dug through. I am unbelievably grateful that they did not dig through my dirty laundry. I had to throw away my after-burn lotion though, which would be greatly missed.

I only saw the kindergarten teacher briefly after landing in Japan as she was ushered away quickly so she didn't miss her connection. I was sad to be leaving Thailand and hope that I return someday. I recommend visiting Thailand to anyone who is interested in travel. Make sure to look up Kitti when you are there, he gives the best tours around!

Goodbye Thailand, hopefully we will meet again someday soon!

Back to the Mainland

The next day was my final day on the islands. We were catching the afternoon ferry back to the mainland and the overnight train back to Bangkok. I wandered out on to the beach for a little while before we had to leave.

When we got to the ferry dock to catch our boat back, we said our goodbyes. Most of the group had decided to branch off and catch a boat back to Koh Phangan which would be hosting the Full Moon Party the following night. Only, Kitti, the British Couple, the Kindergarten Teacher and I were continuing with the trip back. The boat back to Koh Phangan was a little crowded:

Our ride back was a more than a little bumpy. Luckily I was tired and just tried to sleep through it. There were a couple of girls who were not so lucky. I saw a young girl and her friend run past with their hand over their mouths as the ran to get out on the deck. I was incredibly glad that they made it outside because I can guarantee that the smell of vomit would absolutely make me sick in an instant. Luckily our group stayed healthy for the trip. The boardwalk to the land from the boat was a few boards slapped together with no railings on either side. I wonder how many people fall in every year? Its amazing what things are acceptable in other countries that would cause an outrage in the US.

When we got back we rode a bus into the town, if you can call it that, which was made up of a couple of "restaurants" and a train station. We ate at one of these so called "restaurants" which had a very interesting interpretation of Chinese food and spaghetti. I had fries. Always the safe bet. We were worried about missing our train because our food was so delayed, but believe it or not, it was delayed! What a surprise! We waited an additional hour or so to catch our train. During that time we saw several others go by, including the local free train. People would just run across the tracks while the train was approaching to get in on the other side. Women were selling snacks on the platform to the people in the train windows. Stray dogs were everywhere, must have a been a great place to get some food for them.

When we finally made it on the train, it had a different set-up than our last one this one just had a narrow walk way with beds lining either side. I liked the compartment style from the first train ride better.

I kept my bag in with me because there was no safe compartment to stow it in. It was a little cramped, but not terrible. Luckily this train ride was only 9 hours compared to the 13.5 on the first one.

Day Two Koh Tao

On our last day on the islands, we took a boat tour around Koh Tao that included snorkeling. This would be my first attempt. Once again, the world was operating on island time so we took off about an hour and a half after we were supposed to get on the boat. Our tour group got on the boat sans Kitti, along with a few other families from around the world. We set of to five different snorkeling locations around the island, most of them were already filled with other people on other tours. I really wish I had an underwater camera for most of. I loved snorkeling, I was just a little disturbed by using their gear since the mouth piece goes inside the mouth. I really hope it was sterilized but I wasn't betting on it. I gave it a good swish around in the salt water anyway. You can't see it in the picture, but at this moment the skin on my back is slowly frying to a deep shade of purple:

After all of our snorkeling stops, we went to an island that was supposed to be known for its natural beauty. What it really was was a tourist death trap. They charged you to get on the island. They charged you to use the bathroom. They charged you to sit in a chair. They even charged one of the girls in our group for a drink and then informed her that she would need to pay again denying that she ever paid in the first place. Angry words were said, managers were called, and it didn't matter. She never got that drink that she paid for. Yikes. There was apparently a wonderful lookout point on the top of a hill on the island but the climb involved things like this -Followed by 1000 stairs. It was my last day and I felt like being lazy. I pretty much felt like being lazy for the entire second half of this trip. I earned it after the first half. I was still recovering from that massage.

It was a beautiful island nonetheless.

That night as a group, we went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate our last night as a group in Thailand. Go figure. We love our Thai Mexican food. Afterward we went to an Australian pub to celebrate the pre-pre full moon.

Luckily I headed back a little early (I'm just not much of a drinker), because there was a big storm that night and the rest of the group got soaked as they road back on the back of a truck. Although I think they enjoyed themselves pretty well.

Koh Tao

The following morning we were off to our final island, Koh Tao. Another short ferry ride, but this time the ride to the resort was only 15 minutes on the main road. The hotel was positioned on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean.

We stayed in a bungalow with its own porch broom to keep the millions of little centipedes out. I hadn't seen those anywhere else in Thailand but this island was covered in them.

It had a beautiful open area eating area, that overlooked the beach.

The first day we spent relaxing, the next day we would be going on a snorkeling tour around the island. We went out to the town for a little while but eventually I came back to head to bed early for the evening. Just as I was about to go to sleep the kindergarten teacher and I both saw something large move across the ceiling very rapidly. The only explanation I could think of was some kind of large flying water bug. I spent a little while looking for it but I couldn't see it anymore so I went back to bed. Suddenly, I heard the kindergarten teacher say, "What was that?" and I look over just as she looks down to see a giant bright yellow spider laying just below her chin on the blankets. She screams and throws the blankets off, flinging the spider across the room barely missing my bed. It runs faster than any moving thing I have ever seen under her bed. The kindergarten teacher goes into hulk mode and grabs the bed and flings it across the room. There is the yellow spider, frozen. She grabs one of the gossip magazines sitting on the nightstand and beats it into what I only assume is a pulp, I didn't look over to see it as I find myself for the second night in a row standing on my bed and yelling. I'm glad the bugs didn't start getting this bad until the end of the trip or I don't think I would be able to stand it.

Day Two Koh Phangan

On our second day at Koh Phangan I just relaxed. It was great. I decided to take a swim in the ocean even though people were getting stung by jellyfish. I decided to wait and go out when I saw people further out in the water because I figure the jellyfish would get them first and I would have sufficient warning to get out of the water.

In the evening the hotel owners had a big seafood barbecue at the outdoor restaurant/lobby/hangout.

After the barbecue, some of the locals decided to do some fire dancing. They were not professionals and there was a lot of flaming sticks flying into the crowd. That was the real entertainment. Then they started letting the drunk tourists give it a try!

It was exciting to watch at first, but honestly, it got boring after about 15 minutes. the kindergarten teacher and I decided to go back and watch a horribly bootlegged copy of Bridget Jones' Diary 2 that looked like it had been taped in a movie theater.

At the end of the movie, the animal kingdom decided to invade our room. First I noticed weird leaf looking things on the wall, except one of them was walking. It was directly over my bed. Then we saw a gecko dart under the bed. I normally would just try to ignore the gecko, but all I could do is imagine it going over to eat the leaf bugs on the wall over my bed and the gecko and the bugs all falling in my mouth as I slept. How hard can catching a gecko be? I decided to move the bed in an attempt to catch it. As soon as he was exposed to light, the gecko darted behind another piece of furniture and I lost my nerve. I just jumped on to my bed and yelled while the kindergarten teacher went to the door and yelled for some of the other tour group to come help us. A guy and girl came in and I decided to hide in the bathroom which has a full length window to watch the main room out of. I watched as both of them tried and failed to catch it for several minutes as I stood in the bathtub looking through the window. The kindergarten teacher kept her distance. Finally they caught it and took it outside. I came out of the bathroom to thank them, and decided I was able to get to bed, I would just move my bed away from the wall so the leaf bugs didn't land on it.

Before bed, I went to the bathroom and as I was leaving, between me and the door stood the worlds largest cockroach, or at least the biggest one I'd ever seen. I've only seen 2 or 3 in my life and never indoors. So I was back in the bathtub banging on the window screaming at the kindergarten teacher that I couldn't get out of the bathroom because of a giant cockroach. Luckily, the kindergarten teacher is from DC. This is a common occurrence over there. She flipped it on its back and tossed a toilet paper cover over it and said, "We'll leave that for housekeeping." Nobody touched that toilet paper cover for the rest of our stay.

Koh Phangan (Or Where People Go to Die From Partying)

The next morning we took the ferry over to Koh Phangan. It was a short trip, but a crowded ferry.

Lots of noisy Americans were on board with us, drinking Chang beers. When I got on the boat the crew immediately grabbed my bag and threw it in a giant pile outside on the front of the boat. I wasn't sure what kind of plan they had to get it back to me, but I would worry about it when we got there. Well, when we got there, they just started throwing them from the boat to the dock, over a several foot gap to the water. Amazingly, no luggage was lost. But there was a lot of shoving and yelling as everyone tried to make there way to the pile of luggage on the pier.

As soon as I got my hands on my bag it was immediately taken away from the man driving us to our destination. Luckily mine was small enough to fit under the seat in our songthaew. The other bags had to sit on the roof, with no straps to hold them down as far as I'm aware. We took two of these trucks to our hotel. Our tour guide warned us it would be a bit of a bumpy ride, but nothing could prepare us for this trip. We had a 45 minute Indiana Jones ride to our hotel on the beach. We literally rode in the back of a truck holding on to dear life as the truck bounced along a narrow dirt road with ravines on either side at 80 mph. We could not have been rewarded better for our life endangering ride though:

This was the view about 10 steps from my room:

This picture is framed by the doors of my room.
Gorgeous. Which was lucky because as one might imagine, it was pretty much impossible to catch a taxi from the hotel back to the town on the Indiana Jones trail. There was a boat taxi that would take us to the neighboring beaches, but I didn't see anything wrong with ours so I stayed put.

For lunch, I desperately wanted a cheeseburger, so I finally caved and got one. It was strange but edible. I wasn't planning on getting another one. Then, while we were still eating, they announced that there would be a trek to the top of the neighboring mountain to see an amazing viewpoint of the island. It left in half an hour. I am out of shape. I had just eaten a weird burger. But I was going to climb that mountain because I was never going to be here again. So half an hour later, stomach feeling slightly off, I grabbed a water and bug spray and started up the mountain.

I was informed it would be a short 15 minute hike. I didn't know that was if you were sprinting which the guide proceeded to do. I also didn't know that the hike would be completely vertical, making it more of a mountain climb than a trek. I was clinging to tree roots as dirt slipped out from under me and jumping from one large rock to another, none of which were entirely stable. I might have been able to do it if we weren't sprinting at the same time. I might have been able to do it if I hadn't eaten the bizarre Thai version of a cheeseburger. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it. As I was gasping for breath, I yelled way up to the guide that I was turning back. "No! Only 10 more minutes!" "Yeah, that's okay. I'm gonna head back anyway." "Do you want me to carry you?" "Oh God, no. I'm good. I'll just look at everybody's pictures". So I fell/ran back down hill and collapsed in the chair in front of my room and rested. The rest of the group informed me that just around the bend ahead of me it flattened out and was a nice stroll the rest of the way up. Whatever, I got to see their pictures which was good enough.

Day Two Koh Samui

On the second and final day of our stay in Koh Samui, most of the group took an overpriced tour to ride elephants and go snorkeling. I honestly just felt like relaxing and I knew I'd be snorkeling later on so I skipped the tour in favor of being lazy on a beach. Sometime in the afternoon, having bonded with the guide from the first half of the tour, our guide offered to take us with him and his brother around the island on our own little tour. We encountered many things that I'm sure the other group members are sad they missed.

Gorgeous Views -

Grandmother and Grandfather rock (I'll let you guess which one is which):

and Lunch:

That night we went out to Chaweng Beach again. The previous night the group had spotted a very promising structure across the river called "Camp Beer". We didn't make it over the first night, but this was our last chance to explore this wonder, so the group made the trek over. I thought the area we walked around the night before was "seedy" because of the stripper bars and the scantily clad women (or man boys) promoting their bars. Oh no, that was nothing. We found the real underbelly of the Thai night life on the Camp Beer side. That whole street was lined with half naked women (or men) calling for us to join them. Camp Beer turned out to be a massive tribute to Bob Marley. Luckily (for me anyway), it was still very early when we got there so it wasn't packed with a bunch of stoned hippies and old men. I don't know why but apparently ever island culture no matter where you are in the world just turns into a giant Bob Marley tribute with his music, dreads, and drug of choice. the kindergarten teacher, a British couple, and I decided to walk back which was a little spooky now that it was later in the evening and just us. We made it alive. We decided to just head back when I experienced the most frightening cab ride of my life. The cab driver readily accepted the price we offered which is unheard of. Then I notice we do a weird loop through the entire Chaweng beach area and then start heading down a narrow back road which keeps getting darker and more remote as we drive. About 10 minutes in I start to panic and inform the cab driver that we are with a tour group and they will notice if we are gone. He doesn't seem to understand me. I just kept repeating "This isn't the way we came!" "This isn't the way we came!" and the driver just kept on going. Suddenly, right when I was considering jumping out of the cab and running through the woods, we pop out of the jungle right next to our hotel. Apparently he knows a shortcut. After that ride I was ready to move on to the next island.

Flying to Koh Samui

On the morning of our first day of the southern tour, we caught a flight down to Koh Samui. We flew Bangkok Airways. One could already feel the effects of island time take over as our flight didn't even bother boarding passengers until after our departure time. No explanation, no difficulties, no big deal. The flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui was just over an hour, but it served breakfast. One of the lovely perks on flying a boutique airline.

We landed in a valley on a single runway that looked like it was barely longer than a football field. On Koh Samui, I experienced my first all outdoor airport. luggage conveyor belt? Outside. Waiting areas? Outside. But it was gorgeous.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we discovered that this was going to be the "budget" part of the trip. The hotel rooms were rough. I found it disturbing, but also slightly innovative that the shower was the entire bathroom. Just a shower and tiled floor with a drain in the middle and a toilet and sink thrown in. At least I didn't have to worry about getting the floor wet when getting out of the shower. I figure they just expected us to spend most of our time on the beach anyway. There were steps down from the outdoor restaurant to the beach just outside the rooms. This was my first encounter with the famous Thailand beaches and it did not disappoint.

For the following two mornings I sat looking over the water while eating my breakfast.

I also had some companions looking for handouts...

That night I got to experience the legendary Thai and more specifically, island night life.

Pick you poison (NSFW):

Crickets:
It was weird how many bars were exclusively for Australian, Irish, or English people. It was a like "It's a Small World" but made of bars and drunk college kids. Like a grandma, I left around 1am when the cabs were still cheap. It doesn't seem like there is a last call in Thailand, the rest of the group got back around 5:30am.