Lost Luggage, Extreme Rains at Tonsai Beach

On our last morning in Yangon, we awoke at 6 am, got breakfast upstairs at White house hotel. The owner was kind enough to put us in the taxi ride with another traveler to save money. Every day we meet a few travelers all with different interesting stories. I love all of them. This individual is a Chinese guy in his 20’s who had just finished a year working in Saudi Arabia in Consulting for the Government. He was now traveling around SE Asia and about to head home to Venice Beach. We shared the ride to the airport and learned of each other’s stories.

Day 1: Yangon to Bangkok to Krabi + Luggage Delayed

The plane from Yangon to Bangkok was at 8:35 am. Once we arrived at the Bangkok airport, we had a flight to Krabi (Southern Thailand beach) at 1:30 pm. We were lucky that they had a flight earlier that the airline would put us on so we boarded the 10:30 am. I was concerned about checking in our luggage. We arrived at Krabi around 1:30. Lo and behold, our baggage wasn’t there. We checked with customer service and they said it must have gotten on the other plane. F! She assured us that they’d ship our bags back as soon as she got it by 5.

So we got on a taxi and head to Aung Nan, a beach town, and from there, head on a boat (the only way to get there) to where we are now, at Ton Sai beach. Ko Phi Phi is where my favorite movie THE BEACH was filmed, though it looks like there are so many other undiscovered beaches and islands in Thailand that are just as beautiful. Love at first site hit as I reached these beaches. The water is aqua-greenish blue, with high cliffs that surround the water. Ton Sai is famous for rock climbing, as is obvious with all the strong bodies climbing along the cliffs.

It started to rain, so they said the baggage would get here the next day. We decided to check out the next beach over, Railay, which was a matter of a climb through the rocks beachfront. It takes about 25 minutes to walk between the two beaches. The tides were coming up but we managed. Railay Beach is a more commercialized beach, which contrasts with the backpacker vibes at Tonsai. Railay has expensive hotels, a better fit for families and higher-end travelers. We sat at a bar, I ordered Thai Whiskey ‘Sang Son’ which not so good but worth a try. Then we headed back to Tonsai before dark.

Back at Tonsai Beach, I hung out at a bar by our hotel and met some more interesting people. I went to sleep by 10.

Day 2: It’s Pouring Rain and still no Luggage

It started POURING monsoon rain all night and as a result, I could barely sleep. My PMS started kicking in which is not a good company when you are trapped at a beach. This morning, they informed us that no boats would be able to get here nor can we get anywhere because of the weather. It seems almost Hurricane-ish how windy it is and how fast the currents are coming in.

Trying to stay positive. It’s 4 now, and our baggage won’t come in until the weather condition improves. We have a flight out of Krabi to Bangkok on the 14th. I hope that we don’t get trapped here longer than that or else we’ll have to spend another hefty bill on a one-way flight out!

It’s Chad’s birthday today. He turns 27. I need to stay positive for him! All he wished for his birthday was some hot Swedish girls to magically be around. Unfortunately for him, most travelers we’ve come across are Hot Aussie boys or Hot French boys in pairs or 4’s (Very fortunate for me). Or pretty girls but mainly with boyfriends. Or alpha-type French girls with dreadlocks and tattoos. Maybe he’ll get lucky tonight if some hot European girls show up!

Tonsai Beach and its surroundings are absolutely beautiful. But it does get boring since the population of locals and travelers amount to no more than 50-100 per beach. There are several beaches along this shore with activities such as Scuba diving, rock climbing, snorkeling, diving, kayaking to do. But when it’s raining, there’s nothing u can do but to Read or to drink.

I took a walk earlier to a used book shop to trade in this chick flick novel I just finished “Mr. Maybe”. I recommend all hopeless romantic girls to read it. I got the book from Tiler for Xmas, as part of a book club she started. It’s extremely cheesy and extremely an easy read. The jist of it, is a girl in search of Love & marriage. And it’s a matter of whether you let yourself go with the guy who you have full chemistry with, but he lacks in the material things you’ve dreamt of for yourself in the future. And then meeting the man you’ve imagined yourself marrying, all perfect on paper but no chemistry there. It put a lot of things about your own life & hopeless romanticism into perspective.

The book store had a policy of trading in 2 books for one of their books. So I paid half the price of a new book that I got, for $2 “The Piano Tuner”. It’s set around 1900 about a pianist tuner from London who is ordered to a small village in Shan State, Burma. There, he is hired to tune a piano for a Colonel for the pay of a year’s salary for 3 months there. And through his journey, he describes Burma back in that time, which was part of the British Colony of India. Throughout the book, he is conflicted between whether or not he decides to go back to the life he knows or to stay.

On to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat next on the 14th!!!