Tattoos and Memories.

How do I describe the last week or so? Everything happened all at once and as I've mentioned before, it's all way too much to process and write down most of the time. That and there are just too many adventures that push my writing to be very secondary.

The last thing I want this blog to be is boring. I DO NOT want it to follow this formula:

My favorite picture from the islands

a) I did this.
b) Then I did this.
c) Finally, I did this. Isn't that so cool?

Nope. Not going to do it. That sucks to write and that sucks to read.

Hard life

But, being the hypocrite that I am, here's what I've been up to!

Instead of a linear narrative though, here are some choice pictures and events that have made my time in the Thai islands pretty much the best time I've ever had. I'll keep it short though, no rambling. As per the usual, viewing this on a phone may look really strange.

Tattoo!

I wasn't going to get one, I really wasn't. Everyone back home warned me about getting a random tattoo in a random Asian shop. Like almost all the warnings though, it's simply not true. The places on Kho Phi Phi (click the link to learn more about these hot, fantastic, and crazy loud islands) are very legit. In fact, it probably is even cleaner over here (and, plus-side, you can get completely wasted while getting the tattoo! I didn't, but it's pretty cool to know I could have if I wanted to). 

Breath stealing, am I right?

On a monkey search

On Kho Phi Phi Don, everyone who is anyone uses bamboo tattooing. It sounds archaic, but in fact, like most things the West laughs at, it actually is a lot cleaner, less painful, and heals quickly. That being said, I still hate needles and anything that punctures skin (thanks a lot Fire in the Sky, I hate you). Thankful, my extremely rad travel friend, Felice, who I met in Chiang Mai and joined up with again, convinced me that, of course I had to get a tattoo here. It says "remember who you wanted to be." I wrote about what that means to me here (beware though, it's a very sappy and Oprahish post).

 Fire Dancers!
What can I say about this other than it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. On the beach, these dancers throw fire around like it's no big deal. Hell, they even had a 6-7 year old kid doing it! Very rad.

Yeah

On that note. This island never, ever sleeps. It's pretty awesome, but at the same time, it can get to you. The walls (and when I sa walls, I mean cardboard like pieces of...something) of the hostel/hotel shake into the wee early morning hours. So prepare yourself if you go. Bring earplugs. Or headphones. Or enough money to get smashed. Or all three.

Birthday!

I thought river rafting and hiking in the jungle in Chiang Mai was cool (read: it most certainly was), but this birthday topped it all. Snorkeling, monkeys, visiting the beach from The Beach, Thai boxing (yep, the kids are doing that as well!), good food (fried ice cream! Wait. What?), Christmas cards, music-activated shirts, so much swimming, good beer, strange limbo parties, bar games, Jenga, the best company to do all these adventures with ("Hide your 2012 self!"), and sunsets across the Indian Ocean.

2 Legit 2 Quit

But I'm back solo and in Bangkok hanging out with Mac and Noi. Going to Halloween parties (thanks Nida and Phol, you're both awesome!) and such.

And tomorrow, back to starting over.

I fly to India.

And this will happen again.

Here we go. New adventures. New friends. New life.

Journey never sleeps, right?

Cheers.