My first in Ao Nang, I met two lovely Swedish guys. They were best friends traveling together and they were staying in the same dorm as me. We got to talking and they asked if I wanted to join them for dinner. There comes a point when you’re traveling by yourself that you will eat dinner with literally anyone. But luckily these two were genuinely cool so I was happy to accept! The three of us went out to a nearby place for a couple beers and dinner. I remember discussing Swedish holidays vs. American holidays at length with them. I learned all about their St. Lucia traditions and slowly realized what they were describing to me sparked a memory of the American Girl Doll, Kirsten, who wore the candles on her head!
I then tried to explain Thanksgiving to them, although I think I made it sound a bit boring. We grabbed some dessert at a classy restaurant nearby before heading back to the hostel. They would be getting up early the next morning to get to their next destination so I added them on Facebook and wished them well! I’m slightly bummed I never got a photo with them, although of course I made sure to get photos of the desserts 🙂
The next day I headed over to the iconic Railay Beach! I spent the day alone but I wasn’t bothered. I took the boat over and relaxed while enjoying these views:
It was touristy for sure, but why wouldn’t it be? I can’t blame anyone for wanting to visit. It was also there that my fear of monkeys was solidified. I had seen some cute little monkeys in Phi Phi and I was able to keep my distance. But the monkeys at Railey were bigger and not afraid to jump out of the trees in front of you while you’re innocently walking down the sandy walking path. I had to turn around and walk the other way at one point when a bunch of them appeared out of nowhere just a few feet from me!
That night I met some newcomers to the hostel, one American guy and one Welsh guy. They had met not long before and decided to travel together for a bit. It was great to hear the stories of where’d they’d been and where they would be going next. We all ate dinner together before buying a bit of alcohol to bring back to the hostel. We drank and played cards in the open-air lobby for a while while trying some exotic soda flavors as mixers, with mixed results. It was a relaxing night of swapping travel stories and learning new card games. This time I was the one headed off early the next morning so after adding them on Instagram, we all said goodnight and headed to bed. Again, I didn’t get any photos that night except for one of a gigantic spider we spotted in the hostel. Bummer.
It’s nights like these that make me miss traveling. It’s exciting never knowing who you’re going to meet or dine with the next day. Maybe you’ll never see them again or maybe you’ll end up traveling together for a few weeks!
That morning I flew from Krabi up north to Chiang Mai. I have a lot to write about regarding my time in Chiang Mai so hopefully I’ll have a new post up soon!