Travega: Tai Mai: "Why Not?"

Traveling is a lot like being a new kid on the first day of school. Our first trip out of Chiang Mai to the southern beach town of Krabi was as educational as those first few moments finding your locker or stepping out onto the play ground. As a kid I remember waking up hours earlier than necessary to get ready, only to learn I was far overdressed and that despite all the advertisements I had seen over summer, my new outfit was definitely not "in". The decisions on the first day are all risks; some that will decide who your friends are and who you are for the next several months or years. We too, had to take risks on this first trip and learned a great deal about what it's like to travel in Thailand. For example, who would have thought that telling the bus driver to drop us off in "Krabi Town" would mean stopping at a shady taxi service 45 minutes from the actual town in the middle of the night in a new tourist trap scam? Could you have guessed that boats don't go from Tonsai Beach to Krabi at night and if you convince a boatman to make the trip you'll spend a half hour in dark fiery waves as the attendant sings softly to himself while grasping his knees like in a scene from Life of Pi? You'll be looking for life jackets and upon learning they are missing you'll be searching for landmark islands that you might be able to swim to if/when the boat goes over. You enjoy a day of touring and snorkeling only to run into a swarm of jellyfish that run rampant on your bare legs, completely ruining you're rendition of The Little Mermaid's Under the Sea acapella version you were singing in your head at the time of the attack. You take a risk that you'll be able to sleep in the airport only to find that the airport is closing and you'll have to stay in an expensive hostel that will soon become your death bed-or bathroom as you and your friends get sick from some unknown cause and end up sharing it like the Bridesmaids food poisoning scene.

However, there are risks on the first day of school that later become the memories that summarize a very special and surprisingly exciting part of your life. It's meeting a stranger that soon becomes your best friend, the lunch spot that you'll call your own or the teacher whose first day welcoming speech you can never forget. Traveling to the beaches of Southern Thailand was certainly filled with those magical moments. Our trip was nothing like how we had planned and I think all of us were very satisfied in its conclusion. The spontaneity and impulsiveness of the events that would finally bring us home were nothing less than whimsical and encouraged my traveling spirit more than ever before.

Our adventure began when we picked up two stray Germans that followed us to our hostel, taught us new drinking games and hung out with us on the beach for the entirety of our trip. While playing these drinking games, a Swiss and fellow traveller told us to ditch our plans to the heavy tourist beach of Koh Phi Phi and explore Ton Sai beach instead, raving about it's backpacker vibe, relaxing "Why not?" atmosphere and incredible rock climbing. Although we planned to only stay one day in this recommended area we would end up lying in Ton Sai's sandy white beaches and swimming in the clear green-blue water four out of the five days of our vacation-furthermore we would miss our bus because of our resistance to leave this serene paradise. Ton Sai became our second home in a very short time, we were chatting with the locals like they were old friends, we knew where the good places to eat were, what time the tide would come back in and were soon convincing other travelers to ditch their plans and head to Ton Sai for the real Southern Thailand experience. Our best argument; Tai Mai, "Why Not?"