With all this in mind, I had a decision to make during the revolution. After we were bussed back from Sharm to Cairo, I was at home alone with nothing to do, in an area where I didn’t feel exactly safe. 90% of my friends and bailed to go travel, and I was just sitting on my hands. So one evening while over at Steve’s house, having homemade enchiladas and watching the roller coaster that was Mubarak’s step-down/coup, we decided to book tickets to Bangkok. The flight was relatively cheap and direct and to be honest, I needed to find a place to relax. Even at the resort in Sharm, I could not feel peaceful. The thoughts of the revolution and ‘what –ifs’ were always coursing through my head. Plus it was just a back and forth of ‘Cairo is too dangerous’, ‘We’re leaving tomorrow’, ‘We’re leaving in 48 hours’, ‘We’re going to our home countries’. So I went to Thailand.
In Thailand, Steve and I spent an hour exploring a small section of Bangkok while we waited for our flight to Phuket. Basically we took the train out, found a place for some green curry, had a beer and headed back. Upon arriving in Phuket, we got a ride to a pretty decent hotel and then went out. It was after 10, so there weren’t a ton of places open. Amid the calls of ‘You want boom-boom!?’, we stumbled upon a small outdoor restaurant filled with locals. We assumed this place had to be pretty good and settled in and ate whatever spicy dishes the waitress recommended. The spiciness was palpable, and definitely made me sweat with my nose running and my eyes watering. Nonetheless it was delicious. Thai food has to be one of my favorites, if not my number 1.
From Phuket we traveled by boat to Koh Phi Phi, a bow-tie shaped island with quite a bit of tourism. Upon arriving in Ton-Sai beach, we had a beer, talked about it, and decided we needed to get the hell out. Steve and I paid a guy to shuttle us around the island in his boat until we stumbled upon a small little grove of cabanas at Runtee Bay. It was much quieter, no loud tourists and just people snorkeling in the beautiful blue water, eating or chilling on the beach. The cabana with AC was about $30 per night, so we took it and set up camp for the next few nights. It was incredibly relaxing. Plenty of time to read, and just listen to the waves. The food was great, and relatively cheap as I went one-by-one through the list of curries. (Panang is pretty delicious) We spent our time unwinding, hiking the island and taking a boat tour to different islands. On one particular day we got to see one of the filming locations of “The Beach”, snorkel in a few different spots, feed monkeys, fish and go cliff jumping. After Koh Phi Phi, we headed to Krabi where we spent one night and part of one day. I got a couple hour-long massages (legitimate massages) for about $15 apiece and bought a bunch of really cheap clothing. Boardshorts were less than $10 and t-shirts were about $5. I even picked up a couple Polo shirts for less than $15. From Krabi we headed back to Bangkok and eventually Cairo, where we went straight from the airport to school and work. That was probably the toughest part about the trip. All-in-all, it was a great time, and exactly what I needed. Thailand is definitely a country I need to spend some more time in.