I just spent some time putting all my pictures into slide shows on Youtube. It's my first time doing this, but I think it was a good idea as it's easier to go through pictures faster this way. Slideshow One, Slideshow Two, Slideshow Three .

I'm not sure which is the best. The few people that have seen all three have each given me different opinions.

I spent the last day getting my last bit of sun relaxing by the beach/pool, attempting to copy the pictures from my friends camera onto my USB drive, and hanging out at Chabad.

My taxi driver to the airport was a former Israeli that currently lives in Koh Samui and he brought his Israeli friend. He started asking me questions about myself and when I told him I moved to Israel we got into a discussion about why he moved to Thailand.

His pitch for Thailand was that there are no worries and everything is perfect. In Israel it's all craziness. I had no strong rebuttal to someone not religious. 

The Koh Samui airport was fantastic. It is all outdoors and there are free drinks, snacks and newspapers. It was like the whole airport was a first class lounge. I think it's the best airport I've ever been to.

I took flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok and then El Al from Bangkok back home to Israel.

When I got back to Israel I took train and bus back to Givat Shmuel. It was great not taking a taxi like a friar as usual.

I already miss Thailand, but it is nice to be back. 

My roomate and some friends seemingly have a lot of extra time on their hands and made several posters welcoming me home. I thought it was very nice and I really appreciated it. Maybe Israel has some things that are better than Thailand.

Now I have to get back to real life. :(

Yesterday we took a boat to Ko Phangan, the island a bit north of Ko Samui, in order to witness the world renown Original and Largest Full Moon Party. Everyone we had met over the last few weeks told us that they were planning to attend so we figured it was worthwhile to see on our last night in Thailand. We didn't even book a hotel for the night as we planned to be up all night watching fire shows and listening to music. This proved to be a mistake.

Before we hit the shore we could instantly see that Koh Phangan is a beautiful island. It has many mountains and waterfalls (which fortunately makes it harder to build on) and is also surrounded by white sandy beaches with fairly clear water. 

If not for the people it would be a really terrific island, but unfortunately the island has been polluted to no end (primarily from monthly full moon parties), making it one of the most depressing islands we have seen.

Sadly this is also the most Israeli island in Thailand, with many touts first speaking in Hebrew and only switching to English if the tourist doesn't understand. Israeli flags are larger than the other countries and mounted higher. Restaurants serving Israeli food are plentiful. 

On to the Full Moon Party.

The music started about 7 PM but people didn't really begin to filter onto the beach until somewhere between 10 and 11. 

The anticipation for the party was palpable. You could feel the super heavy bass vibrate the ground below your feet and deep within your chest. People were lining up to purchase "buckets" which are plastic buckets filled with a type of alcohol and a soft drink which you then mix yourself in the bucket to drink. (Most sellers tout "Free Ice!")

By about 11 PM the party was in full swing: people dancing and fire flying. I have little to say about dance as I know nothing about it but I was not a fan of most of the music as it was all techno and electronics. This was a big let down as the Lonely Planet book said there would be Reggae as well.

They did the fire jump rope again which I thought was cool last time, but I decided not to do it (even though I mentioned earlier I would like to). The main reason for opting out was because you don't jump by yourself but rather with everyone else who wants to jump as well (like at a bar mitzvah), making it likely you are going to get burned due to someone (drunk) missing a jump. (It rarely got past 3 or 4 turns.) 

This is the same issue that kept me from jumping through the ring of fire as well: You have to trust the guys holding the rings to keep it steady. 

I did give fire limbo a try, but my knee gave out early on. (This is not dangerous as everything is in your control since the bar stands on stilts.)

Due to my boredom, I spent about an hour watching the emergency medical tents which proved to be very interesting. There were two connected tents in the middle of the beach where people with injuries would come to get basic medical treatment and be mocked by fellow party goers and doctors. 

The first guy I saw was a 19 or 20 year old that accidentally drank a laced drink. As he lay down shaking, crying and hallucinating, fellow party goers posed pictures with him: Some making mock sad faces, others sexually provocative, and others just posing with huge grins.

Another bloke, who reminded me of John Belushi in Animal House (who died of an overdose of Heroine and Cocaine), was either stoned or drunk out of his mind (or both). He just sat there going in and out of consciousness. He received the same treatment as the fellow above, but the crowd had decided to up the anty by having one guy shave off his eyebrows with a razor blade. This won loads of laughter. Even the doctors were posing for pictures. 

I forgot to mention that the doctors and nurses were allowing this ridiculous mistreatment of patients the entire time, as well as laughing, and taking pictures of humorous injuries (About two hours later I saw the guy, with no eyebrows, dancing in slow motion over a fire in the shape of a heart clearly wasted away having no idea what was going on and that he no longer had eyebrows.)

The injuries I saw most listed in order of most frequent to least frequent were: Cuts from glass (primarily due to the littered bottles on the dark beach floor), alcohol/drug overdose, fire burns, and blunt traumas (from falling from tables and platforms while dancing). There are probably more injuries that I missed. As I was waiting for the boat I saw one guy being taken by stretcher to the hospital boat to be taken off the island to a real hospital. 

Basically the night was filled with debauchery and crude behavior. The shore line was filled with hundreds of men and women defecating and vomiting throughout the night. For your sake, I will not describe the rest of the night and everything I witnessed.

On a bright note, throughout our trip we felt that we were missing out to a degree as we never partook of the night life due to religiousity. After this party I am certain we didn't miss anything.

Why people enjoy debasing themselves to less than animals is beyond me. There was absolutely no class at the entire party. It was the lowest of the low. The bottom of the mud. Completely self centered and hedonistic.

It's an absolute shame that these people are ruining our world with the pollution from their parties. Ko Phangan was a paradise before they destroyed it with their nightly self-centered parties. Leonardo DiCaprio actually mentions the destruction of Ko Phangan in The Beach now that I think about it.

Now to mention some positives...

There were likely over 30,000 people there making it an absolutely huge gathering on a fairly small beach. It was pretty crazy.

Some of the fire shows were really amazing and seeing people attempting to jump ropes and fly through hoops was entertaining.

The fire signs they had were also excellent as were the kites (?) that flew by lighting a fire underneath them.

The Koh Phangan full moon party is overrated. Trust me. Skip it if you are in Thailand.

Overall, I was less than pleased and took the first speed boat home at 2 AM but I would have prefered earlier. When I get back to Ko Samui we didn't have a hotel room so I decided I would like to try sleeping either on a city bench or on the beach - both would be firsts for me (and things I have always wanted to try.)

First I tried the city bench but the lights and noise from the street were annoying so I switched to a city bench nearer to Chabad a bit further from the street but the prostitutes kept propositioning me. 

At about 3:45 AM I decided to give the beach a try where there were still a handful of people around. I gave it about 15 minutes but the sand was bugging me and I really didn't feel safe as anyone could come and take stuff from me as I was sleeping. So I head back to the Chabad bench - when about four streetwalkers approached me and asked if I had a hotel room for the night. I broke my silence and answered I did not and they offered me to have one of their rooms for free for the night.

I clearly did not take them up on this offer as how inappropriate can you get - even though they promised I would be totally alone and no funny stuff (no "boom boom" as the Thai's call it). I was taken back by their kindness though. I found it amazing the extraordinary contrast between the behavior of the people I saw a few hours earlier and now.  

I decided that if the prostitutes felt so bad about me sleeping on the street it must be a pretty bad thing to do. After visiting a few hotels I was able to negotiate one hotel to give me a room for 100 baht an hour so I took it. 

Last night we had a Tu B'shvat seder which was entertaining especially since none of us knew what 95% of the fruits were called even. It was fun trying native fruits - they were very tasty. I guess that's the closest an Orthodox Jew can get to enjoying local Thai food.

Today we sat by the ocean and the pool and I read while my friend listened to music. It was nice and relaxing.

We also played a few games of pool.

Today we went to the marine national park about an hour away from Ko Samui by speed boat. The snorkelling was terrible as there was only two types of fish and the water was a bit cold for my taste. The scenaries were glorious as usual, especially since the government takes good care of the islands. We also went kayaking a bit which was nothing super special.

We did meet a lot of interesting, pleasant people though.

Overall I think this was one of my least favorite days. I am pretty sure I really just want to bum on the beach and around the pool for the last few days.

Shabbat in Ko Samui was pleasant. It was a bit smaller than shabbatim we had, but the Chabad rabbi is very nice and the oneg was enjoyable once again. We took a short walk around on Shabbat day, but definitely got a lot of rest.

On Saturday night we went shopping (again).

Today we found a pool on the beach and basically bummed there all day. Very relaxing.
We also played some billiards.

I think the rest of vacation will mainly be relaxing.

This morning we took a nap after getting to our apartment and then headed over to Chabad to get something to eat and use some internet. After we went to the tourist agency to see if anyone could recommend anything for us to do in Ko Samui to which she said basically no. It seems that we have exhausted almost everything to do in Thailand. Her response was that Samui was "Same same" which is a very common expression here. I even bought a T-shirt that says it.

We ended up just relaxing on the beach (which is not as good as Ko Phi Phi in my opinion, although my friend prefers this one), digging deep holes, building sand castles, and swimming.

My friend vomited in the ocean from drinking too much salt water (which I told him not to), which prevented me from swimming anymore. I think he ruined the ocean for everyone forever. Next time you consider entering the ocean, remember my friend vomited in there. (Note: The Atlantic Ocean may still be ok as it's far.)

This morning I woke up and was literally wrecked. My body is really not used to this level of physical excersion. I was planning on taking a leading course in rock climbing so that in the future I can climb anywhere for free but I was clearly in no shape to climb. (My sunburns only magnified the pain.)

Instead, we decided to spend the day at the glorious beach of Ko Phi Phi (shown in yesterdays picture - and yes, it really looks like that). I hadn't planned to go swimming but when high tide came in and I felt the warm clear water I had to go. It was crazy relazing and refreshing. You could easily see fish just swimming about.

I spent about 20 minutes closing my eyes and reopening them as each time I reopened them I was struck by the same awe as when I first saw it. It looks exactly like a perfect postcard - it was truly awesome.

At about 3 PM we started our long journey to Ko Samui. This involved some walking, two boats, two sungthaw's, and a minivan. We slept on the boat (a first for me). This was no cruise ship. Think more along the lines of Cuban refugees. It was pretty ridiculous and there were about 8 young kids who decided they would have a binge party with drinking games which kept everyone awake.

Thankfully I remembered my ear plugs and slept soundly.

We arrived at Ko Samui, watched sunrise on the beach, and rented an apartment for 600 baht a night.

It feels like were in the last stretch of the Thailand trip. It is quite sad :(

This morning I went wake boarding on the ocean as I had hoped I would be able. It is definitely harder than cable wake boarding but a bit more fun. You actually get wakes when following a boat which makes it great for jumping and also you can tell the driver to go faster or slower. I was really not great on the ocean but my wipe outs were amazing. Thank God my friend captured some of them on video. (He also got to drive the boat a little.)

I was really spent after wake boarding (mainly from my crazy wipe outs), but we decided to go snorkeling anyways. First we stopped by another monkey island where we got to feed monkeys hand to hand (I never tire of that), and then we went cliff jumping. I made two jumps one between 10-12 meters and the second between 12-15 meters (40-50 feet). The second one was pretty scary but it was well worth it. It really feels like you have a few seconds of free fall.

We then went snorkeling where we saw a lot of colorful and bizarre looking fish - and sharks. Yes, sharks. I saw about 5 or 6 of them, each about 4 to 5 feet. Weirdly enough I was more scared of some of the eels we saw than the sharks. We had an underwater camera so hopefully some of pictures I took come out decently.

We then went to Maya Bay which is where the movie The Beach was filmed. I had not seen the movie or even heard of the movie before Thailand. Maya Bay was beautiful but not much different than the rest of Ko Phi Phi.

Tonight one of the bars showed The Beach which I imagine they do at least once a week. It was a decent movie, but definitely not IMDB top 250 material. The best part of it is that the movie is about how Maya Bay is paradise. It most definitely is.

This morning we went to the largest cable ski park in Asia (in Phuket) where I did wake boarding and my friend did knee boarding.

Wake boarding was great as usual and I am definitely feeling more comfortable changing stances and working on jumping a bit more. I tried jumping over ramps for the first time which was amazing! I only landed decently on the last one, but I am definitely going to work on it when I get back to Israel. Hopefully I get more wake boarding in Thailand. I want to try it on a boat for my first time.

We then took a ferry to Kho Phi Phi. The view of the island from our ferry when we were approaching the shore was truly breathtaking. Just WOW.

We then found ourselves a small room for 800 baht (the most we've paid so far but still cheaper than what people told us we would pay on Ko Phi Phi). After that we took a short but strenuous trek of about 200 stairs and a steep walk up to the Phi Phi Viewpoint where we could see a great outline of the island. We couldn't help think about how terrible Tsunami must have been when it wrecked this island.

At night we went to a fire show on the beach where crazy drunk people tried jumping over a flaming jump rope and fire dancers twisted and threw fire with disregard. Although enticed, I didn't try the flaming jump rope - I wanted to see how bad people got injured. No major injuries so hopefully I'll get another chance before the trip is over.

Tomorrow we are going snorkelling along Kho Phi Phi Leh.

Last night I spent relaxing and learning a little Daniel. Was very relaxing and interesting.

This morning we took the James Bond Island hopping tour and it was spectaculor. The island is called the James Bond island because it was in The Man with the Golden Gun. I never saw the movie so it didn't mean that much to me.

The other islands were great though. On Monkey island we canoed through a pitch black bat cave where we saw hundreds of bats sleeping and woke some up with our lights. We then fed wild monkeys that took the fruit right out of our hands. They were really cute. I really enjoyed that part. We also saw dozens of eagles fly around our boat. More eagles than I've ever seen in my entire life.

All of the islands we saw were gorgeous as usual and we stopped for swimming where I jumped and dove off the top of the boat (~25 feet). [My highest dive ever.]

We met a lot of interesting people and on the way back there was a lady-boy show on the boat. It was a bit disturbing but I think my friend enjoyed it a lot because he took the most pictures of the day of it.

It was a really really great day.

Tomorrow to Ko Phi Phi - which is regularly ranked as one of the top islands in the worlds. I'm excited as usual :)

We spent Shabbat in Patong Beach which is very developed and a big difference than Railey.

The Chabad rabbi there, who I call Rav Aharon, is extremely dynamic. He takes care of the entire Chabad house himself which is no small feat. All the other Chabad's we were at had at least 3 rabbi's. There were about 300 people for Friday night dinner and we even stayed for the oneg which was great. Everyone in the room got up and told a story. I probibly spoke more hebrew that night than anytime while I was in Israel. I even gave my story in Hebrew which I was very proud of - and people laughed and clapped which made me feel good :)

The entire shabbat was very nice and we met a lot of interesting and friendly people. We were two of three Americans that Shabbat and only two others were from an English speaking country.

The plan tomorrow is to go Island hopping by speed boat around the Islands near Phuket. Should be exciting.

Today we left Ton Sai / Railey by long tail boat to Ao Nong and took a mini van to Phuket.

The area we are staying in Phuket is basically a mini Israel. There are a crazy amount of Israelis. We don't have much time before Shabbat to tour as we have to get ready.

Shabbat Shalom - I hope all is well!

Railey Beach is known as a rock climbing heaven with over 700 crags. Even though I was still sore from the other day and our trek through the rocks I decided that I shouldn't give up the chance to climb in Railey so this morning I climbed over to Railey West and went rock climbing again.

It was once again terrific, with amazing scenery. I once again failed to complete a 6b but managed to get further than I had in Chiang Mai. I also managed to complete to 6a crags. This time it was 3 of us, a guy from Ireland on a 6 month trip and a guy from Canada on a one month trip. They were really nice and we had a great time.

In the afternoon I had to get back to Ton Sai for lunch (energy bars and cookies) but high tide was up again so I decided to swim from Railey West to Ton Sai which took about 45 minutes. (I also was carrying a water bottle which I threw ahead of me every 5 feet, my glasses, hat, shirt and sandals.) It was very fun.

In the afternoon we went to Phranang Beach which is essentially Railey South and went swimming in the gorgeous emerald clear green water. It was extremely relaxing and refreshing.

Before this trip if someone asked me what the most beautiful natural place I have ever seen I would definitely have said either Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon, but now Railey Beach is definitely a contender.

At night I sat down by the beach, under the bright stars (with Mars in clear view), and read some fantasy stories from Hermann Hesse. My Nirvana.

Today we flew from Chiang Mai to Krabi with a stop over in Bangkok. It was a bit of an annoying flight as it wasted most of our day.

We were planning on spending the night in Krabi Town but I changed my mind as I heard how beautiful Railey Beach is. We took a long tail boat from Ao Nong and we were planning on staying at Railey East as it is cheaper than Railey West, but someone in the boat recommended Ton Sai so we stayed as it is the backpacker beach so we ended up going there instead.

Railey Beach is attached to Krabi but completely divided by mountains, making it only accessible by boat. It is very quiet and undeveloped. We stayed in a tiny bungalow near the beach for 600 baht.

The second we took step onto Ton Sai I could sense the extremely chill vibe: Bob Marley music playing, BBQ's being setup and dozens of unshaven, loosely dressed backpackers attempting to walk on a wire strung between two trees. This was exactly what I was looking for.

We spent the first night hanging out and walking around admiring the magnificent scenery.

The only thing seperating Ton Sai and Railey West (which is a gateway onto Railey East) is a 20 minute trek over sharp jagged rocks. We walked to Railey West the first night and thought the walk was a bit difficult. When we decided to return to Ton Sai at about 9 PM, high tide had come in and it was clear that our difficult walk earlier was now going to be nearly impossible. We didn't realize that all the rocks we had walked on getting there were now under water until a minute into our walk.

We walked through the dark water (we had no flashlight and the island has very poor lighting) and managed to survive - even though my friend resisted my insistance that we follow the buddy system where we must always hear and see each other.

I recieved many cuts and bruises from the hike but thankfully we are still alive to see Day 11.

Today me and my friend split up: I went rock climbing and he went white water rafting. I was looking for something that was outdoors and more active making rock climbing a natural choice.

It was terrific. It was just me and two Thai tour guys. (I used The Peak tour guide service if you are going to Thailand - they are first class). The first three climbs I had (5b, 5c rating and each about 15-20 meters) I found fairly easy. I then convinced them to let me climb a 6b+ which was a total disaster and embarrassingly I couldn't finish it :( It was really great trying though and definitely tested my limits. Also note, it took the guide a really long time to climb it himself.

We then ate lunch which was free but I brought along tuna and crackers (which is what we have been doing for several days and now we are finally out of). I did take a look at the menu and noticed that everything was 30 baht (~3 shekel)! That included a soup, a meat dish and a side.

After lunch we went out to another crag for a 6a+, 35m climb near the top of the mountain. The rocks were limestone and different parts had different colors: yellow, red, black, and brown. Most of the mountain was a cove for owls and bees - I was a bit scared every time I saw several bees fly out of one of the holes as when your climbing you can't see what's in the next hole you put your hand in.

I had a lot of difficulty near the the beginning part and tried a million times. I was determined I could do it. After several tries, scraped knees, torn skin, and bruised fingers I decided maybe I could pass the hard part if I just pull the belaying rope rather than actually climb the rocks. The guide said if I can do it he'll be OK with it.

It was definitely harder to pull myself up with the rope than actually climbing but I was having a very difficult time finding proper food placement. Thank God I was able to pull myself up using the belaying rope for about a foot. (Yes, I am aware this is cheating...)

After that I was nearly completely spent but managed to make it to the top with a bunch of breaks. The view at the top was spectacular, overlooking numerous types of trees and dozens of green mountains and light brown lakes. Clearly the sense of accomplishment was also excellent. I had the guide hold me up there for about 5 minutes just to take in the moment. It was truly magnificent.

Now I'm waiting for my friend to get back from white water rafting.

I really need some time to relax from the rock climbing. Thankfully we are heading out to Krabi Beach tomorrow!

Last night we went to the Sunday market which was hands down the largest market I have ever been to, seen, or heard of. It is tremendous. If you are in Chiang Mai for a short time, skip the other markets and just go to this one as it has everything and more.

We also got fitted for suits and shirts which I am already having buyers remorse. We went to Supreme Collections which so far seems to be doing a good job. They are very friendly and speak english well. On the downside, we are paying twice as much as any other store we asked.

On that note, we are the worst shoppers ever, or as the Israelis here call us "Friars". We get taken advantage of all the time. We'll spend an hour bargaining over everything and then when we finally make purchases constantly check our buys at other stores selling similar wares. To say the least, we have not been doing too well. The Thai people are born for haggling and sales.

Today was the best day in Thailand so far. We rode elephants, went bamboo rafting, oxen riding, saw an elephant circus and visited (exploited) children in a village.

For a quick run down:
Elephant Riding: Awesome! Very bumpy but really cool. We even walked through a river. (The Thai people made fun of my friends weight again and made him ride on an elephant by himself (opposed to with someone else, but unfourtanetly they didn't use the pregnant line - so really it was just mean.)

Oxen Riding: Not too exciting. Reminded me of Borat.

Elephant Show: Majestic! The Elephants PAINT PICTURES, kick soccer balls, and do other tricks. We saw so many elephants today - likely over a hundred different ones.

Bamboo Raft: Was extremely relaxing and we got to look at the glorious landscape. This was exactly why we came to Northern Thailand.

Long Neck Village: Weird. We drove to this village called the Long Neck Karen village where the women wear golden rings around their necks, legs and sides from the age of 5. Their necks stretch because of it. They wear these things to protect them if a tiger tries to bite them. (I didn't ask what happens if they are bitten somewhere else.)

The weird part about the village is that it's basically a human zoo. They put about a dozen women and little girls in booths and some of the little girls were clearly pretty upset about that. We played with some of the little boys though and that was fun.

Tomorrow the plan is to go rock climbing.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures in the near future.

Note: I am well aware of the terrible grammer and mistakes in the blog lately. I only have a few minutes to write each day. Sorry!

Last night we took it easy and went to the one day market (there are three big markets: Night Bazaar, One Day, and Sunday market.)

We bought some things, nothing to exciting though - I got a T-shirt and a hat. We figure we'll get more beachy clothing in the south.

The one day market is also ridiculously long so we decided to get a massage for our barking feet. It felt like that scene from Seinfeld when the Korean ladies make fun of us. They just kept laughing at us and we didn't understand what about. It was pretty humurous.

We were signed up for a three day jeeping trip that was supposed to leave on Sunday morning but we decided after speaking with people who went on the trip to forego it. Instead we are planning two day trips and one day of Chiang Mai relaxing.

Today was the Chiang Mai relaxing. I rented a scooter for 250 baht (including insurance) but unfourtanetly my friend can't ride a bicycle nor a scooter. The scooter is amazing and makes me want to get a scooter more and more in Israel.

I drove to the Chiang Mai zoo where I met up with Aaron who take a Songtauw (a small mini bus). We saw the Great Pandas of which there are only ~160 in captivity and under 2,000 left in the world. We had to pay another 100 baht just to see them, but it was well worth it. They were adorable.

The rational behind going to yet another zoo was that a) I love animals, b) there was a famous Panda, c) it's beautiful scenary without having to travel 3 hours to get to a jungled. In the end it was likely one of the most non-touristy things we did as it was mainly populated by locals . We also saw a seal show.

The crazy part about the zoo was that at most stations they also sold meat of the animals so that you can taste them. Pretty crazy stuff.

The entire time at the zoo though I was dying to get back onto my scooter though and I will likely use the rest of the day to get lost in Chiang Mai. I just hope I can find my way back.

For one humorous anecdote:
When we were riding the tram at the zoo I mentioned to my friend surprisingly that there are some pretty attractive thai people. My friend answered "that's a pretty strange way to describe an animal." I was pretty shocked that he would describe Thai people as animals. In the end he thought I was talking about TIGERS.

Another great part is that EVERYWHERE we go my friend is asked if he's pregnant because he's a little overweight. It's not just funny that Thai people all are so rude to make fat jokes, but that they all use the pregnant line. This has literally happened around 7 times so far. It's probibly the best part of the whole trip so far. I find it hysterical.

Shabbat in Chiang Mai was nice. There were about 150-200 people for Friday night dinner at Chabbad. The food was ok, but a bit scarce. We met a bunch of interesting people. We had dinner and lunh with an American religious woman who is volunteering with AJWS for four months in Thailand.

We walked around old Chiang Mai on Shabbat day and sat by the pool (until being asked politely to leave) at the Shangi La. The Shangri La is the hotel to stay at if you have the money. It was really nice.