Photo Blog: A 3 Day Weekend in Phang Nga, Thailand!

Pile up in the bed of the truck!!!

Next we need to get some bus tickets. After a couple minutes of deliberation, we quickly hopped onto the next bus to Phang Nga. Only a 2 hour bus ride!!

After wandering aimlessly around with our backpacks, we stopped and got a quick bite to eat, somehow found a guy who was giving boat tours around the various islands. So after a good meal of fried rice and chicken (the lady literally ran out of food for all of us guys) we set sail to take a tour around the islands!

All of us in the boat!!! Let the adventures begin!!

Cave paintings!!!

Some of the countless amount of islands!!!

It was a beautiful start to an amazaing weekend. After our boat tour, we found a hostel and crashed for the night. But not without spending some awesome quality time together!!!

After we had an amazing night sleep (PRAISE JESUS FOR BEDS) we took off. We walked for miles, trying to find this park. Finally aman picked us up! He was a police officer who had a ton of riot gear in the back of his truck. He took us all the way to the campsite, blasting country, and gave us his number so that when we were done, he could give us a ride to whereever we needed to go!!! Didn't know his name or anything. Just the kindest man ever. We would have more adventures with him. But first, the park!!

Our unknown friend and hero!!

And his country CD!!

We're here!!!!!
What a beautiful park!!!!

CAVES!!

After exploring for several hours, we decided to call back our friend we met earlier. Now I personally didn't think he would come back. But low and beyond, he not only came back to get us, he bought us all cold drinks and invited us to his house!!!!

His lovely home.

What happened next was mind-boggling. He proceded to get his soccer gear, told us to come with him, and we started heading toward the police station!! Next thing we know, we are cheering him and his team of fellow police officers in a soccer game right behind the police station!!!! Then they invited me to play with them!!!

Our unknown friend getting ready for the soccer game.

Me playing soccer!! Check out those beautiful Thai mountains!!

Travis and Antone cheering me on!!!

After the game we celebrated with the other police officers. They onced again gave us some cold drinks. Then our friend asked if we wanted to go to the "Garden." We had no idea what the Garden was, but at this point this guy is the coolest guy in Thailand, so if he's taking us we know it's gonna be a good time!! So off we went. Come to found out the Garden is this huge mountain side where all of these monkeys are at. So we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with these crazy monkeys!!!

After our monkey adventure, our friend gave us a ride back to our hostel. In a matter of moments, he drove off and left without ever telling us his name. Some say he was an agel. Some say he was a figure of our imagination. I don't know anyone who's really saying all of that. But he was a mystery. Cheers to the kind mystery man! To end this awesome day, we all dinned together for some good Thai food and called it a night!!

The next day we headed out to a new cave on our newly rented scooters. From what I know, the Buddhists consider it one of the gateways to Hell. Challenge accepted!!!

Buddhists worshipping an idol of Buddhism.

WARNING:
The following images are grotesque in nature. View discresion is ADVISED. The Buddhists had sculptures of what I believe they think is Hell? I don't know if I should condiser these statues demonic or just plain weird. Who knows. All I know is that they were really weird and kinda gross. If you have a weak stomach, I advise you scroll pass the next few images.

STOP!

Gross photos are done. Proceed now with pleasure! There were monkeys everywhere, and more sculptures of crazy idols. Afterwords there's this cave that goes deep into the mountain. The guys decided to try and conquer it. After about 1-2 hours of roaming around in the darkness, we finally made it to the very end. It was the craziest part of the whole weekend. I'm not sure what would have happened if our lights that we brought went out. But we made it. We sketched out claim to the end of the cave and decided to head back on our next adveture!!

I don't know why the buddhists had a statue of King Kong? But I found it funny in the background of this monkey!!

L SQUAD MEN CONQUERED THE CAVE!!
 

 

 

Light never looked so good after a couple of hours in complete darkness. Off to our next adventure!!!

 

We were given free ice cream after the cave adventure by some nice women!!

Off to our next adventure…

After we fix our scooter problem… Some nice people decided to pull over, put our scooter in their truck, and repair it for us!!!

Finally off to the next temple, where there's… yep, you guessed it: more monkeys!!!

A laying buddhist statue and a sitting buddhist.

After another scooter problem, we have to pile up 3 guys to a scooter. But we make it to another public park, which is of course, super beautiful!!!

Finally, after an amazing weekend, it was time to go home. But not without a little scare. We almost left a guy behind!!! But after stopping the bus, we got our man, and we headed back to Phuket.

We stopped by this street with amazing food, had dinner, and ended our weekend with hitchhiking the rest of the way back home. I was gonna take a photo of my awesome Pad Thai, but I forgot and ate it all before I could take a photo. Maybe next time!! What a great weekend!!! God is good!!!