THAILAND: Phuket, Patong Beach and Koh Phangan

This past weekend I had the most amazing opportunity to travel to THAILAND!  This has been on my list of top things to do while travelling Southeast Asia and it was incredible!  There was tons of travelling involved but it was well worth every single shuttle, ferry ride, and plane.  It was beautiful and I cannot wait to travel to the other parts of Thailand soon enough!

Island Ko Pha Ngan is about a 5 hour bus from Phuket

Once landing in Phuket on Thursday afternoon, we decided to head into Phukettown and check out the hostels.  There was no beach in sight so we decided to take a taxi down to Patong Beach which is a major tourist zone.  Lauren, Lauren and I found a hostel right in the centre of the town which was perfect for walking everywhere.  We dropped off our bags and explored the beach and town for the afternoon!

Street right outside our hostel

Girls at Patong Beach...beautiful!

After exploring around Patong Beach, we decided to have a quick dinner and then head out on the town.  The streets were crazy, packed with tourists everywhere and tons of bars and clubs!  No shortage of stuff to do and see...

Grabbing a beer by our hostel

Lauren and I

In the morning, we continued our journey to Ko Phangan to attend the famous FULL MOON PARTY!  We had to take a bus from our hostel to get to the ferry which we were told would take 4 hours.  However, it took WAY longer for us to get there and we barely made the ferry on time!  It was absolutely exhausting however we finally made it to the boat and were on our way to the island!  

Laur and I on the ferry

View from the back of the ferry

Once we arrived in Koh Phangan, it was full moon eve.  We checked into our hostel which we found within minutes of arrival.  It was truly the funniest experience thus far.  All 8 of us girls slept in one giant room with 14 bunk beds all pushed together.  It was super cheap for the night and although it was on top of a travel agency/nail salon, we had the best time ever!

Our huge California King for the weekend!

Buckets with a Mickey and chase for about $5 

FULL MOON!

Morgan, Tasa, Lauren and I on Full Moon eve!

After an extremely fun night on the beach, we decided to spend the day on the beach at Haad Rin.  It was so pretty and there were young travellers everywhere!  This was probably one of the best parts of the trip.

The pals 

Cheers!

View from a Bar up top

Bucket stands lined across the beach

After a great day tanning on the beach, we were all getting super pumped for the full moon party.  We all went to the local stores and bought amazing neon outfits for cheap!  We also bought body paint as well that glowed in the dark.  Once we were on our way out, unfortunately a terrible bout of food poisoning hit me.  It was the WORST feeling in the ENTIRE WORLD.  I felt so sick that I had to run back to the hostel where Lauren was already feeling sick as well.  We spent the night comforting each other and wishing that we were out with the others livin it up..........

Girls ready to go

Laur and I all decked out

Sick girls making it out for 10 minutes...!

LADIES NIGHT

Every Wednesday night in Singapore is conveniently Ladies' Night!!  We started our evening out by having a few drinks on the bridge at Clarke's Quay, which is a very popular site for tourists at nighttime.  There were tons of exchange students there and we got to meet even more people. It's a perfect spot to start off the night because of the amazing view of the city!! 

View from the bridge at night

Klein and I at the bridge

Once we downed a few drinks by the Quay, we headed over to a bar called Arena.  Girls get line by pass, free drinks and basically treated like royalty on Wednesday's.  This was a really fun part of the night because there was a live show at the bar as well.  We had plenty of free cocktails and continued on to the next part of our journey...

We left Arena and cabbed to an unbelievable bar called Avalon.  This place is the coolest club I have ever been to in my life.  It was located right on the water and was made with all glass windows so you could see the view of the entire city from inside.  The music was amazing and we all danced until about 4 am.  We had the best night, safe to say ladies night was a success!

Avalon

gettin' a lil crazy

Alex, Lauren and I on the bridge entering the club

View from the bar bridge

FIRST WEEK CONTINUED

We've started to get familiar with the campus although it is MASSIVE!  My favorite part of campus is the sports and rec area because of the pool and tennis courts.  I've spent practically every afternoon by the pool once classes are finished.  It is unbelievably hot here so we all need a swim to coooool down!

Me and KatieLoungin'

 Me and Alex

Me and Katie

FIRST WEEK IN SINGAPORE

My first week in Singapore has been amazing! I've explored so many different parts of the city and have met a ton of exchange students too.  Lauren, Lauren and I have seen a lot so far but there is still tons to explore and experience.  We are slowly checking things off our list of sights to see!

Our first trip downtown was to the Orchard Road Shops which was so beautiful!  There was tons of shopping EVERYWHERE which was perfect for me!  We also found a great spot to grab drinks after walking around all afternoon which was a perfect break for our legs.  (This is me on the main strip)

This is one of the malls on the strip, coolest architecture.

Next we stopped at Clarke's Quay to discover the bars and restaurants.  It was during the daytime so it wasn't as busy, but still so cool to see all of the bars and lounges lined up by the river.   Getting to see the city has been one of my most fun afternoons here so far.  I'm slowly but surely becoming more familiar with everything!

View from the Fairmont Hotel 

Waiting for the bus to take us downtown

Clarke's Quay 

In less than a day...

... I will be on a plane heading to Singapore for the biggest adventure of my life. Please subscribe by email to my blog so that you can receive regular updates (see below). See also my friends' blogs: Lauren Melles and Lauren Klein. We will be blogging and travelling together!

I know that I will miss my family terribly, but how could I say no to an opportunity like this?