Travel with Vance

Place: Koh Tao, Thailand

Hostel: Good Dream Hostel/Khun Ying House

Favorite Bar: The Rock Bar 

Favorite Memory: Making friends with The Rock Bar staff

Fun Fact: Red Bull originated in Thailand

Thailand Redbull!

Koh Tao was a short ferry ride from Koh Phangan, so we headed over for what we thought would only be a few nights. The locals we became friends with at The Rock Bar really made Koh Tao a special place for us.

The Rock Bar

The Rock Bar quickly became our favorite spot after we discovered it our first night. We were actually at a 4^th of July part next door (I know this post is a little behind) when we heard fun music coming from The Rock Bar. We thought we would meet more Americans and listen to fun American music at the 4^th of July party, but that was not the case. It was a bunch of Australians listening to what they thought was fun American music (it was not). We quickly jumped ship to The Rock Bar because it sounded a lot more fun. It is right on the beach with beanbags for sitting, fire dancers and good music.

We talk to the bartenders at Rock Bar for a while and they were very cool. They gave us drink special prices even after the specials ended. We then started making friends with the fire dancer crew. They are a good group of super talented friends and put on an amazing fire show for the crowd. Mac was a big fan of the fire limbo. It might or might not have been because he received a free shot every time he made it under, haha. By the end of the night everyone had left except for mac and I. They closed down the bar and we started drinking with the bartenders and firedancers while they put a movie on the projector. It was a really cool experience getting to know them better. From then on this was our nightly spot. It was really fun going there after that night because the more we went the better friends they became.

Mac. Soe, Phyo and the rest of the fireshow crew

Mac, Nathan, Mia and Sam

“Life before work!” …Thanks Thampachana!

Traveling is not reward for working, it’s education for living!

“The more you drinks, The more beautiful you’re!”

Nathan and Sam

Junleiam rocking out

Mac loves the Fire Limbo

Good times at The Rock Bar

The day I worked for 100 Baht/Hour

I decided randomly one day that I wanted to make some money. I asked The Rock bar if they had some work for me and they gave me a job passing out flyers for free shots. From 6-10pm I walked around and passed out flyers for The Rock Bar. I got paid 100 Baht/hr ($3/hr) and 3 free drinks that night (of course I ordered long islands to get the best bang for my buck). It was a pretty good gig. It paid for 1 nights accommodation, my western breakfast and drinks for the night. So I only paid for lunch and dinner out of pocket that day. And I got to party after with the people I invited to the bar. It was a win-win! They wanted me to work more days, but I was scheduled to leave the next day.

Diza Bar

Diza bar became our pre drinking spot. They had awesome drink prices all night. Cocktails were $2 and beers were $1. It was the cheapest around. The bartender started hooking us up with stronger drinks because we went there so often. He was super cool and refused to take my tips. We met our new friends Sam and Mia at this bar while we were visiting with Amy and Nathan (friends from Koh Phangan).

The Beach

The sand was the softest sand I have felt so far. So soft that our friend Amy got in the water and rubbed it all over herself like she was having a mud bath! The water was super warm (like bathwater) and really clear. A lot of the bars have areas on the beach with music you can relax at for free. I spent a lot of days relaxing on beanbags on the beach.

Fish Foot Massage

I had my first fish foot massage in Koh Tao. It was pretty interesting. You stick your feet in a fish tank and let the fish suck on your feet. They supposedly suck off the dead skin cells. They don’t have teeth so it didn’t hurt, but it does tickle. I was scared a fish was going to swim between my toes and I would squish it to death. Surprisingly my feet felt really soft after. I’m not sure if it was actually the fish or the water I had my feet in, but it was a cool experience wither way.

Random Pics

Pub Crawl with Alex, Ian and Bryan

Daniel double the trouble

Yep, that’s a broom

A cool boat

Amyyyy

7-11 is the cool place to hang out