Day TWO of Asia trip! I already feel changed. Today was maybe the best day ever and I don't know how the rest of the trip is going to top it. Before I talk about what happened I'll tell you a little bit about Singapore. Yesterday was our one and only day in Singapore, and I really loved it. We saw these cool gardens, one of which was Jurassic Park themed, which, for two girls who desperately tried to go to Universal Studios but didn't have enough time, was really fun for me and Maggie. The other had the prettiest flowers I've ever seen. That was pretty much it from there - very cool city, very QUIET, maybe could have done one more day there but not more than that. It was a good intro.
Okay now Thailand. Today was one of those days where I just kept thinking "everything happens for a reason" over and over. We booked this tour to see the bioluminescent plankton near Phuket, but it was also a boat tour of other little islands around Phuket. A driver picked each member of the group up, and we had to wait at one of the stops for 30 minutes for the last guy to come. When we got to the boat, they told us we were the last group of three to go. I hate waiting and and I hate being last so I was obviously peeved. But my excitement overpowered and we began the tour. Immediately, I was seriously overcome with gratitude. The water was the most insane color I've ever seen. Seeing all those Thai island rock formations (you probably know the ones) in real life was unbelievable. I couldn't comprehend that I was seeing everything with my own eyes, and I tried desperately to memorize every second - I also took five million pictures in case my brain doesn't hack it. I just felt truly lucky that everything in my life led me to this point where I can see such intense beauty.
Continuing on, remember the guy who made us all late? Turns out he had friends with him, and they asked the tour guide to connect to aux. After sort of a quiet beginning, all of a sudden Brazilian music blasts through the boat. They all started dancing, and of course Maggie and I joined in. Fab (fab name for a fab guy) made the whole experience so much more fun. Also, as we toured around, we made friends with every person on our boat, and we grew some serious emotional attachments... At our first stop, we went caving and hung out with monkeys. Our second stop was James Bond Island, famous for being in a James Bond movie (no I haven't seen it). Next we went canoeing inside of another island and saw rock formations and jellyfish. After that we went to an entire floating village to eat dinner. Such good Thai food, and so crazy to see floating houses and even a floating temple.
Finally. Things got dark. Not emotionally just literally. It was time to see the bioluminescence. At the beginning of the day, our tour guide warned us that we most likely wouldn't be able to see them, even though we had all booked the tour specifically for this purpose. I laughed it off and said we'd have a great day anyway (which up until this point, the day really had been great). Because it was so dark, we had to put our phones away so the driver could see. Before this, the boat was very lively and everyone was up and talking. Once we put phones away, we all became quiet and just watched as we got closer to our destination. When we pulled up to the cave, the mood of the boat was very anticipatory and everyone was quietly excited. Then, the tour guide announced that he had bad news. The tide had risen because we were the third group to go in (remember our lateness from earlier), meaning the boat could not enter the cave with the bioluminescent plankton. Not to worry, he told us, we'd just have to swim into it. We didn't even know swimming was a possibility, so this was a real surprise and not a super welcome one. It was a little cold and just dark and swimming with no life jacket into an unlit cave is pretty scary, believe it or NOT. But I told myself this was just some classic Type 2 fun (look it up) and jumped in first. The water was so nice and swimming was so much fun. We all swam into the cave. The tour guides then counted down from 10 and told us to close our eyes.
When we opened our eyes, the water was GLOWING. With every move we made, the ocean lit up. I felt like Moana. It looked like there were lights underwater, but it was all just the plankton. I couldn't stop screeching from excitement, but everyone around me was also giddy, so it didn't matter. After expecting to see NOTHING because of our tour guide's warnings, and then the fear I felt at having to swim into the cave, this was now truly a religious experience. Again, I felt overwhelming gratitude for where I had ended up. I know I'll tell my kids about this. Also, the bioluminescence can't show up in pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I know this is long, but I'm almost done. When we returned, our tour guide admitted that the night before the plankton had terrible visibility. He said that he wasn't expecting it to be so good today, but because of the rising tide we got lucky. Finishing his thoughts, he said, "thank you for taking me there tonight." This was pretty much the cherry on top for me. He does this every day, but he still felt so grateful that we had chosen to take this tour on this night and he was able to see the plankton yet again. So that brings me to the end of this wonderful day. Stay tuned for more!!!!
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