After teaching for a week I was taking advantage of the 5 day weekend to travel to Southern Thailand for the New Year. After a 30 minute walk, a 9 hour bus ride, a wild tuktuk ride, an hour and half flight, and a 30 min van drive, I met my friends at our hostel in Krabi, Thailand. We prepared to go to the beach for the day and then party straight into 2017. We hired a boat and headed to Tonsai Beach and Railay, Thailand. This was the picturesque ocean views that you imagine with the towering, limestone cliffs rising up out of the clear, turquoise water.

We swam and relaxed on the beach. My friend Jenna and I went exploring, wandering down every trail and path we found, occasionally stopping at a map to get our bearings. Through the jungle, along cliff faces, down the beach, among local Thai homes we went and everything we saw was beautiful and awesome(and I mean that in the literal sense of the word, we were in awe of this place). I rang in the New Year on the beach with some wonderful people, watching fireworks over the ocean and I felt that 2017 could not have had a more incredible start. I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing on the beach feeling blissfully happy watching the sunset. I swam with bioluminescent plankton(that experience was unreal, I still feel amazed just writing it). I went kayaking in the crisp, clear water, jumped in next to a school of fish and then paddled through a cave. Just before leaving I snuck in a hike to a hidden lagoon that took us up and then down a series of muddy cliffs(it had just rained a little, it was unadvisable that we did it but it was amazing). The weekend was filled with so many wonderful experiences; we kept saying that if this was any indication of what 2017 would be like then it would be a great year!

As we were hopeful that our year would compare to our weekend in paradise, I couldn’t help but be a little more introspective(and I had some great moments on the beach for it). Celebrating the new year inevitably makes you think about past new year celebrations and the years leading up to where you are at that moment. I am in a completely different place than I was last year, geographically, yes, but also emotionally and mentally. I am starting a new year, a new decade(having just turned 30 two weeks earlier), in a new place and I am doing it alone. For me it feels like a whole new stage of my life. I am excited about it but I can sense that I am on the precipice of some serious challenges and experiences that will change me. So, here’s to a new adventure no matter what it may bring, cheers!

Exploring the jungle path we found

Looking back over Tonsai Beach

This is the ‘path’ we followed

Tonsai Beach from higher up

My adventure buddy, Jenna

Beach town shops, I love how Thailand builds around nature rather than disturb it

A tree growing into the cliffside

There was a whole hoard of monkeys running around on this one path!

This is the pool where we later swam with the bioluminescent plankton!

I just love these wonderful people

Railay Beach at low tide

The hidden lagoon

Hiking back up…this rocky incline was incredibly steep. At times there were ropes that you had to actually use to rock climb and pull yourself up. That’s my friend, Max, on the left for some scale.

Jenna hiking on the way down

Julie and I kayaking.

Kayaking with my girl, Julie