Dylan Is the Most Awesomest Being Evar - Guest Post by Ivy Gahn

OK, the title is my own.
I asked Ivy to write about the experience from her point of view. I wanted to give you guys a view from a different perspective. She remembered a few things that I had forgotten as well. It was nice for me in another way as well. I had never read anything that she wrote. I didn't even know she had written or even enjoyed it, but it turns out she is pretty good. Check it out:

To say I was excited for my trip is such an understatement! I've always wanted to go to Thailand, and since Dylan and I decided I would meet him there, I’ve been counting down the months, which is not easy let me tell you. It was so far off, and combined with hopefully getting time off, and actually getting a ticket, there were times it seemed nearly impossible. It all worked out though, which I'm so grateful for. Anyway, the wait time was ridiculously slow, and in the last few weeks I ended up torturing Dylan (oops) with my near daily "guess how many days now!" reminders.  So I had to silently count down the days until Dylan said we were close enough for me to resume my reminders.

My flight was perfect, and I slept tons. The guy next to me ended up moving seats before we took off, so the girl on the other side of him and I had some extra space between us, which made for a more comfortable ride (as comfortable as a 13 hour flight can be). The only downside I'd say was the weird meal of what I would have to call "Beef Flavoured Tapioca.” I was a little worried about the layover in Taiwan but everything worked out smoothly. It was very early in the morning when I landed and the airport seemed vacant. I had a whole bathroom to myself to freshen up as slow as I wanted go, and then an entire gate waiting area to do my nails. Whatever you can find to bide your time right? Then the shops opened up for me to browse through, and soon it was time to board the next flight.

Dylan and I planned to meet at my gate, so I was a little bummed to see he wasn't there, but that just meant he had to get his bag so we'd meet at baggage claim. The customs line was huge and was what took so long. Once through, I had to locate which baggage consul (of a hundred I swear) was mine. But right then Dylan saw me and came over with both our bags. It was so nice to see him. In his opinion, it was awkward but I have to disagree a little. I didn't think it  was that awkward at all.  Maybe I was a bit delirious. He looked like a mountain man because he hadn't shaved since his hair trimmer had been stolen. Good thing I had brought him a new one! Once he shaved the old Dylan was back, it was hard to tell under all that scruff.

We took a cab to a neighborhood we had decided on earlier and looked for a place to sleep. After a few looks around we were hot and tired of walking with the packs and wanted to have some food and a beer, so we picked a nice comfy brothel. Except we didn't know it was a brothel until Dylan heard brothely noises in the night. Yay! Needless to say I touched as little as possible and tip-toed around in my flip flops. Next morning we were off to Cambodia. Of course Mr. Thai lied to us (he seemed to be the nicest and most honest) and the van didn't come when or where he said. So we had to walk a couple blocks with our heavy bags to follow this guy who had somehow figured we were with his group. The van later drove by where we had been waiting the last 45 minutes, so why we had to walk to the van is anybody's guess. Turns out most things wouldn't make sense, but little did we know. Then our van broke down and we had to sit in the 90 degree humidity on the side of a freeway for an hour, until another van came to rescue us. After a few hours we stopped to fill out visa docs and I got to experience the infamous squat toilet. I discovered later, that in the public restrooms, if you pick the handicap stall you don't have to squat because there is a normal toilet. Shhhh.

Finally we ended up at a decent guest house where we were too tired and fed up to even argue the fact that we were basically forced to stay there. After we settled in (without A/C even though Dylan confirmed we had paid for it,  so we had to pay extra for it, again)  we decided to get some dinner. Dylan got some cash out and had it exchanged to Cambodian currency. Later, when this bartender guy laughed at us, we found out that the exchange guy had given us a fake or expired bill. What a crap day. The next few days were spent hanging around the guest house and wondering the town. The temples were very beautiful, but like Dylan said, once you've seen 20 temples you've seen them all. I was ready to get back to Thailand and catch a tan. I know Cambodia must have more to offer, but honestly I wasn't impressed, at least with Siem Reap. Every corner we turned we were getting screwed. Except 'screwed' isn't the exact word we used, but I'll save it.  It ended up being something to laugh about which is good I guess.  One of my favorite memories in Cambodia was when our tuk tuk driver lead us through the neighborhoods and we got to see where the locals lived. Their houses were so quaint, with open walls and everything. It looked like most houses had a big commons area, like a living room, with all the bedding stacked up in the corners. All the houses had hammocks hanging below (the houses were all on pretty high stilts for flooding). It looked so comfortable, in a simple way.

After Cambodia, we decided on this island near Jason and Angie called Koh Tao. Once our ferry docked, we rented a scooter and drove around the island nearly all afternoon looking for a nice place to stay, since this was where we'd be splurging. I had my heart set on a beach hut/bungalow type place. We found some to be too far from the beach, some too expensive, however we did end up finding the best spot. Complete with two private beaches and hidden bar with a deck over the water to lounge on. They had the best watermelon shakes too.

One of my favorite days on Koh Tao was spent laying around our resort's beaches. I was able to read and swim, and bask in the sun while Dylan was out diving. I ordered a cab to a different beach on the other side of the island where Dylan met me once his boat came in. Then we had a sunset happy hour and a late dinner.  The reason why I loved that day so much was not because we weren't with eachother all day, but because it was almost like a normal day where we could talk about our days at the end of the day. And I love laying in the sun to read, and I know that's not something Dylan is interested in doing all day. I needed some time to relax since we had been go go go the entire past week. I really loved Koh Tao. I was happy to report my day's activities of "flipping over a bunch."

While swimming at one of our beaches I was attacked by a sea cucumber and had to limp around for a few days.  Actually I hit my ankle on some coral, but I like the sea cucumber story better and it made us laugh.  It's still bothering me though, 3 weeks later.  I've gone to the doctor and the x-ray shows a piece of coral still in my ankle, but it's too deep to get to without causing other possible damage. Have a follow up appointment this week.  I'm getting tired of wearing flip flops, since anything with a back hurts.

Next we were off to visit Jason and Angie on Koh Samui, which ended up being perfect because I had chose that island as a stop, before I even realized they lived there. We were both really excited to see them and have them show us around and take us to their favorite spots on the island. The next few days were spent eating, swimming, and laying by their pool. One of the days we signed up for an all day snorkeling tour, which ended up being a whopping 20 minutes - if that - of snorkeling. The rest of what should have been our snorkeling day we looked at a lagoon, had an OK lunch, kayaked (Dylan nearly capsized us at sea because he was leaning over the edge making dolphin noises in the water), and visited a weird island campground with a cave?  The other tourists on the boat decided that actually they didn't care to do much snorkeling after all. No idea why you'd pay for a snorkeling tour to sit in a boat all day, kinda lame. Dylan tried to complain at the day's end, but the employees pretended to not understand so it was pointless. I must say though, that the 20 minutes of snorkeling we did get was by far the best I've seen.

One afternoon on Koh Samui Dylan and I went to see what Grandpa and Grandma rock was all about - we found Grandpa but Grandma was being shy. A storm was coming in so we decided to take cover in a nice looking bar with a covered deck, have a beer, and wait until the rains passed. We chose the upstairs deck which was empty, and immediately this fidgety cracked out guy came and interrupted us by jabbering and blaring this CD he’d just made. Dylan was polite enough to make small talk and offer some compliments to his music, but I happened to be very interested in the storm so I didn't really talk to the guy. We thought it would be rude and uncomfortable to up and leave in the middle of his CD so we had to have another round, and I quickly volunteered myself to go downstairs to the bar and order since I didn't want to be left alone talking to the guy on drugs. Downstairs was a young Thai bartender girl, an old guy, and a dog. The old guy and I started talking when the girl left to grab the beers, and his dog looked interested in a little pet. I reached down while talking to the guy and the dog totally snapped and growled and nipped my hand! I pulled it away and the guy yelled at me "SHE'S PREGNANT!"  Of course I  didn't know that and I definitely didn't move in a way that should have startled the dog so I don't know why he had to get upset with me. We didn't continue our conversation and waited in an awkward silence for the girl to get back. She laughed and gave me two beer bottles that were stuck together. I can see how that's funny but I wasn't really in the mood since I'd just been yelled at, so I took the conjoined beers up for Dylan to break apart. I told him about how I had got in trouble and officially hated the place. It was all so odd. Imagine all that weird stuff going on, while looking out across the ocean only to have your view partially obstructed by a big penis shaped rock. Hmm.

Soon it was time to leave Koh Samui and fly back to Bangkok where Dylan picked another lovely brothel for us to stay my last night.  It was more expensive than the first brothel, so I guess price doesn’t matter. Come bedtime, we discovered that the place doesn't issue blankets, but bath towels instead. Um what?  Oh and then we noticed the nice little sign in the bathroom, "Do not flush used condoms!" Again, what???? Gross! Luckily there were no strange noises in the night this time. Just a tip: if you're ever in Bangkok with Dylan, don't let him pick your hotel because you'll end up in a brothel.

All in all, my trip was so much fun. I enjoyed every minute and it was an adventure I will remember forever. I was able to understand what Dylan meant when he said that time slows down when you’re travelling. Even into the second week of my trip, it was almost as if the week prior was just a blur. I don’t know why that is, but it was pretty cool. Dylan’s talked some about this energy he feels so I tried to grasp the concept but I think two weeks is too short, since essentially I was on vacation and not a longer term travel. I’m sure more time would allow that to happen. Sometimes when everyone would be exchanging information of where from/been/going/etc. I felt a little out of place. It was like everyone we met was several months into a journey similar to Dylan’s, and nobody could get their heads around the fact that I was in Thailand for only two weeks. It wasn’t even worth explaining that it was actually rather hard getting two consecutive weeks off, because it was such a foreign concept to them. I agree it doesn’t make sense to fly across the world for such a short time, but that’s just the way it is, and it was interesting being exposed to this other way of life that’s basically unheard of here. For us, what Dylan is doing is so “out there” but where he’s at it’s normal and almost expected to take a year or so and travel the world. It was refreshing though, seeing all these people travelling about without a worry that their life at home would suffer. I might not enjoy a super long trip that’s constantly on the go, but it did open my eyes to the possibilities.

Dylan is right in that it is easier than when he left in October, but only because we're used it now I think. I really can't wait until October and miss him so much. Hoping the summer flies by.

- Ivy Gahn