Ko Lanta and the Andaman Sea

With our wedding behind us, we could finally enjoy the honeymoon! We would spend our next few days on Koh Samui mostly at our resort soaking up the good life. Our infinity pool was our ocean and our deck our beach, as we took full advantage of the cheapest room service ever. We slipped easily into the role of spoiled honeymooners, gazing lazily out to sea, enjoying the most comfortable bed we've had in Thailand, and exchanging loving glances and “I can't believe you're my spouse” smiles. Eventually, as much as we would have loved to spend forever at Sandalwood Villas, reality (budget) dictated we take the honeymoon on the road. However, we had no intention of giving up our ocean view and so we headed to the beach-bum paradise of Ko Lanta.

Laura enjoying the clear waters on Ko Lanta.

Raight on da beach.

On the west coast of Thailand, surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea, Ko Lanta is home to peach sandy beaches, rasta-style bamboo huts, and rugged limestone cliffs rising majestically out of the water. Definitely more our style than Koh Samui, we spent the next five days lounging in hammocks on the beach, snorkeling in the crystal clear water, playing cards over cold beverages, and scheming ways to extend this lifestyle indefinitely.

Honeymooners!

Low tide revealed coral and tide pools.

Since the Andaman Sea is one of the world's top diving and snorkeling destinations due to it's clear waters, multitudinous limestone islands, and a wealth of colorful coral and exotic marine life, we decided to take advantage of these natural opportunities with a day of island hopping, exploring, and snorkeling by booking a day trip through our hotel. Our trip began with a speedboat ride out to Ko Ngai, a tiny strip of jungle with a shallow reef, where we were treated to some fantastic snorkeling among a wide variety of coral and fish. Next we sped to Ko Muk, the site of the fantastic Emerald Cave. Though inaccessible at high tide, when the sea is lower the cave allows access to a hidden beach inside Ko Muk. This required an 80m swim in the dark, the only light our guide's as it bounced randomly off the cave walls, illuminating geologic formations and hibernating bats. As we neared the entrance, the water turned an emerald green, giving the cave it's name. Swimming onto the fine sandy beach, we were surrounded by limestone cliffs covered in an array of jungle trees and vines. Once a secret cove for pirates, we easily imagined ourselves stepping upon it's beach cut off from the known world. Needless to say, this was definitely one of the highlights of our excursion. After reluctantly swimming back to the boat, we headed to the island of Ko Kradan where we gorged ourselves on fried chicken, green curry, and pineapple while gazing out at the distant Trang islands. We had a couple of hours here to digest, sunbathe, and snorkel off Kradan's white sandy beaches. Laura lounged lazily on the beach while Oliver spent the majority of the time in the water, trying to make friends with a stingray, being accepted by a school of butterfly fish, and fleeing from a sudden giant pufferfish. Finally, after an unforgettable day in the sun and the sea, we headed home, weary but blissful.

Ko Muk.

Preparing to swim through the sea cave!

On the other side!

Laura traipsing like a young Eve through the jungle inside Ko Muk.

The beautiful beach of Ko Kradan.

Oliver approves snorkeling here.

While this trip was the most exciting day of our week on Ko Lanta, we nevertheless enjoyed all our time simply adjusting to a slower pace and more relaxed lifestyle. We knew it couldn't last forever but that didn't stop us from relishing every minute.

A Koh Samui Wedding

Our little traveling party was growing. Rolo had joined us in Bangkok and now his girlfriend, Elise, would make the long trip across the globe to complete our foursome on Ko Tao. They had journeyed long and far to be part of a very special event in our trip: our wedding day.
As most of our friends and family know by now, we are anything but traditional. Since that special day in Chipotle (yes, as in burritos) where we first met almost three years ago, we have joined hands and plunged fearlessly into one series of adventures after another, focusing on that which makes us happy and forging our own path through this world. Our lines of communication had always been wide open, breathing in each other wholly, sharing our dreams, our fears, and our expectations for life. It didn't take us long to be certain that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, sharing our escapades, supporting each other through hardship, and embarking upon the ultimate adventure: starting a family. The idea of marriage had been discussed often and flippantly, mostly ending in the thought "why don't we just elope?" Neither of us had any desire for the bloated, stressful affair which has come to be heralded on countless bridal television shows. However, we loved the idea of marriage.You could say that we were just two crazy romantics in love, determined to stand together against whatever the world threw at us. And then we decided to make a trip to Thailand.
Originally, our Thailand adventure was simply that: a month-long escape from the wintry cold, our work, and our comfortable life at home. We craved new experiences, fresh perspective, and yes, warm beaches and cool water. We also knew that we wanted to start a family, and soon. Aware that traveling with kids is much more difficult, it was imperative for us to get moving and see more of the world. So we started saving, planning, and getting excited. Then, as if some cosmic clock-hand hit twelve, we came down with baby fever. Neither of us had intense desires to be parents before we met. The idea had always appealed to us but as something abstract to be had later in life. When we fell in love, however, we knew that we wanted to create something tangible, a part of each of us to grow and share our love. We started looking at the timeline and realized that we wanted it sooner than our lives allowed and that something was consistently getting in the way: a wedding. Laura's family lives in Michigan, Oliver's in Arizona, and Oregon is a long way from both. The only part of a wedding that Laura had always dreamed about, or cared about, was the venue. She wanted to get married on a beach. We went to the Oregon coast and realized straightaway that it was way too cold for the beach wedding she had dreamed of. We looked at Hawaii, at California, Lake Michigan, and then realized that we were going to be on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world very soon, in Thailand. Now that joke of eloping seemed to have a little ring of truth in it. At first, our preconceived notions got in the way of us seriously considering it. And then, bit by bit, romanticism and pragmatism formed their own union and we realized that we had never let preconceptions hold us back before. We imagined an intimate ceremony where we exchanged vows and rings in a beautiful beach setting and so we set out to make that happen.
When we first told people our plans, we were met with every reaction possible: excitement, confusion, disappointment, you name it. "Yes, it's strange, no neither of us is Thai, yes it'll just be the two of us." The biggest hurdle we had to overcome was how to break it to our families. We both have very tight-knit families that mean the world to us and we knew they would be disappointed they would not be there to share in our joyous occasion. We had to convince ourselves, and them, to drop those annoying preconceptions and realize that there was nothing wrong with doing several small ceremonies/receptions and that everybody could share in our happiness. We could have it all, just not in the traditional way. We were determined not to let a wedding stand in the way of our marriage. In the end, our families and friends would accept our unique requests. All that was left was to pick a date: January 25th, the night before the full moon.
One of the advantages of picking the full moon for your wedding is that you get to track the time by watching it's changing phases. The small sliver of a smile over the bright lights of Bangkok grew into a toothy grin beaming down on the ruins of Sukhothai. We watched it emerge into a healthy half-circle while sitting around a campfire at the elephant camp. In Ko Tao, we broke the surface of the water on our last dive to be greeted by the sight of "our moon" looming ever larger. Our excitement was tied to the moon and it faithfully continued to mature.

Our moon!

As any readers of the blog know, we are backpackers. We need very little to be comfortable: running water, toilet paper, clean sheets are all we really ask for. But we were getting married and, dangit, we were going to splurge! So we scoured Thailand looking for that special place that was luxurious, but not too luxurious (we were still on a budget!), secluded and beautiful. We found everything, and more, at the Sandalwood Villas on the island of Koh Samui. The bigger, richer, fancier cousin of little Ko Tao, Samui is all about the resorts. Second only to Phuket in terms of swank, Koh Samui caters to the wealthy honeymooner. We figured we could play rich for a week for this once in a lifetime event. Our villa would come complete with an infinity pool right outside our room, private outdoor jacuzzi, and a million dollar view of the Gulf of Siam. Since we booked at least four nights, we were given the 'Romantic Honeymooner's Package' which included massages at the spa the day of our wedding, candlelit dinner on our balcony later that evening, and small touches like flowers and chocolate on the bridal bed. Needless to say the staff, and our villa, made us feel like royalty, if only for a few days.

Room with a view.

Laura posing on our outdoor jacuzzi with the bridal bed in the background.

We also decided that, since our families and friends would be absent from the beach ceremony, we would spare no expense in documenting the wedding. We found an amazing Thai photographer and Elise generously offered to act as our videographer. We wouldn't be getting married legally in Thailand, however, as the process is ridiculously complicated (we would save the legal ceremony in Portland to be witnessed by family and friends) and so we didn't need to have an official officiant. When we had first surfaced the idea of the wedding in Thailand, Oliver's best friend Rolo joked that he should come out and tie our knot. Well this turned out to be less of a joke in reality and we were delighted when he agreed to do the honors and officiate for us. And so, on January 25th, our tiny little party, one bride, one groom, one officiant/best man, one witness/videographer, and one photographer headed in search of a secluded beach to get married.

"Rehearsal" dinner.

We found a little strip of beach called Lipa Noi on the westside of Ko Samui to take advantage of the sunset. With the sound of lapping waves as our orchestra, flower petals strewn on the sand as our aisle, and the sun as our spotlight, we exchanged vows and rings and finalized a union that had begun in earnest almost three years ago. In our own way, we had pledged our lives to one another and declared our love. From here on out, it would forever be Laura and Oliver against the world. 

Newlyweds! (Taken by Elise Rombach)

First dance as a married couple!