Day four of the Emory University Women's Tennis team's trip to Thailand, written by junior Daniela Lopez.
The Eagles had a cold awakening this morning as we set our room thermostats to 17 degrees Celsius and did not realize how cold it actually was (62 Fahrenheit if you were wondering). We began our day with a 7:15 am run across the Koh Phi Phi beaches. Midway through our run we did a quick lifting session, substituting weights for rocks.
After eating omelets and fried rice for breakfast, we went on a traditional wooden Thai boat and visited Maya Bay, Blue Lagoon, and the Monkey Beach. In Maya Bay, we swam around the crystal clear, aqua water at the beach and climbed on rocks to get Victoria's Secret quality pictures. Then, we convinced Defne and Ysa to come snorkeling in Blue Lagoon, which was pretty remarkable considering they're terrified of the ocean! It was pretty amazing to finally not have to look through a piece of glass to see all the beautiful colors of fish. Fish of all colors and sizes, from large rainbow fishes to small clear fishes, swarmed all around us. We even saw a baby shark! While we thought the fish loved us, little did we know that our boat driver was throwing food into the water. I guess we aren't as special as we thought...
Our boat driver then took us to Monkey Beach. Classic Elaine tried to get a selfie with one of the monkeys and the monkey immediately jumped on her and wouldn't get off. At that point, all you could hear was the whole team screaming and taking pictures of it. The monkey then proceeded to jump on me and I have to say I handled it like a pro. There are pictured to prove it!
Guess what we ate for lunch? PAD THAI! As per usual, we ate with a stunning view of the island. After lunch, we all got traditional Thai massages. In the massage room you could hear the ocean's waves and feel the fresh breeze while a Thai women dug deep into all of your knots. It was absolutely amazing. Then, we walked around the island town. Some girls shopped, others got manicures, and others even got another massage (cough cough Bridget, Emma, Sasha)!
Around 6:00 pm we enjoyed the sunset at the beach followed by dinner. As you can guess by now, most of us ordered sea food Pad Thai. Lastly, we saw a fire show. It was quite the experience. While it was fascinating, two of the performers dropped their flaming batons near the crowd various times which petrified the Eagles. We convinced Sasha to move from the first row and sit towards the back with us when the performers dropped their batons for the second time. Ten seconds later the baton flew out of the performers hands and landed on Sasha's seat. I guess all that luck from the monks kicked in?! Anyway, that's a wrap for today! Make sure to stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures.
Be sure to continue following the team's trip on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as with daily journal entries on emoryathletics.com.