Week 16 - The Divergence (Thailand x Sumbawa)
- Mary Kate gKing
- Jul 6
- 9 min read
My besties came to visit!!
An ice-cold lemonade on a hot summer day. Cracking open a cold one after completing a successful day of yard work. The satisfactory first-sip when you just desperately needed a glass of wine after a long day at work. The pop of champagne, “whoo” then bubbles to follow an exciting celebration.
That degree of satisfaction is how I felt while spending quality time with my girl friends, Jenna and Ciara, in Thailand. I don’t think I even realized how much I was craving in person girlfriend time until they arrived. Like the first sip of cold water after a killer workout, you were looking forward to it, but you didn’t realize how much you NEEDED it until you were holding the cup of water.
I entered the week pretty run down from the travels so far, but the girls accepted me as I was, and we charged full-speed ahead to make the most of their 7 days in Thailand.
Stop 1: Khao Sok National Park
Plane, van, and boat in their first 12 hours in Thailand, but it was all worth it to arrive at our floating resort in Khao Sok National Park.
The girls had relinquished any sort of planning to me, which, as many of you know, is how I prefer it. I was extremely excited to surprise them with our first night's accommodation, floating on top of a 100 meter lake, surrounded by turquoise water, towering limestone cliffs, and the sounds of native animals in Khao Sok NP.
The surprise was a success. What I didn’t expect was to also find myself speechless an hour into our arrival at the floating resort. We made it onto the evening boat safari ride, where we ended up seeing 6 elephants. It was 3 pairs of babies with their mammas.
The 24 hours spent at Issara Floating Resort were incredible. Waking up to the morning mist sounded by gibbons’ and other native monkeys and birds within the park. Peaceful kayaking and swimming. Part of me didn’t want to leave, but there was more to see. Naturally, there were many photos taken, which can be viewed in the gallery below.
Stop 2: Koh Samui Island
After a grueling travel day, we finally made it to Koh Samui. The girls referenced their 30 hour travel day going by faster than our 2.5hr ferry ride.
Finally making it to island time, we enjoyed relaxing at the pool and beach. We got Thai massages for $8, enjoyed breathtaking views of the island, and stayed very entertained with evening fire shows.
Doing it for the gram took on a new meaning when we hopped on the free shuttle to the island's most iconic viewpoint. Ciara also had to turn her trauma nurse brain off for some of our transportation options. Jenna had a better poker face than Ciara & I while riding in the back of the pickup truck AKA our taxi shuttle. The chillest person on the back of the pickup by far was the 2 year old boy from the Netherlands who's seatbelt was the hands of his mom and dad. Adorable family. Everyone shared the same struggle of staying put during our steep ascent and descent so we all past the time by commenting on the hazard of the road and sharing which team in the world cup we were rooting for.
After surviving an eventful taxi ride up to the top of the viewpoint, we treated ourselves to a full blown photo shoot.
I asked the girls for some honest feedback on posing for photos. Honest feedback is what I received. “Don’t stand like that. Why are you lifting your foot? Turn. Don’t turn that fast. Don’t look directly at the camera. Smile. Don’t smile.” You can imagine I get similar feedback when I ask Nick to take photos during our travel.
Then the professionals showed me how it's done.
We also had the most authentic meal I’d had while in Thailand, eating at the ‘No name’ restaurant. Truly no name, just an older couple cooking with a few seating options. At first look this might’ve raised a red flag with concern of traveler’s diarrhea, but some random person made a Google listing for it and with 5 stars we were feeling good to try. Any concern we had was resolved when these foreigners sat down like they owned the place and said they’d been eating there every day for the last 5 years. Amazing Thai dishes, with 1 app, 3 meals, 3 water bottles and a coke costing us $14. Insane.
Stop 3: Bangkok
Visit a temple - CHECK
We saw the infamous reclining Buddha at Wat Pho temple, measuring 46 meters long and 15 meters high.
The rest of the temple was equally impressive as the reclining Buddha.
After the temple, we got lost in strolling the streets of Talad Noi neighborhood and not because we let Ciara do the directing, but because we wanted to wander with no place to be.
Afternoon storm clouds came in, and we found ourselves taking cover in this cute little chocolate shop, which sparked a heated discussion.
According to the girls, my liking of dark chocolate is “performative” since nobody actually prefers dark chocolate more than milk chocolate. I stand by my preference for dark chocolate and figured I’d let the blog have the final say.
Dark Chocolate vs Milk Chocolate
Performative - Milk Chocolate is superior
Health benefits or not, dark chocolate is the best!
The rest of our time in Bangkok included me finally mastering the art of haggling for tuktuk prices and exploring hipster warehouses. ’Twas a great rest of the trip.
Swipe for the endless amount of photos taken on our trip:
As Nicky put it, the girls were also ‘subjected’ to the daily high, low, unexpected, and learned during their weekly travels. Here were their overall top picks:
High, Low, Unexpected & Learned:
Ciara:
High: Floating resort experience and getting to see elephants
Low: Methods of transportation taking me out (esp. with the heat)
Unexpected: No Name restaurant that had the best Thai food.
Learned: Learned what a Thai massage was by getting a massage next to MK
Jenna:
High: Exploring and stumbling into places in Bangkok
Low: Weird dream about mom
Unexpected: Floating resort & seeing the elephants
Learned: Relearned how important it is to seek out new perspective on things
MK:
High: Obviously just having my besties in Thailand, but also the floating resort, specifically the tranquil solo kayak ride in nature.
Low: Being run down going into the trip (found out what crashing out means).
Unexpected: Seeing 6 elephants, (3 mammas and 3 babies)
Learned: Never book a flight through Batik Airlines.
Thank you for reading about my week with the girls! Now onto Mr. Big Lung.
We spent the week apart. MK had Jenna & Ciara visit in Thailand. So I took that opportunity to send a solo surf mission to Sumbawa, Indonesia.
I love surfing. But it doesn’t make sense.
Surfing is an enigma.
Surfers are chill. Yet, a crossing of the surf etiquette line will be met with a word or fists.
Surfers are carefree. Yet, one of the number one things surfers care about is style. How, you look to others, while you are surfing.
Surfers love surfing. Yet, you might walk towards the ocean with wobbly knees.
Surfing is surfing. Yet, a 3 hour surf session will be 2 hours of paddling. 59 minutes of sitting. 30 seconds of thinking you are going to drown. And 30 seconds of standing on your board.
I love surfing. Yet, I am still a kook.
People tend to like things they are good at. Yet, after surfing 6 days a week for 2.5 years straight, I still don’t know what I am doing. But, I love it.
In Barbarian Days, a surf memoir, by William Finnegan, he says that surfing isn’t a sport. It is a path.
Another enigma. I am a big independence/freedom person. Hence the career choices. Yet, if you take the path of surfing, you lose independence. You become dependent surf. When there are waves, you move your life around. When you plan a trip, you see where there might be waves. Surfing takes away your freedom.
When your wife has friends visit her in Thailand, there is nothing else that comes to mind other than surf strike mission. So, that’s what I did.
And that is how I found myself in Lakey Peak, with Aussies & locals who eat, sleep, and surf.
First, a vocabulary lesson. Normally, a legal document required the defining of terms, a surf blog requires this as well:
“Kook”: means someone out in the water who doesn’t know what they are doing.
“Ripper”: means a good surfer.
“Session”: means going out for a surf
“Grom”: means a young surfer. Typically under the age of 13.
“Pumping” or “Firing”: means good waves.
“Nuking”: means big waves.
“Barrel” or “Tube”: means the lip of the wave is going over your head
“Spitting”: means the expulsion of spray out from the mouth of a barrel.
“Grinder” or “Dredging”: means a powerful wave breaking in shallow water
“Gutter Ball”: means, I don’t even know, but I heard an Aussie say it.
“A Frame”: means a wave you can ride both right or left.
“6 Foot”: means a wave that feels like it is actually like 10 foot.
“Frothed”: means the feeling after an epic session
“Ledgy”: means a steep wave in shallow water.
So, there I was. A kook, paddling out at a pumping Lakey Peak. An Indonesian 6-8 foot day, to me, it was nuking. Spitting barrels were rampant. Lakey is a proper A Frame breaking on a shallow reef. At low tide, it’s a grinder. Surrounded by absolute rippers. Lady rippers. Grom rippers. Local rippers. It was an epic session. Needless to say, I was frothed after
catching some waves of my life.
Well, thanks to my vocabulary lesson, you should get what I am saying.
Lakey Peak, can be found on Sumbawa, and island of Indonesia. It is an hour flight from Bali, and then a 2.5 hour drive to get to Lakeys.
After battling the crowd of kooks in Sri Lanka, I wanted to find somewhere more remote for my solo strike mission. But, since it was only six days, it couldn’t be really far out there. I think Lakey was the perfect combination (shoutout some random reddit thread).
Lakey is small. Like ~10 homestays. The largest accommodation was where I stay, with 12 rooms. There were ~6 warungs (restaurants). It was exactly what I was looking for.
Surf culture runs deep there. It is actually, eat, sleep, surf. And when not surfing, you’re looking at your shots or watching surf videos.
The level at Lakeys was also silly. Professionals, semi-professionals, aussies who were born surfing, locals throwing huge airs, it was insane.
Thankfully, the first day & a half were smaller. 3-4 foot. The lack of size kept most people in. But, for me, it was a good way to get warmed up, and to get comfortable with the reef, which in the wrong spot, you’d find yourself in a foot of water.
One of my two favorite sessions was the first morning. Sunrise session. Only 3 people out at the main peak. 3-4 foot. Glassy. Just me. My mate that I be-friended out there, Michael, and a girl who was semi-professional. Plenty of waves to go around. It was awesome.
That evening, I paddled out. The waves had seemingly doubled in size. Tide had dropped, and it was getting heavy. I spent an hour just watching rippers. I finally built up some confidence & got 4 waves just as the sun was going down.
The swell continued to build, and it was 5-7 foot. You might think, that sounds small.
No.
That is nuking.
Wave height is measured from the back of the wave. So a 6 foot wave will be like a 10 foot face. It was big. But, I found a set wave peaking right in front of me. I was, unintentionally, in the perfect spot. No time to think, I turned & paddled. And that is how I got the best wave of my life. Huge wave, 3 big turns, kicked out the back. I got a “yew” from a guy on a boat who had caught it on his camera.
The next day was 8-10 foot. The sights of broken boards, reef rash, and locals saying it was “maxxed out” kept me out of the water.
The swell lingered, and I scored for the next few days. Epic waves across a number of spots.
Lakey has some other spots, like Nungas, a long, mushier left. Periscopes, a hollow right. Cobblestones, a fun right. I surfed a handful of the spots, and scored.
Another highlight was meeting my friends, Michael & Dom, who are from Australia. They are married & have been traveling for 6 years, all across the world. We had some great conversation across two dinners. Deeper conversation, well beyond the traveler small talk “what is your favorite place you’ve been.”
The solo strike mission was epic. Would’ve loved to be there with the boys, or my wife gettins some shots of me, but it was still epic. I am still on the hunt for the elusive barrel. But, we are making progress. Maybe I will find the barrel here in Uluwatu.
High: Wave of my life & surf photos
Low: The main peak definitely got crowded & the takeoff zone was tight. Tough to navigate, leading to some late drops & me going over the falls.
Unexpected: I went over the falls of the 6-8 foot day twice. It was fine. I should’ve surfed bigger waves in California.
Learned: Sumbawa has 700,000 people on it. Lakey, where I was surfing has 150 people that live in it.
Housekeeping Note: We are taking a week off from the blog to get some recovery time in Bali. Go USA, beat Belgium. See you in 2 weeks!
Love,
MK & Nicky
WOW Nicky...your dreams came true. Unbelievable pictures of you surfing! You could almost feel your excitement.. good for you! The vocabulary lesson was helpful. Loved seeing Mary Kate's beautiful girlies making some beautiful memories together.💕 one question....who has Flat Stanley car? Cheers kiddos! be safe and continued happiness.
Another incredible blog! Having besties Ciara & Jenna to share real lifelong experiences with had to be something!! Loved and agreed with Jenna's comment about reevaluating our own lived experiences against a backdrop of adventure halfway around the world immersed in completely different cultures!
Nick, no doubt you have adopted and been indoctrinated into a surfers life! Love your narrative and vocabulary lessons... you may never be a professional- but from the pics and videos I've seen you're well past the beginner's level and can now get almost as much of a high from surfing as the professionals do! Cheers kids! Dad