The Second Half - Thailand!

So I keep putting off writing the Thailand post. Partly because it takes effort and partly because I am being seriously distracted by the olympics. They actually showed the women's hockey gold medal game here! I was so happy! 8:30am game for me. The men's will have at 5:30am though...that'll be an early day for me. South Korea's Kim Yu Na won skating gold and they have now showed the entire long program 8 times in a row since she won it less than an hour ago. Same goes for the speed skating dude who left the Netherlands in the dust and got an olympic record. And I thought America showed too many of their achievements over and over and over again! ah well.
Anyway, guess it's Thailand you want to hear about, not the olympics which you can read about or watch on your own time!

Thailand Day 1: Landed, went to hostel, pretty sure we got ripped off on the taxi ride, definitely knew prices were too high for the hostel's meals, walked to a street side place and ate a massive meal for less than half the price at the hostel (40 baht!), had the restaurant owner want a picture with us, went back to the hostel to plan the next few days (we only planned one day, our first night), went to bed. That's it.
Day 2: Went to the train station to book a train down south (after much arguing I gave in to Kristen. She wanted to go South to the beaches, I wanted to go North for the elephant trekking. Once we found out we could ride elephants in the south, minus the trekking, I agreed to go South as well). Sleeper trains were booked so we got stuck for a 12 hour over night bus to Krabi. Lucky us. Anyway, we left our bags there and spent the day traveling around the cultural and historical section of Bangkok. Place number one was the golden Buddha. We had to pay to get in and since we weren't properly dressed (tank tops. oops) we had to pay for a shawl as well. We said skrew this we don't care about seeing a solid gold reclining buddha and left.

We tried going to the Grand Palace, but it was closed for ceremonies and were told to come back in a few hours. Before we knew it we ended up on a Tuk Tuk to see a bunch of other sites as well as them taking us to tailored made clothing stores and diamond places trying to get us to buy them. We nearly laughed in their faces, it was so bloody expensive! but apparenly our Tuk Tuk driver would get free gas if we stayed at them for ten minutes each and since we had nothing better to do we indulged them. Our driver was nice and took us to other cultural places too (like the largest buddha. I am at the bottom of the picture if you can see me!) so we figured we'd be nice and help him get free gas.

Back at teh grand palace for some reason we couldn't get in again and he took us to the smaller one next to it and said the ever dreaded "same same" and left us. Since we wanted the Grand Palace and not the concubine palace (ok, I don't know if it was or not, but what else would it be?) we weren't planning on paying to go in so we walked around, bought some stuff, ate some 10 baht mangos (I am in LOVE with mangos) and went for dinner at China town.

My lack of memory skills came into play about here and continued for a while. I thought we had to meet at the bus place to get our tickets at 7pm for our 8pm bus. I was royally confused when Kristen was practically sprinting back when it was only 6:55pm. Turns out our bus LEAVES at 7pm and we were supposed to be there at 6:30pm. Who knew? anyway, then we can't find our ticket which after looking through all our stuff concluded that we weren't given it. They found our recipt though and let us on the bus. The guy was being all serious and saying he'll let us on only if we pay again. I was not impressed and my face definitely said "please please please we are stupid blonde and poor tourists, don't make us pay again!" guess he read that in my face because they let us on without paying again. 10 days later I'd find out ticket stuffed inside my passport. No wonder I couldn't find it!

oh, we also got told by a million different people that we were stupid for not planning where we're staying while in the south because being Tet and Chinese new years, everything was booked. Our Tuk Tuk driver took us to a travel agency and we ended up booking 8 days worth. four near Krabi on the western beaches of Ao Nang and four on the other side of Thailand on the eastern island of Koh Phangan. We were told there were no hostels down there, which turned out to be true. Our bungalo's weren't expensive though so that was ok.

Day 3-7: Ao Nang Beach and Baan Suan resort

Lets just say, when a resort says they're "close" to the beach, ask if it's within walking distance. Ours was within 10 minutes of moped driving distance. At first we weren't impressed, but then it turned out to be fun. We slept in the middle of the jungle which was awesome, and got to drive mopeds to the beach. The moped lead us to an Indian man who led us to so called "real" Indian food which was amazing. How did the moped lead us there? Tara forgot how to start it, didn't know that you need to push in the break to start it and we had to ask people how to start it. When he told us and I realized my mistake, I told him I was American. Bad mistake. He had an American flag on his belt and said he wants to go there SO BADLY and where was I from? I froze for a split second realizing I didn't make up a place and just before I was about to say Buffalo, NY (figured with my accent and having been there, I could make a good case for it), Kris jumped in and said Portland, Orgeon. We don't even talk like them! But thankfully he didn't ask anymore about it and we took off.

More moped problems, the resort expects us to fill them with gas, but people run them as low as they can to avoid filling them. Our resort dude said we'd only have enough to get to the beach, but he doesn't know I am champion of knowing how far I can get on my gas tanks and consistantly getting in the drive way just as the gas light turns on. We had enough to get back to the resort, plus getting lost in between. The next time we rented it was a different one that was almost below the red line. We actually looked for the gas station this time, but couldn't find it so drove back at night anyway. Figured it'd be easy to push if we needed to. We didn't.

Part of Ao Nang beach.

First day on the beach. lots of long boats returning from day trips with tourists.

The next day we did a snorkling tour all day. This beach is where the movie "The beach" was filmed. I couldn't care less, but that is the attraction of the island I guess. The beach was beautiful though!

This was Bamboo Island that no longer has bamboo on it because the Tsunami destroyed them all. Although there is speculation there's some at the top of the island.

Money Island. I hate the stupidity of people. Everyone thought this was "so cute". I wanted to kill the person who gave him this.

Open water snorkling at Hin Klang. You could stand on the coral, that's how close it was! It was beautiful! You can only snorkle here at low tide.

At the resort restaurant that was a ripe off, doesn't know how to make mango, watermelon, nor banana shakes and take an hour to make your meal. We ate here three times out of all the meals we could eat in four days. I was NOT impressed with their service.

The resort monkey that Kris and I named Mr. Kim. He climbed all over me and destroyed the tables. It was so cute! I had to catch him for the lady because he kept running from her.

He has good taste though. That my friends and fellow Dutchies, is a bottle of Maggie.

Just after sunset. I kept missing sunset because we were always eating. Boo!

The fourth day at Ao Nang we did an elephant riding and hot spring trip for the day. Elephants are SO SLOW! I prefer horses by a long shot! It was still fun though. Our guide was funny and took a million pictures of us.

Just after I took this picture, the elephant threw the branch at the guy who was taking our picture. It was hilarious! It almost took him out too.

My friend.

At the hot spring waterfall. The waterfall was hot, obviously, but the river it fell in was freezing cold. Going from one to the other was killer!

Then we went to this other buddha place and climbed 1,237 insane steps to an incredible view!

We were warned to watch our hats and glasses because the monkey would take them. They were climbing all over the stairs and even tried dumping a bottle of water on Kris. It just missed. some of the steps were at a near vertical incline. It was intense. We were told it would take us an hour and half to climb up, take pictures, and climb down again. It took us 45 minutes. Once again, our guide underestimate the physical ability of girls. We proved them wrong.

At the top.

Baan Suan resort bungaloo. It was cute, but the mosquitos were killer! thank goodness for the nets. I felt like I was a prisoner under them though. As soon as it hits dark in Thailand, the mosquitos come out in full biting force. Going to the washroom was an ordeal. You'd have to jump out, close your net, run to the bathroom, run back, jump in, and close it before they got to you or in your net. Annoying really.

Koh Phangan: Days 7-11

Walking into town.

Day two in Koh Phangan we went to Haad Rin which is known as the party section of the island. Koh Phangan is well known for their full moon parties. Basically it's an excuse to get tourists there for a reason to party. They now have a full moon party, half moon, black moon, and blue moon. That is one party a week. Makes sense since tourists come and go all the time. That's the reason we didn't stay in Haad Rin though. We like our sleep. So we visited during the day. The beach was so beautiful! We also tried Mars/Banana shakes which is a ground mars bar in a banana shake. I am dreaming about it now. It was SO GOOD! Bad idea to try it though because shakes are healthy. Just the fruit ground with ice. Good for you. Add a mars and suddenly it's unhealthy. Oh well. I only had one. Mango shakes were my addiction in Thailand.

This place had it's own private beach which was cool, but it was small and they didn't clean the beach regularly.

The beauty of Southern Thailand. Just before this we went to go get a pedicure. I know I know, after getting one for Adelle's wedding I swore I'd never do it again. However, Kristen wanted to AND it was only 100 baht which is about $3.25. I wasn't about to argue. However, We decided to go to an outdoor place near our resort, but they sucked so in the end, it wasn't worth the $3.25. There was a creepy man there trying to convince the lady to convince us to get massages. Not a chance.

On the beaches I got the pleasure of watching Kite Boarding. I was so jealous! the place that did it though was too far to walk to and I wasn't sure of the cost or if it was a course you had to take. I didn't want to bore Kristen for a day while I did that. Plus, I was running out of money. In a way I regret not doing it because how often are you at a beach where they do kite boarding? I've wanted to try it since they invented it. But alas, I didn't get to. Next time I will for sure though. I have already promised myself.

The last mornign I woke early to take tons of pictures. This was one of the last ones after the sun was well risen. It was a beautiful sunrise.

Day 11-12 we spent on another bus trying to sleep the 12 hours back to Bangkok. Arrived at 4:30am and spent the next few hours in bugar king reading books and eating breakfast. We called Adelle for cheap, tried calling my parents but whoever answered hung up each time before they heard me, then headed to our friend Ice's house about an hour outside of Bangkok. Got ripped off by the taxi guy again too. Stupid Thai taxi drivers.

The next few days, and also last of our trip, we spent with Ice and her boyfriend. We ate TONS of delicious Thai foods and saw some of the city. Her family is loaded so her maid made up our rooms, another maid made us food, met her brother in their own personal gym/weight room that over looks a gorgeous river and park, laughed about old high school memories and the people we liked or didn't like, and generally had a good time.

We went for Thai massages that we didn't have to pay for because her Mom did. We ate coconut ice cream in a bun that has sweet sticky rice at the bottom. Weird combination right? Not a chance! best ice cream I've ever tasted! One dinner with her family we went for what they call porriage which is rice soup basically. We also ate pig intestines (it's weird when it's not in sausages) and chicken feet. Not joke. They look like fingers and I kept joking about that while I was working up the nerve to eat it. Then when you eat it you have to spit out all the little joints so I really felt like I was eating a human hand. It was fatty, but it didn't taste that bad. And I thought eating sparrow and swan in Vietnam was weird! This took the cake for sure.

We also tried the biggest shrimp I have ever eaten in my entire life. This this was massive! probably from the tip of my fingers to my elbow if straightened out. It was delicious though. So was our dessert of mango with sweet sticky rice. Sigh. I wish Korea had sweet sticky rice. It's really amazing. I'd eat it as a snack. Our last morning there Ice's personal driver took us to the airport.

Now that was an experience!

On our way back to Korea our plane went via Hong Kong. Ten minutes after stepping off the plane Kris and I were already in trouble with the Chinese authorities! We were taking pictures of ourselves, but apparently we were doing it in a high security no picture zone and the dude runs over to us and demands Kristen's camera to see what we were taking pictures of. He ok'd them though. He didn't see me drop my camera into my purse before he could check out mine. Now the Chinese government is going to be after me, I just know it!

On the level up we were waiting for our plane and what do we see? Air Canada!

Kris and I both wanted to jump on the plane because it was heading to none other than Toronto. Alas, we could not and had to board our plane heading to Korea.

Being back now is really weird. I was so done with Korea once we left. It was like I was finished all my teaching, doing some traveling, then going back to Canada. I know I'll readjust though, it'll just take a few days. I don't even want to pick up my guitar and play it which is really weird! usually I can't get enough of it! My phone also doesn't work. Cindy is saving the day tonight and hopefully they'll reactivat my number. Apparently it was "disabled at the request of the customer". I requested no such thing. I think it did it just because I left the country so it automatically does it. But now I can't contact anyone! oops. guess my school can't tell me to come in early!

It's also warm in Korea. It rained yesterday. First precipitation I've seen in 25 days! It was nice. We missed the last of winter in Korea I think. It's warmish from here on in I've been told. I'm no complaining!

This is also the home stretch. I'm past six months. It's a count down from here. Ok, I'm done. Back to watching speed skating.