Vacation Down South

The last of my travels in Thailand was spent down south at a few different islands. First was Ton Sai Beach in Krabi. Katie and I met Connor, Steph and Lee at this beach for one day and night. The scenery was much more beautiful than the actual sand of the beach with massive limestone walls surrounding the beach.  Ton Sai was a rock climbers’ heaven. I was shocked to see people rock climbing extremely high up the rock wall. I wish I had the guts to do something like that. I’m sure the view was incredible! Later that afternoon I enjoyed an amazing Thai massage right on the beach.  It was a great start to my relaxing beach travels J We had a fun night playing some fun drinking games; however I think every one of us would have taken back the fun we had for how we felt the next morning being  on boats all day. Lee and Connor felt the worst; As we were transferring from the long tail boat on to the larger ferry that  took us to Ko Phi Phi, both Lee and Connor started to “toss their cookies” off both sides of the long tail boat. It was quite the sight. Once we got on the larger ferry both of them instantly curled up on the ground and fell asleep. It took about 2 hours to get to Phi Phi. When we got there we decided to sign up for the Maya Bay Camping Adventure. Our adventure began with a visit to Monkey Island. I had visited this island when my mom and Beau were here; however, we didn’t get a chance to get off on the island and actually feed the monkeys. I was timid at first because of my past encounters with monkeys; but after watching others just hold the food out for the monkey to grab, it looked safe so I did it too.  Next we went snorkeling where we saw the most colorful fish along with a shark! I still can’t believe I was swimming so close to a shark. It wasn’t that big, but still it was a shark….pretty creepy! After snorkeling, we attempted to go cliff jumping. I was game to try it since it didn’t look like that high of a jump but unfortunately it was really rough so it was difficult to climb unto the rocks without getting pushed away from the waves. It was actually pretty dangerous; I’m surprised they allowed us to even try. One of the girls I swam over to the rocks with got a little nervous after being swooped in to the rock by a wave; she was definitely startled but was fine once we got back on the boat. Poor Lee was not enjoying the waves or the long tail boat ride at all. He got really sick, so we headed for Maya Bay. We arrived to Maya Bay later in the afternoon around 4:30. There weren’t nearly as many tourists as there were when I was there with mom and Beau. We enjoyed our late lunch on the beach. Later the campers from our group which included Katie, Connor, Lee, Steph, and myself along with two other girls who we got to know pretty well throughout the night, Sarah from Canada and Malene from Denmark, were introduced to Art, one of the camp guides. He came off as a little goofy.  Right after we were introduced to him he was like, “Yeah so I won’t be staying with you guys tonight. I’m going back to Phi Phi.” We weren’t really sure if that was a good or bad thing. Mai pen rai. There were other people heading the camp and staying with us so we weren’t too worried. Right before sunset, Katie, Steph, Lee, and I decided to attempt to walk to the smaller beach where we could view the sunset. The walk over to the beach was a little bit more rocky than we expected so we turned back early. But then of course pretty much as we get back two of the camp guides say, “Come on! Come watch the sunset with us!” We didn’t want to be anti-social with the group so we attempted again. My feet sure are getting used to walking on hard surfaces. We walked on the coral that was above the water to get to the beach to see the sunset. It definitely was worth it! We made it just in time to watch another gorgeous Thai sunset. After sunset, we were introduced to the “special rock” with a special shape boys think the girls appreciate…. ha think again. It was pretty funny though. Later on before dinner we got to know all the other campers a little bit better. We went around the circle introducing ourselves by saying our name and what country we are from. I thought the group I came with would be the only Americans on the island, but I was wrong! As I said, “America” I hear someone yell, “yay, America!” I later found out he goes by the name, Nooch and he’s from Grand Rapids, Michigan! He was hilarious!! I loved hearing that accent again in Thailand. It was great! The camp guides served us a delicious meal along with a free bucket coupon which was used for the round of ring of fire we played. That was quite difficult playing with a large group but it was really fun. M, the entertainment for the evening/camp leader, and his brother put on a fire show for us. I don’t think M really knew what he was doing considering he burned himself a few times, but his brother did a good job. After the fire show, M got out the guitar! It was so fun! We were all sitting on the beach under the stars singing songs together. Malene kept the beat going strong. She has a beautiful voice! Continuing with the music theme, Connor introduced his new hit, “Mai Pen Rai”. It’s a song he made, each verse having to do with different things in Thailand including school, students, bus rides, ordering things at restaurants, ferry rides, other transportation, et. It was hilarious! I really wish I would have recorded him singing this song because every verse hits what everyone’s Thailand experience has been like to a T. The beat is great as well! I really need to be sure to have him send me those lyrics. It was so cool falling asleep on a mat and a sleeping bag right on the beach under the stars. It was gorgeous! This was the first time I had ever slept outside like that in my life. Waking up to the beauty of Maya Bay was unbelievable. This definitely was one of my favorite experiences in Thailand. The other campers we met were so fun and interesting too especially Malene aka Denmark (the name she gave herself later that night) and Sarah.

In the morning, we had breakfast and enjoyed the last hour or two on the beach without any other tourists. It was great!! Before heading back to Phi Phi, we went snorkeling one more time. I followed Nooch, he seemed to know where all the cool, exotic fish were included some puffer fish, and just because he was hilarious. We said our good-byes to everyone we met on the camping trip and headed to find a place to stay on crazy Phi Phi Island for the next two nights. The town center of Phi Phi reminded me a lot of a dream spring break location. There were tons of shops, restaurants, and bars all within walking distance of each other and the beach.  The beach itself was also packed with bodies and bars. It was a bit overwhelming actually. Good Thai food was hard to come by on Phi Phi, so Friday night we went to an Italian restaurant and had pizza which was really good. Made me realize how much I miss pizza! On Saturday, Steph, Lee, and Connor had to head back to Bangkok. So we had to say our good-byes. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to meet back up in the States. Katie and I then met up with Sarah and Malene and hiked up to Phi Phi’s View Point. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to. It was quite the hike. A lot of stairs!  I am soo out of shape. My legs were shaking by the time I made it to the second view point; but it was definitely worth the trek! You could see the town center which is a skinny strip of land that connects the two larger mountainous areas of the island. It was also the part that was destroyed by the Tsunami in 2004.

The view was gorgeous! We decided we’d be strong and head to the third viewing point. It wasn’t much further and we got to see another very gorgeous sight. Our last night in Phi Phi, Katie and I had dinner with Malene and Sarah which was followed by a drink on the beach while we watched a fire show. On our way back from dinner, what do you know we run in to M on his only night off, he’s out on the town haha that kid is crazy! Coincidentally and oddly we run in to him AGAIN the next morning walking back from breakfast…so strange. Katie and I had enough of Phi Phi. Next, we boarded the ferry to Koh Lanta. We said our good-byes to Malene and Sarah and hoped to see them again on Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party!

Katie and I decided we wanted to spend this trip relaxing at a nice resort so that’s what we did. We had a room with air con, a large swimming pool overlooking the beautiful, blue Andaman Sea with no boats or many tourists around, lounge chairs, a restaurant and a bar.  It was amazing!! Every night we were able to watch a beautiful sunset. Life was good…no worries, just sun and fun! We really didn’t do much on Koh Lanta besides read, sun tan, swim, and eat. It was a nice few days of relaxation!

Our next trip was to Khao Sok National Park. We left early Wednesday morning and finally arrived at the park that afternoon. Khao Sok is located near the Surat Thani province in between Phuket and Koh Phangan, Samui, and Tao. The drive to the park was beautiful, very mountainous and jungle-y. It was really cool to see coconut palm trees planted evenly in long rows for what seemed like miles on end. Katie and I were meeting Jenna and some of her friends she was travelling with from California. We ended up seeing them sitting at a restaurant as were in search for a place to stay. They told us the place they were at, so we headed there. We didn’t do much that evening because it rained pretty hard for a while and we were getting up early the next day for our day trip to the National Park. We woke up in the morning to a beautiful morning fog/mist over the mountains. It was really pretty. There were six of us girls on the tour. We had an hour song-tau ride before we made it to the Park. Our guide stopped the truck to get some food and water for us and once he tried starting it back up it wouldn’t start. We ended up having to get out and push the truck as he started it. I’m sure the Thai people passing by got a kick out of the “farang” pushing the truck. It started pretty much instantly so it wasn’t bad at all pushing, just funny. Once we arrived at the park, we loaded in to a long tail boat and cruised through the beautiful lake that was surrounded by large mountainous limestone structures. It was really pretty.

After about an hour ride on the lake we made it to the floating restaurant and jumped in some kayaks. I haven’t kayaked in a while, so I don’t know if it was me or if it was just that Katie and I could not get synchronized to kayak straight. Somehow we managed to do a million circles, ha ha. It was quite the work out for the arms too. We ended earlier than the other girls because of the lack of coordination. Oh well, it was entertaining to say the least. Lunch that was served was very good! After lunch, we entered in to the jungle for a three hour trek. None of us girls really knew what we were getting ourselves in to. The trek throughout the jungle wasn’t bad; very natural and beautiful. The only thing that was a little frustrating was wearing flip flops trekking through the jungle. Even though our guides tied string to the back of our flops for better support and said, “Flip flops are fine, I promise”, we still had difficulties completing the trek.  Because the jungle was still pretty wet from yesterday’s rain, our flip flops would frequently get stuck in the mud and/or end up breaking. I was handling the jungle trek fine, but then it came time to enter in to the cave. Lek, our guide, told us we’d spend about 45 minutes trekking through the cave. I knew we would be going in a cave on this trek but didn’t really know what to expect. I still couldn’t figure out how cave trekking could be enjoyable and I’m sticking with my opinion. As we got further in to the cave someone flashed their flash light on the ceiling and we all instantly shrieked from all the bats that were hanging. It was rather difficult walking through the cave due to lack of lighting, the unevenness of the rocks, and our flip flops. I fell a few times, nothing too serious though. I think everyone might have fallen at least once, thank goodness no one got hurt. There was one point of the cave trek where Lek began rock climbing over an opening of neck high water. I was like, “we are NOT doing that! I did not pay to rock climb as well!” Instead to get across we had to swim holding on to a rope. We definitely couldn’t touch the ground at this point. But the guides were both helping us. I was so happy to finally see day light! Come to find out it’s just starting to down pour. We still had to hike back to the boat in the pouring rain. Ha ha. The rain and the mud didn’t help the flip flop situation. It was actually pretty funny. Katie fell behind us for a bit until all of a sudden she runs up to us wearing one of the guide’s pair of shoes and he was wearing hers. Then, it was me who fell behind. My flip flops kept getting stuck in the mud and breaking, so frustrating. The last stretch there was a hidden mud hole that if you stepped in you were all of a sudden knee deep. Well, I did and had to be pulled out but my flip flops got stuck. I just kept going towards the boat without any shoes. Only a few feet away from making it into the boat I slipped down the mud hill and slide right into the water. At this point, every slip and fall was hysterical.  And it was still pouring rain. My muddy flip flops were returned to me thanks to Lek.  After all of us made it on the boat, we ventured back to the restaurant to wait out the rain a bit. It finally stopped but since we were soaked it was a chilly ride back; however, it was really pretty with the fog resting over the mountains. It made for a different view on our way back. It was quite the St. Patrick’s Day spent in the jungle. I did see a lot of green J I also had green curry later that night! Lek told us to stop by their shop after dinner; he braided each of us a ring made out of bamboo. We were all pretty exhausted from our long day of trekking so we headed to bed early.

Friday, March 18^th

We woke up early as usual and headed to Koh Phangan for the legendary Full Moon party. It was a long day of travelling. We took a van from Khao Sok to Surat Thani; a bus from Surat Thani to Donsok where we caught a car ferry to Koh Phangan. The weather was not so good today, making it rough seas and a not so fun 3 hour ferry ride. There were numerous kids who were getting sea sick. One boy tossed his cookies all over himself and on the ground; the “cookies” started to slowly flow towards our belongings on the ground. We up and moved rather quickly. Another man had to lay down napkins at two different spots to stop the flow from reaching him. I felt bad for the kid; I mean it was all over him! Poor thing L It was such a blessing when we finally arrived to Koh Phangan. Worst ferry ride ever….

We made it to our bungalows on Baan Thai Beach and met up with all the other girls. It was great to see everyone J It was a bit overwhelming being with sooo many girls at once though. I think there was about 15 of us. That night a few of us ventured to the Full Moon beach on Had Rin to check things out before tomorrow’s festivities. We ate dinner there as well and did some Full Moon Shopping. I bought a ridiculously bright neon yellow shirt to wear with my neon pink shorts I got on Phi Phi.  We walked on the beach and saw the almost “Full Moon” along with all the beach bars and bucket stations. 

 There were some fire shows going on already, but not nearly as many people on the beach as to be expected for the actual Full Moon party.  Saturday was spent soaking up some rays as much as possible.  I was expecting Jaci and Stacey to be arriving sometime during the day, but not sure when.  All of a sudden I’m sitting on the beach and hear Jaci’s voice, “CHELS!?”! Yay! She made it! I was worried with the weather not being the greatest and with the change of plans she had due to Japan’s earthquake if she was going to still make it or not, but she did! It was so great to see a familiar face from home. But I still can’t get over that I actually spent time with her in Thailand. Unfortunately, we were only together for 2 days so it doesn’t really even seem like I saw her. It was fun hearing about your trip to Micronesia and Guam though! A small group of us girls went out to dinner pre-Full Moon party.  After everyone dressed in their full moon attire, we headed down to Haad Rin for the madness. And boy was it madness. There were soo many people there. I think I heard the number was 10,000 or something ridiculous like that. It was a really fun night though, filled with dancing, translucent body paint, fire shows, a fire slide, and staying up till sunrise and watching many people still going strong at 7 a.m. It was officially my first all-nighter, no sleep at all! It was so crazy watching the sun rise over the Andaman Sea, so beautiful!

Shortly after 7, Chelsea ,Jenna and her two friends from Cali, and myself headed for breakfast. Along the way we ran in to Liz and Lily who joined us. Sitting and waiting for my breakfast made me realize how exhausted I was. It was time to go rest. I wanted to spend my last day not travelling on the beach, Liz was the only one who joined me for a little bit until ours naps were so rudely interrupted by the Guest House’s puppy. He was the cutest lab I’ve seen in Thailand and oh so friendly, but he was crossing the line. I was sleeping on my back when all of a sudden a feel a wet slobber on my face. The dog was licking me! He then moved over to Liz to aggressively bite her hair and fist. I tried to get up and shoo the dog away but he wouldn’t leave. All he wanted to do was play, I could tell, but he chose the wrong people to ask. We were way too tried.  It was pretty funny though because he was so persistent. He didn’t want to give up. It was cute. I ended up falling back asleep for a longer period of time on the beach while everyone else was sleeping in beds. Later in the afternoon the girls woke up and we chillaxed in the shade overlooking the calm water. I wanted to enjoy every minute of that beautiful beach and view that I could get. I would be leaving the next day to go back to Bangplama to get my last pay check and my luggage and eventually head back to the States.  Chelsea, Jess, and I walked the beach for sunset. Unfortunately, the sunset wasn’t as beautiful as those in Koh Lanta.  All 15 of us girls went out for dinner one last time together. L It was going to be one of my last Thai meals so I had to make sure  I ordered somethin’ good. I had a Thai Spicy Red Curry that was very good and spring rolls and of course a mango shake.  After dinner we had a slide show of the Full Moon pictures. I provided my computer and Allie busted out Gianda, the Panda Bear loud speaker that connects to iPods. We had to name her since she attends all of our get togethers. Shes known for having temperamental issues or being crabby if the sound doesn’t come out right. The slide show ended and everyone was saying good-nights. It had been a great last weekend spent with great friends.  I was getting really sad to leave them as well as Thailand. But all fun has to come to an end eventually. My experience in Thailand has been one that I will never forget. The people and experiences I’ve had here will always be special in my heart. I definitely have a new appreciation for Thailand after this trip. I am so lucky and happy to have had such great life changing experiences!

I love you Thailand and all my friends I met along the way!

Vietnam: Lovin' the Hats

Thursday, March 3^rd.

After an overnight bus back to Bangkok from Khon Kaen I made an early van back to Bangplama to re-pack for my next adventure to Vietnam. Katie and I flew AirAsia from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City Thursday afternoon. Let me tell you AirAsia’s website is rather frustrating along with the lack of leg room on their planes. I guess that’s what you get for purchasing cheap flights. Minus the lack of leg room, the flight went fine and we landed in Vietnam in about an hour. My first observation of Vietnam was, “Holy Mopeds!” There had to have been at least 50 mopeds for every car on the street. The streets were packed with them.

Another observation was like back home, they drive on the right hand side of the road. I thought when I would be back home it would be strange to see cars driving on the right hand side, it really wasn’t as strange as I thought while I was in Vietnam. After we settled in our nice accommodations in District 1, aka the backpacker/touristy area, we explored for some dinner. As we were talking to someone from the restaurant down the alley way our hotel was on, I felt something hit my head. I look on the ground and it’s a spoon! It must have fallen from the porch above us and landed right on top of my head. Apparently, you have to beware of falling spoons in the alleyways! Katie and I found a great place for dinner. The entire infrastructure in Vietnam builds up rather than out, so each building has at least 5 floors and is very narrow. We found a place with out door dining that overlooked the main drag, great for people/moped watching. Vietnamese food deserves an A+! It was delicious! We ordered a few different dishes to try a little bit of everything. My favorite was the stuffed pumpkin nugget. It tasted more like a Mexican dish than Vietnamese but it was aroi!! Friday we decided to explore Ho Chi Minh by ourselves. We did our own walking tour which included a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral, the War Remnants Museum, and a coffee/sandwich shop for lunch. The War Remnants Museum was very educational. I learned a lot about the Vietnam War. It was quite emotional, as well, viewing the different photographs that were taken throughout the war along with the stories behind them. It was hard visiting as an American; I sensed a strong feeling of animosity towards the American soldiers/government by the war relics displayed. It gave me a whole different perspective on things after seeing such a war from the American enemy’s side.  

Lunch included one of my favorite shakes on this trip, a peanut butter coffee shake. I don’t know why I never thought of creating such a thing but it was yummy. You could taste each ingredient separately; it mixed together so nicely. We also found a place near our hotel that had really yummy fruit smoothies. For the 4 days we were in Ho Chi Minh, Katie and I became regulars to this smoothie stand. Every time we walked by the smoothie ladies they made sure to smile and say hello. Friday night we met up with Connor, Becca, Lee and Steph who trained it down from Hanoi. They said it was a very long train ride, 15 hours or something ridiculous like that. We went to dinner back at the same place Katie and I went the night before. After dinner, we went to a few different bars. It was interesting drinking the Vietnamese beer (Bia Saigaon) instead of the familiar Leo or Singha I’m used to drinking in Thailand. Katie and I woke up early the next day to head to the Mekong Delta for a two day tour  and one night homestay with a Vietnamese family. The tour of the delta was really fun! One of my main missions of coming to Vietnam was to wear and buy one of the cone shaped, Vietnamese style hats. Check that off the list!! The tour included a visit to a coconut candy manufacturing plant, a secluded place for lunch, a honey manufacturer, the floating market, and a rice paper manufacturer.  It also included a more private tour of the delta with a ride on small canoe boats through the canals. After the first day of the tour as we were on our way to drop some of the tourists at the hotel it began to down pour. It rained so much that the streets of Can Tho were flooded. It was flooded so badly that there was water in the buildings. It was actually pretty scary. I have never been in such bad flood conditions before. Katie and I didn’t know what to expect for our home stay. We were still able to do the home stay. Without really knowing what was going on, the tour guide shoved Katie and I in a SUV taxi along with 5 other people. The taxi drove us to what looked like an abandoned market. We waited for a bit until the man said “follow me”. He guided us to a canoe boat on the delta and loaded us all on, then decided to act like he was going to push us off the dock into the dark night sky without him getting on. He was just joking, thank goodness. After about a 20 minute boat ride we arrived to our home stay. The group all stayed together. They provided mini bungalow/huts for us to stay in. Katie and I enjoyed the company of a very diverse group of people from all over the world, Spain, France, Canada, Finland, Vietnam and America.  The family made us a delicious dinner that entailed elephant fish, the fish of the Mekong Delta, wrapped in spring rolls along with some other vegetable and rice dishes.

They also served us rice wine, aka very strong vodka. It was fun saying “cheers” in Vietnamese though, the one time we all tasted the rice wine. It was nasty tasting and too bad I don’t remember how to say cheers in Vietnamese. In Thai, it’s Choke Dee ka! One thing special about doing the home stay was being able to see a way of life very different than anything I’ve seen in Thailand, and especially different than America. The homes along the Mekong River Delta use the river water for pretty much everything. As we were boating through the river/canal, I noticed numerous people using the water as a source for washing pots and pans, scrubbing laundry, washing their hair, and brushing their teeth. I couldn’t help but notice how dirty the water seemed. It was sad to see the Mekong Delta families have to use such unsanitary water as their main water source. Katie and I arrived back to Ho Chi Minh later that day and decided we’d go to one of the nearby markets. There was a lot of clothing and accessories at this market. On our way back from the market, we were trying to cross the street but there were so many mopeds coming from all directions it was nearly impossible. Another tourist trying to cross with us told us he heard it would almost be best if we just walk across the street blindfolded, that way the mopeds can just maneuver around us. We of course didn’t do that but it may have been a good idea. The next morning Katie and I packed our bags and hired a private driver to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels before we had to go back to Thailand later that afternoon. The tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. It was very interesting learning and seeing the different war tactics that were used against the United States. It was really incredible how they were able to create such a tunnel system throughout the country. The main purpose of the tunnels was for communication, supply routes, hospitals, and even living quarters. There were also camouflaged holes in the ground where the Viet Cong hid and waited for the enemy. Part of our tour included a chance to squeeze and hide in one of the holes. Those soldiers had to make sure they were in tip top tiny shape, because I barely fit through the hole. Also, we were able to crawl in part of the tunnel which of course had been made bigger in order to fit the Western tourists. I can’t imagine it being much smaller than it was!

After the tunnels, Katie and I got dropped off at the airport hours earlier than we really needed to be. We had a fun photo shoot with the Vietnamese cone shaped hats while we waited J Also we splurged on a nice glass of wine and a yummy sandwich. Vietnam was fun and educational! Overall, my impression of the people was friendly in Ho Chi Minh; a little pushy with trying to get us to make purchases though. Some differences I saw between the Vietnamese and Thai people was the lack of similar religion between the people, a lack of patriotism towards an anarchy like in the Kingdom of Thailand, and the woman of Vietnam love wearing very colorful silk/cotton like material pant and top suites with the cone shaped hats!

My Welcome Home Present from Wisconsin

Home sweet home! I flew from Bangkok to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to San Fran, and San Fran to Chicago. My mom was there to greet me at the baggage claim bright and early Wednesday morning. Thankfully, my mom and I made it home safely from Chicago around 10:30 Wednesday morning; unfortunately, Green Bay was getting hit with the biggest snow storm of the season. It was a great day to sleep off my jet leg. I snuggled in my bed around 3 p.m. with the intention of just a nap; well it turned out I ended up sleeping pretty much throughout the entire night, not really awaking until 7 a.m. A good day/nights rest was definitely needed after the 3 hour ferry ride, 8 hour bus ride, 1 hour van ride, another 2 hour van ride, 25 hours of flying/layover times including 3 different planes, and a 3 hour car ride. It had been a long few days of travelling. It was so great to jump in to my comfortable bed! It never felt so comfortable, coming from sleeping on buses, planes, and Thai mattresses. It’s great to be home! minus the 17.5 inches of snow…..

Tears for Thailand

Hard to believe the next few blog posts to get everyone updated on my past travel adventures in Vietnam and Thailand won’t be posted from Thailand anymore. I’m sitting in the Hong Kong airport, 4 more hours to go until I board my flight to San Francisco.  I can’t believe I’ll be in America come 17 ish hours. These last 6 months in Thailand have flown by. At first I didn’t think I would get so emotional when it came time to leave the place I’ve called home for the past 6 months, but I definitely experienced differently.  It was a very emotional day/2 days saying my good-byes to all the friends I’ve met while teaching in Thailand. After wrapping up my travels down south in Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party with a big group of girls, including Jaci!, I had to say my good-byes to the girls. The night before I left, they presented me with a mini photo album of printed pictures of all of us in Thailand along with  “For the Plane” notes. I waited to read them on my flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong. It was soooo sweet of them to put this all together for me. Olivia and I are the only ones out of the group of girls leaving after 6 months of teaching; they all really wish I would be staying for another semester of teaching and more travel adventures. It’s always sad to have someone leave L Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait to see them all when they come back to the States. The notes they wrote to me made me cry….. and made me really realize what great friendships I’ve made during these past 6 months. It’s sad to have to leave, but I’m optimistic that we will all meet again in the future. I’ll never forget this experience teaching in Thailand has given me, educationally and friendship wise. I had a warm farewell today at the Bangkok airport as well. Katie decided to send me off along with my coordinator Toon and another English teacher, See. Lun, my favorite school van driver even drove me to the airport. That definitely made the trip worthwhile! I love listening to his laugh. I even caught some of it on video J We couldn’t make the good-bye official without stopping at Amazon Café, our frequently visited coffee shop in Bangplama, to get one last Amazon Special coffee, some bean desserts to bring back to the U.S., and say good-bye to our coffee girls.

Overall, it was a very emotional day saying good-bye to the people in Bangplama that made my experience in Thailand so meaningful. It’s going to be strange not seeing Katie every day, like I’m so accustomed to. I’m going to miss her!  It will also be weird not waking up to rice fields and a beautiful sunrise every morning. I’m really going to miss the delicious smells and tastes of Thailand along with the all their friendly, smiling faces.  I hope someday I will be able to travel again in Thailand. I will always consider it my second home….. I’m really going to miss it here.

Bye-Bye Bangplama

As I sat on the overnight double decker bus almost a week ago with Katie headed towards Krabi I thought about the farewells that I had to make along with all the great relationships I had formed by teaching in Thailand. We left Bangplama a few hours ago for the last time together. It was a very strange feeling. We said our good-byes to Gan and Ji. Ji is the girl we have been tutoring from the Market. She is so sweet and was in tears as we were saying our good-byes. She was ecstatic when I told her she could have my old lap top. She brought Katie and I a good-bye gift with a card saying the sweetest message. She did not want us to leave. I really hope I can see her again; maybe I will come back to Thailand but I hope someday she can fulfill her dream of visiting America. Ji is definitely a person that I would say I made an impact on and helped her in some way. I feel so grateful to have done that in someone’s life. Saying good-bye to Gan was also really sad. She also wrote a good luck message to me on picture of me from the Suphanburi games and gave Katie and I a Chinese shirt to remember her by. I don’t think I could ever forget her. It’s sad because we can’t keep in touch via Facebook because China restricts the website, but there’s always e-mail.

My last day of teaching was February 25^th. It was a bittersweet moment. Really that last week of February wasn’t much teaching at all rather saying my good-byes to students. It was time for taking pictures with all of my classes and telling them I would be going back to America. I made sure I thanked them all for the wonderful experience I had teaching them and wished them good luck. I also expressed to them that if and/or when they travel to America to please not to hesitate to contact me. Unfortunately, I highly doubt majority of my students will be able to have that experience. It wasn’t only Katie and I’s last day teaching at Soongsumarn but also Gan and Aon’s last day as well. The English Department organized a really special lunch for the four of us that included some delicious Thai dishes.

The Vice-Director was also there to give us his farewell blessings. Toon surprised us by asking each one of us to give an impromptu speech.  I made sure to thank the whole department, especially Toon, for all that they did for me while I was here. They made me really feel like I was part of their family. I think it was hardest for everyone to hear Gan’s speech. She was very emotional. She had been teaching at the school for two years and had made long lasting relationships with all the teachers and students at the school. I could tell it would be very hard for her to leave. The most humbling moment was when Katie and I were leaving the flat and Jiranee, my co-teacher, ran after us to give us a hug and say in broken English, “I will always think of you girls” along with walking by a bunch of our students waving us good-bye.  I realized even though I’m not positive how big of an impact I made on my students, saying my good-byes that last week and watching them wave me good-bye Friday afternoon made me realize I probably did have some type of impact in their lives as a teacher and hopefully they will always remember that they had a farang teacher Chelsea.  

Takin' it Easy

As I sit on a beach chair on Koh Lanta staring at the Andaman Sea and the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen, I realize I’m really living the life of paradise; I’m free of all worries at the moment and I’m just taking in all the beauty I can for the next 10 days I have in Thailand. I’m sorry for being so absent in blog writing recently. I’ve been preoccupied travelling the North of Thailand, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City), and some of the Southern Islands of Thailand. I’ll first recap you on my trip Northern Thailand. My trip to Vietnam and the Southern Islands will be soon to come.

This past weekend was a weekend very different than any other weekend I’ve experienced here in Thailand. I would have to say it was one of the more special and memorable weekends yet. Katie has family friends back in New Jersey that had an exchange student live with them from Thailand in the 1970’s, his name is Ron and he is one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. Ron came to the U.S. as a high school student with an organization called AFS and every year other people from his program get together in Thailand. This year we happened to be invited along. The get together was held at Ron’s friend Woody’s summer home in Khao Yai National Park. His home was gorgeous! I should actually say homes. There were three different buildings that housed his guests; one of which was a beautifully painted barn with bedrooms in side and a lower level where guests slept on mattresses camp style with projector screens on the walls. The kitchen in his home was huge. The detailed wooden floors in the home were beautiful. The view and landscape was breathtaking.

It was such a nice weekend to chat with all AFSer’s who had studied, lived, and travelled all throughout the United States. Talking with them made me realize how much of the States I still have yet to see. They were all very hospitable, offering Katie and I a bedroom whenever we were in Bangkok. I felt like I was at a family reunion with all the people and the food. It even seemed a little bit like Door County with the barbeque going minus the campfire. They even busted out the guitar and old school 70’s music. It was great! Things settled down a little when the monk arrived for the evening ceremony. Along with the great family feel this weekend, I experienced a lot of the Buddhist religion. Saturday morning we attended a smaller ceremony and offering of food to the monks at a near by Temple where Ron took part in his “ordainment”. Apparently all Thai men should go through this ordainment sometime in their lives. It’s a commitment of 10 or 14 days devoted to the monk lifestyle. It was a simple temple, with a small town village feel to it. We also attended another ceremony with the AFS group Sunday morning. This ceremony included a visit to the Buddha in the cave. It was pretty cool seeing a Buddha and place to worship in an underground cave. Each ceremony I attended was unique in its own way. The first one was special because I was able to see how even a toddler pays respects and practices the Buddhist religion. A little boy was bowing down and meditating just like his parents. Saturday afternoon, we went to Palio Market. It was like a mini-trip to Italy. I loved it! The Asian’s ate up the opportunity for pictures at this market. People now have to pay an admission before entering the Market because majority of the people only come to take pictures of the Italian Tuscan feel. Sunday after the Buddhist ceremony I headed to the Northeast with Katie to Ron, Peace, his daughter, and his wife’s home. Although it took about 6 hours to get to their home near Yasothin, it was a pleasant drive seeing different sights in Thailand. Ron’s home was much more than the average home in Thailand, or at least that I have seen so far. The outside reminded me a lot of a Florida style home. Ron and his family were so welcoming and openhearted. Our Sunday evening dinner seemed like Katie and I were truly part of their family. After dinner we spent the evening looking through photo albums of Peace and Art’s (his son) trips to the U.S. along with old school albums of Ron’s first trip to the U.S. That was really enjoyable. Even though I didn’t really know anyone in the albums, it was fun to listen Ron and Peace reminisce about their trips to the U.S. It really opened my mind to two different things. One being the greatness of print photos and photo albums and the other being my realization of what a great experience it is for people from different countries to experience a family home stay in a different country like Ron, Peace, and Art experienced. I remember when I was in high school my mom was considering having a foreign exchange student come to live with us, but my dad was strongly opposed. I recall myself and my brother not being strongly in favor of opening our home to a foreign student as well. It is really too bad we felt so strongly against it. After visiting with Ron and his family and teaching in Thailand for a longer period of time, it really makes me think I someday will want a foreign exchange student to come to live in my home, if possible or if/when I have children I would want them to have a foreign experience like I’ve had or like one that of Ron and his children. Monday morning, Ron and his wife took us to their school. Ron introduced us to a few of his M4 students. He was very proud introducing us to some of his “smartest” students. It was cute. Before leaving their home in the morning, Ron’s wife Tok gave me a gift. It was extremely nice and unnecessary of her and the family to do so. They gave me a pretty blue Thai silk scarf. Ron was nice to get me to the right bus station that would take me to Khon Kaen to visit Jess and Chelsea. We visited one last Temple in their town, which had the most amazing displays of popcorn string garlands. They were incredible! They hung throughout the whole Temple, some even hung from the ceiling to the floor.

It was great visiting Khon Kaen. Since the girls still had to teach while I visited them, I had a lot of down time to explore and just hang out. The city of Khon Kaen and the area where the girls live was great, I thought! It seemed like a bigger city but definitely manageable to walk to most places or take song-taus wherever you needed to go to get around town. I visited the night market the first night I was there with the girls. We ate some delicious pad thai. I was able to go to school with Jess on Wednesday.  Both her and Chelsea teach at a private primary school that is focused on teaching students subjects in both Thai and English. From the stories I’ve heard about their teaching situation prior to coming to visit, I already knew it was a lot different from my experience teaching 800 students at a government school in Bangplama. I found this to be very true especially after “shadowing” Jess on Wednesday. She was actually helping out at the Thai school’s pre-school and Kindergarten’s end of the year play. So Wednesday morning I went with her to watch her practice with the adorable little children. We got there right in time for the Flag Ceremony, which was “same same, but different” to the one I attended each morning in Bangplama except a million times cuter. The kids were soooo cute!

After the Flag Ceremony they do a warm-up dance. It was hilarious watching some of the students jump up and down and sing and dance. I fell in love with these students immediately. Practice for the play started shortly after flag ceremony. The play’s plot is a combination of International dances and songs performed by the pre-school and kindergarteners. Jess acted as the English tour guide. There were three other main characters that spoke in both English and Thai. Watching the little ones dance to the tango, 50’s, Hawaiian, and Indian music was the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen. They even had matching outfits for each country dance that they performed. I couldn’t get over how good these young students were at dancing and performing. It was absolutely adorable!

We went back to Jess’s school just in time for lunch. It didn’t measure up to our amazing lunches at Soongsumarn Katie and I will miss so very much though. After lunch, Jess taught her 3^rd grade class that she teaches Social Studies, Science, Math, and English too. In her class there is about only 25 students. Their level of English is far more advanced than the level that my students were at. Really I can’t even compare her experience to my experience teaching in Thailand because it is very different. Her kids were great! So cute! It was hilarious watching the students chew the Double Bubble Jess generously gave some of the students who won a game the day before. It was actually a good example of why gum should not be in the classroom or even for that matter given to children at all. The boys would try to blow bubbles and it ended up all over their cheeks. I was quite entertained. Along with noticing the abundance of half white half Thai children at the school, there were a few mentally challenged students at the school. Jess had told me earlier that they lack special education school’s in Thailand. It blows my mind that that is the case. I don’t see how it is fair for the mentally challenged students to learn at the same level as their peers who are not mentally challenged. It was a great experience shadowing at Jess and Chelsea’s school! I would definitely have a much harder time leaving my students this semester if I saw the same group of adorable 3^rd grade faces that Jess does every day.

Katie and I had our last exploration in Bangkok today. I only had to teach 2^nd period, due to testing for M1, 2, and 3’s, so we decided to explore a few more things in Bangkok. It is weird to think this is it… I won’t be walking the streets of Bangkok again this trip besides traveling through the city. As I was on the van back to Bangplama, despite being stuck in traffic and looking at the smoggy air of Bangkok, I realized I will actually miss having a city like Bangkok so close to where I’ve been living for the past 5 months.  We visited the Leaning Buddha and Temple of the Dawn. They were both very convenient to get to from Kao San Road where we get dropped off from Bangplama.

 Climbing the stairs to the top of the Temple of the Dawn was a steep hike and not a very practical one to be done in a skirt when it’s windy outside. Thank goodness for Katie’s extra pair of shorts to put on for the climb down. The view from the top of the temple was great! You could see the Bangkok city’s skyscrapers to the right and different parts of greater Bangkok to the left including the beautifully architected Rama 8 Bridge. We took a River Taxi up the river for some air and different views of the city. After temple sightseeing, we made our way back to Kao San Road for the last run through of the famous party and shopping street. It was definitely a shopping day! Too early to join in on the crazy parties that go on on that road though. We were both pretty successful shopping wise I would have to say. I came home with 2 new dresses, some makeup, a delicious mango, and a pair of Green and Gold Ray Bans!! So pumped to wear them during football season! I’m going to miss being able to bargain for adorable clothes and MAC makeup and eat yummy street food for only 30 baht, or $1!

Rewinding to last week, Katie and I went in to Suphan Tuesday after school for our teacher friend, Andrew’s birthday. It ended up being a surprise that Katie, Olivia, myself and some of the other teachers in town were going out to help him celebrate his birthday. He was very surprised to see a group of us waiting in the lobby! It was great. Katie brought the noise makers that we used for my birthday along with the “Suk saan wan guud” candle for the fabulous Mickey Mouse cake we bought. The group of us enjoyed dinner at a hot pot restaurant. A hot pot restaurant is very similar to what I would expect a Melting Pot to be like, or something very similar. You order food items such as chicken, fish, and a bowl of vegetables and egg. They bring the hot pot, which is a big rock bowl filled with flaming hot rocks and a cylinder like grill over it, in which you cook the ingredients. It’s a do-it-yourself kinda thing. It was fun I guess. It was more so being with a group of farang and hearing different people’s teaching and travelling stories that was intriguing to me. During dinner we were greeted by a harmonic playing elephant, which was random! This is Thailand… We took the party over to the bar next door, The Play Room, where some intense games of pool were being played uhhum, Katie and Andrew, along with a farang dance party! Since Katie and I hardly ever get out of Bangplama during the week and because we were having so much fun, we decided we would spend the night and just wake up really early to catch a tuk-tuk back to school. When we got back to Liz’s room, Olivia, Liz, and I started to create an “acrobatic” show. I’m still not really sure how this was stirred up but it involved music specifically Lil Wayne, neon orange and neon green shorts, Liz’s hot hiking socks, the splits and high kicks, and talk about the Green Bay Packers. It was hilarious from what I remember! It was a fun night.

It wouldn’t be Thailand without another National holiday in February just a week before students have finals; so the girls and I planned a trip to Koh Chang this past weekend of February 18^th through the 20^th. We all ventured in to Bangkok and met for dinner at Cabbages and Condoms before our overnight bus.  Very strange name I know, but great food and even better atmosphere! The restaurant reminded me of a two story outdoor garden terrace and then add manikins and light fixtures completely decorated with colorful condoms throughout the entire restaurant.  

The bus ride was rather awful; no one really could sleep very well due to the blasting Thai opera music being played on the T.V. We arrived at the pier extremely early around 5:00 a.m., ferried over to the island at 6:00 a.m., ate breakfast by 8 a.m., and ended up on the beach by 9 a.m. We were so tired that we all ended up crashing on the beach which led to some pretty interesting tan lines for the remainder of the trip. I indulged this weekend on delicious Thai food, including pad ceeyou and a rice curry dish with vegetables, banana and mango smoothies, and a delicious egg sandwich. The girls and I stayed in cute little bungalows that were a two minute walk to the beach. One of the nights was spent dancing to an astounding Thai band at a restaurant right on the water.  I was so impressed by the variety of songs and artists this band performed; each song they chose to play seemed better than the previous. Jenna and Allie decided to take over for the band for a few songs though. They delighted us with Keisha’s, “Tik-Tok” and “I Will Survive”. It was great! The whole weekend was a lot of fun. Although, when Sunday arrived it was sad to leave everyone knowing that there would be only one more time that I would see these girls here in Thailand at the end of my trip at Full Moon on Koh Phangan.

Mopeds, Tuk-Tuks, and Elephants

After a long weekend of travelling, I’ve decided to quick reflect on the array of transportation Thailand has to offer. I may or may not have already made it clear that in Thailand it’s not uncommon to take many different modes of transportation during your travels. Thailand’s modes of transportation include the following: mopeds, tuk-tuks, song-tows, buses, subways, taxis, vans, ferries, long boats and yes, elephants. Don’t get me wrong, I cannot wait to drive my Mazda and blast my music; but part of me is going to miss all these crazy modes of transportation in Thailand. I’ll miss riding in a tuk-tuk for the fact that we were able to fit 9 people in one Halloween night and they are just down-right awesome!

I’m going to miss riding on the back of a moped because the ride is so thrilling and you get a great thigh workout from holding your legs up when you ride side saddle with three people.

Who would have ever thought sitting in the back of a pick-up truck aka song-tow would be so fun and exhilarating, especially while being chased by wild elephants in Khao Yai National Park.

No tour bus ride will be able to beat the post-Chinese New Year dance party celebration Katie and I had with our Thai students, loud music, and disco balls. I also will probably miss all the surprise Thai goodies and snacks the bus companies provide. However, I won’t miss having to worry about “Kevin” aka my notebook jumping out of my arms and out the door of the Suphanburi – Ayuttaya bus.

 I’ll miss the random conversations and smiles you get when you hop in a taxi in Bangkok, but I won’t miss the time that is wasted getting through Bangkok’s awful traffic.

Even though the van drivers from Democracy Monument get Katie and I back to Soongsumarn rapidly despite Bangkok’s traffic, I definitely WON’T be missing those “oh god, how did we not just get in an accident” moments.

Despite having to take 3 or 4 of these different modes of transportation in order get on a a ferry to one of Thailand’s beautiful islands, I will definitely miss the view of the sparkling Gulf of Thailand and green mountainous islands that is seen from a ferry ride.

 I think what I’ll miss most about ways to get around this unique country is the elephants :)

There’s just something about driving down a busy road in Suphan looking out the window and seeing a man riding on an elephant amongst cars, buses, mopeds, and tuk-tuks that makes me recall “this is Thailand” and I realize how different Thailand is compared to the U.S. I definitely won’t be seeing an elephant walking down the streets in America.

My Valentine's Day Surprise

I was flabbergasted when I saw a vase of a dozen huge, gorgeous red roses headed towards my desk Valentine ’s Day morning. I had the biggest smile on my face. I have never been so flattered receiving such a wonderful surprise Valentine’s gift J

The classrooms were filled with single roses, candy, stickers, and chocolate. Love was in the air. All the students were yelling, “Happy Valentine Day”. They don’t pronounce the “s”, but it’s adorable.

It’s clear people in Thailand love stickers. Facebook quote from Katie, “I gave my kids their oral final and when they were done they bedazzled my already pink polo in stickers. One of which Chelsea just pointed out says, "kiss me." I also was “bedazzled” during my afternoon classes of M5’s. Our shirts were sparkling from all the glittery, heart stickers.  To make my day even better, between my classes I caught my co-teacher, Somnuk, taking her afternoon siesta. The best part about this is the fact that she pops open her lawn chair in the back of the department in order to take her nap! I love it!

During my last class of the day, my students had heard about my roses and wanted to see how big and beautiful they were. I told them after class we would go to take a look. Since I’ve already finished testing this class, the hour was spent talking about boyfriends, crushes, and music and taking pictures. It was hilarious! As some of the girls were looking through my pictures on my camera, they came across a picture of Aon, the English Department’s T.A., from English camp and started “Oohing and ahhhing” to one of the girls. I think somebody may have a crush! She just smiled and denied it. After the girls came up to the department to see the roses and as they were walking out the door, who better to walk in but Aon! Talk about perfect timing. I begin laughing hysterically and can’t help myself but start to “ooh and ahh” along with the girls. Aon began laughing along as well, but had no idea what was going on! The girls whisper from the door to me at my desk, “Teacher be quiet. No speak. No speak.” as they are doing the action of zipping their mouths shut. It was cute! I, of course, would never share such a secret.  

So even though I’m thousands of miles away from people I love back home in the U.S., I still felt the love here in Bangplama! Happy Valentine’s Day!! <3

Last weekend-hurrah in Bangplama

So as I wrap up my last weekend in Bangplama of doing pretty much nothing and as I lie on my bed, I think gee I may actually miss this place. Katie and I reminisced tonight about our first days here and how those few days seemed like eternity. If I think about where I was a year ago, I would have never thought I would be living the way I am living here in Thailand, in the middle of rice fields with no air conditioning, no hot water and at times barely running water at all, and no western toilet.  Those things we were so perturbed by in the beginning have now become part of my daily routine here in Thailand and don’t faze me anymore. I have become accustomed to it all; I wonder now how it will feel to go back home where everything is going to be so different than what I’m used to.  I think about how nice it will be able to throw my clothes in an actual washing machine and dryer, how fluffy and soft my bed and pillows will feel, how convenient it will be to just hop in my car and drive to Festival Foods or Target, and how refreshing a warm, constant flow of water will feel in the shower. For as much as I am excited to get back to these simple pleasures of life in America, I am sad to know my time in Thailand is coming to an end.  

Teach in Thailand will come to an end February 25^th, which will then begin more fun and exciting travel adventures for 3 and ½ weeks! I’m going to miss those little buggers of mine…