Sonkran Festival: New Year, Thai Style

Getting soaked all day long!! Bins of water to fill up your water guns!

April 12-15

I had no clue that I was going to be in Thailand for the New Year. It just so happened, that I also chose to be in one of the best areas of Thailand to celebrate! After getting back from the trek, we began to make our way back into the city. Before I explain the ride back, I think it's necessary to explain my vehicle conditions. Picture this: a pick up truck, where the back side has benches for people to sit on (where we all were). The sides of the pick up have metal bars and when necessary, you can roll down these plastic sheets that are used as pseudo windows.

Okay, so back to the ride. About 20 minutes into our ride, I thought there was some sort of riot, or political unrest--however, soon realized that it was simply people beginning the pre-New Year celebrations by partying on the street. I guess the best way to describe this New Year is a mixture of a massive street party, a chaotic water fight and a music festival all wrapped up in 3 days. The problem with starting the party in the vehicle we were travelling in was that we were total targets; 13 foreigners, sitting in an open truck with absolutely NO ammunition (water to fight back...lol). Needless to say, the beginning of the drive back was so much fun. We would be driving, and out of no where, someone on the street would throw a bucket of water at us. I wouldn't mind the warm water, however, there were some who filled their buckets up with freezing cold ice water, and having that blasted on your back, when you are least expecting it, not so much fun.

Pretty much, from about 10 am to 7 pm the Chaing Mai streets were drenched with people celebrating the New Year. There was no way that you could walk anywhere on the streets during these times without getting soaked. I did end up buying a 'backpack' water gun to join in the fun and most of the Trek Crew agreed to meet at a certain spot to spend the day splashing, and soaking away! What struck me the most is that for a few days out of the year, Thai people of all ages, young and old, come together to celebrate. I especially loved that adults were able to let their guard down and simply enjoy the feeling of 'being a kid' again. I wondered how a festival like this would fly back home, even if it was for a day. For all people to take a day off of work, and enjoy the simple things in life. I seriously think it would be good for people's health to have a similar festivity -- without it getting out of control of course!

Chiang Mai Trek

April 11-12
Man, it sucks when you haven't blogged in a while and now I have to write from memory. So I got to the north of Thailand safely and found a great little hotel in the center of Chiang Mai. Thank goodness my dates worked out well, because the Treks were not running this whole week due to the Songkran Festivities (Thai New Year).

I really wanted to do a 2 night, 3 day trek but that wasn't available-- so I ended up getting a 1 night, 2 day trek. It seems that everything works out for a reason because what a FABULOUS 2 days it was!! There were originally 5 of us in the truck and we made our way to see the Long Neck Village. This village seemed to be set up primarily for tourists but it was still pretty interesting to see. These women and young girls are originally from Burma and have migrated to the Northern area of Thailand. They have these gold rings around their necks to stretch them out. I ended up trying one on my neck and could not believe how heavy it was! It is believed that back in the day, when these Burmese people lived in the forest, it was thought that if a lion attacked them, their necks needed to be protected and therefore, they started wearing these golden rings.

After the Long Neck village visit, we picked up the rest of the crew. The lovely spacious truck was too good to be true!! In total, there were 13 of us. It's funny how some tour groups utterly suck, and others connect immediately! Well, this was a group that just seemed to connect from the get-go, and as they say, the rest is history!

We stopped briefly at a local outdoor food market to pick up a few things and then made our way to the elephants, where I was able to ride an elephant through the jungle! The ride was definitely bumpier than I expected, but thoroughly enjoyable! After the elephant rides, we began our trek. I wish I had brought more water, as most of our walking today was uphill and it was fairly hot and humid. We walked for about 3 hours.... did I mention that it was all uphill??
About half way there, in the middle of the Northern Thai jungle, a man had a cold water and beer station set up for us. I truly didn't appreciate my cold water until after we began walking up the steepest hill yet and realized that this man was not too far behind us. He had packed up the rest of the water and beer and was carrying it all on his back. Unreal.

We finally made it up to the hillside village--our accommodation was a beautiful bamboo house, where we shared a wonderful dinner, some evening games, and a some of the local children also came to sing for us. Overall, a great exercise day, a big check next to one of my 'must do's' which was riding an elephant in the jungle. I also met some amazing new people. How much better can life get?

Day 2

The next day we all had breakfast together, and began to make our way down. Personally, I found going down harder than going up. Cardio wise, of course going upwards was a bit more difficult, but going down on the steep hills was bad on the knees! About half way down, we made it to this amazing waterfall, where we all cooled off for a while. After that, we were taken down to the river, where we went river rafting. I am a little embarrassed to call it rafting, because the river was so still that we barely rafted. LOL.

Along the way, there were hundreds of locals who were all close to or even in the river, beginning to celebrate the Song Kran festivities. Local children were splashing water on us as we went by and being part of this day, up in Northern Thailand was a memory I will keep forever!

After the rafting, our group jumped on a bamboo raft, which pretty much took us the end of our trek. Another group lunch together, and we were loaded back on the truck to make our way back to the city.

Saying Goodbye is never easy :(

April 10th
Well, the girls and I are going our separate ways and I must say, it was much easier to say bye to them in Phi Phi, as I didn't know them all that well at that point, and they were all asleep when I left. This time was much harder. I've been fortunate enough to have travelled to so many places in my life, but am realizing it's difficult to find good travelling partners. What's really odd is that Kelly, Lucy and Carey were so easy to travel with, yet, I barely knew them. There have been other times in my life when I have travelled with people who I thought I knew fairly well--and we were not good travel partners at all. I guess what it boils down to is personality and common interests. Thankfully, I was totally blessed to have met these 3 lovely ladies to party with, and experience some of life's highs together!

Phnom Penh

April 8-10

Killing Fields
Today we took a tuk tuk to the Choeun Ek Genocidal Center to learn about the "Killing Fields." Sometimes I feel so ignorant that I don't know about historical events such as this one. More than a million people were killed during the Pot Regime in the mid 70's. Victims were detained and tortured at this time -- and were then beaten to death by the killers with canes, bamboo stumps or the heads of hoes, they were also stabbed with knives or swords. They died without being able to say goodbye to their children or loved ones.

The victims ranged from peasants to intellectuals, foreigners, women and children. At this genocide center today, I literally walked by the mass graves where all these people were placed after being killed. Each of the graves had a simple sign that read, "mass grave with 166 victims without heads," or "mass grave of more than 100 victims, all children and women." I think the area that stirred the most emotion for me was this massive tree in the middle of all the graves that read, "Killing Tree--against which executioners beat children to death."

I have never visited any Holocaust centers, but I imagine it is just as heart wrenching as this.
There was a memorial stupa (a sacred structure that contains the remains of the deceased) literally took my breath away when I realized that it contained more than 8000 skulls and bones which had been recovered from the graves. It definitely serves as a tribute and reminder of the atrocities that took place and effected millions of Cambodian people.

Meeting a Monk

April 6-7th
Yesterday, Carey, Lucy and I went to this place called "raja yoga"to practice some meditation. It was alright. The instructor did a little too much babbling for my liking, but the actual meditation part was pretty good. She had wanted us to meditate with our eyes open, which I found really difficult--hence, I closed mine. The highlight of the session was that she mentioned that the following day (April 7th) there would be "monk chanting" at 5 p.m. We ended up staying one extra night because Kelly wasn't feeling really well, and the girls still needed to get their Visa stuff sorted out.
Monk chanting to me sounded intriguing, and off I went on my own! Just the other day I had told the girls that I would love to learn more about monks and what they are all about, and this evening I got my opportunity. Tui, a 26 year old monk of 10 years, talked to the 5 of us for about an hour. He actually said that it would be better that we asked him questions, and he would do his best to answer them. Here are some things that I learned today:

* it is not an obligation to become a monk, rather a choice. Although parents highly encourage their young teenage sons to become monks for at least a short period of time to devote part of their life to Buddhism.
* once you become a monk, you can stay a monk for however long you like.... a few months, years, or as some do, a lifetime.
* as a young apprentice monk, you must follow 5 important doctrines: no drinking, no sex, using your words properly, no stealing, and no killing (including bugs, any wild life, etc...)
* if you are a monk for a short period of time, you must follow 10 doctrines, and if you choose to be a monk for a long period of time there are 127 doctrines to follow (Tui fell under this category)
* Buddhists believe in heaven, hell, nirvana, and enlightenment. We had a good discussion about nirvana and enlightenment, and I really do need to read a little more about it.
*Tui will be leaving "Monkhood"next year, and said the most exciting thing he's looking forward to is getting a job and being able to make some money, and learning how to ride a bike! To think, he's never ridden a bike before! (one of the doctrines). He said he will most miss the strong bonds he's formed throughout the years, and meditating and praying on a daily basis, although he plans to continue his religious practise, just not as regimented.

At the end of our conversation, he asked if it would be okay to personally bless each and every one of us. I awaited my turn and kneeled in front of him where he proceeded to tie a small piece of string on my right hand and wished me good health, and happiness. Once we all had our red strings tied on us, he asked us to close our eyes and he chanted a prayer in Cambodian, to bless us one more time. It was spiritual, and moving. It reminded me of all the amazing moments I experienced with Father Norm in Africa. It also goes to prove, for me anyway, that there are so many other things that can enrich us spiritually besides going to church on Sunday. I'm glad I ventured off on my own today, as it was definitely a spiritual hour.

OVERWHELMED

April 5th (I think) ... maybe the 6th?
So hot today that we didn't do too much. I had to go get some bank stuff sorted out. When I left what seemed like the 10th bank I had to go to, I decided to go to the corner store to get something to quench my thirst. On my way into the store there were several young girls and mothers holding their babies (children or siblings) begging for milk. The begging here is different than what a person would experience in Cuba or Mexico.

It is total desperation.

So of course my heart broke and I told the one little girl that I would buy her some milk for her sister. Smart little cookie that she was, she took me to the most expensive "powdered milk" products and asked if I could buy her a few canisters. I told her that I would buy her a carton of milk and she randomly grabbed one, which happened to be skim. I put that one back and went to look for one that had the highest amount of fat in it. She politely thanked me as we walked out. I then realized that I had gotten something for the baby, but nothing for this 12 year old little girl. I asked her if she too was hungry and she shook her head yes. I offered to get her something too. Of course, my dumb ass Western brain thought she'd ask for chocolate or chips. Instead, she asked if I could buy her some bread or rice. Bread I could buy, but I thought some fried rice might be better, so I suggested for her to come back to my hotel where I could order her something from the restaurant. I could see that she was a little hesitant, so I asked where we could go that was a bit closer for her and she pointed towards a side street.

We began walking together, her baby sister on her hip, and I happened to turn around to notice another little girl (age nine) and a mother and little baby also following us. Call me a sucker, but how could I possibly give rice to one and refuse the other two? So we all went to a local restaurant to eat some lunch. I don't think the waitress was too impressed that I was bringing in a handful of beggars into the restaurant, but I really didn't care. You could see the excitement in the children's eyes, and of course, wanting to take full advantage of the white tourist, they all wanted to order the most expensive things on the menu. The waitress I reckon proceeded to tell them in Cambodian to not take advantage, and they all ended up ordering chicken fried rice. The waitress also told me that they wanted to order a shake each, and asked whether that was okay.

I experienced two amazing things sitting at that table. The first one humbled me greatly. When the rice came out the older sister blew on the rice -- like a little mom-- and fed her sister the whole time. She did not once put a spoonful of rice in her mouth, until her baby sister didn't want any more.

As a teacher back home, I'm always dealing with kids bickering with each other, and fighting. Very rarely do I hear students speak highly of their siblings. Here on the other hand, these two sisters shared a bond with each other, that most people in our Western world will rarely experience. This young girl displayed compassion and love, virtues that I try to teach on a daily basis. These virtues do not have to be taught here, as they are necessities for survival.

The second thing that struck me was that I was sitting across a woman -- we did not speak the same language, and live such different lives, yet we both felt so connected to one another. I smiled at her in awe of her strength and determination, and doing whatever it took to feed her child. She smiled at me, who knows what she was thinking?

After waving goodbye, we both went in opposite directions.... both on the same dirt road. I met back up with the girls, sitting by the pool, and had a full emotional breakdown. I felt guilty going to put my bathing suit on and cooling off in the pool, while these people have to continue to live like this. I don't feel sorry for the Cambodians, however, it's really difficult for me to grasp how it's possible that there is such extreme poverty, when as a nation, we have the funds and resources to be able to feed everyone in the world. I just don't get it.

Siem Reap

April 4th
Well, it's hotter than the sun here, definitely over 100 degrees every day. I really don't have a right to complain about anything, after my day today, but my body is in head to toe sweats all day long. LOL. We had an action packed day today. Started off with negotiating a tuk tuk price for the day with Ti and his friend David.

Angkor Wat
Our first stop: Angkor Wat, the temples which is the largest religious monument in the world. It was wonderful to see, and I got some amazing pictures, but I could honestly spent all my time taking pictures of monks. I love them. I'm utterly mesmerized by them. They pop in pictures because of their orange garb. I definitely need to read up about them, because I feel so ignorant about not knowing anything about their lifestyle.

After Angkor Wat we saw the Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm Temple, where Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider was filmed.

Floating Village
The girls decided to opt out of seeing the floating village, as they are going to see one in Vietnam, but I decided to go on my own, so my driver took me. It's hard to imagine what a floating village would look like--all I had in my head was Venice, Italy, which is really the only type of city I've ever seen on water.

Driving to the village I saw local people's homes; shacks built on wooden stilts, mopeds with 4-5 people/kids on it, naked babies, children playing with each other, children helping families build/carry things. I don't really think anything could have prepared me for seeing this floating village. I learned that approximately 5000 of the poorest people (mixture of Muslim, Cambodian and Vietnamese) who cannot afford to live on a piece of land, literally build their own floating home. When the monsoon season comes, they move their homes to a part of the river where it will not be flooded.

The Tonle Sap river is the life blood of Cambodia, which provides more than half the fish consumed in Cambodia. The river and the people's lives are greatly intertwined. Today I saw boys rough housing with each other, women bathing, older men with their whole bodies shovelling mud out, fishermen, children washing their clothes, and a floating school. It's truly a sustainable village on water. There were several times when I had to hold my tears in because it's hard to imagine that this place is actually a place where people call home. This is their life.

ACODO Orphanage
Tonight I went to visit the ACODO Orphanage where we were happily and excitedly greeted by many of the orphans. This orphanage is run by a non-profit organization. The only way they sustain it is through an evening performance of Khmer Traditional dancing-performed by the orphans, and songs from one of the disabled orphans.

I reckon there were about 40-60 orphans here-- what made me swallow back my tears (again) was the wall of "mug shots"-- underneath each shot was the child's name, DOB, reason for being in the orphanage. Many of the reasons stated "poor, too many siblings, single mother." The children who actually still have parents alive, but literally cannot afford to feed them due to numbers, get sent to live in this orphanage. It's really sad, but on the bright side, they are fed and taken care of, and also get to go to school.

After the performance, we were able to take a few pictures with the kids, and we all left a donation, which is how the orphanage is still able to exist. I think when I get home, I will definitely be sending over some school supplies for these kids, who were so thankful that we came to visit them. Did I just say that? THEY were thankful.

Cambodia, First impressions

April 3rd

I was up really early today to catch a bus to Cambodia. We had to hand in our passports to a lovely Thai man (haven't seen that too much), which made me a little nervous, but apparently obtaining a Visa for Cambodia is easier if you let a Thai person take care of most of the dirty work, which is what we opted for. It took us 4 hours to get to the border, where a local Cambodian man explained the "visa process."

As I was standing on the Thai/Cambodian border I had a few initial thoughts:
That I was going to like the Cambodian people much better than the Thais, and that the country was much, much poorer than Thailand. I saw young children pulling wooden carts filled with fruit, wood, metal or anything else that needed to be moved from one spot to another.

Once we literally walked through the border and got our visas stamped, we boarded another bus (4 hours) to take us to Siem Reap. While on the bus, I read some info about Cambodia and learned that about a third of the country is under the age of 14... I've seen lots of children playing with sticks and stones on the dirt roads. The houses that I've seen thus far are shacks made out of wood but on really, really, high stilts--I'm assuming due to the monsoon/rain season.

Highlight today: While waiting at a bus stop, a local little boy was skipping and I asked if I could use his skipping rope. I showed him several times how to jump and "criss cross" the ropes. He was in awe, and as I walked back to the bus, I saw him smiling and trying it out. I have a really good feeling about Cambodia

Bangkok

April 1-2
So I was absolutely dreading this day as the travel day was going to be around 19 hours of hell. LOL. The first leg was on a boat from 12-6 pm which actually wasn't too bad because it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. Thank God. Once we got to the pier, we had an hour wait for the bus, and hopped on the night bus around 7:30 p.m. Kelly and I got on quickly and we got some pretty good seats. I also pictured the bus to have no air con (even though they always say it will) and it did, so I was pleasantly surprised!

I couldn't fall asleep for a while, and the Ireland boys encouraged me to go to the Pharmacy before I left to pick up some pills to help me sleep. Let's just say the pharmacies in Thailand are very different than back home. You don't need a prescription for anything really. Just tell them what you need and you get it. I walked in and said that I needed a pill to help me sleep and she wanted to sell me 10 Valium pills for $10!!!!! How funny is that! Anyway, I bought 2, and took one that night which knocked me right out. Worked like a charm. We arrived in Bangkok around 4 am and I'm glad the girls had already been here because they knew exactly where to go.

April 2nd
Kelly and I decided to go and visit the infamous King's Palace. As we were walking there, we kept asking for directions and 3 people told us that it was closed, either closed early on Fridays, or closed for a Thai celebration. Apparently, this 'trick' is done quite often. The tuk tuk drivers want to take you somewhere else to get your money so they tell you that something is closed. Such a scam. I was quite disgusted actually that so many local people would try to scam us like that.

It's sometimes difficult to see any charm in Bangkok as it is a dirty, loud city, with many people just wanting to get your money. But I definitely saw a beautiful part of Bangkok today. The palace was serene, peaceful and full of lush gardens. The only problem was the heat. When you're on the south coast the heat is bearable because you simply jump into the water when you get hot. But walking in this city was brutal.

Khoasan Road is a busy touristy street that we stayed on, so I literally could have sat in a bar the whole night people watching because there is so much going on: street vendors selling bugs, Thai ladies trying to lure Western men, clothing vendors, etc....
However, Kelly and I decided to venture out of our busy street to go to Patpong Road, where there is another night market and 'evening shows.' We got there safely but walking through these markets you get hastled so much with hearing the same thing, "Hello Lady, you wanna try, I sell you for goo' price." When you politely say, "no thank you" they mutter something in Thai under their breath. It's brutal. And after a while, you just get sick of it.

The main reason we went was to go see one of the 'famous Thai ping pong shows'.... the catch is that you can go in but you have to buy one drink, and nothing else. I made sure when I was wheeling and dealing with the guy that there was NO other HIDDEN prices to pay. He assured me there wasn't. LOL. After being there for about 10 minutes, these 3 butchy women came up to us, demanding that we pay 300 Baht each for sitting in their establishment. We said "no" several times but then they started to get loud and mean, so we coughed it up. We were totally scammed. I hate feeling like a sucker. Now looking back at it, I wish we would have simply gotten up and left, but I will chalk it up to an experience I guess.

We finally found a tuk tuk to take us back to our street... while driving down a main road there was a blockade with tons of police officers directing traffic, which was due to the protests. We have heard about these political protests and as a foreigner it's a bit scary to be in a country/city where you know there is some political unrest. We had been able to avoid the "protest" area completely until this moment. The tuk tuk driver pulled over and motioned for us to 'get out' and kept pointing and telling us that our hotel was 'just over there'.....of course he was pointing in the direction of the thousands of protesters dressed in red with red bandannas over their faces. In the background on a huge mega phone all I could hear was an angry Thai voice saying things, with all the protesters listening and then cheering. There was no way in hell I was getting out of the tuk tuk at this point. A not-so-friendly police man walked by and Kelly asked if it was safe for us to walk through the area. I don't think he really knew what she was asking him but he said no. We were livid and relieved when we got back to our hotel because he had pulled over another time too, telling us to get out. We had no clue where we were, in relation to our hotel. We insisted that he drive us back to Khosan Road and really, I think he was simply irritated that he had to drive us the longer route because of the protests. What a night! Ripped off at the Market and then almost literally thrown into a sea of Thai protesters.

Tomorrow I am off to Cambodia, a place I've always wanted to visit, so I'm really pumped!

Things I've gotten used to in Thailand

* Eating with a fork and spoon, instead of a fork and knife
* No flush toilets--meaning, having to put buckets of water into the toilet yourself for everything to drain
* Same same, but different
* Being on the back of a pick up truck, with all of our backpacks and a half a dozen other peeps
* Taking off my flip flops when entering a) restaurant b) store c) hotel... anywhere really.
* Capacity on boats: non-existant
* Trying to get scammed, ripped off..... although I'm getting used to it, it still bothers the shit out of me every time it happens!
* Squatting
* 2-3 peeps on a moped, no helmets.

Ko Phangan

March 28-April 1st
Wow, I really don't know where to begin. You could actually feel the excitement in the air! Carey had come a night earlier and found us good bungalow accomodations in Heead Rin (the main town). It was a perfect location, about a 5 min walk from the beach, but far enough that it wasn't super super loud at night.
The beach here is amazing and it was the first beach where the waves were actually quite big and fun to frolick in during the day! I thorougly enjoyed riding the waves or quickly diving to get underneath them to avoid being swept away! The first few evenings were really good...we actually met Warren and Eoin from Ireland the first night and it was the 7 of us that hung out quite a bit. The beach party the first few nights was good, but less busy than I expected, and the girls kept saying wait till The Full Moon; it will be different.
going to stop here.....will continue again later!

Ko Tao

March 25-27
So Ko Tao was good too, but it wasn't my favourite island. It was pretty small and it was difficult to find cheap accommodations the first night so we stayed in a more expensive spot and then found a cheaper place the next night.

The highlight of Ko Tao was renting mopeds which I was a bit nervous about, not because I don't know how to ride one, because of the amount of accidents that happen on all these islands. I would say that every 3rd or 4th person I see on the street, they have either their ankle, wrist or another part of their body bandaged up, either from a moped accident or jumping/skipping through fire.

The other thing I was nervous about is the 'moped scam.' You pay a super cheap amount of money to rent the scooter but then when you bring it back the owner claims you made a certain scratch on the bike and makes you pay a ridiculous amount of money. Until you pay, they will not give you your passports back. I wouldn't have believed it myself, but on Lanta, I actually saw the scam happening and it made me a bit worried.

So of course, being slightly paranoid, I was proactive and took a ton of pictures of the bikes and all their dents and scratches before I actually left the rental place. I think the owner must have thought I was crazy! The bikes were returned safely and it was a great way to explore the island!

Ko Samui

We were only in Ko Samui for one night and I would have liked to have stayed for an extra night because I actually really liked it, although many people didn't have too many nice things to say about it. I will admit, it's a bit grimy at night with a lot of the lady boys prancing around.

The beach was amazing and the night life on the beach at night was really good. They transform all the beach beds to these quaint little tables that you can lie on and order food/drinks. There were also fire throwers and many people were lighting lanterns and letting them go into the air so when you looked up you saw all these lanterns. It was beautiful.

Travelling

March 23-24
So Lucy said the other day, "the worst thing about travelling is the travelling!" So true. We ventured off to Ko Samui today. We were loaded onto the back of a pick up (which I'm used to now) and transferred to a bus. We then got off that bus and put on another pick up to get to our boat. I sort of felt like I was being herded like an animal, going to the slaughter house.

When I saw the boat I wanted to die. The travel guy we booked the ticket from told us we'd all have our own beds on the boat. Well, his version of a bed is so different than mine. I guess it's my fault that I didn't ask him to describe the bed. LOL.

The 'beds' consisted of the floor. These tiny thin floor cushions all lined up next to each other --so you were literally smack next to a random person next to you. I think it would have been fine if it wasn't for the people that kept leaping in the air in the middle of the night screaming because they saw cockroaches, which were either on them or next to them. Gotta love travelling in foreign countries.

Koh Lanta

March 20-23
What a quiet island compared to Koh Phi Phi. I stayed at the Lanta Riviera and I absolutely love it here! I think the highlight of this island must be mentioned....and it has a story of course.
So when I left Phi Phi, I had been sharing the room with Kelly, Lucy and Carey (from England) and kissed them all good-bye in the midst of their sleep. I knew they'd be sleeping when I left so the night before I left them a little note and my email details. I was sad to say good bye but when I arrived in Lanta all of them had sent me a message on Facebook wishing me safe travels.

Well, the next day, I heard a knock on my door, and of course assumed it would be cleaning staff. Nope! It was Kelly. They didn't know that I was staying at that particular hotel and as she was walking to her room she noticed my bathing suit hanging on my balcony and knew for sure it was me!
So I've decided to prolong my stay in the south of Thailand for the infamous full moon party which is on March 30th.

I got another phenomenal massage on the beach, at night in Lanta. I think this one has almost been my favourite. I guess the best way to describe it is that it's a massage as well as some crazy-ass yoga moves all in one! I loved Lanta I think more than the rest of the girls, and would come back to this island in a heart beat!

Phi Phi Island

I have to catch up on blogging and don't know when I will have free Internet again so I'm going to make these next few blogs rather short and then when I get home I will expand on them!

Highlights of Phi Phi
-meeting Kelly, Lucy, and Carey
- fruit shakes
- food vendors at night
- Thai kickboxing bar
- fire throwers on the beach (great entertainment) and I ran through fire myself! what was i thinking?
- buckets of alcohol
- day trip to Bamboo Island (where there was no bamboo), Monkey Island, Shark Point, and Maya Bay -which was my favourite spot; the place where "The Beach" was filmed.
Maya Bay was amazing. I was reading a book on the Tsunami while I was on Phi Phi and read that there were a lot of protests during the filming of the movie because of all the excavations that were done.
-medical massage (where a man literally walked all over my body)