Greetings all you blog readers out there!
So it appears I have an entire Thai adventure to relay to you all, aside from of course my stint in the hospital with dengue (as Emmah said to me “trust you to keep getting the local tropical sicknesses”).
So Emmah met me at the YHA Bangkok Airport hostel (conveniently located right near the airport!). I ended up flying in, and sleeping the entire day, and when I heard a knock on the door I was stumped as to who it could be, because it couldn’t possibly be 9:30pm and therefore Emmah, because I couldn’t possibly have slept the entire day away. Turns out… I can, thanks to the nasty side effects of dengue still working its way through my body. Thankfully the other symptoms had left, that is the red rashed skin, the stabbing pains in my lungs and stomach, the nausea however, did stay in a small amount. Doh.
So after a bleary eyed reunion (think running down the beach all dressed in white for a slow motion embrace, and then imagine it nothing like that!) and stayed up late until I fell asleep once more. Who knew I could still possibly sleep all night too.
The next morning we jumped on a plane to Chiang Mai, still chatting away (months to catch up on!) and found ourselves an awesome little guest house just outside of the Chiang Mai old city. I recommend this place if you are ever in Chiang Mai, it’s called ‘The Castle’ and the lady who owns/runs it is SO nice, and it’s really cheap and breakfast is included. And by breakfast I mean waffles and eggs and coffee and juice and fruit. It’s all so delicious . She also gave us free tickets to the zoo that another guest had left. So lovely. Anyhoo, now that I am finished plugging the place, our first night we ventured into the old town, eager to find something for dinner (slowly, slowly getting my appetite back…slowly). We found this gorgeous little restaurant and sat outside to share a pizza (you’ll find we went a little pizza crazy in Thailand…odd, yes, but the stomach craves what the stomach craves!). We endeavoured to make our way to the big Sunday markets however it began to bucket down and we got caught hiding under an awning of a nearby shop. After waiting a while for the rain to subside, we figured the markets were probably cancelled, and still feeling quite sleepy we retreated back to the comfort of our delightful bed to read a book and sleep.
We woke the next morning ready to take on the adventures of the day. With no plan, we headed down to breakfast where, low and behold, I could get waffles!!! Turns out the way to eat an entire meal after dengue is to eat waffles. No joke, delicious . We spoke to Pearl (the lovely lady who runs the place) and she recommended some temples for us to do and also passed on some free zoo passes to us.
Being a bit skeptical about zoos in other countries (didn’t want to see any animals locked in tiny cages!) we decided to start at the zoo and make our way back for the day into the old city and explore temples. We jumped in a jeepney/taxi-hybrid and made our way to the zoo. Turns out, the zoo in Chiang Mai doesn’t put their animals in tiny enclosures. Yippee. So we made our way around looking at the monkeys (hehe monkeys) and the hippos. Turns out at this zoo you can actually buy a bowl of vegetables and feed the hippos. Hells yes I was going to feed a hippo. I also discovered that inside a hippos mouth is really quite disgusting, but it was fun to watch them open their mouths wide for the carrots and corn. So cool.
We continued walking around the zoo with the sun beating down on our backs and sweat beadings it’s way down our foreheads. Holy Crap Thailand is hot! So, being so hot, the only logical thing to do would be to get an icy pole, right? Well, we thought so. Munching on icy poles, we headed over to find the pandas. On the way we fed the giraffes (such big tongues man!) and watched these young kids feed a baby elephant that was just hanging out. I will name him Dumbo, as his ears were huge, and he just had that Dumbo thing going on.
We headed to the Panda’s, but first had to stop in the gift shop purely to indulge in their air conditioning briefly. We went into the Panda house, and were able to see one hanging out in an enclosure however I believe it was around Panda lunch time, so they were taking them back for a rest and a munch.
Next stop… the Koalas!!! I know, we have them in Australia, but I was super excited to see something from home as it had been a while. Nostalgia and all that. We got a bit lost on the way trudging through the heat (the zoo is really quite big and spread out..with A LOT of hills, bleugh). We made our way to the Koala’s. They were so cute chilling on their butts in the trees. Although my only issue with this exhibit was the children’s corner about Aboriginal Australian’s….why on earth is there a teepee and totem poles????? I think they have their native cultures mixed up a bit!
We headed over to 711; yes, there was one at the zoo; and replenished our sugar and water supplies and decided to head back into the main city, as the heat was killing us slowly, or atleast our energy supplies were low.
We began the walk around the old city, however the heat was making us irritable so we made the executive decision to head back to the air con for the afternoon, before heading to the night markets, and doing the temples the following day as nothing else was planned for that day. Back to the comfy bed and reading our books (ohhh such bliss).
That night we headed out to the night markets and to scope out some dinner. We find the markets, but first stop, FOOD. Thanks to my desperate need to pee, we went to a restaurant up near the toilets on the main road. We decided to just get some entrees to share for dinner as we weren’t feeling particularly like anything spicy for dinner; too hot for that. There was a pub/restaurant near the toilets that had pub type food so we decided to eat there and head to the market after. It was the right decision because as we sat down next to the window, I let out a gasp of excitement. Shining across the street was a café with a giant sign saying the best words in the world “Haagan Dazs”, a sign we wouldn’t have seen unless we were up on the second floor. So we ordered some food, with the plan to market shop after that, finishing with the delicious icecream that is Haagan Dazs.
The markets had a really nice atmosphere. Sure, most of the stalls were to cater to the tourists with Thai artwork and random knick knacks, but fairy lights twinkled above and everything was beautifully bright. There was this endearingly pushy lady that managed to get us buying something from her, laughing at her sales techniques.
But more importantly we went to Haagan Dazs; before heading back to our hotel. Australia really needs to start selling this stuff, it’s delicious!!!
The next day we woke up again to delicious breakfast (poached eggs this time, yum yum) and went to explore some of the Buddhist temples that the city had to offer.
Can I just say, beautiful!! These temples have so much delicate gold artwork that you can’t help but admire it greatly. We walked around the side of a temple to find great big old ruins of a stone temple. It was more than what we bargained for, it was amazing, and looked like something you would find more so in Cambodia rather than this area of Thailand. It was an old moat and sitting up in the window of the temple was a large gold Buddah, and the temple was surrounded by beautiful blossom trees and Buddhist monks hanging out. Behind that temple was another smaller silver mosaic temple that was beautiful to admire also. So many temples all hanging together in some kind of temple community; It’s a temple party!
We jumped on a tuk tuk and headed to our next temple destination. It was very similar to our first temple and we sat admiring it in the heat and watching about 100 monks all hanging out having their lunch together. We decided we needed to retreat once more into somewhere with a cooler temperature (the heat was maddening) and went to a fish foot spa that we had passed on our first night. There was a cat lying in an empty fish tank taking in the sun from the window as we sat with our feet being nibbled on by little fish. It wasn’t as ticklish as the first time we got it done in Singapore, but it still had its moments when I jumped in a surprised giggle.
After lunch and a bit more of a wander, we headed back to relax and read some more (hey, we like reading and yes, we are nanna’s!). That night we went to find this vegetarian restaurant that I had found some amazing reviews on. However the taxi’s kept taking us around everywhere and we kept getting lost that by the time we found it, it was closed. Doh. So clearly the only logical thing to do would be to grab a light dinner and finish it off with Haagan Dazs icecream. Yes, very logical. Logical and delicious.
The next morning we had to leave, which sucked because we had really enjoyed Chiang Mai and its mix of old and new culture as well as the relaxed atmosphere that we had had.
This time, we were headed for Koh Samui. The Koh Samui airport reminds me greatly of a resort. It blows my mind, a lot, big kaboom in the old noggin of mine, BOOM. Mind. Blown.
We were only staying for one night as we were going to catch a ferry the next day to Koh Panghan. We wandered around Koh Samui to find some insect repellent (seriously paranoid about Dengue now, not even kidding, in my window on the plane, there was a mosquito trapped. Pretty sure it was out to get me!) We decided to grab a cocktail and some nibbles, so to appease Emmah’s love for chips, we grabbed chips that had a thai curry sauce to dip into. Deliciously amazing, and of course as were our cocktails!
We went back to the hotel to watch a movie and relax, and emerged later in the evening to satiate our bellies. We found a beautiful restaurant where they made us thai curries and noodles and spring rolls and the best banana smoothies in the history of the world. (now I really want one as I type this, doh!).
The lady working there was so lovely and invited us to a party later that night. We declined as we knew we would have days to party on Koh Panghan, but left her a big tip just because she was so cool.
The next morning we booked a transfer and boat to Koh Panghan. We took a taxi to the resort, to discover that it was AMAZING. We had a bungalow right on the beach front, score!! We were informed that the half-moon party was that evening (all he internet sites said it was the following night, so good thing we arrived a day early) and chilled at the resort for the rest of the afternoon.
We went to the resort restaurant for dinner and they had the best pizza to share, so yum, and sat on the beach drinking pre-party cocktails. We got conned into playing a game with marbles by the son of the resort owners (who were from England) and just enjoying the ambience of the night. By 11pm, it was time to take the taxi to the half moon party. Now, the half moon party isn’t actually a beach party, as it’s in the middle of the Koh Panghan jungle decked out in neon lights and paints and people everywhere. We, already tipsy from cocktails headed over to the bar with the resort manager who came out to party with us. We got a giant bucket of red bull and vodka which we had to split into two buckets as it was so freaking strong!!! Having the contacts from the resort, we got to head up to the VIP area and look out on all those on the dance floor through the haze of alcohol vision. We went back to the bar to have a jager shot, and then stumbled around. Emmah and I got separated and so we headed to the VIP area to wait for each other before getting conned into by the resort manager to do another jager shot. Emmah ran off not feeling to well, while I tried to keep my cool, but ended up having a cheeky spew, purely of the jager shot that hadn’t quite made its way down. So, I can now no longer claim that I have never had a drunk spew. Because I have, feeling a bit proud right now :P
Emmah and I located each other and headed back to VIP to squeal excitedly with our neighbours at the resort who we just found out were newly weds expecting a baby. So there was a lot of drunk hugs between us all (except for the girl, since she was sober, being a baby mama and all).
We headed out towards the food to fill our bellies with hot chips, and I lost Emmah again and ended up randomly chatting (about random nonsense no doubt) to a Canadian guy who sat down next to me to joy his pizza. Emmah claimed that she wasn’t feeling well so she wanted to go to bed, so we said our goodbyes and headed home.
The next day was the Thai New Year, in which everyone attacks each other on the street with buckets of water and water pistols, however nursing hang overs; we didn’t emerge from our room until the end of the day when the sun was setting. Bit of a shame really… We were keen to kill our hang overs with delicious resort pizza, however the kitchen was to be closed (as were most restaurants on the island) for the next few days due to the Thai New Year. Doh. We got invited to another beach party, which we decided to check out. We walked along the beach to lights and music. I started up a conversation with an Irish guy who was staying at the resort, and about 2 minutes into the conversation I tripped over a rock and face planted into the sand. Yep, way to go B, way to keep your cool around an Irish boy! Hahaha, there were a few jokes made about the Australian falling for the Irish charm right away and we continued to the party and found the party had pizza and skittle vodka. Best Ever.
We hung out for a little while, having a boogy, but sadly the previous night inhibited us from staying out long at all. It was supposed to be the biggest event of the year, however I think people were already at home passed out thanks to drinking all day at the Thai new year festivities.
Emmah and I headed back along the beach and sat in beach bags on the beach enjoying watching the stars and contemplating travel, as we do too often when we are together.
The next morning we woke up and I was 23. Yep, Happy birthday to me! We decided to hire scooters and take a ride around the island. It was so much fun, I want a scooter!!! The feeling of freedom and wind rushing over your body as you zoom past the jungle and elephants just chilling in someone’s backyard. We had no issues until we turned a corner that was going up hill and there was a deep pot hole that took up that entire side of the road. There was no real way to avoid it, because it suddenly appeared around the corner and you couldn’t see if there was oncoming traffic. I clumsily managed, but heard a giant clunk behind me. A moment of panic that Emmah may have stacked her bike, I tried to stop mine quickly, and grazed my toe on the road which resulted in lots of toe bleeding. I turned around to see that Emmah hadn’t stacked her bike, but had gone through the pot hole. The problem now was that we had stopped on an hill and the bikes wouldn’t have enough juice to start on the hill, so we turned around to go back down, hoping to have more control that way. I was waiting at the bottom for Emmah and headed back up to find her unable to start her bike, and blocking the traffic. She managed it and we decided to head back the way we came to avoid all the hills and pot holes, and therefore avoid injuring ourselves (aside from my still bleeding toe).
We headed by the beach to relax and grab a cold drink (banana smoothy…yum!) and just enjoying the beautiful views. We also stopped in at a Germany bakery to nibble at some banana cake with Emmah singing happy birthday to me in German.
We scooted our way back to the resort in the afternoon and relaxed on the beach watching the most beautiful sunset. Pretty sure it was especially for my birthday, no questions. Thanks universe for that one and we took the scooters into town that night for a delicious birthday dinner. With everything mostly closed we found a stall with Mexican food. After reading the sign and having a hankering for Mexican food, we saw that there was a restaurant about 1km away back the way we had come, so we headed back to find it.
And boy oh boy was it good food and margeritas (sticking to one at the start of the meal so we didn’t fall off our scooters on the way home. See, 23 and responsible haha). Even the ambience of the restaurant was chilled and nice, everything is great when there is fairy lights I think!
We nursed our exceptionally full stomachs and headed back to chill on the bean bags once more.
All in all, great birthday, I got some great presents (a kindle which I have been furiously reading on for the last 2 weeks, what a great invention! And a sky diving voucher; yep I will hurl myself out of a plane, hoopla) and had great fun with a great friend. Actually, scratch that, she is more like an acquaintance… haha, just kidding, you’re a bit of alright miss Emmah!
We had one more day at the resort and saw that the restaurant was back up and running, so we spent the day, eating, having cocktails and reading our books. What a great way to finish up the relaxing holiday.
We went back to Koh Samui the next day to fly to Bangkok as Emmah was to fly back to Melbourne that night, and I was to fly to Spain the next day. We hung out at my hostel for showers and went back to the airport to have dinner together before Emmah’s flight, our last bit of Thai food for the trip. Pretty sure Emmah had to fight back tears, but I was as cool as a cucumber and gave her friendly punch on the arm and left her to her tears. Ok, that was false, sure there was a hugs, but no tears. Only a month until we are hanging on a cruise ship together.
I headed back to the hostel to catch forty winks in prep to be up at 4am to head back to the airport. My sleep sucked though because I woke every hour out of a dream of having to give myself an injection in the morning. Sheer panic for the needle phobic girl. I did manage it however, but hated myself after, lol
My flight was pretty uneventful, but the flight attendant spilt apple juice in the lap of the guy next to me within the first hour of the 10 hour flight (she didn’t say thing either, just wandered off), so he didn’t order any more drinks for the remainder of the flight.
We flew into Helsinki, and I felt a child like sense of wonderment overcome me when I saw snow outside the window. The guy next to me probably felt like there was this weird chick invading his personal space as I edged closer to the window.
I jumped on my next flight to Spain and got a sudden chill as I hopped off the plane. I thought Spain was supposed to be warm? NOT AT ALL. So cold, especially when I have just come from living in the tropics, pretty sure I need to do some shopping for warm clothes, I have one thin cardigan, and that’s it. :S
So the Spanish adventure begins!
Sorry about the exceptionally long blog this time, but I have had more time to write it.
I’ll keep you posted
Love B xox
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