Koh Samui

Im sure you can take a guess of how everyone was feeling the days after the full moon party. Ya, not too great. The last thing we want to do is check out of our bungalow at 10am and jump on a boat for an hour to go to Koh Samui, but that's what we did. 

This boat was hangover city. All the souls had clearly been destroyed the night before. There were people with paint and sand still on them trying to board this over packed boat. There were definitely numerous fire safety violations and I ended up having to sit on top of a crate cause there wasn’t any place to sit or stand.

The only good thing about the boat trip was it was the most beautiful day I've seen since traveling. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was only a small breeze, just strong enough to disperse all the body odor from your neighbor.

Chaweng beach - Not a bad place for some TSD right?

We arrive at the pier and get a songtaew to Chaweng beach where all the action is. We look at a few guesthouses and hotels until we stumble across a gem called P&P resort. After haggling the price, we paid 700 baht a night together which is about $12 each. We had our own clean beds, a balcony, AC, fresh towels, and finally a proper shower! Score! We were stoked and anxious to get our asses to the beach to enjoy the miraculous weather.

The center of Chaweng breach is at the Ark Bar hotel which we were conveniently located next to. The surrounding area is all resorts, restaurants, and bars with a few Thai strip clubs in between. It's a really nice, but developed area. Clearly here is only one business here and that's tourism. But it's cute, and more importantly, cheap.

Ark Bar's nightly festivities

McDonalds says, "Sawatika!"

Officially it is recovery day. As you can imagine, 3 days o binge drinking can really f$(ck up the body. I was beginning to get the shakes (probably withdrawal symptoms) and I desperately needed to rest my body.

Consequently, after our relaxing day at the beach we mellowed out in the room and watched a little bit of BBC world news but bad no idea what they were talking about. Heather and I are so uneducated and more importantly uninterested in politics that we more or less zoned out for a few hours.

That night we wanted to hang out with Toby and Jensen before they left the next day to go back to Australia so we met up with them on the beach. They were enjoying some beers and convinced us to at least have a glass of wine. So we did... So much for recovery day right? Damn peer pressure. We chilled for a few hours and until we all needed to pass out from not having slept in days. Chiang Mai was the last place I remember having any sort of measurable sleep.

The next two days were kind of a blur because they really didn't have much to them. It was all about TSD - tan, shower, drink. And more tanning. Fortunately, the weather was simply delicious and we did our best to soak up as many rays as possible.  I’m significantly darker then I was last week. Just the goal I was trying to achieve while being on the islands.

T of the TSD

Ark Bar during the day... where all our tanning went down

Connect four girls hustling on the beach

There were snippets of meeting other people on the beach and in the restaurant and in the bars but it was all the same. All fun, but as the Thai say: same same. One thing I will say is that we met so many Israelis. We had no idea all 7 million of them came to Koh Samui for their holidays. They were everywhere! It was almost hysterical because even Instance a women spoke to us in Hebrew thinking we were also Israeli. When we met her question with blank stares she asked in English. Whoops!

The evening activities were reminiscent of Koh Phangan except at a classier level. We enjoyed several drinks (and cheap buckets of sangsom) while playing connect four with the devilish young Thai girls hustling foreigners out of their pockets. Damn they're good. We bar hopped down the main road, steering clear from the ladyboys and strip clubs.

This particular day was definitely a highlight. Heather is a big scuba diver and has been certified for over 10 years so it was essential for her to get a good dive session in while we were on the islands. I am not a scuba fan but I love to snorkel so we found company to cater to both of our needs for the day.

As the sun was beginning to rise, we were picked up from our hotel and taken to a pier not far from Chaweng beach to board the boat. There were only 16 other people with us making the common area spacious, a change of pace from our ride from Koh Phangan a few days earlier. The crew was a bunch of hippies who had made their life there for years and do nothing except teach scuba diving. Though they were a mix of German, Australian, English, and Scottish, they all had sun kissed highlights in their hair and their skin was already on its way to being a dark shade leather. Regardless, they were a fun group that made everyone feel welcome.

Happy days

At about 8am we set sail to Anthong National Marine Park which is a group of uninhabited islands northwest of Koh Samui. It takes 2.5 hours to get there but its 100% worth it. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of eggs, toast, and fresh fruit before arriving at our first dive spot. 

Our first dive site at Anthong National Park

In graduate school, my exercise physiology class discussed the body's effects when submerged in water. Though I did go scuba diving once when I was in Costa Rica, I’m now bloody terrified from studying the effects of how unnatural it is to be under water i.e. lung volume, nitrogen, and all things that can go wrong if you don’t ascend properly. None the less, there were only 3 of us who just wanted to go snorkeling. The other couple was German and the girl didn't even get her hair wet.... I mean, I know I’m too scared to go all 20,000 leagues under the sea but seriously, what a pussy.

Heather works that scuba outfit!

Heather and her group jumped in the water and immediately went to the bottom to do some cave diving. It sounded really cool but I got to do some cave snorkeling so I was just as content. In a matter of fact, it probably was better because I was all by myself. I felt like I was the only one in the ocean and at one with nature. The small island had a shallow reef out front but there were plenty of caves formed from the water and I got to swim all around it and explore for about an hour. I saw plenty of fish, coral, and sea eneminies. I probably wouldn't have gone on the trip if it wasn't for Heather, and I'm glad I did because it was truly spectacular.

Reef fish

Sweet coral

Under the sea

Who wants to live here?

Paradise

Light came through to shine on the bate ball

Opening from the cave

The next island was the size of about 1 or 2 acres and when everyone started their dive; I managed to swim around it twice in an hour. I looked at more fish and enjoyed paradise in the Gulf of Thailand. 

2nd island - all by my lonesome... and its was awesome!

Baracuda!

Anyone know what that is??

Naturally we were craving seafood when returning to Koh Samui. After showering we found a nice seafood restaurant to treat ourselves for the first time since being in Thailand. We couldn’t have picked a better restaurant. We both had a mixed seafood plate and mine came with an amazing curried rice and some kind of sauce I wish I had the recipe for. Absolutely epic. 

Dinner and a show and in the background!

Jealous much? So good!

Our souls and stomachs were mighty content. The night was still early so we roamed around the bar scene and found many things to do and plenty of drinks to drink. Not a bad day right?

Originally our plan was to leave the day after snorkeling, but we were so exhausted afterwards and we were having such an amazing time, we decided to stay an extra day. No regrets because the weather was once again scrumptious and we took advantage of that. TSD all day baby. 

Sunset

Since it was Saturday night, we made the most of our evening activities. We went to the Green Mango because there was a huge dance party there. There were about 3 stages and they were all packed with people. It was a blast because most Europeans don’t know how to dance and we got a lot of attention. The 2 for 1 buckets of sangsom probably helped a bit too…

Green Mango party!

All in all, Koh Samui was a great place to camp out for 5 days while we enjoyed sunshine and fantastic food. If you’re looking for a comparison, it’s a cheaper version of Hawaii. And when I say cheaper, it’s only literally cheaper. Our room was about $25 a night and that's split between both of us. There are numerous resorts that couples and families can take advantage of. My only complaint is that it’s probably a little too like Hawaii in the sense that there’s no real culture here. It’s nice resorts, restaurants, bars and beaches and that’s about it. It’s only a part of Thailand and that’s the best part. If it’s not what you’re looking for, you can find it somewhere in the north, or on the east coast, or wherever.

Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan

Chiang Mai is most northern big city in Thailand and borders Laos. Consequently, it takes a looooong time to get to the islands if you are not flying.  It took us 2 days to get to Koh Phangan…. And we hardly slept at all. We boarded the night train from Chiang Mai so we could get to Bangkok the next morning. Our previous night train was amazing but this train was clearly 20 years older and was exceptionally run down. The seats weren’t as good plus we were right next the obnoxiously loud doorway. We did our best to catch some zzzzz’s but it was hopeless.

The journey to Bangkok should have taken 14 hours but it ended up being almost 16. It was a long night and we still have to spend all day in the city before our bus/ferry ride to Koh Phangan. We hadn’t taken a shower since yesterday morning so we took advantage of the showers at the train station. We weren’t exactly expecting great facilities but they were pretty appalling. The floor was gross and there must have been an insect farm in there because the gnats covered all four walls of the shower. YUCK! We did our best to get clean because we have a 6pm bus to Chumpon and then a ferry to Koh Phangan.

At about 10am we take a tuk tuk to Kohsan Road where the bus depot is to drop off our bags. Heather lungs are starting to act up again from all the pollution but the good thing is, we are only there for the day. After we drop our bags off we head to Siam Square to do some shopping. We walk around a bunch of shops and realize we don’t want to be spending a lot of money. Moreover, we have NO more room in our backpacks to carry anything else. So after we had a wonderful Korean lunch, we came up with another option of seeing a movie. That way we could stay more or less clean (not sweaty) and just hang out for the day. The only English movie options were Trust (a scary movie that both of us refused to see) and Cowboys vs. Aliens. So we saw the later though it is not our type of movie…. It was decent but I wouldn’t exactly recommend it.

Green curry rice with salted fish at the Korean restaurant

Heather got to meet Tom Cruise at Siam square!.... jk

We got out of the theater at about 4:15 so we thought we would have plenty of time to get back to the bus depot. But we didn’t take Friday peak traffic into consideration. So we were in the taxi for about an hour and still hella far away. It was 5:30 and no cars were moving for the past 15 minutes. We were getting scared so we decided to ditch the taxi and had to speed walk to the bus depot.  We were booking it and by the time we got there (with 5 minutes to spare) we were soaked with sweat…. Defeating the whole purpose of having a lazy day at the movies. Whatever.

Before boarding the bus, we managed to get some fresh fruit from a vendor because we didn’t get a chance to get a proper meal before our 12-hour bus ride. Though we about killed ourselves trying to make it to the bus on time, the stupid bus didn’t even end up hitting the road until 7pm, making us really irritated. Luckily everyone on the bus were backpackers from all over Europe, Australia, and America. We made plenty of friends including one guy (Gavin) from Australia who had a large bottle of vodka with him. Gavin passed the bottle around our section of the bus but Heather and I only took a couple swigs cause we had no interest in getting hammered. The next few hours consisted of talking (slurring in Gavin’s case) about the full moon party in 3 days (everyone is headed there for it) and about our travels so far. It was a bunch of fun and great to exchange stories with our fellow peers. We all knew it was time to try to sleep when Gavin passed out in his chair from excessive vodka consumption.

We thought the bus ride was going to be 12 hours but it turned out to only be 7, getting us to the ferry station at just past 3am. The whole bus was confused but the drivers were unloading our things and we had to exit. There was no one at the station and our ferry didn’t leave until 7am. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the lobby for 4 hours. It was straight up awful. Everyone was exhausted but couldn’t sleep so we played cards and watched weird French movies in the lobby’s television to pass the time.

Once it was time to board the ferry, we hopped aboard and took a seat by the window. The sun was just coming up and it was beautiful. We were getting our first glimpse of life in the islands. I can’t wait!!!

After 3 hours of powering through the Gulf of Thailand, the ferry made a pit stop in Koh Tao (famous for their amazing scuba diving). Some got off the boat but more people got on cause we are all heading to full moon party. The seas were rough so it took another 2 hours before we got to our destination. 

Alas! We arrive at Koh Phangan and it is so incredibly beautiful. It’s 10 times better then what I was expecting. You can’t prepare yourself for the multiple shades of turquoise water that contrasts the cascading mountains covered by a tropical rainforest. Absolute paradise.

Haad Rin (sunrise beach) at its quietest

Sunset beach

We already booked our bungalow just outside the main city of Haad Rin so we got a songtaew to take us there. Originally we wanted to be far enough away from the full moon party so we could have a relaxing time away from the music when we weren’t partying. However, we realized that we were too far away the taxis to and fro were gong to add up significantly. Moreover, it was a sh!t hole. I was fine with the accommodations only because I just spent a month in India and I had seen far worse. Poor Heather was visibly upset about the bungalow because it didn’t have any proper walls and therefore mosquitoes could easily penetrate the bamboo structure. We both decided it was best to ditch our original plans and just search for a vacant place in Haad Rin where all the festivities will take place.

Haad Rin is in the very southern tip of the island and is flanked by 2 beaches: Sunrise beach and Sunset beach (named for obvious reasons). We find a cheap bungalow for the same price as the Secret Hut but its right on Sunset beach. There’s a private bathroom, a hammock, and we each get our own bed. All for a total of $13 a night. Pretty baller if you ask me.

View of Sunrise beach of our bungalow

Our bungalow

After arranging our things, we decide it’s imperative we get some good food in our bellies before we experience the first night of partying on Koh Phangan. We walk to Sunrise beach where all the action is and find a restaurant right on the water. Immediately we order our first Sangsom bucket (the cheap local whiskey that will tear your liver apart) and pair it with some traditional Thai cuisine.

Ahhhh the good ole Sangsom

Me love you long time!

As the sun goes down, the beach starts to come to life with techno music being blasted from every bar and club. We explore the intricate streets lined with restaurants, hostels, and various souvenir shops. Meanwhile, people are walking around everywhere with their buckets of booze and hop from bar to bar, just as we do.

Eventually its time to go get our dance on so we head over the Cactus bar for another bucket of Sangsom and proceed to dance the rest of the night away. We meet plenty of other people and have a fabulous time running amok around the beach until we retire to our bungalow at about 3am. Mind you the party went on till sunrise and the full moon party is still 2 nights away…. 

The following morning I was feeling great though we didn’t get as much sleep as I’d hoped. We haven’t slept since Chiang Mai but we got our bikinis on and headed to Sunrise beach to soak up the rays.

            Over the next couple of entries in my blog, I’m going to refer our daily activities as TSD, which is an acronym for tan-shower-drink because it seems like that’s all we’ve been doing. The beach is honestly heaven. The water is smooth and crystal clear. The sand is white and soft. The sun is beaming down but it isn’t too hot. Though the rain clouds swooped in mid afternoon, we strictly laid out for the next few hours until the sun is no longer able to affect our skin pigment. We head back to the bungalow to shower and get ready for another night of drinking.

So cute

            We freshen up and head back to Sunrise beach to get some food. Unlike northern Thailand, there are more restaurants that cater to tourists and unfortunalty the Thai food isn’t as good. Our tastes buds need a change of pace so we switch it up and eat at a Mediterranean restaurant. We split some amazing hummus with pita and a vegetable pizza. A great pregame meal before the night celebrations.

            The beach is inundated with people and most of us spend the first hour watching the locals put on a fire dancing show. Its really cool how the twirl these batons of fire in the air at such mach 3 speeds. Kind of scary, but they’re professionals and you can tell they do this every night for the hypnotized travelers.

            While we enjoy the fire dancers, we find a table to sit at and enjoy our first bucket of Sangsom of the night. We shoot the sh!t until two guys sit down beside us and join the conversation. Toby is from New Zealand and Jensen is from Australia but both live and work in Brisbane. They are super cool and we hang out for a few hours getting to know each other before heading to a club to dance. Every place is packed with people and makes the vibe really electric. All the bars have different events going on like a foam party that we checked out. It’s a good idea in theory until you are covered in soap and wondering if you have to spend the rest of the night soaking wet. In any case, we all get our grove on until 5am…. Or something like that. I don’t remember.

Foam party love

Jensen and Heather

Sawatika!

Me and Toby

            I’m sure a few of you older folks are completely lost and have no idea what I’m talking about when I say, “full moon party.” Let me help you out… In Buddhism, they follow the calendar of the moon and the full moon, half moon, and black moon are sacred things for them. They have celebrations every month for it, making it a perfect opportunity to get westerners on holiday to stay on the beach and rage all night. It’s become a huge event over the past couple years and now its complete mayhem. An estimated 20,000-30,000 people flock to Koh Phangan for the biggest full moon party in Thailand. While you are underneath the brightly lit moon, you can dance all night, wear neon colors, get body painted, and party until the sun comes up. It’s completely chaotic but an epic and essential part of any backpacker’s itinerary.

            The morning of…. We do our usual routine of TSD with a lunch in between. However, Heather has a serious case of the struggles as a result of her hangover making the start of the day a bit difficult for her. We specifically attempt to recuperate from the past 2 days of binge drinking and get ready for the biggest party of our lifetime.

By noon, there are significantly more people roaming the street. People arrive from Koh Tao and Koh Samui just for the day/night, stay up and party all night and catch the ferry back to wherever in the morning. Once sunset rolls around, the beach is packed with getting things started. There are all sorts of performers and vendors trying to get you to buy their drinks. We met one lady in particular who hooked us up for 3 consecutive nights because not only did she give generous drinks, she had the hilarious sign of “”me love you long time”. 

            I made the rookie mistake and didn’t eat a big dinner before the party so consequently I was completely sh!t faced by 10pm. Classy I know… but I had to recover because the night was just beginning and Heather would have probably killed me if I passed out early. Good thing there was plenty of food so I got some Pad Thai to chow down on. We go over to sit on the table and I misplace my footing and epically fall, knocking down 3 chairs and almost the table. Get better Shannon… Even though my noodles were cold, I managed to eat a good portion of it and it thankfully brought me back to life so I could enjoy the rest of the night’s pandemonium.

Pandemonium! 

Me fire jump roping!

I wish I could describe to you what the party is actually like but it’s impossible. Just imagine 4 football fields of beach paradise with shoulder-to-shoulder people, music blasting from every direction, and everyone is glowing from neon paint. Its absolute anarchy but in a good way. And frankly, it blows Vegas out of the water. I wish you could all come here and experience it for yourselves. I love it here but you can only do so much drinking and partying. So after returning to our bungalow after sunrise, we crash for about 1 hour before we check out of our room. We still haven’t slept since Chiang Mai. Regardless, it’s time to catch the ferry to Koh Samui where we will be for the next few days!

Chiang Mai

Coming from India, I was expecting the worst when we booked our second-class sleeper train to Chiang Mai. However, we boarded (with 2 minutes to spare) and got to our luxurious seats with a spacious bed, cushion, curtains, bed sheets, and pillow. We even had an eccentric butler that made our beds and helped us with our luggage, etc. I felt like I was in heaven considering my last train in India had a 3x5 plastic bed (if you could call it that) and just stopped running half way through the trip. We hadn’t spent 5 minutes on the train when a young guy from Liverpool comes up to us asking if we would like to join him and some of his friends for some beers in the restaurant car (which turns into a night club on the weekends with the help of disco ball and flashing lasers). He ends up lingering for 45 minutes while we talk about where we’ve been and where we’re going. While it was Saturday night, we both partied last night and were kinda looking forward to having a relaxing night train up north. Heather passed out immediately of course while I relaxed and did my usual night train routine. I was pleasantly surprised about how well I slept. Kudos Thailand. Kudos.

Gearing up for Chiang Mai on the train

We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 10am and told a songtaew (a red pickup truck that is the primary public transportation in the north) to take us to the gate of the old city. In my experience, it’s always best to show up without a reservation and scout the different places to stay and possibly haggle your price. We looked at a few guesthouses and they’re ok, but when we arrive at Kavil, we knew we had to stay here. Kavil guesthouse is recommended by lonely planet but we didn’t realize this until after checking in and sharing a fan room for 250 baht a night… or about 4 dollars each. Pretty sweet if you ask me. It’s a family run operation and they are the cutest thing you can imagine. They are the epitome of a genuine welcoming Thai family and hey have a little Chihuahua that is the most adorable thing on the planet. Highly recommended.

Showering is the only thing on our mind once we relieve our shoulders from the 50lbs backpacks we’re lugging around on our hides. After freshening up, we had the remainder of the day to explore! First, its time to test the northern Thai cuisine so we went across the street to small family restaurant. I get a spicy chicken soup with plenty of lemongrass, ginger and lime leaves. It was ok but nothing special. Luckily my Thai tea saved the day and it was glorious!

Yummy Thai iced tea!

We did a walking tour through the old city, which is surrounded by a moat…. Yes, a moat. Cool huh? We walked to Wat Chedi Luang, which has a temple that was built nearly 800 years ago. After walking around, we see a few monks just lounging on some picnic tables and there’s a sign indicating you can chat with them. This was such a cool experience because we marched over and had an hour-long conversation with a novice monk who was 22 years old. We covered various topics ranging from Buddhism, life as a monk, traveling, languages, and more. It was an enlightening experience since both Heather and I knew nothing about the religion. It’s also a great opportunity for them to practice their English skills…. Though they do need to work on their accent. Every time he said, “great”, it sounded like “clit”. We asked him to repeat himself several times because we were sure he wasn’t intending on saying, “a clit experience”. Ha-ha.

We moved onto a different temple called Wat Phra Singh. It’s famous for their sleeping Buddha and beautiful gardens (and now their deadly mosquitoes!). We saw the sights and it was perfect timing because the Sunday Market was just beginning. The Sunday Market starts at 4pm and takes up the entire Ratchadammoen Road. There are artists, vendors, street food, knickknacks and whatever you want. After Heather and I tried a local organic wine made from longon (a native fruit similar to lychee) we purchased a bottle that we enjoyed a few days later. There were tons of people navigating the intricate pathways of the market, searching for that special deal. We did our fair share of bargaining until we found a couple amazing food stands. There was sushi for 5 baht each piece so we loaded up on that, had some dim sum, pork pastry, and finally a chocolate banana waffle. Not a bad way to wrap up the evening.

Sunday Market madness

My alarm sounded at 7am because we have a full day of adventuring ahead of us. The day before, we booked a tour that included a trip to an orchid farm, a visit to the long necked women, elephants ridding, trekking to a waterfall, and white water rafting. You ask how could you do that all in one day, but its possible and it was no question a highlight of the trip so far.

Before they picked us up in a songteaw, we had a complimentary breakfast at the guesthouse that was f*$#ing out of this world. I also got to try dragon fruit for the first time, which is a fuchsia colored fruit and a cross between a kiwi and mango. We then jump on board with 8 other people and are crammed into the back of this small and super uncomfortable truck. No seatbelts mind you and there’s probably no oxygen either, only noxious gases.

It’s about a 30-minute drive to the orchid farm and its gorgeous. All the long corridors of vibrant flowers are mesmerizing.  We then set off to the Karen village, home to the famous long-necked women. They fled Burma many years ago and have many different tribes in northern Thailand. They have coils of rings around their neck that they start at age 3 and add an extra ring about every year to two years. Eventually their necks become freakishly long. However if they were to remove them, they would actually break their neck because all the neck muscles have atrophied. They originally started to use the rings as protection from tigers after one woman was mauled, but over time it turned into a superficial reason where the longer the neck, the more attractive you are.

I have to say, I am a bit of a hypocrite. I complained about the constant photos some Indian people would take of me yet here I was, taking pictures of the long necked women of Thailand. I felt like I was exploiting them solely because they are different. I was so uncomfortable, and while I don’t know if they felt the same way, they must relentlessly feel awkward about foreigners roaming the streets of their village taking pictures of their strange appearance. For this reason, I am not posting the pictures I took of them.

After about 20 minutes of invading the Karen village, we boarded the songtaew so we could ride some elephants. While I already rode an elephant in Jaipur, this was particularly special because it was in the jungle. Heather and I jumped on top of Mimbay (our elephant) and we marched town a trail to the water. Because we are not the same weight ratio, I found myself leaning hard to port, to balance my side of the platform. Awesome for my self-esteem. But Mimbay didn’t care and he was a good but slow elephant. He took his time, making each step count and sporadically stopping to pull some vines to eat. We didn’t mind because that just meant a longer ride for us!

Lunch was complimentary however it was just rice with some squash and tofu served with a side of pineapple. Not the best meal but I layered my rice with spicy chili sauce and that made a world of difference. I loooooove my spicy food! Oh and I must have eaten 2 pineapples.

There wasn’t much time to linger, because the next thing on our itinerary was trekking. This is the stuff I like to do…. And my trekking repertoire in the Himalayas was spectacular. We started off in the plains and made our way up between 2 mountains where we followed a stream. It was absolutely gorgeous and because it was monsoon season, there was plenty of water and consequently, there was no saving our shoes. They got soaked immediately as we hopped from rock to rock, or in Heather’s case, fall from rock to rock. At the summit of our hike, we reached a magnificent waterfall with plenty of people jumping in the pool of water to clear off all the salt and sweat. The water was cool, but not cold. It felt just right and we spent about a half hour letting the water hit our backs and taking it all in. Paradise.

When we returned to the truck, it was only a 5-minute truck ride to get to the white water rafting spot. Other groups joined and there were about 20 of us, all put into boats of 4-5 people. There was an introductory portion where they explained how to hold your paddle, certain commands to obey, and what to do if you fall off. Heather and I both have rafted before but it had been at least 10 years so it was a nice refresher course. However, it’s hard to understand broken Thai English.

We were the first group to get into the boats and head down the river. Our boat master or steerer was a crazy man. He kept saying there was a 100 meter waterfall just ahead and to be careful of the anacondas and the crocodiles in the water. Of course with his thick Thai accent, he repeatedly said cok –a-di, cok-a-di! Furthermore, once we got into smooth water, he must have pushed me over the edge about 6 times. Every time I managed to get back on the raft (which is not an easy task mind you) he pushed me back in. I was the only one he did this to. Not cool man, not cool.

We honestly had the most fabulous day. We made friends with all of our other trekkers and exchanged emails so we could swap pictures. One Turkish couple is living in Singapore that we might get together with once we reach there in a month. I am not a big “guided tour” fan but it was money well spent because we got to do a majority of the things on our list done in one day. We had the time of our lives.

Needless to say, once we finally got back to Kavil guesthouse, we were exhausted, dirty, and STARVING! We immediately showered and headed out to a healthy dinner. I got the vegetable soup and a traditional northern Thai papaya salad. It totally hit the spot and we were happy campers. When our heads hit the pillow that evening, we were out like a light.

All we wanted to do after our full day of adventuring was sleep in. we arose from the dead and desperately needed to do laundry. It took some time, though it hadn’t even been a week since I last did laundry. I then promised the folks I would call them (I've officially been on the road a month now!) so I suppose I could take time to give them a ring. We spoke for about 20 minutes about my experience in Thailand so far, how it compared to India, and where we are headed next. My blog was discussed and how they love reading it (hope yall are enjoying it too! It is fun to capture all my experiences and share them with you).  It was great connecting with the real world but I'm not finished with my crusade. I have about 2 months to go and I never want to leave…. sorry mom and dad… but it’s the truth.

Heather and I decide to live the life in Chiang Mai for the day as a local. We got some lunch at a Thai café before walking towards the Ping River. We took our time with everything. No rush. There are numerous tour shops, bookshops, Thai massage parlors, cafes, bars, etc. This city is truly amazing. We parked ourselves at the Riverside café for a jug of beer. Our seats were right on the water (which flooded the bottom level because of the monsoon rain). Beers, laughs, stories, and pure ecstasy followed, all the while watching the storm come in from the west with the small long tailed boats zip up and down the river.

Though it was just starting to drizzle, we made our way to Chiang Mai’s famous night bazaar. It’s a huge area filled with the same thing you see in every bazaar. It was cool but its nothing we haven’t seen before. I managed to buy a new bathing suit for the islands in a few days but that was about it. The rain was starting to really come down now but we didn’t care. We walked back to the old city where we had a nice romantic dinner at an Italian restaurant. We shared a salad and a pizza, something I haven’t had in a looooong time. All I've eaten in the past month is straight Indian or Thai food. I'm not complaining but it was delightful to finally get something other then curry, rice, or naan in my stomach.            

Our last full day in Chiang Mai was something special. We woke up early to take a half-day course at a Thai cooking school, which just so happened to be located across the street from our guesthouse. We arrived at Baan Thai Cookery School at 9:30 where there were 5 other people in our class. Two girls were from Chico, California, a couple from Ireland, and an older man from Argentina. We all got to know each other while we walked to the market to get acquainted with Thai produce, rice, and tofu. They have so many different ingredients here but a lot of them I've seen in the supermarkets at home, you just never know what they are. Americans rarely venture past the broccoli, zucchini, and carrots. I am now familiar with lemongrass, Thai basil, chili lime leaves, pea eggplant, and Thai ginger. All things I've never seen before but are frequently used in cooking here.

Getting ready to cook some good ole Thai food!

The spring rolls are ready for frying!

Baan Thai gave us certain things for us to carry back to the school in our baskets. I got the eggs and ginger. When we got back, we started our cookery lessons. From each category (appetizers, main course, curry, and soup) we got to choose 1 of which we’d like to make. I love to cook but I am completely unfamiliar with the wok but with some practice, I got the hang of it I started out with prawns in curry sauce. It turned out amazing… just the right consistency and spice for me. Heather made pad Thai and we swapped taste tests from each. Next was onto the appetizers. I made spring rolls and heather made fish cakes. Both were super good but also greasy… I've never been a big fan of the deep fryer. The third course was chicken in coconut milk, which was good, but I’d definitely leave out some of the ingredients…. I’m not a fan of lemongrass. By this time, we are all feeling a bit full (for Christ’s sake, we’ve had 3 courses already!). But we have one meal left and we both chose the red panang curry with pork. This has to be my favorite and I cannot wait to test it when I get home! Dad, I know your salivating, but just wait, ok?

Clearly, we were in a serious food coma. We returned to our accommodations to chill but that of course turned into a nap. I woke up to a nightmare in a panic. I literally felt like I was being shaken up from a coma. I have never been in such a deep sleep in my life and could have slept for the next 2 days if I wanted to. But we managed to get up because we needed to purchase our train tickets back to Bangkok and then onto Koh Phangan for tomorrow. We got a tuk tuk to the train station and bought our tickets for tomorrow evening at 6pm. Then we bought our bus/ferry tickets from Bangkok to Koh Phangan from a private store. It was nice to know that we were all set to go to the islands for the full moon party!

We returned to the guesthouse once again but I needed to get this food baby out of my system so I decided to do a sunset run. I ran around the moat that encompasses the old city of Chiang Mai. It took me about 45 minutes but it felt amazing, even in the heat and humidity.

For our final night in the city, we decided to go to a muy Thai boxing match. To start  we shared our local bottle of vino in the downstairs lounge area of our guesthouse where we met a few other travelers and chatted it up with them for a while. The show was at 9pm so we sipped our last drops of longon wine and headed around the block to the stadium. We told Nikita, Amanda, Nola, and Marcus (the from Thai cooking class earlier) about the fight that night but we were very surprised that they took us up on our offer. We saw them as we walked in and joined them in the 2nd row of “cheap seats”.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with muy Thai boxing, it’s a very unique but ancient tradition in the Thai culture. Its boxing that has 5 rounds and you are allowed to use your hands, elbows, legs, knees, and feet to stike your opponent. All of us noobs got a Chang to gulp down as the matches were just beginning. There were 7 fights which culminated with the professionals in the 6^th and 7^th. The first fight was between 2 young men that must have been no older then 14 years old. We all definitely felt awkward as they beat each other up for money in the stadium full of shouting coaches, scantily dressed women, beer, smoke, and tourists. Something is not right about this situation…. The second fight was a girl fight where one was clearly the winner and knocked the other girl out in the 3^rd round. That was after her titty popped out cause she was an idiot and forgot to wear a sports bra to the match.

The fights got better as the beers kept arriving and the night went on. I even got the courage to ask the band (who was playing this ridiculous music consisting of chimes, an odd trumpet, and drums). They basically made noise in no particular rhythm for the duration of the night. I asked the guy playing the chimes if I could take his place for one round. Not to brag, but I think he was kinda jealous when he realized how good I was. I got my first 6 rounds right as I called out who I thought would win. Of course, I put a 100 baht bet on the 7^th round but lost when my guy got knocked out cold in the 2^nd round. Dammit…. At least its only 3 bucks.

Heather was feeling weary eyed so we walked her back to the room so she could pass out. I however was still up to check out the nightlife with Nola and Marcus. There was a cool bar around the corner, which we made a nice home for the next few hours…. Or until they kicked us out. We started off with some more Chang but that suddenly changed when they ordered a cocktail for me. I wasn’t about to refuse a drink even though I knew that mixing wine, beer and vodka never turns out well. Regardless, we gossip about various different topics before returning to their hotel so we could take a dip in the pool. That didn’t last long though cause they kicked us out for being too noisy. Rude. So we called it a night but not before exchanging info and hopefully Heather and I will get an opportunity to meet up with them later near the islands.

As you may have guessed, the next morning was a rough one for me. I was sooooooo hungover! And we have to shower, pack, and get ready for our sleeper train back to Bangkok that night. I did not pick a good day to be hot mess from too much booze. It was a slow process, and I could tell Heather was trying to be very patient with me. I finally got my shi!t together so we could go eat. We went to a local restaurant but I didn’t have much of an appetite. However, we did mange to see a college football game between Purdue and Middle Tennessee. I have no idea how they got it, or how old it was, but it was nice to see a little taste of back home. 

Because we wanted to keep it mellow and not get too sweaty for our train ride, we determined it was a perfect opportunity to get a Thai foot massage. It was especially good timing after my 4 mile run last night… my feet were super sore. We found the perfect spot and spent 150 baht… or about 5 dollars for an hours massage. We both were in heaven as we watched the ladies work their magic for the next 60 minutes. We didn’t have much time before we had to leave so we got some water, snacks, and our luggage and set off for the railway station.

Chiang Mai was a beautiful city and is definitely a gem in northern Thailand. If I had more time, I would have loved to have seen more of the countryside and even take a bus into Laos. But I suppose that will have to wait for another trip. So far, Thailand has been everything I thought it would be, and more. I’m off to a good start and now Heather and I are moving south to the famous tropical island beaches. Be jealous. Be very jealous.