Learning & leaving

We’ve been staying at Udee, a hostel for the remainder of our stay in Bangkok and I am impressed! The people here are so unbelievably hospitable. I’m glad we found this place online with positive reviews. It’s nice to feel comfortable for once! We’ve been staying at a few unkempt places, some without hot water or toilet paper here and there, but it goes to show that “you get what you pay for”, really. The offer free bread, tea/coffee/chocolate milk here every morning. Their toaster toasts your bread with a happy face on it and a coffee mug on the other side. Happy toast makes me happy.

As we’ve continued to travel, I bear in mind the theme of diversity but more so, similarity when meeting fellow vagabonds. Everyone has their stories of their escape into these foreign lands and it is exceptionally refreshing. I love knowing that people have taken charge of their lives and removed themselves from societies of monotony and discomfort and just ‘packed up and left’ because life is just too short to settle for unhappiness.

I am always inspired being here. The universe has attracted us to so many people who have such amazing stories and parallels to our lives. I’m learning that although we are all from different countries, our views of each others may not entirely be the same, leaving us to believe one’s is lighter than the other but in the end appreciating those facets of our country that make us unique. I hope to continue to meet these extraordinary people who have a strong appreciation for travel and risk throughout this experience and learn a thing or two from them.

We’ve been trying to soak up as much Thailand as we can while we’re here. I’ve been trying to eat everything I’ve ever enjoyed from the markets and even going so far as buying coconut ice cream from every single ice cream man roaming the streets (or more like me stalking every single one of them the moment I hear that little bell!).

There are a plethora of things, people and food that I will miss:
• Coconut ice cream for 10 baht
• Pad Se Ewe/ Pad Thai
• Thai Ice Tea/ Iced Coffee
• Mangosteen, dragon fruit, pineapple (served on a stick)
• Fried goods on the street
• The Isara community
• Being mistaken for being Thai and getting good prices on market goods
• Pretending to be know how to speak Thai

Things that I will definitely NOT miss
• Uncomfortable bus rides
• Getting food poisoning from bad pineapple
• Motion sickness (I don’t know if I can avoid this, actually. Bleh)
• Being mistaken as a Thai go-go dancer (when I wear tank-tops), shop owner, restaurant cook when I attend various tourist events
• Mosquito bites
• Gross guest houses
• Getting ripped off by being a tourist

There are so many thoughts that I’m forgetting to include in this post. Forgive me, it’s been a long week transitioning into new places. Despite that, I will never forget these lasting impressions I have of this beautiful country. It has been an unbelievable 3 months of my life here in Thailand and I only hope for more positive and marvelous experiences to come.

Edit:
p.s. Left making sure we drank the last Chang beer we could at the airport!

Ruins of Ayutthaya

As I mentioned earlier, day trips to various tourist sights are made incredibly easy in Thailand. We decided to make a trip to Ayutthaya before leaving Thailand since was a must-see and noted as one of UNESCO’s historic sight. I’ve become an avid reader of UNESCO’s website, a resource site that provides information on various international historic sights that have been unscathed and preserved over the years. Ayutthaya, Thailand’s former capital is home to the previous “Grand Palace” and Bang-Pa, the summer home of the King.

Our day began at a 6 a.m. pick-up by a Thai driver who seemed as though he had OCD. He was touching all the mirrors of the van and had this uneasy twitch. We were told that the drive to Ayutthaya would be no longer than 2 hours, but since Bangkok traffic is unbearable, it may take longer. I decided that I would sleep in the van since 6 a.m. was too freakin early! After making a pit-stop at a local Bangkok hotel parking lot to pick up our tour guide, we were then transferred to our driver’s personal whip. Believe me, at 6-7 a.m. we didn’t even care about what was going on; it was too early to function.

After transferring to his car, we arrived at Ayutthaya at about 9 a.m. Our first stop was Bang-Pa where the king spends his summers. Our tour guide, Gim (or Jim?) did a great job photographing Lara and I. It’s always nice to have someone with perspective to take photos for you. Here are a few photos of this place

Once we were done touring the sight, we drove to Wat Panan Choeng (p.s. Wat means Temple) which houses the largest ancient golden Buddha known as “Luang Po To”. The Buddha image, settling in a meditation posture is 57 feet in height. I was amazed to see how enormous this statue was! I couldn’t believe how massive it was. I forgot to ask whether it was built inside or if the temple was built around it first. Before entering into the temple, we were greeted by Thai traditional dancers as well.

Some things I’ve learned about Buddhas per Gim:

• Buddha’s are given offerings every day in various forms like food, drink, money and gold flakes
• Buddha statues in distinct postures indicate specific meanings: Buddhas that are sitting cross-legged are in meditation, those standing with one palm faced in “stop” gesture indicate a yield in family conflict and those standing with two palms mean to calm the waters
• There are different Buddhas that are praised

Our next stop was Wat Maha That, which was once known to be the original Grand Palace. This space was destructed by the Burmese in the 14^th century. All along this palace were several Buddha statues that were slaughtered and beheaded by the Burmese, leaving an eerie and disturbing presence in this once revered historic sight. This place is also known for the outlandish landmark of Buddha’s head grown into a tree. Gim explained that the Burmese attempted to destroy it by burning this place down and because they beheaded and dismembered the Buddha statues one head was thrown into the ground where a tree began to grow.

Before going into this site, there was this guy taking pictures of tourists. I didn’t notice that he was taking photos of us until Lara mentioned it, but before we left a woman approached us with these two plates in her hands. Tell me why we look so moded… oh I know, because the guy could have asked us to smile instead of being a stalker and taking pictures of us! Why would anyone want to buy a picture of them with their mouth open looking silly like that? Haha, gaaaaad.

This place was incredible and had so much history tied to it. I hope you like my pictures!

After we took a quick lunch over to a designated restaurant along the river then to our final sight, Wat Phra Sri San Phet. Once we were finished, we headed back to Bangkok and made a default stop to the gem warehouse. We didn’t buy anything, but we did enjoy the complimentary soda, tour of the factory and quick film of how gems were excavated in Thailand.

As I’m nearing my departure from Thailand, I can’t help but appreciate the amazing history of this country and all these beautiful places. We’re almost leaving and it feels like we’re leaving our hearts in another place again.

I’m always charmed by you. Thank you.

More photos from Ayutthaya

Sweaty day at the Grand Palace

(apologies, will be a brief blog... I'll add on once I remember more details!)

You can't really say that you've visited Bangkok if you haven't seen The Grand Palace. On Tuesday, we managed to do the touristy thing in Bangkok and made our way to this amazing historic sight. We arrived around noon time, prime time for heat (I'm always so surprised by how intensely hot it gets over here without the presence of the sun in the sky) and roamed around the palace. Here are a few photos I took of this gorgeous area.

Upon entering the Grand Palace, various personnel were patrolling, scanning for potential prohibited outfits. In consequence, you were requested to rent attire to cover yourself up with.

I was so fortunate to have my very own Thai tour guide to take me along throughout this historic space. Just kidding. As mentioned, cover-ups were provided for free because Lara was wearing booty shorts... kidding again, she was apparently wearing suggestive leggings. Sawadee Ka, Lara. Lol.

So amazing

This temple housed the Emerald Buddha. The story has it that lightning struck a Chedi in Chiangrai province of Northern Thailand in 1434 A.D. and this Buddha statue made of stucco was found inside. Apparently this statue has stolen from Laos and moved around from city to city then finally Thailand's kingdom managed to take hold of it and made a permanent home for it in Wat Phra Keo.

This is the model of Cambodian ruins, Angkor Wat

Forgive me for providing vague details of this place, the names and history are escaping my memory right now. I'll be sure to update this soon!

It's beautiful here...

The islands of Thailand have to be the epitome of why travelers from all around the world come to visit any time of the year. We were lucky enough to experience 3 of these many islands, one of which has become my all-time favorites. In Thai, the word “Koh” means island, so if you’ve ever wondered what they all meant from my recent posts, now you know.

Visiting Koh Phi Phi Ley is almost made by default for island hoppers and dive enthusiasts as this sight is made famous by the book then made to movie, The Beach starring Leonardo Dicaprio and home to the world’s most exotic fishes. We were fortunate enough to make a day trip to this island a few days into our stay in Phi Phi. We booked a day trip with a local travel agency for seriously, $20. It’s quite customary to book impromptu day trips throughout Thailand since tourism is a thriving industry here and the most lucrative. The trip included various stops, our itinerary went as follows: Monkey Beach (which was on the same island as Koh Phi Phi but further south of the isthmus and closer to the Andaman Sea), diving in the Andaman Sea, and watching the sunset from Maya bay (in Koh Phi Phi Ley).

Monkey beach was our first stop. I can’t give you any more details than that. The beach was literally populated by little monkeys. Some tourists from our boat had small pieces of bread to give them… I didn’t bother trying to feed them any of the food from my bag because they kind of scared me, except for this little monkey that I saw who was eating watermelon and spitting out the seeds. Sorry, no picture.

After Monkey beach, we headed towards Koh Phi Phi Ley to dip in the water a bit for their dive. I don’t swim very well, nor do I know how to snorkel well either, so I just floated along for about 5 minutes. There were so many fishes below! They had a beautiful fluorescence to them and intricate patterns. I was kind of alarmed for a bit because they started to bite me or I felt some sort of sting, but other than that the sight was amazing.

Once the dive was finished, we headed over to a cove area (I’m not quite sure what the name was since there were so many mini-stops we made and our captain made only few announcements to us) where we stopped again for another dive. Lara and I opted out and just hung out on the boat for a bit to take these marvelous pictures. The water was this brilliant turquoise complimented with lush green growing on the surrounding rocks. I must say, it was absolutely breath-taking; I have never seen anything like this!

Lastly, we made our final stop to Maya Bay where the movie was filmed. I remember being in absolute awe from the beauty of this place as our captain introduced, “my friends, welcome to Maya Bay”. The sand on this beach was incredibly fine and quite soft, perfect for exfoliating! Here are more pictures:

As the sun began to set, we headed back home and watched the sunset from our boat. I couldn’t help but feel so lucky to be here to witness the beauty of nature and all it has to offer. I hope that I have done justice for these islands by sharing the beauty that is captured in these photos and definitely recommend that you make a trip to the islands of Thailand at some point in your life; it is truly a sight to behold.

What we've been up to...

Just a little something we've been doing while over here in Koh Phi Phi
(p.s. this is from the movie, The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio!)
More updates and photos later!

The view from the top

This is Bay View point, one of Koh Phi Phi Don's highest points during the sunset

where the isthmus of the island can be seen.

Today was another day of profuse sweating and hiking. We took a strenuous hike through some narrow paths into the jungle/tropic area of the island. Ooooh! And we saw a monkey in the trees as well! Sorry, no picture was taken due to my deep panting and waterfall of sweat. I realized that my stamina has significantly decreased because of this hiatus in cardio workouts while climbing these steps up to the viewpoint. I also feel like the air and pollution (due to all the garbage burning) here has contributed to this difficulty I've been having on outdoor activities. I hope it won't be too bad when I get to Hawaii since I'll begin training for B2B.

Anyway, after the hike we finally reached the viewpoint and it was a picturesque view indeed!

A few tourists were also nestled here waiting for the sun to set...


And more pictures...

It's beautiful here and often times feel like I'm not doing enough justice for this place because my thoughts get scattered and I forget about the simplicity in nature and the peace it instantly brings. At times I reconnect with home, but at the end of all these thoughts I finally realize that it's nice to finally have time for myself here. I do a great deal of reflecting and constantly have to remind myself that this is what life should be about: being able to take time for yourself for relaxation to balance out the stress that we often experience.

A view from the top, that's all it takes. =)