Alone again.... But not for long!

I was really sad to leave Nepal because it felt like my time there was so short and there was still so much more to see. I've put it on my list of places to go back to though (along with every other place I've been I suppose ha). I really want to go back and do a trek. I didn't even see Everest after all!

But I've been in Thailand now for a week already! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! Mom and Jack were here visiting the whole time and they weren't here long enough! It felt like as soon as they got here it was already time for them to leave and I miss them so much already. They were a nice little taste of home.

I got into Bangkok on the first. The flight was really enjoyable actually after my initial scare at the Kathmandu airport. I wrote this right after checking in:

"Every time I get to an airport for a standby flight I get the same feeling. That knot in my stomach as I hand the person behind the check in desk my standby ticket, desperately searching their face for any type of reaction that might indicate what my chances are of getting on this flight and getting where I need to go. Its even worse in cases like today for my flight from Kathmandu to Bangkok where there is only one flight that day and I didn't call ahead to check the flight load and I am supposed to meet my mom and brother that night at the hotel in Bangkok.

I hand the Thai airways guy my ticket and feel some relief when the man behind him asks if I have any bags to check. I put my bag down and watch the man with my ticket, waiting for him to give me the all clear. My stomach clenches again when he walks over and starts talking to the man at the next desk and I see them talking and pointing and then he comes back to his computer and he's typing and typing and clicking and ah! I get so nervous. Then he starts saying something to me about how I wasn't listed and so there is something from Bangkok and something from Kathmandu and something about mills and I have no idea what he's talking about but I'm sure it can't be good. Then the broken English finally clicks together. Because I wasn't listed beforehand they don't have a meal from Bangkok for me but they will give me one from Kathmandu. I give a huge sigh of relief and tell him I couldn't care less about a meal I'm just so happy to have a seat! He gives me a polite smile though I'm sure he has no idea what I'm talking about and sends me on my way with a boarding pass and a seat. I'm safely on my way to Bangkok!"

That's my little peek into the standby world. Not that I'm actually complaining at all, because if it weren't for Mom working at Air Canada who knows if I would be the world traveller I am aiming to be now! It's just an experience that I think most people don't really understand when I try to explain that flights for me are to guaranteed.

But now here I am typing up this blog entry from my hostel bed in Phuket! No more worries for now!

Mom and Jack got in a few hours after me. We stayed at Four Points by Sheraton in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. The hotel was really nice and modern looking with a beautiful pool on the roof. It was definitely a little clean comfortable oasis compared to the crazy city outside. Maybe m just used to being in crowded, dirty, sometimes smelly cities at this point in my travels because Bangkok didn't really phase me at all. Mom and Jack on the other hand we not big fans of the city. I'll admit there were smelly parts and lots of prostitutes waiting around for an old white mn to pick them up (of which there were also plenty), and we did get ripped off far too many times, but that's all a part of travelling isn't it? Every city had its own charms and character I suppose haha.

The first day in Bangkok we did a few of the main city attractions. We took the metro as close to the river area as possible. The first Wat we saw was Wat Trainit. Wat is Thai for temple and the country is absolutely full of Wats! I think it would take a lifetime to see them all! We kind of felt like once you see one Wat you've seen them all but we did get the opportunity to see a few. I guess the real difference is what Buddha you find inside. In WT Traimit we saw the Golden Buddha, which is the world's largest gold statue.

Our first Wat experience. In Chinatown area.

Mom with the Golden Buddha.

Our first time getting ripped off was by our first tuk tuk driver. Technically I guess he didn't rip us off himself but he led us into it. It has stated raining while we were checking out the Buddha at the Wat. Jack was dying to take a tuk tuk so we found a guy who said he would take us to the pier for a food price and we could get a boat from there to the City Palace. He actually took us to what I can only assume was his friend's boat place. He must have been getting a cut of the profits. So we hired our very own long tail boat to take us along the river to the palace.

Mom, Jack and I on the long tail boat!
Bangkok skyline including Wat Arun on the right.

It ended up being a really nice ride though and we got to see parts of Bangkok we never would have seen otherwise. We went along the side river streets and saw all the houses along there. You could see water lines that showed just how high the river levels had risen during the flood they experienced there last fall. It must have been really disastrous. Some places we're completely gone, while others just looked in very bad shape. It was very interesting and a reminder of the devastation the city had gone through very recently.

Another cool part about riding in the long tail boats are the water merchants. They ride along in their own little boats selling souvenirs, water, fruit and beer.

We docked near the City Palace where we had to pay 20 baht each to get off the boat! It was completely ridiculous and the boat driver just laughed as he drove off. Ripoff number two. Or is it still included in number one?

The City Palace area is huge and includes not only the palace but also the beautiful Wat Phra Kaew, or in English, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I personally thought the Emerald Buddha was the least spectacular thing in the Wat Phra Kaew area. There were so many incredible temples and statues and buildings that not only had extremely detailed designs but also beautiful colours and shapes. Each structure was so different from the last. And the Emerald Buddha himself was actually very small, and you could only see his head so I wonder if he was actually all green. Jack also read that mistakenly named it the Emerald Buddha and he is actually made of jade.... So again even less impressive.

The upper platform at Wat Phra Kaew.

The Palace in the rain.

Jack imitating the little temple goblins... Not sure what hey are!

Mom with her favourite flower temple.

A guard outside the palace.

After that we headed over to the City Palace itself. We even got to see where the king would have his afternoon naps!

The next day we headed north to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam. This city is full of ruins, where what used to be beautiful Wats and palaces have been turned to rubble. It was a drastic difference from the Wats we saw in Bangkok but really beautiful in their ancient ruin way. We took the train from Bangkok. It was a really inexpensive way of travelling and was pretty quick too. First we got an elephant ride around some of the ruins. The ride was actually pretty short but it was a fun little way to get around. We don't think the elephants were treated properly though because the men riding them had sticks with metal hooks on the end that we really didn't like the looks of. And then Mom said on the way back the man riding her elephant asked if she wanted to buy ivory!! While she was riding the elephant! She was not happy. I don't think I would want to come back to this elephant place again....

View from my elephant at Mom and Jack and one of the ruins in the background.

Mom and Jack.

I love elephants.

Mom looking lovely in the ruins.

So happy to have them here!

For there we went to one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. These ruins were so incredible. They were built brick by brick to create this huge site. Because of the flooding the site itself was too dangerous to walk around closely so it was all roped off, but you could still walk around the exterior and see the beauty that these ruins used to be.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site. So incredible!

Mommy and me.

Beautiful!

Jack and me!

The next day we flew to Phuket, Thailand's largest island. We didn't book a place before we left and ended up in a hotel that was not the nicest... But we headed to the beach for a few hours which was what we were really there for anyways. It beach was really busy but beautiful, our first view of Thailand beach life! We were in the Patong beach area which was very touristy and full of western restaurants and little clothing shops. We tried to walk back to our hotel but got lost and ended up paying too much for a tuk tuk.

The next morning was what we were all excited for- Koh Phi Phi! We went down to the harbour and bought our ferry tickets. Big tip for ferry tickets: when you buy the, at the pier they are listed as 600 baht one way or 1000 baht round trip. DO NOT BUY ROUND TRIP TICKETS! This is actually a HUGE ripoff! You think you'll. Save yourself money in the long run but then you get to the island and realize you could have bought a ticket back for 250 baht. I have also heard you can arrange ferry tickets beforehand for much cheaper. Live and learn I guess!

Beauty Mom in the boat!

Mom and Jack out on the balcony of the boat.

But it was all worth it when we got to the resort! After spending a few hours known enjoying a yummy lunch and some fruit shakes, we got the less expensive ferry up to the tip of the islands where we were staying. We stayed at P.P. Erawan Palms and it was the most beautiful place I've ever been. It was right on the beach, which was all super fine white sand. We had a big clean room with a comfy bed. And breakfast was included with an omelet station and everything! We spent our one full day there snorkeling the entire day. We rented a boat through the hotel first for 4 hours and he took us to Nui Bay to snorkel and then to Monkey Beach. The snorkeling was pretty good, lots of fish to see. Then at Monkey Beach it took some time to coax the monkeys down but then Jack spent at least an hour feeding them and playing with them. There was a whole family with a dad, lots of babies, and one angry mom. We wanted our boat driver to take us somewhere else but he wouldn't go and we were not happy considering we were paying for four hours. So we hung out at monkey beach then headed back.

Koh Phi Phi!

Sunset Bar at out resort on Phi Phi!

Our sunset view....

Seafood BBQ on the first night on Phi Phi

My fresh crab dinner!

Niu Bay snorkeling

Jack feeding monkeys on Monkey Island.

The we walked down the beach and hired a local boat driver for much cheaper. He brought us up to Mosquito Island to snorkel and the snorkeling there was a million times better than Nui Bay! It was so full of life and colourful coral and so many fish of different sizes and colours. It was worth the extra trip out.

Snorkeling at Mosquito Island

Sad to say goodbye to Phi Phi

Sadly Mom and Jack had to leave the next day. We had to part ways at the pier because they took a ferry to Krabi to take the overnight bus to Bangkok. It was a tearful goodbye. I miss them so much already! Apparently their bus ride didn't go as smoothly as one would hope either. They were supposed to get in at 5am to get to the airport for a flight to Hong Kong but apparently they didn't get in until 830am and they missed the flights they wanted to catch to Hong Kong and only got lucky making the flight back to Toronto. Mom said the bus kept breaking down and they changed vehicles about 5 times! I was planning on bussing back from Bangkok to Phuket but I guess we will see about that now....

I got to my hostel in Phuket pretty easily and I have met a few nice girls. One is from England, one from Sweden and one from Germany. They arer all traveling alone and have been for different amounts of time. For the most part during the day we have been doing our own thing and then meeting back up at night to sit and talk and have dinner. Today I went to the beach for a bit but it gets so hot I stayed a couple hours. Then I found a cheap little place for lunch, got Starbucks I'm ashamed to say ( but it was actually really nice to have a taste of home, and it relieved my caffeine withdrawal headache). Then I walked around for a while and got dinner dinner with the girls.

Speaking of my caffeine withdrawal... It never used to happen! But in India and Nepal They drink so much tea all the time, plus it kept me warm since it was so cold there. But now it's not such a huge thing in Thailand so I'll hav to get used to drinking less tea!

The food here is amazing. So fresh with lots of vegetables and spices and mmmmmm so delicious! I'm in heaven! And there is always lots of fresh fruit at the stands along the road.

In two days I head back up to Bangkok because Dan and Gowie are coming!! Yaaaayyy I'm sooooo excited! I've been counting down the days! It.l be so great to have people I know to go around to the sites with, eat Thai food with, enjoy some yummy cheap Thai beers with! We are going to have such an amazing time!

Not sure what the plan is after Bangkok for a few days, I'll have to decide with the guys. But I'm loving Thailand so far!