It Truly Is a Wonderful Life

Wednesday, February 10th

Guys! I made it! Not only out of Thailand, but this is officially my last post about Thailand {bittersweet to be honest because I love any excuse to flip through my several hundred (hehe or more) pictures that I took during my trip!}

I warned you, we were all about relaxation these last two days! We woke up Wednesday morning and I happy to announce that I was the last one out of the pool when it closed Tuesday night and the first one in the pool when it opened Wednesday morning…fine living at its best! Waking up we were excited because our fancy schmachy hotel came with breakfast vouchers.

We had no idea what that might actually look like but we knew 2 things to be true 1) we would actually be eating breakfast that morning and 2) it wasn’t going to be toast and strawberry jelly! I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so excited to scarf down multiple bowls of corn flakes in one sitting before! In Taiwan cereal is not really considered a breakfast food and milk is not super cheap so I rarely [read: never] have either milk or cereal, so having both offered to me was a little slice of heaven to start out my day! Coupled with scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, and salad, I left breakfast one happy camper. I would like to say here that after breakfast I went back to my room like a respectable adult to put on my swimsuit before going to the pool, but that would be a lie…I actually woke up at 8am and dressed directly into my swimsuit so as soon as breakfast was finished…it was hello blue water and sun for Tracy!

Around 3pm the hotel decided that they wanted to introduce us to this thing called “mandatory check out” I’m not so sure what that is though :P but sadly our swimming had to come to and end. By this time though, naturally, our tummies were rumbling once again so we decided to get a little adventurous after stumbling upon a street stand. This man was selling what appeared to be a flat dumpling or a fat pancake stuffed with different veggies. We each ordered one of each flavor and our taste buds thanked us graciously for the meal!
 

After lunch we walked to a ways to Wat Traimit temple to pay a visit to the Golden Buddha that we had read about in my lovely Lonely Planet Guide (remember as I mentioned in a previous post, by this point we had basically done all the “big name attractions” in Bangkok and we were just now leisurely visiting things as we discovered their existence.) The grounds of the Wat Traimit temple were beautiful with everything coming together in beautiful golds and whites and although not nearly as large as many of the other temples we had visited throughout the country, it was beautiful in its own respect. Unfortunately being my last day in Bangkok I was running a little short on cash {and still had yet to get my dear brother the soccer jersey I had promised him!} and hated to take money from an ATM with crazy high fees for a quick trip inside to see the gold Buddha, so Tina ran in for a couple minutes while I people watched outside of the temple; win-win if you ask me!

After checking out the temple we didn't have too much on our agenda until early evening, so we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering. Honestly, after two weeks of being on the go all the time, it was nice and relaxing just to walk around and see where we would end up. We stopped at a food stand for Tina to grab a bite to eat, we browsed a local shopping mall, stopped in  a local jewelry shop, and chatted with locals curious as to why 2 foreign girls were away from the touristy areas of Bangkok. 

With today being Ash Wednesday I was determined to find a Catholic Church to attend mass at some point during the day {easier said than done when 94% of the population is Buddhist and only a mere 1.2% of Thai people are Christian LET ALONE Catholic!} Low and behold though, I was able to find a church (at this point I couldn't get picky about the language!) and around 6:30 I left Tina at the mall and ventured to find the church {actually it was the Cathedral!} nearby for mass at 7:00. I was shocked when I arrived, not only was this a Cathedral, but also a primary school, high school, college, and convent all on the same grounds, and it was beautiful! I got to mass a little early and watched the high school band practicing for an upcoming competition before heading into the church. 

In terms of churches go, the Assumption Cathedral was brand new having finished construction only 16 years ago in 2000 but it was beautiful in its simplicity nonetheless. Through my years of travel I have had the opportunity to go to mass in several different counties and have experienced it in several languages as well, but I have to say, Thai mass was a first for me! Everyone in the church was Thai except for myself and an older European looking woman several rows ahead of me. As soon as I sat down she noticed me (being the only 2 non-Asians in the church!) and gave me a small wave. Periodically during mass she would turn around and smile to me {it was obvious neither of us spoke any Thai lol} and during the sign of peace she made a point of coming over and giving me a big hug before returning to her seat. When mass was over she made a bee-line for my pew and we both exchanged greeting before realizing we still weren't speaking the same language! She was from Germany and was visiting Thailand for 2 weeks. I don't speak German and she knew only a handful of words in English, but she expressed her happiness in seeing "a young person" in church and gave me the biggest of hugs and a kiss on the cheek before she left. It honestly left me with tingles. What a beautiful world that we live in where I can go to church that is speaking a foreign language {and still be able to follow the mass...one thing I love about Catholicism} meet another foreigner whom still doesn't speak the same language as you, yet leave the church feeling so fulfilled and happy inside!

Nap Time!

Once mass was finished Tina and I made our way back to our hotel where our bags were in storage (easier said than done as we had slowly been wandering further away from the

 hotel all day) grabbed our bags and settled in for one last Thai dinner before getting on our airport shuttle bus. Ok, in reality I wish our trip back was that peaceful! It was a bit of a time crunch, but we made it! Coupled with the fact that I was bound and determined to still find a specific Thai soccer jersey for my brother and make it back to the hotel before they closed the baggage room for the night. Needless to say all worked out, I've got the jersey, our tummies were fed, luggage in hand, and we made it to the airport with time to spare in preparation for our 2am flight home {hello naps on every airport chair I sat in!}


Thailand, you've truly been wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better 2 weeks to fulfill my desire that I've had for years to visit Thailand. The temples, the elephants, the sights, sounds, and food, it was truly a vacation that I'll never forget...thank you!

Temple Trotting and Some R&R

Tuesday, February 9th

Sadly our trip is winding down, we've got 2 days left, and although my heart was happy, the rest of my body was starting to feel the affects of constant traveling (both walking as well as my lovely fall down the mountain!) and Tina and I dubbed our last 2 days in Thailand as ones of relaxation and taking it slow...perfect! {PS - if you need to catch up any or missed yesterday's post, you can check out Cambodian posts HERE and Thailand HERE!}

We slept in Tuesday morning for a bit and by this time we had hit all the must haves in Bangkok so it was a little easier to relax a bit and just pick up smaller adventures here and there as the opportunity presented itself. With that being said, our first stop of the morning was walking to a smaller temple called Wat Indra Viharn. The temple is believed to be almost 600 years old and one of it's main attractions (sadly not 600 years old!) is a Buddha statue that stands 105 feet tall and shadows many of the surrounding temple buildings at the site. This temple was a little odd, and sadly since it is not such a "big name temple" there were no English descriptions for anything. Off to the back was a green Buddha looking much like a giant gummy bear, near him was an area set up for people to receive hair cuts, and off to the side in another building was a deceased monk in what looked to be a glass coffin case. Again, like I said, I was really hoping for some descriptions to some of the things I saw here!

Leaving the temple we hopped on a river boat taxi for one last ride down the canals and headed back to our hotel...we had relaxation in mind! The night before Tina and I had decided that for our last night in Thailand we would splurge on a hotel room (splurging after spending no more than $10 a night on a room for the previous 2 weeks still doesn't equal a very expensive room though!). We had 2 must haves for our room and when we looked online for a room that was all we were concerned about; Tina wanted a comfy bed and I wanted an outdoor pool. Done and done, we booked our room and we couldn't be happier. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon after leaving the temple, we went back to our hostels, ate a quick lunch, grabbed our luggage, checked out and headed for Dang Derm Hotel.

I would like to say check in was a breeze, but of course what fun is travel if you don’t have a couple hiccups in the way. We go to check in and have everything ready and the guy asks us to pay. I hand him my credit card and he says the hotel doesn’t take cards {how they accept an online booking fee is then beyond me!} Tina and I regroup, we start looking for another hotel in the area (it’s our last day and physical cash is running low) meanwhile, the guy is persistent that we have to pay in cash. After 10 minutes or so we tell him we’d like to cancel our reservation…suddenly everything changes “well, umm, I can try the credit card machine I guess but it doesn’t always work…” (funny how moments earlier he was claiming they had NO way of taking a card!) Well long story short they took the card and we got our room. We got to our room and in less than 15 minutes we had both assumed our positions; Tina in bed and me pool side…and life was good!

This was like a castle after 2 weeks of staying on bunkbeds in rooms with up to 10 other people!

After getting thoroughly pruney in the pool and sun kissed on the lounge chairs we headed out for dinner and stumbled upon a small shop that had an amazing green curry dish that I quickly scarfed down. After dinner we spent the evening getting Thai massages, eating scorpions (hey when the opportunity presents itself!) going for yet another swim around midnight and then as Tina called it a night I went for one last stroll through Kaosan Road before heading to bed relaxed, happy, and with a scorpion dancing in my belly!

Silk Worms & Chinese New Year

Monday, February 8th

Holy moley guys! I'm so sorry, I am STILL not finished with my Thailand trip...between my computer catching a computer flu and currently being out of commission and then me getting sick for the past 2 weeks (ugh that's another story in itself) and the fact that life just doesn't ever stop...well anyways...I'm behind, but I haven't forgotten! If you might be behind on reading as well, you can catch up with me on Thailand HERE and Cambodian adventures HERE. 

Monday morning we decided to try, yet again, to check out this amazing floating market that we kept hearing so much about, so we set out earlier, went to the same market that was closed when we were there before and THERE WAS STILL NOTHING THERE! Apparently, after we asked around more, the people thought we were crazy, they couldn't figure out why we thought there was a floating market in this location since there never had been...ok Bangkok, you've got us on this one...and as for the floating market, we'll get you next time!

We decided to enjoy a little more time in the flower market that we had skimmed the day before and then afterwards, my curiosity got the best of me and I told Tina I wanted to go check out an amulet market that I had read about several places. I knew nothing about what an amulet market was, but that only further tickled my curiosity. If you aren't quite sure, and amulet is an object, often religiously related, that is thought to protect the wearer or owner from harm or to bring them luck. The amulet market in Bangkok was no let down. The 2-3 streets that had amulet sellers were covered with people selling. Some simply had a dozen or so amulets laid on a blanket while others had tables full of hundreds of amulets. From the little I was able to talk to the sellers I gathered that a majority of them were Buddhist decent and most had a picture of Buddha on one side and a monk or a symbol for the monk (I'm not sure if it was the creator or simply an important monk) on the reverse side. 

It was obvious that the amulets ranged in age and material, although many were made from stone and wood. And there were serious buyers walking around with magnifying glasses trying to find the days best deal. I on the other hand, having no idea what I was looking for, simply picked one that I thought would remind me of my trip to Thailand and chalked it up as a nice $1 souvenir! Checking out the market wasn't a huge time commitment, but if you're ever in the area I'd suggest checking it out!

After checking out all the amulets we decided to see what all the fuss was about the Jim Thompson House. We had seen multiple guidebooks suggesting that we check it out, but yet again, we had no idea what we were in store for {ahh one of the beauties of traveling!} First off, I am so glad we visited the house! It was really neat to see and I learned a lot as well during the included tour. Jim Thompson was an American architect who fell in love with Thailand and its people and moved there permanently in the 1940's. He pieced together his house from nearly a dozen local homes creating a one-of-a-kind Thai home to live in. While in Thailand Jim Thompson helped to revitalize the silk industry and many credit him today for the booming industry in Thailand. In 1967 though Thompson went on vacation to Malaysia and never returned. His house was eventually turned over to the Thai government and has been a museum now, open to the public, for over 40 years.

Thompson's home was beautifully decorated with many Buddha statues and traditional Thai pieces that he collected over the years. Likewise, there were displays and workers on hand to explain the process of creating silk starting with the worm and ending with a beautiful piece of cloth. It was a fun learning experience, and I'm glad we checked it out...our feet on the other hand...they were ready for nap time!

After a MUCH needed nap Tina and I put on our party pants and headed to China Town to ring in the Chinese New Year. Oh my goodness, this place was PACKED!!! For starters I felt like I was back in Taiwan with all the Chinese people crowding the streets and hearing Mandarin all around me, but there were so many people, Chinese and tourists alike, that navigating the crowds was just a tad tricky! 

Funny story of the night. Tina and I had been walking around for less than 30 minutes when this middle aged Turkish man approached us and began talking with me eager for someone to practice his English with. I figured that eventually he would part ways or he would get lost in the crowds, but he was a persistent bugger! I can't lie, at one point (probably 2 hours into our new friend Oz following us) we decided to go off on a side street and duck into a grocery store to try and lose him. We killed about 10 minutes in the store laughing that we had to hide to lose him. We turn around to finally leave, and who do we see....Oz. "I thought you ran away from me, like maybe you didn't want this old man following you, but I found you, I'm so happy!" {umm dear Oz, that's exactly what happened, but you just took this to a whole new level now!}

After a great duck dinner, some delicious Chinese snacks, and bidding our new friend goodbye we headed back late to our hostels (well not before stopping to see a New Year show at a temple we were passing bye and trying unsuccessfully to get a taxi) where Tina caught up on some sleep and I people watched outside my hostel with a beer in hand and a smile on my face....Thailand, you're way too good to me!

Back to Bangkok!

Sunday, February 7th 

If you aren't quite caught up on Tina and I'd whirlwind adventure through Thailand and Cambodia, you can check out some of my previous posts if you'd like!

We flew back into Bangkok late (like super late!) Saturday night, barely found our hostel, and then awkwardly helped ourselves to 2 empty beds (the man in charge of the hostel wasn't there anymore and so a guy staying there told us where he knew of 2 empty beds...thanks buddy lol).

Sunday morning was a lazy start for us. By this time in our trip we had been like the Energizer Bunny on caffeine high for a little over a week and coupled with the lovely limp I had recently acquired due to my fall, we weren't in a HUGE hurry to be out the door before 6am ;) {ok maybe it was almost noon by the time we got our tushies moving...a girls gotta sleep you know!}

Our goal for the day was to go see the reclining Buddha in the Wat Pho temple in Bangkok, but silly us, why would we have thought that any plan we had would work out THAT easily! We decided to walk the 1+ish miles to where Wat Pho was, only to get there and have a guard inform us that they would be taking a break for and hour or two and we should just come back at 3...okey dokie...now what. (Us: 0 Day: 1) Let's drag our tired selves and my swelling knee to the nearest floating market just under a mile from where Wat Pho was...perfect idea! {OK, stop reading if you get as squeamish as I do! But, in hindsight, if I would have known how infected my knee had become that morning, I'm not sure I would have left the hostel at all....but hey, I lived to at least type this post right?!}

So we start walking towards the market, it's about this time our joint data plan decides to run out though...bye bye Google Maps...so we resort to asking just about every other person on the street for assistance. Sadly, our luck allowed only about 5% of those people to actually understand our English; we were praying we were going in the right direction. On our way to the floating market we passed the huge flower market that I had read about before hand. I was a little giddy inside since it had sounded cool but I wasn't sure if it warranted a trip of its own...score for the day! (Us: 1 Day: 1) Well, long story short, we were glad we got to see the flower market, because the floating market we were told was already closed for the day...bummer (Us: 1 Day: 2) But seriously, the piles of orchids, yellow carnations, and flower buds they had was unreal!

 

Hey look, it's 3pm...back to Wat Pho we go! We get in line, buy our tickets, check out the maps, and realize instantly that this place is HUGE! You see all the pictures of the reclining golden Buddha, but you never really realize how many other buildings are also within the temple grounds besides the famous Buddha himself! We walked around for a while trying our best to hit each of the smaller temples {shoes off, shoes on, shoes off, shoes on lol} and then happened upon a small Chinese New Year celebration that they were holding. We sat down for a bit to rest our legs and watched a little of the musicians and lion dancers in the meantime. 

Then it was time, you didn't even have to look on a map to find the Reclining Buddha, it was the only building at the temple with a line! I'm not 100% sure what I was expecting, but guys, this Buddha was huge GINORMOUS! Like you couldn't even begin to get his whole face in a single picture let alone his whole body type of ginormous! While laying down, at the tallest point he measures 49 ft tall and from head to toe he is 151 ft long and apparently he's not even the biggest Buddha statue in Thailand?!?! We walked around Wat Pho for about 2 hours total checking out the smaller "temples" including a court yard containing over 400 Buddha statues {when I say we saw a lot of Buddhas in 2 weeks I wasn't lying!}

By the time our stomachs started growling  and we remembered we had a good 20 to 30 minute walk back to the hostel, we decided that we were "templed out" for the day and the smells of pad Thai were quickly pulling us in! With our bellies full and happy we could think of nothing better than a nap! Waking up later from our naps Tina and I both agreed that after all of the days walking we had more than earned ourselves a 30 minute Thai massage {and kudos to my masseuse, her eyes about bulged out of her head when she saw my knee, but she did great and never once touched it! haha}

After we were nice and relaxed, we spent the rest of the evening exploring Khao San Road. This lively street is packed with young local, tourists of all ages, all the Thai foods you could ever wish for, enough beer to drown a fish, and enough oddities to keep you scratching your head long after your night ends! Some snacks, some shopping, and lots of sight seeing were complete before we climbed into our beds like a pair of exhausted street dogs.

Bangkok, it was great seeing you again!

Until We Meet Again Chiang Mai!

I promise I haven't forgotten about Chiang Mai! Life here keeps on trecking by and I'm working on these posts little by little!  If you're afraid that you may have missed some though {or you just loved them so much you want to read them again! ;) } you can check out my Cambodia trip here and my Thailand trip posts here!

Saturday, February 6

Today was our last day in Chiang Mai, and although we wanted to relax a bit after our amazing elephant adventures, I also wanted to see as much of this amazing town that I possibly could! Tina decided she needed a day to sleep in, but the Energizer Bunny inside me wanted to go, go go! So, I was up early and out the door by 8:30 in the morning in hopes of finding the perfect seat for the annual Chiang Mai flower festival parade (I figured I might as well watch it, we were staying so close you could hear EVERYTHING going on anyways haha). Lucky for me, walking a little funky and with a nasty gash on my leg from my fall, people eagerly let me sit on the curb in front of them...prime seats! We waited much longer for the parade to start than I think many of us had anticipated, but it surly didn't disappoint once it did!

Floats COVERED with flowers, traditional Thai dancing, local musicians, beauty contest contestants, and floral dragons lined the streets as we hung our mouths open with awe and what all they had created. The parade was not quite finished when I snuck away shortly after noon, 2 hours worth of parade and a grumbly tummy was enough to put me in search for food!

Afterwards I went back to hotel quick to grab Tina, and we were headed (gimpy and all) towards a market that my dear friend "Lonely Planet" had recommended for food and sightseeing alike! Lucky for us not only was Warorot Market massive, but it also connected to the smaller more local market Ton Lam Yai .... 2 markets for the price of one...yes please! Within the market someplace I grabbed a bite to eat and having no idea what I was eating {story of my life in Asia!} it was rather good; some type of broth with noodles & pork! {I'm not sure if I've shared my market wisdom with you yet! When I enter a market, I instantly look for the longest lines of local looking people, do a quick check to the stall (to be sure they are selling cat burritos or snake eyes lol) and then hope in line as well. When I get to the front I smile and hold up 1 finger, and low and behold my friends, that is how you order 1 of whatever their best selling item is!}

Around the outskirts of this market were dozens of people selling items made from handwoven fabrics, oh my word, if my growling stomach hadn't been so disrupted I could have stayed there drooling over their handmade goods all day!

After sufficiently filling our bellies and stocking up on market souvenirs we hit up a couple local temples including Wat Buppharam before heading to the Saturday Walking street (Wualai Walking Street Market) south of the city. Holy moley, I don't know if I've ever been to a market this before, this baby was huge! Food and hand made crafts lined both sides of the streets, and every couple of minutes there would be roads jutting off to the left or right with more goodies for you to check out. After more than 2 hours of perusing we decided that we couldn't possibly eat anymore, we didn't have a need for anymore hand carved elephant items, and we had more than covered gifts for everyone that we knew (plus some!)  and that we had better leave while we still had a couple bucks to our name. We grabbed our bags, hailed a cab, and headed back to the airport (crash free this time!)....until next time Chiang Mai; until next time!

I Speak Elephant

Oh my goodness, these blogs are going to get the best of me if I'm not careful! I'm still trying to finish up the 2nd half of my Thailand trip but life doesn't stop and the list of adventures to blog keeps on growing {hmm maybe this is a sign that I need to lock myself in my room for a week to work on blogs AND then I will have nothing going on in life to need to blog...I'm liking this lazy idea!}

Last time I left off with Thailand I was on the topic of our trek through the mountains of Chiang Mai and the Karen Tribal Village (click the links to catch up on reading if you're behind!) and I promise I've got just ONE more post to finish up our time in Chiang Mai (...and then onto Bangkok haha).

Friday, February 5th 

Today was the big day! We had hiked a mountain, swam in a waterfall, played with the children in the Karen village, & left  half our knee on the side of the mountain, and now, today....WE RIDE ELEPHANTS!

I'm going to be completely transparent here, I have ridden an elephant before. I was maybe only 8 or 9 though and I went to the circus with a friend for my birthday {oh hey Megan!} and we rode an elephant there. But, we were inside, in a fenced in area, the a box on top of the elephant and seat-belted in...and let's be honest...it's just not the same!

But today was going to be different and the anticipation was real guys...I'm telling you I'm shocked Tina is still friends with me after all the giddy school-girl excitement she had to put up with from me during our trip! We woke up in our lovely bamboo huts and Tina and I went for a walk around and checked out a neighboring tribal village down the road from where we stayed. By the time we got back to our camp breakfast was ready and our clothes were being laid out for the day. After a hearty breakfast we donned our new attractive get-ups (the elephant trainers, also known as mahout, at this particular location all wear the same clothing to help the elephants identify with who is training them and to help them feel comfortable with "new" people around them). Our mahout outfits consisted of a pair of baggy denim pants, a button down denim shirt, and the suggestion of a swimsuit and flipflops to finish off the attractive ensemble!

Once we were suited up we headed to the elephant training center behind our hut and we were introduced to our elephant that we would train with for the morning. After helping her gorge her heart out on bananas and watermelon rinds, it was time to get down and dirty...ok not before playing with the 4 year old baby elephant they brought out {omg so stinkin' adorable and with the ornery streak of any 4 year old human child!} We were each handed a list of typical commands you would want to say to your elephant like walk,  turn left, stop, and make me some popcorn (ok maybe not the last, but a girl can dream!) with the phrases translation into "elephant" next to it. For example, when we wanted to get on the elephant we would say "yok kha" and he would lift his leg for us to climb on and similarly we would say "bhai" and "toy" to go forward and backwards respectively. 

After practicing with each of these words, it was time to put us to the test! To get on the elephant {remember we are riding this guys bareback} we tell them "yok kha" and they lift their leg. We then step onto their leg while trying to get a hold of an ear and some back skin and tell them "sung" and they lift their leg higher until we are able to swing our other leg up and around their neck. Once we were on their neck we scooted forward until we were just about on top of their head and then reward them for letting us on and not trampling us with some bananas! After the circus of mounting the poor guy it's then time to actually DO SOMETHING while you're up there! We had a trainer standing next to us and we had to show them how we could back the elephant up, stop him, walk forward, & turn both left and right...easier said and done when you've had all of 5 minutes to learn elephant!

Once we had each proven ourselves worthy (twice!) we also had to show them (and ourselves lol) that we know how to get off  the elephant as well! Luckily it was a piece of cake!  Just kidding! We had to fling both of our legs in front of us so that they were sticking off the front of the elephants head, tell him "jaa long" to put his head down, and the slide feet first down the front of the elephants head, off of his trunk, and pray you landed on both your feet in front of him...TA DA! Seriously I felt like we were in a circus act haha.

After we knew our way (ish) around the elephant it was time for our ride! By this time several other couples had joined the original 6 of us and we were up to 10 or 12 total people. With 2 people per elephant we needed some extra...bring in the reinforcements! We had a total of a half a dozen elephants before us and they assigned us in pairs to each one. After Tina and I were given our elephant (Sah Wah Dee), Tina made a comment that "of course we have to ride the biggest one!" and a trainer reassured us...no, he's the 2nd biggest...oh much better buddy, much better! Tina got on first and sat behind his shoulder blades & I got on next on top of his head and it was show time!

We rode the elephants around the property for about 30 minutes through several paths, down a stream {easier said than done when your "naughty elephant" decides he needs to scratch his back on EVERY tree we pass!} and through a field before we got to the elephant pond. The plan here was to walk your elephant straight into the pond and then bathe him, but after being told we had a "naughty elephant" they had us park him on the side of the pond and bathe someone a little more under control. Although some people were a little hesitant to jump in a start scrubbing down their elephants, I couldn't have been any more excited. I mean seriously, how many times in  your life do you have the opportunity to bathe an elephant?!?! {Fun Fact! To wash the elephant we took a specific plant that looked like a big bamboo and cut it into manageable sized pieces and then used this mixed with water to create a later for the elephants. And, of course, when you finished scrubbing them...they got to eat the leftovers!}

After bath time comes mud bath time!!! If you thought I was excited for regular bath time, I was 100X more excited for mud bath time {again poor, poor Tina!} 6 of us and our little elephant friend were led to a mud pit at the back of the village and my little elephant buddy jumped right in and I was right there behind him! Only 2 others joined us in the mud while the other 3 decided that a mud bath wasn't in the books for them for the day, but honestly, I'm not sure if I've ever laughed so much! We were instructed to pick up globs of mud and throw them at the elephant. Ok, great, what they didn't say was that elephant was going to try and do the same thing, and miss himself, time and time again, and instead hit us with mud globs. How this 2 ton animal manages to  miss his giant back and instead land repeatedly on my head is beyond me, but he did! After our romp in the mud we clearly needed one more bath for the day (sans elephant) to help clean the mud out from EVERYWHERE before settling down for a late and well deserved lunch!

After lunch, we loaded into the pickup trucks and went on a short ride to a nearby river. Here we were treated to the most relaxing bamboo raft river ride that I have ever had {ok, so maybe it's the only bamboo raft ride I've ever had, but it was still crazy relaxing!} Seeing locals fishing, bathing elephants, and walking to the markets near the river were spectacular views and a terrific way to relax and unwind from the days excitement. Upon finishing our river ride, the trucks were waiting for us once again, but this time to take us each back to our respective hotels. After about an hour and a half trip we arrived to our hotel a little before six and collapsed on our beds and took a much needed nap!

We ventured out after nap time :) in search of food and not only found an amazing pad Thai place, but also a great show that was going on at the local flower festival {more to come on that I promise!} All in all, I'd count the last 2 days as a pretty successful & memorable 48 hours for the books!

Tuesday's Taiwan-ism {Thailand Video}

Today's Tuesday Taiwan-ism is coming at you from a little different angle because I just finished something and I'm so darn excited to share it with you I just couldn't wait! As you know, I just got back from an amazing whirlwind adventure in Thailand & Cambodia. And  of course, if you know me at all, I took about a gazillion and 2 pictures with my beloved Nikon D40 while I was gone and with the help of my new action camera, I got some pretty great video footage while I was traveling as well!

Well, long story short, you can have the most amazing  pictures and  videos in the world, but if you don't do anything with them then they are useless. So, I put on my thinking cap and went to work creating my first ever travel movie {ok let's be honest, my first movie of any kind!} and I am so stinkin' excited with how it turned out!

So without further ado, I present to you...my Thailand Travels!

Karen Tribal Village

Thursday, February 4^th – Friday, February 5^th 

I told you before that when I stumbled upon Panda Tours online that I was in love with their program, what I didn’t know was all the things that I had yet to learn about them and fall more in love with! According to our lose schedule we would be staying at a camp overnight; what they failed to mention is that we would be staying in a Karen tribal camp with local villagers…truly a once in a lifetime experience!!

I’ll back up a little!

We went with Panda Tours on a 2 day trek and elephant training adventure and with our tour included housing for the 6 of us for the night. Our housing, much to my surprise was a bamboo hut with minimal electricity {we had a single lightbulb hanging from our ceiling, that was it} situated in the middle of a small Karen village. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of the Karen villagers, or other similar tribes, before and they are known my several different names besides their official Karen; long necks, long neck Karen, or often “those people with rings around their necks”.

Staying there for the night provoked many questions and proved to be an amazing learning opportunity for each of us!

The Karen tribes in Thailand are actually Burmese people, from Burma to the north of Thailand, whom have crossed the border (most illegally) to find work and safety in the mountains of Thailand. Because most of these villagers are livening on land illegally in Thailand, the Thai government has the right to send them back to their homelands. Several companies, such as Panda Tours, wanted to help these people and have given a piece of land to these people to build homes on as well as helping with jobs to aid the Karen people in staying in their new home of Thailand. It is very difficult for the villagers to have jobs outside of their small village of 50-60 people and for the children to go to school due to the language barrier. The Karen tribes typically speak a local tribal language as well as Burmese (although I was told many are not even fluent in Burmese) and that IF they speak Thai, it is strictly conversational and difficult to understand.

Because of these language barriers, tour groups such as Panda Tours have not only helped them to secure land to live on, but also employ the village men to take care of the elephants that live on the property as well and have some of the women work with the tour group to help cook meals & clean the hut after a night’s stay. These people are by no means force to stay there or to work with Panda Tours, but are thankful for the opportunity to have a safe place to live while having a way to make living expenses. Much of the remainder of the tribes time is spent hunting, farming, and making meals; the basics for survival in the mountains.

When I travel I love to learn. I want to know what I’m looking at, why it’s there, and what it means to me and others around me. So, naturally when I found myself staying the night in the Karen village, the questions were flowing. Below are both questions I asked as well as answers to comments and questions I have gotten from others about this unique tribe.

1. Are there others like them? – Yes, there are other tribes around the world that wear rings around their neck, one of the more popular tribes is in Africa.
2. Why do they wear the rings? – The people of the Karen tribe believe that the rings around their neck and legs make them look more beautiful.
3. Do they have to wear the rings? – No! They don’t have to wear the rings. Maybe generations back they were forced to, but now it is an option if they desire to have them or not.
4. Who wears the rings? – Only the women and girls, possibly starting as young as 5 or 6, but usually by 11 or 12. The boys and men never wear the rings.
5. What else, following their traditions, goes along with the rings around their neck? – Besides rings around their neck, the women also have rings below their knees and above their elbows. Likewise, they sometimes paint gold designs on their faces (I am not 100% sure as to the why on this) and wear brightly colored clothing and headdresses.
6. How are the rings put on? – The “rings” are actually not rings, but instead 1 long piece of copper that is coiled around their neck. Each year the copper is taken off their necks, knees, & arms and a new one is put on so that the person can continue to grow into their new set of “rings”
7. Can they hold their head up if someone took the rings off? – Yes!  As mentioned above the rings are replaced every year and made bigger or smaller to adjust to the growing size of the female wearing the rings. They are not meant to harm the wearer, so of course they are safe!
8. Are their necks really longer? – This is still debated! I have looked up several articles online and some say maybe a little, others say it’s an illusion, while others yet claim that their shoulder blades are pushed down making their necks seem longer than what is typical 

While I was at the village I played with a dozen or so of the children that were living there (because of the language barrier many also don’t attend any schools) as well as buying a hand carved Karen figurine. This figurine as well as several other handmade crafts were sold outside of most of the houses as means of making extra money with the people who come to stay in their village.

Although my time with the Karen tribe was short, it was such a learning experience for me! They are no longer simply “those Indians from National Geographic” but they are boys and girls, men and women, and they have their stories just like the rest of us, they just chose to show theirs a little differently!

Treking Through Thailand

Thursday, February 4^th

Oh guys, I couldn’t contain my excitement! Obviously I was beyond pumped to visit all of Thailand (you know how we all have that ONE place we’ve always dreamed of going…yeah, mine was Thailand!!! Maybe this note will help excuse all my school-girl excitement that you’ve had to deal with me having about my trip!...ANYWAYS!) I was beyond pumped to visit Thailand, but this 2 days were one of Tina and I’s most anticipated events! ELEPHANT DAYS!!!

When researching Thailand, one of the first things I looked up was elephant riding. I didn’t have much of an idea exactly of what I wanted (although I knew I needed a camp that treated their animals appropriately) but, when I stumbled upon Panda Tours I instantly stopped looking, they had me hooked that fast {sidenote: they have nothing to do with Pandas…I have no idea where their name came from!} I sent the link to Tina pretty much saying that I was doing this and she was more than welcome to join…but there was no convincing me otherwise haha.

Sooo, back to the present! Thursday morning we woke up at our hotel in Chiang Mai, remember that classy one 2 steps from the boxing ring?!, put our luggage in storage, grabbed our book bags, and waited for…ok we weren’t exactly sure what we were waiting for a car? bus? pickup? airplane? elephant? and to be honest, I’m still not sure what did pick us up lol. In Chiang Mai there are taxis, but then there are also taxi trucks? Essentially it’s a small pickup truck with a bench installed along both sides of the bed and a large cover put over the bed for people to sit underneath….so that’s what picked us up! Six people and tons of waiver forms later, we were on our way…again not exactly sure to where, but we were on our way there!

We drove about 30 minutes before stopping at a small local market where we were encouraged to buy water for the days trek and any other snacks that we might need, ok now 6 people, 2 drivers, and a boat load of water later, we were on our way! About another hours drive later we parked the truck in a small dirt parking lot and were encouraged to use the bathroom before heading up the mountain by foot.

0 plumbing, no electricity, toilet paper no where to be seen...but it didn't smell!

After our *special* experience with the lovely bathroom we headed out. Oh my word guys, the views were SPECTACULAR!!! We were walking up a dirt path along the side of a mountain near-ish the Mynar border for a little over an hour. I’d stop, soak in the view, take some pictures, exclaim that it was even more beautiful than the last time I had stopped, and then repeat it again about 15 minutes later! But really, there is something so amazing about finding yourself in an area that hasn’t been destroyed by a civilization, the farmers, the families, the homes that we saw along the way, they were part of the landscape. They made use of the land that they were given instead of manipulating the land and the jungle to fit the needs that they wanted, and it showed in its beauty. {ok being showed live tarantulas and lectured about the dangers of the deadly green snake & its friend the cobra took away a teensy bit of the beauty, but you get the point!}

Cabbage fields as far as the eye could see, breath taking views, and humble abodes

A little over an hour into our walk we were supposed to stop at a waterfall for lunch, but “it was full” (there were like 3 people in it, but our guide was insistent there was a better one ahead!) so we kept walking… for another hour! So almost 2 ½ hours into our walk, we spot the waterfall (well actually we head it first, but still!) holy surreal! We were in the middle of the jungle of Thailand with a gorgeous waterfall in front of us surrounded by a stream, vines, and all the jungle plants you would never see back home in Ohio! ;) We quickly headed to the bathroom, changed into our swimsuits, and dove right in…hahaha, if only it were that easy! We played a fun game of I’ll hide behind this leaf and rock while you look the other direction as I change {channeling our inner Adam & Eve!} and as far as diving right in…I’m not sure how the air temperature can be 90 and the water temperate closer to -20, but that’s what it felt like! Soaking our toes felt great, anything above the ankle was more like torture! But, we were only there once, so jaiyou {Chinese for stick your feet in the freezing water…or you can do it!}.

As Chai, our guide, whipped up a culinary masterpiece for lunch, the 6 of us took turns trying to get into the water, until Tina and I just went for it! Jump in, freeze your body, swim to the falls, swim back, & now you’re a human ice cube! It was about this time that Chai says lunch is ready…please remember we are a total of about 3-3.5 hour up a mountain at this point with nothing but book bags…he hands us our lunch and our jaws drop! He had not only started a bamboo fire, but also made each of us chicken legs, fried rice, cut up local fruits & apples, and hot tea & coffee in a hand carved bamboo mug…seriously! After our picturesque, waterfall-view lunch, we dried off, changed our clothes, and began heading down the mountain towards camp.

We made it about an hour or so down the mountain though when I decided that we needed some more excitement in our walk {insert Tracy’s graceful fall down the mountain!} yeah, so maybe not so graceful, but at  least I can say a part of me (or my knee) will always be with Chiang Mai! We poured some water on it and I swore I’d be fine…jaiyou…so we continued on towards the 1^st waterfall we’d seen to get a closer look. About 5 minutes later I told Chai, I’m trying to not complain about me knee…but umm, it’s bleeding on my sock now…maybe another Kleenex for the next hour ½ walk would be helpful!? Next thing I know Chai is shoving a handful of leaves (he says they are lemon leaves) onto my knee to stop the bleeding, using a tissue as gauze to keep it in place, and tying a fanny pack around the whole shebang to keep it all in place {fast forward to later that night when even a shower didn’t remove most of the dried leaves from my knee, we then turned to a pocket knife disinfected with alcohol to scrape the foliage out…and still no band aids…thank goodness for tissues & fanny packs!}

Thanks Tina for capturing pictures of me at my best!

ANYWAYS! We finally made it down the mountain with no more injuries & made it to our camp for the night {there’s a whole post coming on this soon!} and while dinner was being prepared we showered, had our first meet and greet with the elephants, & I played with the local village kids (who am I to be denied playing with kids!) before hanging out around the campfire and calling it a night around 10, long after the sun had finally set. We settled into our bamboo huts for the night with the sounds of bugs chirping, the fire crackling, and elephants trumpeting outside our huts; and my heart was happy!

First night "meet & greet" and a view of our camp for the night

Slowly Falling in Love With Chiang Mai

Wednesday, February 3

Tuesday night Tina and I flew from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand in just under an hour's time. We landed, grabbed the first cab we found, headed straight for our hotel (conveniently booked less than 2 miles away) showered off our Cambodia dirt and fell fast asleep...ok I say all this like we were lazy...it was past 1am by the time we were in bed!

The next morning we woke up, ate a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby, and jumped on the 10am shuttle ride to the airport...we were headed to Chiang Mai at the northern tip of Thailand! Another puddle jumper, up and down in 50 minutes {as opposed to the overnight, 12 hour, sleeper buses everyone thought we should have taken??} and we were in Chiang Mai!  We found our little hostel (another room to ourselves...score!) grabbed my lonely planet, and we were off; the city was ours to explore for the afternoon!

Although our Lonely Planet walking tour of Bangkok did not go as smoothly as planned, we decided we were in a fresh city and we'd take a fresh start! Armed with a walking map of Chiang Mai we started off on our route and spent the afternoon checking out the unique temples, cafes, and side shops that Chiang Mai had to offer.

[ Side note: having never stepped foot into ANY sort of temple before this past August, I've been on a quest to learn what I can about them while I am here. They may not be of my personal religion or belief system, but the artwork and details that go into these buildings is truly a beautiful work of art. Likewise, I have been shocked to see just how truly different the temples are from country to country and region to region. It was also interesting to note {and maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can help me out here} that it appears that different customs and traditions are practiced in the Buddhist temples in Thailand in comparison to those in Taiwan as well as having VERY different images of Buddha displayed in the 2 countries temples. ]

Our temple hoping included, but was not limited to, visits to Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Phan Tao, (which had a distinctive Japanese feel to the temple), Si Phum, Wat Pra Sing, & Wat Pad Thai....ok maybe Pad Thai isn't a temple, but we sure had our fill of the delicious Thai noodles! During one of our temple visits we also stumbled upon a group of young boy monks in school. I asked one of their superiors and was told that once a week their classes pertained to some form of temple art and that currently they were working on making tin lanterns and symbols for the temple. It was fun to watch them for a while and get to know a little bit more about what they were doing in those mysterious orange robes we saw all over the country! 

As the afternoon came to a close we found ourselves once again hungry, seriously what's new lol, and about that time stumbled upon a night market outside a large shopping mall...SCORE! Tina and I split some type of Thai noodle soup that looked good as well as a hearty portion of mango sticky rice followed by a Thai crepe of sorts...what I said we were hungry! The market was right up my ally! Filled with hand crafted Thai souvenirs, crafts, and handmade clothes...this girl could have spent hours there! Of course, I was in Thailand, so I had to snag some elephant themed goodies before we left. 

Before calling it a night {as our most anticipated day of our 2 week trip was just around the corner!} we found a rooftop bar to relax in for a while while soaking up the amazing city views...I have to say, Chiang Mai can so quickly steal your heart!

PS - Ok, I can't leave out the funnies, our night didn't end on such a romantic sounding note. The hotel we stayed at came with directions to get to it saying to show the taxi driver the name of a boxing ring and have them drop you off there "near the hotel". We thought "near the hotel" meant it was probably on the same block. Or...about 3 yards from the door of our hostel room haha. So naturally, I stood outside with all the cooks from the restaurant and watched some of the boxing match before going to bed (Mother Goose had a rhyme along those lines right?!?!) I can't say I know anything about boxing, but watching 2 scrawny Asian guys go at it pretty hysterical if you ask me!

Go With the Flow!

Saturday, January 30

We started off with a terrific plan! My Thailand Lonely Planet book (aka my travel bible!) had a 2.5 mile walking tour of Bangkok that hit several of the highlights that are on our to do list yet allowed us to keep our own pace so we thought it was a win-win deal! We chatted with some people at our hostel and figured out the best way to get to our starting point, and then we were off! We had 7 hours before our 8pm flight to Cambodia, my Lonely Plant book, and our walking shoes...nothing was going to stop us!

We got to our starting point, Victory Monument, and we sat down so I could read us some information on what we were looking at (thanks Google!) and I got no more than 3 sentences into the description when a middle aged man stopped near us and started to chat. Next thing we know he was handing us a list of "must see"/non-touristy destinations to hit, flagging us down a tuk-tuk driver and waving us goodbye with the most happy of smiles plastered across his face...so our plans were off to a rough start, but when opportunity knocks, I can't say no!

Our first stop was a teeny temple with zero tourists around making it a nice quiet place to explore. As soon as we arrived a man working there begin speaking to us in English and showed us an apparently 1000-year-old Buddha statue that the temple was famous for and told us if we touched it, it would bring us good luck (I'm still waiting on the call from Jackpot Lottery!) 

After a visit with the baby temple, we headed to a more famous spot in Bangkok, the Marble Temple. This temple is constructed from white marble imported from Italy and is beautiful! The outer courtyard is like a ring or a donut around the temple in the middle and features 52 different Buddha statues in varying positions. My personal favorite was popcorn Buddha (ok not really, but I swear his hands were out like for an offering and someone had filled them with popcorn...and guess what, I didn't even borrow any from him!) It was interesting as each Buddha had a little explanation about what their pose or position meant. Within the Buddha donut (can you tell its snack time here yet?!) was the actual temple which housed a large golden Buddha and motifs painted on the wall from the different provinces around Thailand. 

After leaving the temple our tuk-tuk driver drove us to a suit tailor. We had no intentions of actually purchasing a suit but it was on our list of things to do and we thought why not check it out! Apparently the guys who own the shop could sense this as well, after showing us the books and asking us to look around next thing we know they said OK five minutes goodbye have a nice day and showed us the door. So much for hospitality!

Later, after the suit and then gem shop (if we looked for 10 minutes our tuk-tuk driver got a coupon for 5 free liters of gas...sure we'll help you out buddy!) we asked our driver to take us to the Bowan Temple. We paid him a whopping 40 Thai Bot ($1.14 USD total for several stops) and said our goodbyes. We checked out the Bowan Temple for all of 5 minutes before we decided that food was a must before more temple exploration. We found some amazing Thai street noodles filled our bellies, then went back to work on Bowan Temple! Like many of the temples in Thailand the Bowan Temple had a large golden Buddha at the center of the temple. Unlike most of the temples though, there was a second building on the grounds that was used for monks' meditation. Each floor of the 6 floor building was laid out in a simple grid pattern with basic instructions as to guide you through your walking, standing, and sitting meditation phases. The top floor was entitled nirvana and was an open roof with spectacular views of the city below!

Leaving Bowan Temple we decided to take the river boat back to our hostel (one of Bangkok's several forms of public transportation) and enjoyed much different, yet equally spectacular, views of the city from the river. Quickly grabbing our belongings from the hostel we found our bus and headed for the airport; Cambodia {and Tory and Rebecca} were waiting!!