Beautiful Beijing & The Forbidden City

Saturday, June 9 - Sunday, June 10

Remember several months ago when Tina and I boarded a plane headed for Thailand and I was all but peeing my pants with excitement?!?! Yeah, I wasn't quite as excited {most likely just because I'm not sure that's physically possible to be more excited} but I was pretty darn close...I was heading to China!

The Great Wall has always been such an intriguing landmark to me, but so out of reach from Northwest Ohio that I never wanted to dream too big {{lesson learned!}}

My last day in Taiwan was Saturday, July 9 and I was so full of mixed emotions as Clement and Director Chen drove me to the airport; heartbroken to be leaving a country I had fallen in love with, excited to be seeing my friends and family so soon, nervous about traveling through China alone, tired from lack of sleep...truly...everything was hitting me at once. We said our goodbyes and as they drove away it finally hit me and the tears began to fall...my wonderful, amazing, and life-changing year of teaching in Taiwan was over. Lucky for me though, a quick 3 hour nap landed me in the heart of Beijing at Beijing Capital Airport...China here we go!

I hopped on the Airport Express line connecting to the subway and headed downtown towards my hostel, Saga Youth Hostel {PS-if you're heading to Beijing anytime soon I HIGHLY recommend this hostel!}. I arrived around 7pm and after situating myself in my bunk, I met several of the guys in my dorm room and after talking for a bit we decided to head out together for dinner. Marcus, from Germany, suggested a large night market about 20 walking minutes away, so we headed out. One of the many things I love about traveling alone and staying in hostels is meeting so many people along the way and the discussions that come along with these new-found friendships. We enjoyed our evening at the market sampling some dumplings, meet skewers, sugar coated cherry tomatoes, and ending our scorching hot evening with delicious mango ice cream!

Waking up Sunday morning I hit the ground running early on, I only had 6 days in Beijing and I had to make the most of it! After grabbing some street-food breakfast meal I hopped on the subway headed for Tiananmen Square & the Forbidden City {only 2 subway stops from my hostel!} to begin my day.

Walking out of the subway station I found myself standing right in the middle of Tiananmen Square and was in awe both at the size of the square as well as the sheer amount of people {and umbrellas for the sun!} that were covering the square. I walked around the square for a while before I found the underpass leading to the entrance gates of the Forbidden City. Now I paid attention in history class {more or less..} and I knew the Forbidden City was big and all, but oh my gosh...it was HUGE! The 950+ building cover around 180 acres of land and while you are walking from one building to the next, you look out and the layout gives the impression that the Forbidden City (the palace from 1412 - 1920) goes on for forever.

When entering the city I decided to purchase the GPS audio guide they were offering and was so glad I did! Other than being an amazing map (no place in China that I went to had maps for people!) it kept track of where you were with a blinking red light, and upon approaching an important area or building would begin telling you about the location until you moved on. By using the guide I was not only able to keep track of where in the palace museum I was, but also what else there was to see ahead of me (aka, tons!) The architecture of the palace buildings reminded me a lot of many of the temples in Taiwan, both in structure as well as color choices. Although we were not permitted to enter many of the buildings, many of them were set up with furniture and artifacts from the emperors and it was neat to see the period pieces from a culture so different from my own! After 4+ hours of walking {99% of which was outside} in temperatures reaching the high 90's, I decided that I could only see so much of the palace in one day and headed back to my hostel to cool down for a bit.

After a quick cool down and power nap {never underestimate the power of an afternoon power-nap!} I headed back out for the evening towards the Temple of Heaven. Though not entirely far from my hostel, by the time I got there they had stopped selling tickets to enter inside the temple, so I opted to buy a ticket to simply walk the gardens around this iconic 200-year-old temple. Although I was bummed I couldn't go inside the temple {haha you know how I love my temples!} the gardens around it were beautiful and I loved getting a glimpse at the evey day life of many Chinese people. There were small groups of people covering virtually every flat space of the gardens playing cards and mahjong, men and women alike; it was quite fun to see!

Once I left the gardens, and after grabbing a snack at a local bakery since I was STARVING!, I headed off in the direction of the local silk market. The hostel had posters of recommended sights in Beijing and little bits of info about each one and after noticing the market was open late (many things closed between 4 & 6) I figured it might be a fun way to spend my first evening in China! Getting to the silk market was a breeze and I quickly located a small restaurant with an ever  instant waiter and figured I'd give it a try...I mean where else can you get a "fast food", duck sandwich for dinner!!! I enjoyed my sandwich along with the free fries and nuggets they brought me out later as well! :)

Walking just a couple feet from the duck restaurant I found myself in the midst of the silk market. This 8 story building is filling with vendors trying their hardest to sell you anything and everything under the sun. Every two feet had someone shouting "hey pretty lady" or "do you need a..." and "I give you good price". I just had to laugh....things we never see in America! I browsed the isles for a while before buying my brother a Beijing soccer jersey and told myself I'd be back again when I had a little more sleep on my hands! Back to the hostel I went and after a little online research for the rest of my Beijing stay...I quickly crashed...midnight comes all too soon when you're traveling!

Tokyo Shrines & Day 2

Day 2 in Japan started out just a tad later than expected! Between being 1 hour ahead of Japan and having just finished touring mason around for 2 weeks I was pooped and no alarm was going to get me out of bed as early as intended! {now in my defense though I was up, dressed and grabbing breakfast by 9am!} 

I'm not sure what a typical Japanese breakfast consists of, but when I woke up Monday morning I was starving and walked in the first place that was open with a decent amount of customers inside. Now, Japan LOVES vending machines, and many of the restaurants are no different. In this one you walk in and use a small machine to select and pay for your order, afterwards you sit down and hand your receipt to a waitress who uses it to order your food from the kitchen and then bring it to you. Odd for me, but benefits for them is they don't need many staff working and the menus are in multiple languages! I decided on a fried pork loin and rice as it looked like a common dish others were eating! 

After breakfast I began walking and stumbled upon a small shrine with several torii gates leading to it. Of course I had to stop and investigate for a bit before continuing on my way! Again today I skipped the JR trains as much as possible and often found myself stepping into intriguing shops and markets along the way!

Finally I was almost to my destination when I realized that directly across the street was the famous Ameyoko shopping street. I stopped on by with no intentions of buying anything really and made it a whole 5 feet before  I stumbled upon a used kimono shop (umm hello Tracy paradise!) and couldn't possibly resist buying myself a beautiful blue & purple kimono! I excitedly took my purchase and continued on taking in the sights and sounds (and let's be honest some snacks as well) before heading back in my original direction of Ueno Park. Sadly, in my opinion, the park was nothing extraordinary, maybe if you were wanting to check out the several museums they had there it might have been more eventful, but nonetheless I took a stroll through the park, checked out a shrine and a Hiroshima Memorial before heading back out.  

My next stop, and quite a hike later!, was the Seno-ji Temple and goodness was it beautiful! The shrine itself was huge compared to the others I had seen in Tokyo and it also had a pagoda near it and an archway at the entrance with one of the biggest paper lanterns I have ever seen! Much like the shrine yesterday, you cannot enter the main portion of this temple, but rather bow & clap your hands several times before tossing several coins into a trough and sending your prayers to the gods. This area was definitely a tourist attraction as there were hundreds of people scattered about, but between the gorgeous views and prime people watching opportunities, I was as happy as could be!!

Before leaving the area, they had several stations to retrieve your fortune. You chose a metal tin (think a heavy Pringles can!) and shook it around until a small numbered stick came out the single hole in the tin. You then matched your number up with a drawer that provided your fortune. I'm supposed to lose something, be late, catch a disease and I don't know what all else! Luckily there were instructions to tie your unlucky fortunes to a pole and not take them with you...I happily obliged! 

Next on my list, and what I had been catching glimpses of all day through the trees, was the Tokyo Sky Tree. The Sly Tree is the tallest structure in Tokyo standing at 2,080 feet high and is primarily used as a broadcasting tower though there is also a restaurant and observation deck inside as well. The first observation that I stopped at is a little over halfway up the tower and includes stunning views of the city below, including a section with a glass floor allowing you to see the ground some 1,000 feet below you! Unfortunately it was just cloudy enough the day I went that I wasn't able to see Mount Fuji {motivation to visit Japan again!}

After the sky tree I stopped at CoCo CurryHouse for dinner after a recommendation from a friend before heading back to the hostel and crashing hard for a late afternoon nap!

After my lovely power nap I decided to explore the Shinjuku area near my hostel, only to discover that the largest red light district in Tokyo was a short 10 minute walk from my hostel! {lesson learned} needless to say I was able to walk around and people watch for several hours before it was time to head in for the night in preparation for Tokyo day 3!

Tuesday's Taiwan-ism {Temples of Taiwan Video}

It's no secret that I am slightly in love with the temples that are EVERYWHERE here in Taiwan! I may not have the same beliefs as the temple goers or understand their beliefs or customs, but the craftsmanship and artistry shown in each of these temples is not only beautiful but unique to each temple I stumble upon. My friends here tease me that I can't simply walk past a temple, no matter the size, but I must at least poke my head in to see what lies inside!

I've put together a quick video of a small fraction of some of the temples that I have visited over the past 10 months and hope you enjoy it as much as I do taking the pictures and exploring each of these hidden gems!

Sun Moon Lake & Cultural Village

Remember that time I hitched a ride with several teachers from Mialoi County thanks to Tina and we headed down to Changhua County and the amazing temple they had there?! Yeah...I did it again and this time we headed back down to Sun Moon Lake {check out my first visit to the lake here!}

April 9-10

We met bright and stinkin' early at the Mialoi Train station just south of Hsinchu, hopped on a bus and started the nearly 2 hour drive southeast to Nantou County where Sun Moon Lake is located. Getting off of the bus a little before noon at the Sun Moon Lake Cultural Center none of us were 100% sure what to expect from our day ahead.  {I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling lazy today...get ready for a ton of pictures!} We spent the day exploring the village, learning about the native indians from Taiwan, watching the aboriginal show, riding the gondolas, checking out the rides and soaking in the sweet sweet sun and the amazing views...oh, and of course, eating!

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The 4 of us decided before hand to grab a hotel in Nantou overnight instead of taking the shuttle bus back home less than 5 hours after arriving to the lake, so we bid our friends goodbye and spent all of Sunday exploring more of the lake and it's spectacular views. Sunday brought with it bike rentals and bumpy rides, Wenwu Temple, day market foods, and souvenir shopping followed by a long ride home!

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Taking on Tainan

April 1 - 5, 2016

If you missed the post for the first half of this weekend you can check in out here, but I also know everyone is crazy busy and a 14 page long blog post is just not going to get read...so chop it in half I did!

Sunday morning we woke up late at Ariel's aunt's house and had a wonderful home cooked seafood lunch before heading to Kaohsiung, the county before Tainan, for the day. We didn't arrive to Kaohsiung until mid afternoon, but we quickly headed towards our destination {the one thing I had actually planned for our weekend lol}The Lotus Pond and its famous pagodas and pavilions. 

Before moving to Taiwan I associated dragons with Asian culture, but wasn't quite sure if that was how things really were or if it was just a stereotype that many of us place on the Asian art and cultures. Needless to say, I know the answer now for sure, that dragons are very much a part of Asian and Taiwanese culture as noted in the dragon and tiger pagodas that we went to see in Kaohsiung. These 7 story tall pagodas each have a statue in front of them; on the left a dragon and the right a tiger, as well as a winding walkway to reach their entrance. It is believed that if you enter the pagoda through the dragon you will gain good luck while exiting through the tiger will rid you of bad luck...I'm not a superstitious person, but who am I to say no to the possibility of good luck!!

Afterwards we went next door {with tea in hand!} to the spring and autumn pavilions where we spent more time checking the area out {I'm honestly amazed we spent nearly 3 hours at Lotus Pond!}. When we had finished Ariel's cousin picked us up and the 4 of us along with his girlfriend and her friend went out for a delicious Taiwanese dinner and ice cream before heading back to Tainan for the night. Once in Tainan we headed to a small local bar where we were able to relax and unwind from the week while playing a few rousing rounds of heads up!

Monday brought along a whole new set of adventures and beautiful blooms. We slept in again (OK, I can't lie...actually everyone else slept in and my lovely internal alarm clock had me up at the crack of dawn :/ ) and had a popular roast duck dish for lunch at Ariel's aunt house before heading out for the day. Afterwards we stopped at a local park to check out the trees that were in bloom and they were B-E-A-utiful!! Later we went to another abandoned warehouse that has since been taken over by Banyan tree {the same ones from the temples in Cambodia!} known as the Anping Tree House and checked out all the cool growth and the small history museum they had on site. Later in the day we stopped by Anping Fort and the giant local night market before settling in for the night with some Chinese Mahjong lessons. {I'm feeling more and more Taiwanese everyday haha!}

Tuesday brought with it even more food (you'd think I'd look like an elephant by now!), Fort Provintia, gourd tea, and a long train ride back home to a well deserved good nights sleep! Until next time Tainan!

Checkin' Out Changhua County

March 12, 2016

My goodness guys, I just can't seem to catch up on these darn weekend posts! Apparently I just need to hole myself up for an entire weekend so I can catch up on posts instead of living life and then having to write about it...on a second though; never mind...I love the traveling!

Back in March [ok this was barely a month ago...I don't feel SOOO bad!] Tina called me up one afternoon to tell me that her counties foreign teacher department was taking them on a field trip the following Saturday and they had extra seats available and asked if I wanted to join...umm yes! {Mind you I had no idea where they were even going yet lol} Having to meet in Miaoli train station at 8:30 in the morning meant that because the way the trains from my place lined up I had to leave my house by 7:30am...I was dragging! But a quick nap on the bus and meeting up with some of the foreigners I hadn't seen in a while was enough to regenerate me by the time we were down in Changhua County 彰化縣.

We hopped off the bus in Lugang , stretched out our legs and headed for the famous Longshan temple in town but of course, we ended up very easily sidetracked! Not far from where the bus dropped us off there was a temple celebration taking place at Tienhou Matsu Temple, and if you've been reading my blog for any period of time...you know I'm not one to resist a good temple visit! As always, I'm not 100% sure what I saw {shoot I'm not even 15% sure of what I saw!} but they are always so different than anything I've seen before that you can't stop watching! They had music, they had giant dancing gods, they had small dragons and dancing old men. We saw fire crackers and fire pits, spinning tapestries and rolling altars, and of course everything smelled of incense...but alas...I still have no idea why any of it was going on! We watched for a long while and then ventured into the temple to check out the inside before our ever loudly grumbling stomachs finally won...time for lunch!

Hot pot (today's lunch) has slowly been growing on me since I've moved to Taiwan. If you've never heard of it before (I hadn't when I got here!) think of restaurants in western countries where you order a steak or other type of meat and they bring it raw and allow you to cook it for yourself at the table. That's essentially hot pot, but with an oriental twist! You order your broth flavor which they bring and put on a burner at your table and bring you a plate of raw meats and veggies to cook in the broth to your liking before dipping in an array of sauces and enjoying over rice. So yummy! After lunch we continued on our quest to locate Longshan temple but of course...we are easily sidetracked!

First up we run into a Chinese lantern shop with an elderly man inside hand panting some of the most beautiful lanterns I have ever seen in person! I watched him for a while before purchasing several of my own blank lanterns {I've got big plans for you little guys!} Afterwards we located a teeny alley called "the breast touching lane" stating that it was so narrow if two people walked through at the same time their chests would touch...of course we couldn't resist taking a stroll down the miniature alley! It reminded me so much of "The Kissing Street" {El Callejon del Beso} in Mexico.

After our little detour we FINALLY made it to Longshan temple. This 230 year old temple was beautiful and really goes to prove how timeless beautiful architecture can truly be. After enjoying the surrounding temple walls we explored the several buildings within the temple grounds, the intricate carvings and delicate window as well as the detailed beams that ran across many of the ceilings within the temple. Regardless of your religion and beliefs, it still  baffles me how people can walk in these buildings and not be in awe at their beauty. 

Finishing up at the temple it was time to head back to the bus {ok to be fair to everyone else on the bus...it was past our time to head back to the bus and we took a quick jog as to not be too late!} Was my weekend expected or planned? No. Did I have any idea what I was getting into or where I wanted to go? No. Did I have a blast and learn a little more about this culture I currently call home? Most definitely! 

Temple Procession - No Shame!

My time in Taiwan is complete, if you'd pull me out tomorrow I'd be happy...ok, I'm not REALLY ready to go home for the summer yet, but yesterday was something I've been looking forward to since I got here! I have a confession to make...I was creeping yesterday...hardcore...and I have no shame in what I've done!

This is what I began following

Ok I'll back up a bit, but please be prepared to be blown away! Yesterday, Sunday here, was a beautiful day and I chose to go check out the harbor in Hsinchu only about 15 minutes drive from my house, as I had yet to visit the area and wanted to see what all it held (side tangent, it was beautiful and I can' t wait to go back, rent bikes, and drive up and down the coast!) I left the harbor heading for church and planned to grab a quick dinner and then head across the street for mass at 6. I wasn't too far from church though when a man appeared in the middle of the road signaling to traffic to stop. I pulled off to the side of the road and tried to look ahead through traffic to see what was the hold up. To be honest I heard the drums and trumpets before I saw them and decided to shut off my scooter and sit and watch them pass by. Just a few feet before the procession should have passed me they turned right down a narrow road obstructing any view I once had.

I sat for a second and then thought...what the heck! I hopped off my scooter and began to follow the processional  {I mean I've got to figure out what's going on right?!!?} I walk with them a couple minutes down the road before they come to a standstill. There's a group of middle aged men all standing around (by this point they had put the god they were carrying down) chewing beetle nuts {think a grosser form of chewing tobacco} and drinking beer and were all quite intreagued by the lone foreign girl and were instant I have a drink with them...no thanks buddies!

We walked a bit further, with the guys picking up and carrying the bouncing god statue every time they moved, until I realized I was a decent ways away from my scooter...so I did what any good curious person would do; I walked back to my scooter and then drove it back to the processional parking only when the traffic got too bad to drive any further and then continued walking with them. I moved and parked my bike a good 3 or 4 times amounting to a solid hour of following these people and almost 3/4 of a mile covered by their processional.

[starting top left: 1. 10-12 foot god costumes 2. local men eager for a picture 3. a young boy dressed as a god 4. part of the area of the procession {look in the back, it keeps going!} 5. elderly woman & god 6.  firecrackers lining the road 7. myself and a large god 8. trumpets used during ritual dance 8. the "bouncing" gods]

Now on to the REALLY interesting stuff though! Guys, after an hour I still have no idea what I was seeing but I couldn't stop watching! There were so many local gods there. Some were on small bouncing platforms being carried by groups of 10-12 men, others were men dressed and painted to resemble warrior looking gods, and still others yet wearing costumes of 10-12 foot tall over sized gods. The entire time I walked there was a string of connecting firecrackers lining both sides of the street that they would lite with little to no warning, colored smoke being shot into the air, and 4-wheelers pulling drums and their drummers providing music for the whole ceremony.

[LOVE how these 3 pictures turned out! 1. god costumes waiting to be worn, the scenery was gorgeous!, and the sunset behind a dancing god]

Meanwhile, the "gods" were suiting up for the next leg of their procession while club music was ringing out from the group of drunk men behind me still carrying their bouncing god statues. I continued following them hoping to figure out where they were going {this puzzle was missing too many pieces lol} and saw they were heading to a small temple. Bingo! that had to be the end...or not! Each portion of the processional stopped in front of the temple, did a short dance or bowed, and then continued on down the road. I followed them for a while down a winding road taking pictures, having my picture taken, and responding to everyone hellos and where are you from's {of course all in Chinese lol} but still never found the end.

Next thing I knew it was 5:40 and my phone/gps was quickly dying. I said my goodbyes to my new found "friends" and headed on my way to church; laughing the whole way thinking off all the situations I find myself in. Until next time bouncy gods...keep on bouncing!

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!

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!

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!

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!