$4 bunnies and an unexpected side trip

My journey feels like it's officially begun. The north has highly exceeded my expectations...  Before i made it to the north i took advantage of it being the weekend in Bangkok and made it to the world-famous Chatuchak weekend market, which is actually listed in the 1000 Things To Do Before You Die book. It is a market with over 8,000 stands, the size of over 6 football fields of literally anything you can buy. We're talking sections for clothing and accessories, plant and gardening tools, pets (WOW THE PETS), furniture, handicrafts, artwork, food, books, antiques and souvenirs. No one could ever do the entire market in one day. My favorite section, which was definitely unlike anything I've ever seen, was the pets section. I was tempted to give this its own individual post because they were just that cute and i just took that many pictures, but i'm going to have to condense. They were selling THEE most adorable puppies (Laura if you're reading this, i thought of you) for 100 bucks a pop. What blew my mind more though, were the bunnies. ONLY $4-$7 PER BUNNY.. their size didn't exceed the length of a dollar bill. i was going crazy and my desire to squeeze a friend's arm from the cuteness was uncontrollable. My "oh my god's" were left for the indifferent thai vendors to hear. I swear if i wasn't in thailand i would just buy one on the spot. They also sold pet squirrels for $10 each, from basically fetus to full-grown squirrel, including flying ones. What a crazy market.

I wanted to DIEEEEE this one was so cute. literally no longer than a dollar bill.

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Dressed up!

One of the flower stands at the market

En-Route...

I got on a 15 hour sleeper train to Chiang Mai a few hours after visiting the market, and my excitement kept on growing. What was cool about the train ride was that we stopped by numerous stations throughout the day where i got to see famous cities infrequently explored by tourists. I sat next to a thai man who kept telling me the names of each city we stopped that, which gave me enough time at each stop to flip to the city's page in my guide book and have a quick read. Among the many stops were Ayutthaya and Lopburi, with beautiful ruins dating hundreds of years back. Lopburi is known for its impressive monkey population. There are more monkeys than there are people. I watched them scurry everywhere around one of the oldest wats (temples) in all of thailand. it was wild. I managed to get a shot while the train was moving.

Can't really see the monkeys well in the pic but they're definitely everywhere. This is one of the oldest wats.

View down the corridor of my cramped sleeper train, my bed on the top right

Chiang Mai

I finally made it to Chiang Mai the next day and stayed at this AMAZING hostel, recommended by Ali Murphey!! This hostel was the best suggestion. I have met the best group of people here, it's seriously been so incredible. My first day I went to Tiger Kingdom with a few of the friends i made. Normally people frown upon tiger-zoos because it's said that they are kept calm by drugs, but this place insisted that they were taken care of and trained from birth. Trained or not, that didn't keep me from being absolutely terrified to be literally cuddling with 2 of them.... my heart was pounding. I was pretty scared. But it was still cool. My camera died while visiting the tigers but i have lots on my phone, here's one of many:

My body language clearly reads frightened, stiff, and unsure. Do you blame me?

The hostel so kindly drove a huge group of us to Chiang Mai's Sunday market later where they had the cheapest most delicious food, maybe 10 cents for a solid, filling Pad Thai. I could get used to that. We all went out to several bars afterwards where we discussed our plans for the next few days, and watched an awesome fire show. 

Us walking through the night market

Gorgeous silk tapestries being sold at one of the stands

Amazing hand-carved and hand-painted flower soaps. How would you ever want to actually use one of these????

One of the fire shows at Babylon Bar we went to in town

A few of us at a Reggae Bar (note the Bob Marley impersonator)

But no plans were solidified, which was actually the best part. I spontaneously decided the next morning to join 3 other people in exploring the mountains on motorbikes, and visit 2 Hill Tribes. It was incredible. I saw the most beautiful lush green forests, and i loved how free i felt on the back of the motorbike under the warm sun and the cooling wind, anticipating what view the next curve in the road would reveal. We made it to the top of a mountain and stumbled across a hill tribe and had lunch there. These people have their own language and no laws, no police, located here at the top of a mountain in minimal living conditions, just living.... It was very plain, but that's what made it so cool, they were not trying to impress anybody. Hardly any visitors, and we just stumbled across them... 

Getting ready to ride the back of that motorbike...Not sure what that grimace is all about.

I can't crop or edit any pics so this'll do, This is a grandfather with a baby on his back, smoking the LARGEST non-water vapor bong i have ever seen. like i said, no laws here.

One of the stands in the hill tribe

My friend Nick walking in the village

On our way back down the mountains we also got the chance to visit Doi Suthep, another great and majestic wat on a hilltop. It was so beautiful, and I lit some candles and incense thinking about this trip, my family, and friends back at home. I loved this day. it was an awesome, unplanned motorbike trip through chiang mai's gorgeous landscapes - a completely unguided tour, enjoyed for free (minus the temple).

Watching Thais be blessed by a monk. I almost did it. Might do it in the next few days while in Chiang Mai

Later that night the hostel owner Noom took us all out for some fun bowling which was so unexpected. As we left, Noom got us all back in the Songthaew (that open van) and made about 7 rotations in the parking lot and had us all screaming, holding on for dear life (and trying not to throw up). In that moment of screaming (and feeling ill), i was just smiling and thinking of how awesome this was. How this hostel is great, and how the people are great, and that i'm feeling so happy. In those 10 seconds was when i completely changed my plans. We had a solid group of people here and 8 of them were going to Pai the next morning, a backpacker haven with lots of trekking opportunities and amazing lazy living. I didn't want to leave these people, but Pai was nowhere in my tentative plans. I decided, why not? I didn't really have plans to begin with. So 9 of us headed to Pai the next morning. It was hands down the best decision I could've made. I love this unexpected and unplanned way of living.

Pai

9 of us from the hostel in Chiang Mai made it to Pai in 3 hours, and it just blew my mind. The ride there from Chiang Mai too is notorious for its 700+ curves in the mountains, and lots of people throw up along the way. they sell t shirts in pai that say "I survived the 752 curves" or something.
Originally i only booked for 2 nights because I wasn't interested in staying longer, but seeing where we were staying, a few of us instantly asked the owners to book us 2 extra nights. We were at SpicyPai, owned by the same company. I didn't want to leave! It was the chillest, most relaxing social scene with bonfires, BBQs, lounging, laughing, and just loving every second.

My home for the next 4 nights

Our crazy bunk beds. soooo awesome.

Lazy hut living in hammocks, all day every day.

The day we got there, Kit the owner told us we should all go and visit the caves in Pai via motorbikes. I think we were a group of almost 15, and we rode the bikes for an hour and a half through the thai countryside. The journey to and from the caves through the countryside was enough to make the whole day worth it - it was amazing. Once we got to the caves we were asked to bamboo raft through them (something i've always wanted to do!) and we fed tons of fish. These caves are apparently the largest in Thailand, with 3 rooms each 800 meters long, and a few cave paintings dating back 3,000 years ago made by hunters. The only bad thing about this trip was that i grazed my leg against one of the parked motorbike's exhaust pipes and now have a crazy burn on my leg. It hasn't blistered though, good sign. Or maybe the bad part was that i got PEED ON by 2 different bats!!!!! Can't decide which is worse.

One of the many sunsets. Love this pic

3-wheeled taxi at one of our pit-stops...

Our SpicyPai group for the day. Thank you, Nick and Levi, for your memorable nipple and ass poses

Right outside the caves, a local with his pipe hanging out on the bamboo rafts.

Later that night we went to the Pai night market. I bought these AMAZING genuine leather-woven sandals for $12 USD (not madddd). We all decided it was a good idea to buy a bunch of those lanterns (you could buy them here too), and let them all go at the same time in the field by our huts. It was soooo cool. We stayed at our huts that night and enjoyed a camp fire (it got incredibly chilly here at night). 

Okay, this guy was out of his freaking mind. I had a hot ginger tea in one of those bamboo cups.

All of our lanterns in the night sky

The next day was spent exploring Pai and trying to find its many waterfalls. I went with 4 people, and I was at the back of a 3-person motorbike which wasn't the most comfortable of experiences, but still manageable. The waterfalls were gorgeous, and we were the only foreigners there. I soaked my feet in the cold stream and overlooked the rocky hills with these 4 friends, enjoying the moment. As we left we saw a monk arrive on his own, and we all agreed that the presence of a monk instantly makes a place look more spiritual and magical, of course we all seized the moment to snap a photo. 

Marije with some cows at the waterfall

Levi sliding into the water

The lone monk, lost in his own world and enjoying the stream, rocks and breeze. 10 monks joined him shortly after.

We got lost after this point, looping around in circles, finding ourselves in an animal sanctuary and eventually a local village which we knew was never visited by tourists, given the locals were so enthusiastic in waving to us and saying hello. We had an incredible BBQ this night, everyone around the camp fire again, drinking and enjoying ourselves. 

The next day was a really lazy day lounging at a nearby pool. I also had the most amazing western meal with a delicious Lychee-Mint shake that i HAVE to learn how to make once i get back home. For our last night again we hung out in the hammocks, watched the sun set and talked through the late hours. A Danish boy played the acoustic guitar the whole night and asked me to sing songs with him. We were the entire hostel's musical entertainment, i thought of my singing group the connchords!<3 I didn't want to leave the friends i'd made here, but everyone was going in a different direction. I didn't want to leave Pai. I didn't want to leave this moment, singing these songs, talking under fleece blankets with these people, lounging in these hammocks, barefooted and cozy with a Chang beer in my hand.

Where I am now:

I left to go back to Chiang Mai this afternoon and am back at SpicyThai with 2 people from our group. They're hosting a BBQ here tonight (not mad about 2 in one week), but it already doesn't feel the same - It is disappointing but also something you need to be at peace with when traveling; that when you make great friends, each of you has to part ways eventually. People from our group were ending their journeys, traveling back to Bangkok, going to Burma, going to India, venturing off to Vietnam... One of the 2 who came back with me, Marije from the netherlands, said that she missed our group. So do I already, but it's something you need to accept while you continue on your journey. Pai was an incredible 4-5 days. It doesn't sound like much, but time feels accelerated when you're traveling, living with the same people, doing the same activities, never leaving each others' sides.... I've met people from Finland, Russia, South Africa, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, the US, England, France and Denmark here, all in their mid-20s, and all eager to discover and learn like me. It's been wild getting to know all of the cultural differences and similarities, and even more wild discovering more about myself day after day.  

I plan on staying in Chiang Mai another 3 days and then headed even further up north to Chiang Rai, then eventually the Golden Triangle where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet so I can take a 2 day boat ride down the Mekong river into Laos. In the next 3 days I want to do a bike tour of the old city, and take a thai cooking course (I'll learn how to cook 6 meals including spring rolls, pad thai, mango sticky rice, green curry chicken... really exciting). Another day hanging by the pool doesn't sound too bad, either. 

Can't believe I only have a week left in Thailand before my visa runs out. It's been a wild, eye-opening journey so far. Til next time,

Celine

The islands

Wow - i can't believe how fast time has flown by... I'm back in bangkok now after roughly 10 days in the islands, which were sooo, so beautiful. But still adjusting to the challenges:

3 new things i tried this week:
-rode a MOTORBIKE! twice. I mean i didn't drive but i was at the back of one. still!
-tried the tropical Rambutan fruit. this fruit is DELICIOUS and is like the cousin of a lychee. so so good. and safe to eat because you have to peel off the spiked skin.
-tried a thai snack, coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves, with a sugary coconut "meat" in the center. i forgot what it's called but they sell them everywhere on the street for 10 baht which is like 30 cents.


Koh Samui
From my last blog entry i said i was leaving for Phuket the next morning - that morning was probably THE MOST afraid i have ever felt for my safety. I was staying at Chaweng Beach on the Samui island and we had to read safety precaution books about the area. Apparently Chaweng beach was the area with the most amount of crimes, disappearances, robberies, rapes and other police reports on the entire island and that it was very strongly advised to not be seen on the streets alone late at night or early in the morning before 9. My van was picking me up at 6am. It was still pitch black outside and literally the only living things on the side walk were me and a stray dog.. maybe two. I had to hide behind some tables and chairs at an outdoor closed restaurant so that none of the zooming motorbikes would see me. i was so scared !!!!!!!! not to mention my van was so late i wound up squatting behind a table for a half hour til the sun came out. so that was fun. once the van picks me up i make it all the way to the pier and then realize that i left soooo many things (ugh) and had to go back, so i spent an extra night, and re-did the entire squatting-behind-tables-and-chairs-while-sweating-bullets thing all over again the next morning. i survived though!

now onto more interesting things:

Phuket 
I make it to Phuket (pronounced poo-KET) after what feels like a century-long commute and am warmly greeted by two thai women working at the guesthouse and a large group of 11 australians who were all traveling for just 3 weeks. i traveled with these guys for the next 3 days. Despite my exhaustion they were able to convince me to go out and experience Phuket nightlife, which, i have to say, is slightly crazier than bangkok.... we were on this street called Bangla Road, i don't know.. you have to see it to believe it. But before we all go to Bangla Road, half of us decide to have a drink out on the beach at night instead. The beaches here at night are so, SO nice. Wish i could experience that more often. In the distance I see a floating lantern in the sky. I found it so beautiful, thinking it's just like in the movie Tangled! We all pitch in to buy one (it was like $2 or something) and let it float in the sky. Call me a huge dork (because i am), but it felt soooooo magical. i felt way more enthusiastic about it than the boys (naturally) but i was so happy i got to release a lit paper lantern to fly over the ocean beach into the night sky, watching it shrink until it blended in with the stars through its final twinkle.

We also set off some fireworks too, you can buy them everywhere in Phuket! After that we explored the many bars that Phuket has to offer and they're just....crazy..... Not to mention that Bangla Road in particular, i have never seen so many Ladyboys (thai transvestites) in my LIFE. it is pretty funny watching guys getting chased by them. But the bar scene was nuts..There are thai women dancing on poles everywhere, and this is not a closed off underground space nor is there a cover charge... just out in the open. And it sort of grossed me out how many dirty old men i saw at these places.

 

A look inside every bar... pole dancers everywhere.

Then we moved onto another bar which was "ladies night"... which means what? Reallyy built + tan scandinavian men with spiked hair doing a long choreographed dance show to mainstream music. oh my god it was hilarious. funnier were the female scandinavian tourists in front of me just swooning over these guys. 

 

Koh Phi Phi

The next morning we all left Phuket and moved onto Koh Phi Phi (yes pee-pee, an unfortunate translation), which was by FAR one of the highlights of my trip so far. It is such a beautiful place, and is actually made up of 6 small islands. Phi Phi is also a party island at night... i've noticed the islands are all about that?? they love their parties. Our first full day there we went on one of those cool boats and did a full-day snorkeling trip, it was soooo fun. I took tons of pictures of the most beautiful rocks, just so majestically protruding out of the sea, some taking on the most interesting forms.... they're landscapes that i always dreamed about seeing with my own two eyes.

Our first night before we went snorkeling... a party on the beach

They really love their fire and fireworks shows around here

Snorkeling! (i got the WORST sunburn on my feet from the snorkel fins rubbing off the sunblock... ouch).

Our boat for the full day snorkeling trip

our thai fried rice lunch break on the shore with our feet in the sand... not TERRIBLE!

This woman on the beach with us just picked up this crab with no hesitation. I didn't seriously think their eyes actually looked that way.... thank you spongebob

amazing rock

Monkey Beach! sadly there were no monkeys that day.

One of our many snorkeling stops

This is Maya Beach, where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. it was sooooooooo stunning

Maya Beach <3

On our way back to the main island.. one of my favorite pics

A few of us went back to the beach that night before I left for Krabi the next morning

Krabi - Valentine's Day!

I took a 10:30am ferry the next day and left Koh Phi Phi for Krabi where I stayed for 2 nights, and said bye to the OZ crew. I started fresh again and went to Krabi Town where they have an amazing night market of the cheapest thai food, it was all so delicious... and i have to say my tolerance for spicy food is getting a little better! My room I stayed in though was weird, it was like an infirmerie filled with patients. They were all SO quiet, one guy had an infected leg and just got back to the hostel after spending a week in the hospital, one girl got thrown off her motorbike and had battle wounds all over her body, and another guy legit destroyed his motorbike that he rented and had to pay 6,000 baht ($200?) for the damages. sucks to be him. So they were all sitting in the room recuperating from their physical and emotional trauma. So i moved along to the hostel's rooftop bar (a rare thing for a hostel to have) and met lots of europeans. We all had a good conversation though about meeting like-minded people who want to see the world. We as human beings don't like change, we latch onto familiarity but in many circumstances that tends to hold us back from growing to our biggest potential.. It was a conversation that made me feel good about my decision to come here, that the best of the trip was yet to come...  

I booked a tour on V-Day to go around Phang Nga Bay, AKA. James Bond Island. Not gonna lie it was way too touristy for my liking but i guess that's to be expected. Also, around 70% of the tourists were French. so weird. I spent the entire valentine's day alone, i didn't even have friends go on this day trip with me, and my family felt so far away... A part of me felt sort of sad that day to be in nearly complete solitude but another part of me felt that it was okay, that this day was for me to enjoy and luckily, it was very, very busy:

We explored beautiful landscapes of Phang Nga bay and the Mangrove forest area. I felt slightly underwhelmed after seeing all the landscapes in Phi Phi island but still the James Bond island was pretty impressive, stunning actually...

My Valentine's Day

Split rock on Ping Gan Island (where you view the james bond rock)

Closeup of said split rock

The amazing, gravity-defying james bond rock...

What was really cool to me was our lunch - we stopped this floating village entirely on wooden stilts over the water, called Koh Panyee Village (or Muslim Fishing Village). It was sooooooooooo cool, and we spent about 2 hours here eating and exploring.

I took a picture of a postcard of the place so you can get a better idea

In the village we also visited a school (near the rock) and watched the kids play games. it reminded me a lot of the orphanage i visited in Fiji. After getting lost in the village I made my way back to the boat and we sailed to visit Suwankhuha Temple (money cave) where there were monkeys EVERYWHERE. i got some pretty awesome pictures and we fed them bananas.

Our last stop was the Waterfall, where local young thais actually go to hang out. I liked this place a lot because it felt more tropical. I sprayed tons of bugsporay on and a bunch of us from the tour dove into the water. it was SO REFRESHING. it was such a hot day.

I came back to the hostel completely exhausted. I planned on leaving for Khao Sok National Park the next morning to be reunited with Britt and Katie, but unfortunately they left Khao Sok the day I got there. Soooo that didn't work out... In the morning before I left though I went to the river and noticed the insanely low tide, which revealed tons of mud, and with that, Mudskipper fish. I don't know if any of you have watched the Life series with Oprah on one of those discovery channels, but that's the only place i've ever heard of these... thanks, oprah! these things are so crazy. Evolution is crazy. 

A mudskipper enjoying the mud with his cute friend mr. crab

Khao Sok National Park

I could've done without going to this place.... but it was still cool. I didn't get the chance to meet with Britt and Katie since they went to Krabi as soon as I left. Khao Sok National Park is a massive park, known for having the world's largest flower and tallest trees. I only stayed here one night and i stayed in a really charmless bungalow... definitely in the roughing-it-hard category. I went on a nighttime safari which was sort of pointless because you're basically praying that the tourguide finds something interesting. We found a snake, lots of lizards, way too many spiders, a centipede and one of those twig-looking bugs, and a civet cat. The civet cat was what saved the tour...they only come out at night. All i was thinking before that point was that we found insects that could be even more easily seen during the daytime. I had a really tough time falling asleep that night, especially around 6am, but it was sooo cool. I was awoken by the sounds of the jungle - crickets, gibbons, wild pigs and crazy bird and insect sounds - a giant nature orchestra welcoming the sun at dawn. It was pretty cool but also mildly unsettling with myself hiding under my mosquito net waiting for whatever was crawling on the roof of my bungalow to move along somewhere else.

Where i stayed! it looks nice from the outside...

mehh

can you spot the 2 lizards?

Where I am now

I'm back in Bangkok, leaving for Chiang Mai tomorrow, and CANNOT BE HAPPIER. To be honest I was soooo looking forward to leaving the islands, because the majority of it all was just beaches, nothing distinctively Thai or cultural, i just felt like a really lazy tourist the whole time, spending more money than i should. It was a really emotional start to my trip with the adjustments to challenges, of meeting people and leaving them and starting over again, having plans fall through... but something happened to me during my long bus ride back to Bangkok, a huge wave of happiness and positivity saying that Chiang Mai is going to be even better than the islands, and I'll be staying in the same place for longer than just 3 nights... I have a really, really good feeling about where i'm headed to next and the things i'll be doing, the places i'll be seeing, and the people i'll be meeting. I've already been pushing myself to do things i never have before, and am living more spontaneously than i've ever been. I'm so excited about northern thailand next.