survived the 1st week

It's been one week since I arrived in SE Asia and i feel like there's already so much to say about it... this blog entry is going to be much longer than most i'll be writing in the future but so much has happened !!!
I am currently on the island in the south of thailand called Koh Samui after an intensely long night on the island Koh Pha Ngan for their infamous Full Moon Party, which i'll talk about later. but now i finally have time to update my blog.

5 things i learned this week:

1). Thais drive on the lefthand side of the road? did not expect that.
2). NEVER tell anyone it's your first time in thailand, they WILL scam you (i feel like i learned this the hard way).
3). Bangkok nightlife is OUT. OF. CONTROL.
4). western toilets are a luxury
5). Everyone and their mother rides a motorbike

I'm going to be honest and say that my first full day in bangkok was incredibly stressful and frustrating, but my second day was absolutely incredible. my first day was rough because i learned the hard way about a). scams and b). no one knowing where anything is located. My day consisted of me meeting this "school teacher" who told me all the sites to see (which were all pointless sites) and that it was the only day of the year that Tuk-tuks were having a special government promotion so the driver can take you everywhere all day for only 10 baht (30 cents?). I get driven around by this tuktuk driver to places to purchase things that i don't care about literally ALL DAY. and i only find out later that 2 other girls met a 'school teacher' and the same thing happened to them, and my guide book said that you shouldn't trust the tuktuk drivers because they drive you around everywhere BUT your desired location because they get a special coupon for their gasoline. whoops. The plus side to this long tuk tuk drive though was that i got to see the streets of bangkok, and took pictures along the way.

woman walking on the outside of a wat (temple site) in central bangkok

Part of a Wat with "Cho Fa's", typical thai architecture

typical bangkok traffic 

standard tuk-tuk (don't trust the blue ones... these are the ones that drive you to 6 different places before your destination)

I also got into another tuk tuk later and we negotiated on 10 baht again, yet he demanded 50 baht once he took me to the wrong destination, i don't know, it's really frustrating how they'll do anything to try and take your money. Another incident was that i got scammed with 2 other guy friends i made by these pigeon feeders who literally placed opened bags of corn into our arms, so that we had no choice but to take them or else they'd spill - we gave them back to the ladies and they said "no no no no, it's good luck! feed!" so we tossed the corn to the pigeons and then these women demanded 50 baht. Actually we just told them that you shouldn't trick people into giving you money, and we walked away while one of them shouted profanities at my friend Brian (whoops).

Khao San Road

Day 2-3: My second and third days were LIGHTYEARS better. I made so many friends at this amazing hostel called NapPark, 2 blocks away from Khao San Road which is a long street with all backpacker essentials, including great nightlife and where i spent most of my time when not visiting tourist sites.

Other backpackers getting thai massages on Khao San Road

I had to pay 10 baht to take a picture of these fried bugs, you could buy a bag for $1 USD. I've still yet to try one but i definitely will before i go home. 

Every saturday NapPark hosts a tour for all backpackers to go to the thai floating market, and every wednesday night they host beer drinking games in the main lobby lounge. this was the easiest place to meet people. So we went to the thai floating market, which is different than the tourist floating market here (which is actually way more impressive), but it was more authentic and hardly any tourists were there, so i guess that makes up for it. It was an amazing place full of vendors, exotic food and smells.

yes.. these were all still alive

The hostel even paid for our lunch there which was so nice! (and delicious... i've already tested my tolerance for spicy food, we ate catfish with red curry and coconut milk, chicken skewers, yum!)

our group, only about a dozen of us went

We tried the thai fruit, the Durian, they have a weird smell but taste like a vanilla rice pudding (texturally too)

on our way out of the thai floating market

hi

Then i visited the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, which are GORGEOUS. so stunning. They have a 147 foot buddha made entirely of gold. the story is that it was initially covered in white plaster, so people thought it was of little value.  one day someone noticed a crack in the plaster where it shimmered gold and voila. These wats are from the 13th-15th centuries (i think).

the crazy 147 ft reclining buddha made of solid gold

one section of the grand palace complex

Traditional thai costume jewelry for sale

Us climbing down the intensely steep stairs of Wat Phra Kaew

So then comes the nightlife. I can't even tell you how crazy bangkok's nightlife is.... i have to break it into 3 parts because we did so much our last night in bangkok. Unfortunately i don't have pictures of this night because we went to the infamous Ping Pong Show (yes i can't believe i went to this) and i thought my camera would be confiscated. my friend Brittany took all the pictures our last night in bangkok, so i'll get pictures from her. still, things worth mentioning:

1). buckets. thais LOVE drinking out of huge buckets of alcohol for 200 baht each! (less than $7). we had a few of these on khao san road before planning to head over to Skybar, one of bangkok's best nightclubs that overlooks the entire city on a rooftop.

2). the ping pong show. what can i say about this? i heard so many times from people saying "you have to go to this, it's only in thailand!". I was so nervous about this but apparently it was a must-see. What is the ping pong show? oh, just a live show where you see tons of thai women pulling and tossing things out of their VAGINAS. yes you read that correctly. it is such a culture here, people of all ages were in this audience, from young 20 year old backpackers to married couples in their 50s. It is so bizarre. but it was SO WEIRD. i have never felt dirtier getting out of a show like that. i actually felt horrible for paying to see this show, since a part of me doesn't think that these women chose to do this for a living. we're talking vaginas throwing darts out to pop balloons in the air, vaginas pulling out strings of razor blades, vaginas sucking up a bottle of sprite and pouring coca cola back into the bottle (how??????). the final act was also basically live sex but with contortionist positions. there's just so much i can say about this show, but for now i'll just say that i was speechless and that seeing it once is more than enough. Pictures were not allowed (obviously).

3). After skybar and the ping pong show (gross) we went back to Khao San Road and went to this amazing club called "The Club" (real original). It was so amazing though. I can't remember the last time i just lost myself in the music, dancing on stage and forgetting everything, all sense of time and space.. My friends and i left this place at closing time at 3am. Great, great place. We have tons of pictures from here too but i'm not sure if/when i'll get them.


Where I am now:


I took a 10 hour overnight bus and a 1 hour ferry to Koh Samui where i've been the last 3 nights (minus yesterday). Yesterday was the Full Moon Party, which is a crazy party on Koh Phangan's beach at night that goes on until long after the sun rises the next morning. apparently 30,000 people from around the world show up to this, and dance the night away. There are also (mildly stupid, but impressively daring) things you could do such as jump rope with a flaming rope or do the limbo under a flaming piece of wood. There is also a section on the beach to buy mushrooms and "special" drinks and food, but people are idiots if they do that since there are cops everywhere and it's just dangerous to pass out on the beach at night. You looked out of place if you didn't have any neon paint on you so my friends Katie and Brittany and I got some paint and stuck together the entire time to not lose each other in the mess.

en route to Koh Samui

Full Moon Party!

Katie, Brittany and I pre-paint

Post-paint

Fire games/challenges at full moon party

People jump-roping a flaming rope 

I'm headed to Phuket, Krabi and Koh Phi Phi tomorrow, one more week of beachy island life and then i think i'll be ready to dive more into the culture again up north in Chiang Mai. This trip so far has definitely had its highs and lows, and i'm learning a lot already about the people, the culture and myself.    

 It is definitely fun traveling solo but it also has its many difficulties. I've been meeting a lot of people but as you switch locations and part ways you have to start from scratch again. Also you have to pay in full for transportation when you can split it if traveling with others, but i'm dealing. I'll write back again in another week or so! Thanks for reading (if you made it this far).