Thailand: The Final Countdown

After Pai, I made a quick stop in Chiang Mai where I took an amazing cooking class at BaanThai Cookery School. I was stoked to learn how to whip up my favorite dishes like Pad Thai, Khao Soy and Spring Rolls - yum! I also learned the primary ingredients of all Thai dishes: chili peppers (spicy!), sugar, fish oil, and oyster sauce - not things I usually stock in my cabinet but I'll definitely be adding upon my return to the States.

From Chiang Mai I took yet another overnight bus to Bangkok to pick up my final visitor of the year from the airport, my little brother Chris! Chris was with me the first time I came to Thailand in 2004, so we didn't have to do any of the touristy things around Bangkok - which was nice because we were able to explore areas and do things  I hadn't made it to yet like Chinatown, a paddle boat ride in Lumphini Park, a rooftop bar downtown, and Wat Arun on the river.

After a few days in Bangkok and warnings of imminent floods, we decided to head down South to the island of Koh Lanta on the Andaman Sea.  Koh Lanta was just as advertised- white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, and gorgeous sunsets. It had a very chill vibe and was the perfect place to soak up the sun and eat curry for every meal.

While in Koh Lanta, Chris and I hopped aboard a long-tail boat for an island tour that took us to Koh Ngai, Koh Mook, Koh Chuek and the Emerald Cave, or "Tham Morakot." The Emerald Cave was a really stunning sight.  The boat dropped us off at the entrance and at the entrance of the cave the water glowed a beautiful green color.  As we made our way past the entrance it gradually got darker until it was pitch black, and our guide thought it was hilarious to turn off the flashlight - not cool! It's definitely a little scary to be swimming in a dark cave somewhere in the middle of the ocean and no idea where you're going...oh, and there were bats. However, once we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, it was all good. We came out of the cave to a beautiful sight, a tiny beach surrounded on all sides by limestone cliffs covered with plants.  It was amazing and one of those moments that made me realize how lucky I am to have seen so many of these hidden wonders in the past year - there are so many beautiful places on this earth!

From Koh Lanta, we spent one night in Krabi re-living our stay there 7 years ago by staying in the same hotel (totally same same and not different) and hitting up the night market for some chicken on a stick and banana shakes. The next morning we hopped a flight and were back in the BKK for my final days in Thailand.  I had planned on making a return trip to Suphan for one last night with my friends - but that ended up being impossible due to the floods - so I guess I'll just have to come back to Thailand soon! 

Nell joined Chris and I in BKK for our final night and my friend Game also came into the city to send us off with some Beer Leo! It was a really good final day/night in Thailand - capped off with my favorite Thai meal, Pad Grapow Moo sai Kai Jiew, and an iced coffee or two from a street vendor. It was weird to say good-bye and honestly it still doesn't feel real, perhaps when I get back to the States I'll have more time to think about it, but for now all I can say is, I LOVE THAILAND. It was the best year of my life, I could not have asked for a better experience, and I am eternally grateful to all of the amazing places I got to see, the students I got to teach, the friends I made, the locals I met, the food I ate, and the experiences I had. I will for sure be back, hopefully sooner rather than later, and I will always have a special place in my heart for Thailand...chop mak!!

Jub Jub Suphan! Chan Ja Kit Tueng Suphan Mak Mak!

The time has come. Suphan has been a wonderful home these past 12 months. Thailand has made me a very calm, blessed and happy person, mee kwarm sook mak loey! Here's just a few of the things that I have loved and will really miss about living in Thailand:

Sights: the wai greeting, cute students, dogs riding shotgun on a motorbike, pictures of the King in every store, restaurant and home, food carts pushing their way down the street, bugs for sale at the night market, elephants walking down the street, geckos climbing all over the walls, standing to watch the tribute to the King at the beginning of movies in theaters, peace signs in pictures, shoes lined up in the hallway, students walking single file into school, Oat climbing all over our table at Dton's restaurant, 555 all over my facebook wall, stuffed tuk-tuks, people sitting on chairs on top of bags of rice on a moving truck, old shirtless men sitting on their stoops late at night, babies on a moped...

Sounds: tuk-tuk motors, chanting monks, the students daily greeting "Good Morning Teacher," the Thai language, the band at Chaba Cafe, old-school Thai music, the Suphan accent, Thaienglish, people yelling "farang" at me, the gecko squeak, the national anthem every day at 6am, 8am, and 6pm, the ding every time you enter a 7-11, motorbike drivers going past yelling out "I love you!," the Thai reactions "oh-hooooo","aow","oyyy!", "chon gow, mot gow" at the bars, traditional Thai tv show at PTL, chup chup!, Grandma babbling in Thai at PTL, 25 Hours concerts...

Smells: fresh coffee, Thai street food, bug spray, loaded up on sunscreen, toasties from ImD. (Okay, I'll be honest, there are more smells here that I won't miss than those that I will...)

Touch: Thai massages, cramming my longish (in Asia) legs into a seat on the public bus, riding on the back of a motorbike, hugs from the students every morning when I walk down the hall, dancing to too much so much very much whenever it comes on, tuk-tuk rides around town, hot and sunny weather all year long...

Tastes: chili peppers, fresh fruit, som tom, Thai style iced coffee, bamee noodles, flower water, rice bread, banana shakes, pocky, sticky rice, pad thai, khao soi, beer with ice, fried donuts, grapow moo, Thai style omelettes, locally grown rice, cornettos from 7-11, kai jiew, siracha sauce...

I've now pretty much moved out of my apartment and I'm no longer an official "resident" of Thailand.  I'm off to live the backpacker life and be a vagabond for the next 5 weeks. Michaela has arrived and starting on Saturday we will head to Bangkok, up through Northeastern Thailand, into Laos, then I'll go back to Chiang Mai, and on to Pai and Mae Hong Son, back to Bangkok to pick up my brother, down to Koh Lanta, one final night in Suphan, and then on to Seoul, South Korea for a few days before I head back to St. Louis, Missouri, USA!

It's been amazing, Thailand. I'll always consider Suphan home and I'm so happy I've got such a big family here to come back and visit. Khop Khun Mak Mak Mak Mak Mak Ka!!

SYEP Good-Bye Ceremony
Photo by Clare

Suphan Bucket List

The clock is ticking on my time in Suphan, after 12 months, suddenly the end is upon me way too fast - 6 days! I've finished teaching, so what lies ahead this week is proctoring the kids Thai exams and getting grades in while simultaneously packing up my apartment and trying to make sure I see all of my favorite people and visit all of my favorite spots in the last week. I actually have pretty much every meal mapped out over the next six days to ensure that I get to enjoy all of my favorite dishes one last time. It is going to be so, so hard to say good-bye to Suphan - I've really grown to love my little home amidst the rice paddies. In order to make the most of my last week here, I've written up my own little bucket list of things to do in Suphan before I leave... I've got until Saturday and I've already checked off a couple of things, so I'm off to a good start.

• Visit Banya's coffee shop at least once a day.  This shouldn't be too hard since I already do this every day, Banya makes the most delicious Thai iced coffee, her shop has the only couches I've seen in Suphan (jing jing) and she's a good friend who is so fun to hang out with. 

• Eat as much Som Tom from Dton's, Pad Thai from Pad Thai Lady, Bamee noodles from the noodle shop, and banana shakes from "BSL" (Banana Shake Lady) as is humanly possible. 

• Take at least one long walk through town every night. Nell and I started doing this a couple of months in and it's one of my favorite ways to experience Suphan. People are driving past yelling "hello" or "I love you!" and there are certain groups of people that see us every night and flash us the biggest smiles and say "welcome to Thailand!"... every single time we walk past them. 
• See a Suphan Football Club game. I managed to do this last night, and it was such a great time. I loved cheering on Suphan and my fellow fans were super amazed to see me reppin' my Suphan FC Jersey, one man said to me "I love you because you love Suphanburi." Love you back, dude. 

• Hang out with Game, Spicey, Ex, Sek, Pipe, Aobb, Tong, etc.  (These would be the names of a few of my Thai friends, 555). There are two nightlife spots in Suphan that I've really enjoyed lately, lots of great live music (perfect for my budding career as a Thai music groupie), good people-watching, and it's a great chance for me to pick up some Thai slang and learn random bits of Thai culture that I normally wouldn't know - like it's not okay to get your hair cut on Wednesdays.  Why? "Ancient tradition." This seems to be the answer for most of these little cultural quirks, that explanation works for me.

• Soak up every last second with my students. Even though they will be in and out all week for Thai exams, I plan on pretty much stalking them to see them as much as possible before I peace out. 
• Enjoy everything. I really don't want to get too caught up in the idea of counting down and leaving and saying good-bye. I want to live it up, have fun, and be happy and thankful for all of the wonderful people, places and things that make Suphan so wonderful. 

Paradise Found: Bali & Gili Trawangan

I'm back in Suphan now, currently getting ready to teach my first class which is about to take place, so it's slightly painful to write this blog post about my most recent trip to Indonesia that covered Bali and Gili Trawangan.  Simply put, these two places are paradise.  Bali was everything I had heard about and more, and Gili T (as it is lovingly called) was the most beautiful, relaxing, perfect piece of earth I've ever set foot on.

Nell and I decided early on that we wanted to spend our last two weeks of summer break on a beach doing nothing, and I would have to say our trip was a total success in that regard! I spent 3 of the 7 days in Indonesia in Bali - one night in Kuta, which is really all you need there, and 2 nights in Ubud.  Ubud is definitely the heart of Bali; it's full of culture, its residents wear traditional Balinese dress, the grounds and temples are covered in spirit offerings full of rice, flowers, candy, etc. and the rice terraces are perfectly carved into the hills. We stayed in a homestay there that was really nice and in our budget and spent most of our time walking around the city and soaking it in.  Nell and I attempted to hire a taxi to take us around for the day to see the volcano, the islands famous temples, and the rice terraces - but we only made it to the terrace and a very foggy volcano viewpoint before the rain set in and ended our tourist expedition.  I definitely didn't see all there was to see in Bali, which means I guess I'll have to make a return trip at some point in my lifetime! I think I've found the perfect honeymoon destination...now all I need is a groom : )

In the middle of our time in Bali we took off on a 2 hour speedboat ride to another island in Indonesia, Gili Trawangan.  Gili T is one of three Gili islands off the coast of Lombok.  Gili T was small enough that we could walk around (tip to others: don't go at sunset or you'll wind up feeling your way around the barren part of the island at night using your cell phone as a flashlight and avoiding weird animals - not that I know from experience or anything...) and it was surrounded by water that is of the crystal clear turquoise/teal/blue variety.  There are no cars, no motorbikes, and no dogs allowed on Gili T - the only way to get around is to walk or take a horse and buggy - this only adds to the islands cuteness factor. While on Gili T we spent most of our time on the beach, drinking banana shakes, eating pizza at one of the bean-bag beachside restaurants, watching movies at night projected onto big screens on the sand, and attempting to snorkel (unfortunately we picked a windy day to do this and the water wasn't clear enough to see any of the island's famous sea turtles that live offshore.) I would go back to Gili T in a heartbeat, and I easily could have spent more time there, it was really hard to get back on the boat, but luckily we couldn't be too sad about "going back to Bali."

The only downside about Bali and Gili T is that they are not as cheap as Thailand, actually Thailand is cheaper than any of the other countries I've visited, so by the end of my week my funds were in a bit of a dire situation (I'm living a cash-only existence these days since I don't have a Thai bank account and my school pays in cash) so Nell and I instituted a serious budget.  Of course, the budget made room for some luxuries - like a 2 hour Balinese body scrub and massage - while we sacrificed things like "lunch".  Every Rupiah spent in Bali was well worth it though and I would do it all again if I had the chance to go back- which I hopefully will! Up next: off to Malaysia!

THAIsland Time!

I made it home from the epic adventures with Megh and Nell on a Tuesday and had just enough time to do some laundry and repack my backpack before heading into Bangkok to pick up my sister Emily on Thursday.  We met up with Emily's college roommate Amy and after spending Friday checking out Bangkok we hopped on an overnight bus to Khao Lak, about 100Ks north of Phuket and known for its amazing scuba diving sites. We arrived to Khao Lak at 7am and Emily and Amy immediately took off for scuba diving while I parked myself at the beach for the day.

The next day I opted to join Emily and Amy out in the Similan Islands - about a 2 hour speedboat ride from Khao Lak. There was only one other person snorkeling with me so it kind of felt like I was on my own in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fish, of course.  At one point I nearly had a panic attack when my fellow snorkeler grabbed me with a nervous look and started pointing at something right next to me, but I was relieved when I turned just in time to see not a shark, but a large sea turtle swim right past me.  It was quite a beautiful sight and I was tempted to grab on and go for a ride but still also recovering from my momentary freak out, so I snapped a pic with my underwater camera and found my way back to the boat.  I love snorkeling, but there's no way I'll ever try scuba diving, I tend to get way too scared by the unfamiliar animals swimming with me.

Our last day in Khao Lak we decided to do a tour of Khao Sok National Park, a gorgeous rainforest full of limestone mountains and one of the world's largest flowers (which was not in bloom, unfortunately!)We rode some elephants, took a canoe ride, tried our skills at a rope swing into the river, and stopped at a viewpoint for some great scenic shots.

After grabbing some banana shakes the next morning we made our way to Ko Phi Phi for an experience that is thus far one of my favorites in Thailand.  I had some friends a few months back who found out about the opportunity to camp overnight on Maya Bay, one of Thailand's most famous beaches due to its appearance in the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio.  If you head to Maya Bay during the day, and I had been there twice before, you will find the beach teeming with tourists and longtail boats, so as soon as I found out about the chance to have the beach to yourself at night, I was all in.  We started off the trip with some snorkeling stops on our way to Maya Bay from Ko Phi Phi and once we arrived we waved good-bye to the tourists and waited until the last longtail boat left before the party got started.  Since it is Thailand, there were of course buckets to be served and fire shows to be seen, and as soon as the clock struck midnight Songkran, or Thai New Year, had officially begun so we were immediately involved in a full scale water war.  Luckily our fellow campers - there were only 25 of us - were good people, so we had a really fun time.  We went to sleep on straw mats in the sand watching for shooting stars (I saw 3!) and trying to remember the names of various constellations.  Maya Bay Camping is definitely the way to experience Maya Bay away from all the crowds, and easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

When we made it back to Phi Phi the next day, Songkran revelry was in full effect and we were eager to catch our plane up to Chiang Mai to join in the party...

Bungalows, Banana Shakes, and Beautiful Beaches

I've been in the Central Plains of Thailand the past few weekends and my skin was getting super pale - not from the ever-present whitening creams sold in stores here - just from lack of sun, so I decided a trip to the beach was in order.  One of the best things about Thailand is that I decided I was going to go to the beach at 12:30 pm, left school at 1 pm and was on the beach that night.  There was no school on Friday due to a public holiday in Thailand but I had to be back on Sunday to teach a special class, so I decided to head to the closest island, Ko Samet.  Since it's close to Bangkok and it was a long weekend, the beach was bumping with tourists and locals alike, so we were worried we wouldn't find a spot to rest our bones, but luckily there was an open room at Jep's Bungalows right on the water and it was the perfect spot to spend the weekend.  Jep's had everything we needed: banana shakes, beachfront property, nightly barbecues, front row seats to the fire shows, and American style breakfasts.

View from the hostel.

Thursday night when we arrived we started with a beachfront barbecue with some delicious kabobs and baked potatoes - the first potato I've had since coming to Thailand and it did not disappoint.  We then checked out the local nightlife and some really fun bars on the beach while practicing our Thai with the locals before calling it a night.  The next day we went right for the water when we woke up, it was super salty so I spent about 2 hours just floating on my back, it was a-ma-zing.  My friend went for a walk and came back with banana shakes for all and a Frisbee which was the source of entertainment for the afternoon and pathetically left me with a sore forearm the next day...weaksauce...I know.  Pretty sure there is nothing better than a banana shake on the beach.
















Once we finally dragged ourselves away from the beach we were quick to realize that even with a few reapplications of sunscreen we were all bright red with sunburn - ouch.  We lounged around for a bit before catching the sunset on the beach and another barbecue dinner while we were treated to a seriously ridiculous fire show performed by boys ranging in age from 2 to 25.  At one point they lit a ring of rope on fire and allowed anyone that wanted to jump through the opportunity, I considered very briefly before deciding I liked all of my limbs too much to see them go up in flames.  The next day I was disappointed to discover that my favorite Thai band, 25 Hours, was performing in a music festival that ran from 5pm to 6am on the beach, but we had to hop the speedboat back to the mainland in order to catch our bus to be at the office at 8am on Sunday...not cool. The trip, though short, was definitely worth it.  I'm super relaxed, a little tan, and submitting grades this week before heading to Vietnam next Monday on a school tour, should be a busy week!