Relaxing on Koh Samui

The patio at our Koh Samui hostel 

When planning a trip to Thailand there are three popular locations that people have on their list: Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the islands in the south. Although I've been in Thailand for six months and visited quite a few beautiful islands, I've never made it down south to the infamous Thai islands. Fortunately for me, this past month my sister came to visit with her roommate and boyfriend, and they were all ready to explore the beauty of the southern islands! When researching the islands there are at least ten popular ones that come up, and even more smaller ones, so we struggled at first deciding where it is we wanted to go. In the end we decided to pick two islands to see during our week down south and we decided on Koh Samui and Koh Tao. ("Koh" is Thai for "island"). Although each of the islands have something unique to each of them, we weren't catering towards any specific plans (such as scuba diving or hiking) so we decided to pick two that were popular and close together.

Blogging with a view 

We flew from the northern city of Chiang Mai down to Surat Thani and then took a ferry over to Koh Samui. I was grateful that our island hopping also matched up with the plans of three other English teachers that I've become friends with. We quickly merged our groups, blending ages and histories, and managed to do a lot of activities together over the next week. We stayed at Chill Inn Hostel  which was right on the beach, offering calm waters and beautiful sun rises. Our itinerary was very simple for the islands: relax, get a tan, take advantage of the cheap massages, and drink out of coconuts. On our first full day we were able to check everything off of our list and started off our beach vacation on the right note.
Samui offers various tours and adventures such as snorkeling trips, renting jet skis and parasailing, but I was pretty content with my book and a shady chair on the beach. The great thing about all of the islands is that there are endless resorts right on the beach and they're happy to have outsiders relax pool side as long as you're willing to purchase a drink or two. We spent our days bouncing between various resorts, checking out their pools and private beaches. And of course it wouldn't be a Thai vacation without a massage, and we managed to find some right on the beach for the great price of $7/hour.

View from the bar of the Conrad Hotel. See those floating squares close to shore?
They're personal little islands with a palm tree and lounge chairs for the hotel guests. 

Our last evening on the island we decided to check out the much talked about views from the Conrad Hotel. Located high on a hill on the southwest corner of the island, the Conrad offers stunning views of the sunset and the ocean below. Owned by Hilton, it is most definitely out of our price range, but they're accommodating towards any visitors who want to stop in for happy hour. We splurged on their buy one get one free deal, spending about $12 for two drinks, which is actually a really good deal, especially compared to SkyBar. The hotel itself has more of a resort feel and it appears that each room is it's own stand alone building on the side of the cliff. Even as visitors we got excellent service and I definitely felt fancy in my elephant print dress and $3 sandals as we got driven around in golf carts and rode in a private SUV back to our hostel, which cost us the same amount as our drinks.

The next morning we were picked up at our hostel by a scheduled van (which we booked through the hostel) and were driven to the ferry docks and we boarded an air conditioned ferry on to our next destination of Koh Tao. Read about that here!

Although vacation in Southeast Asia can be cheap, the ferry and general transportation definitely adds up, especially when on a budget. We paid about $16 to get from the mainland of Thailand over to Samui, and then another $22 to get to Koh Tao. From Koh Tao to the mainland we took a ferry for $17. It doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're budgeting $20-30 a day to cover accommodations and food it completely ruins the budget!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Logistical Info

- Although the islands are still relatively inexpensive the ferry rides can add up. We flew into Surat Thani to get to Samui because flights directly into Samui were too expensive. We booked a bus, ferry, taxi combo to get to our location in Samui, costing us 550 baht ($16).
- There are numerous overnight buses and even ferries that go from Bangkok to the islands. These are much cheaper than flying.

- Chill Inn Hostel $12-$16/night

Koh Tao

Koh Samui and Koh Tao are located in the souther
region of Thailand, in the Gulf of Thailand

While my sister and her friends were visiting we set aside a week to relax on some of the islands in the south of Thailand. We started off on the larger island of Koh Samui and after relaxing there for a few days we decided to mix it up a little and head north to the smaller island of Koh Tao.
Because Koh Tao is so much smaller we felt it was easier to see and do all of the popular things. There's one main footpath that stretches along the west coast of the island, making the whole area easily accessible. On this route we were able to find a new restaurant for every meal, plenty of coffee shops, good bars, souvenir shops and taxi boats to smaller islands and beaches nearby.
As always, our plans for our islands adventures were very minimal: get massages, eat good food, get some sun. All of those were easy to accomplish during our time in Koh Tao.
Although we basically had the same goals on Koh Samui I enjoyed our time on Koh Tao much better. It's a smaller island with many more backpackers, as opposed to the families that Koh Samui attracts.

On a longtail boat with my sister and her friends, and some
fellow English teachers

During our first full day on Koh Tao we hired a longtail boat to Sai Nuan beach, which is still on the island of Koh Tao but is kind of difficult to get to by land. We had a full boat headed to the beach and we each paid around $6 for roundtrip transportation. We chose to go to this beach because we figured it would be more secluded and quieter than going to the main strip of beach, and we were right! It was just our group and about ten other people who had the whole bay to ourselves. There was a resort located relatively close to where we camped out, so we were able to rent snorkels from them for around $3.

Relaxing on Sai Nuan beach

View from the overlook on Koh Nang Yuan 

The next day was our big expedition of the trip, we hired a longtail boat to take us to the small neighboring island of Koh Nang Yuan. It's technically three small islands joined together by a sandbar and it's most known for it's awesome overlook, which is exactly why we came. As soon as we set foot onto the island we figured out which way the overlook was and began the strenuous climb to the top. In decent weather and hangover-free it would be an average uphill climb, however, it was pushing 100 degrees and a bar crawl the evening before left us feeling far from athletic, so it was definitely a struggle for us to reach the top. The view from the top was worth it, but I don't think it's anything I'd be jumping to do again soon. Koh Nang Yuan is a small island with limited beach space, so we went in for a dip to cool off after our hike, but then took our boat back to Koh Tao to enjoy shade,

air conditioning and more spacious beaches. 

Thais excel at drag shows

The rest of our time on Koh Tao was uneventful but as blissful as an island vacation can be. We drank out of coconuts, indulged in endless cups of coffee, ate Thai food, snorkeled and participated in the previously mentioned bar crawl. We mainly wanted to do the bar crawl for the free tank top but ended up having a lot of fun while participating. The highlight of the evening was our stop at a ladyboy bar where we enjoyed one of Thailand's infamous drag shows.

Koh Tao pub crawl with Lexi and Sam, two fellow
English teachers, and Sam's friend, Lauren, visiting
from the States 

Getting fish pedicures! These little guys eat off all of
the dead skin on your feet (if you can sit still long enough!) 

Overall I would say that the Thai islands live up to their hype, and we didn't even visit some of the most popular ones! On my next trip to Thailand I would love to explore some of the islands on the west coast of Thailand. After our week of ocean and sun we flew back north to Bangkok for a few days of city life before my sister and her friends flew back to wintery Ohio.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Logistical Info

- Koh Nang Yuan is privately owned and therefore has a few more rules than a typical island. We paid 200 baht each for our longtail boat ($6) and then had to pay a 100 baht ($3) entry fee onto the island. All plastic water bottles are confiscated upon arrival, so if you don't want to overpay for water at the restaurant then you should bring a reusable water, which they'll let you enter the island with.
The island and beaches are slowly eroding away and because of that they're very protective of the sand there. As a result, you're not allowed to lay on the beach with your towel, because towels collect the sand and too many people end up taking sand away with them. Your options are to rent a chair for the day (but they fill up fast) or lay on the sand bare. Because of the limited laying options and limited shade we didn't stay on the island for too long, we mainly just did the hike, had some snacks and then went back to Koh Tao.
- We stayed at AC 2 Resort which was around $45/night. It was nice to get out of the hostels for a couple of nights but I wasn't blown away by the quality of our stay. I think there are cheaper or better options when it comes to bungalows or resorts on the island.
- To get to Koh Tao from Samui we booked a taxi and ferry through our hostel on Samui. It was 750 baht ($22) and we still had to pay for a taxi once we got to Koh Tao to get to our hotel, which was another $4.
- From Koh Tao we took a ferry to the mainland to Chumphom, and flew from there to Bangkok. That ferry was 600 baht ($17). That included our ferry and bus to the airport.- There are numerous overnight buses and even ferries that go from Bangkok to the islands. These are much cheaper than flying.

Family adventures in Bangkok

As the end of March rolled around I officially finished my term at school and began the process of moving out of Pattaya and packing my life into a 46 liter backpack. I plan on spending the next six weeks traveling throughout Asia and I got to start this adventure with a visit from some of my family members from Ohio! Last week was Spring Break for most public schools, so my dad, step-mom, Julie, and step-brother, Drew, hopped over to Thailand to spend their week of vacation learning the crazy ways of the Thais!
As most travelers will find, Bangkok is an easy hub for travel in Asia, as it's one of the larger cities and also has many budget flights coming and going each day. We used Bangkok as our homebase during their week long Thailand adventure and it's where we started and ended their vacation. Many flights coming and going from Asia land late into the evening and depart early in the morning. Theirs was no expection; they landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport around 11pm and departed a week later at 6am. I was able to take the BTS (Thai metro system) paired with the Airport Link to pick them up, costing me about 90 baht one way (just over $2). After traveling for over 24 hours I figured I'd give them the easy way into the city, so we all climbed into a taxi and took the hour long journey into the city for about $14.
We stayed at Anantara Hotel in an awesome family suite, which was complete with our own balcony overlooking the Bangkok skyline. The hotel also had a rooftop bar and restaurant which gave a 360 view of the city. It was definitely one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in, and definitely the largest room I've ever had, yet it only cost about $140 a night! Expensive for Thailand, but a splurge by American standards.

View from our hotel balcony 

Their first full day in Bangkok was a Sunday, which meant we had to head to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Although some portions of this market are open during the weekdays, the weekend is the preferable time to go, offering some great selections of Thai souvenirs. The market is home to over 8,000 stalls and each time I visit I find another corner and section I've never seen before. I usually ending up buying more food than souvenirs, but it's a great place to buy bags, leather goods, clothing, art and jewelry. Wandering the market gave everyone a good opportunity to buy some souvenirs and get a basic understanding of the value of the Thai baht. We also used our time at the market to explore some traditional Thai dishes such as pad thai, papaya salad, tom yum soup, fresh fruit smoothies and a dessert of mango sticky rice. 
I wanted to give them some time to acclimate to Thai time, so we didn't have much planned for the first full day in Bangkok. The city heat can be a lot to take in at first, and it's easy to wear yourself out by spending too much time outside. After a few hours wandering the market we headed back to our hotel to take advantage of comfy couches, air conditioning and showers. Eventually we dragged ourselves out into the heat once again for dinner reservations along the Chao Phraya River which runs through the city of Bangkok. We ate at Sala Rim Naam which is a restaurant paired up with Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was a fancier and more Western alternative to Thai street food, but still provided traditional Thai meals and drinks, all with a great view of the river!

Day two in Bangkok we set off to see the traditional sites of the capital city. After an awesome and huge breakfast at our hotel we grabbed a taxi to The Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is basically a   walled in city block that houses many influential buildings of Thailand. It is the previous home of the royal families of Thailand and is also where most governmental business takes place. The Grand Palace comes up as a must-see in Bangkok, but I personally wasn't too blown away by it. Although there are some stunning works of architecture within these walls, it's nothing too different from what's visible on the streets. On top of that it's way too hot with very little shade, and they allow an absurd amount of people inside at the same time. Although the streets can get a little hectic out in Bangkok this was definitely more than I bargained for and I spent more time trying to avoid bumping into others instead of enjoying the sites around me. Many visitors think The Grand Palace is an important stop in their Bangkok tour, but it's something I will happily skip in the future.

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Next we walked next door to the much calmer Wat Pho which is home to the world's longest reclining Buddha. This is still a popular site in Bangkok and definitely worth seeing, and it's also a lot less crowded than the Grand Palace, making it easier to handle.
After exploring this area for a bit we hopped into a quick tuk tuk ride over to Khao San Road for some lunch. Khao San Road is most known by the backpacker crowd, especially those looking for a night out in Bangkok. It's filled with bars, restaurants and loud music and is a great place to hangout both day and night.

That evening we took a one hour flight to Chiang Mai to play with elephants! More info on that trip can be found here. 

To end the family vacation in Thailand we flew back down to Bangkok for one last evening in the city. We had originally planned to start the evening with drinks at SkyBar, but some open-sided Teva sandals didn't make the cut for dress code. We were allowed out onto the terrace for a few quick pictures and then we headed to a different location.

SkyBar view! 

Drew had it high on his list to ride a motorbike taxi, so we decided the six mile journey to our next location was the perfect time! I quickly flagged down a few motorbikes and we each piled on for the crazy ride through Bangkok.

Three people on a motorbike is the norm in Bangkok 

We ended our ride at Above Eleven which is a rooftop bar and restauarant in the center of Bangkok. We had delicious drinks and overpaid for fried rice, but got a great view while doing it, so all was well in the end. The next morning Julie and Drew had a 6am flight back to the states, and my dad, Emiliya and I hopped on a 6:45 flight to Hanoi, Vietnam! (That post will be coming soon) 

Having my family in Thailand for a week was so much fun, and it helped me realize everything I've learned throughout these last six months while living in Thailand. It was fun having them try all of the Thai dishes and seeing their content after a $6 massage.  I loved showing off this country to them and it made me even more excited for the arrival of my sister this weekend! 

_______________________________________________________________

Logistical Info

- The BTS is easy and cheap transportation during the day, but it stops running by midnight each evening
- Although Bangkok requires taxi drivers to use the meter to determine the price, they're hard to find at either of the airports within Bangkok. Instead they often just give you a set price for driving into the city, usually starting somewhere between 400-500 baht ($12-15)
- Accomodating four people within one hotel room is hard to do in Thailand. At Anantara Hotel I was able to book a family suite which slept four, for about $140/night
- Chatuchak Weekend Market is open on weekends from 6am-6pm. It is located near Mo Chit, the most northern stop on the BTS.

- The Grand Palace is usually open from 9-3:30 and costs $14 to enter 

- Wat Pho is usually open until about 6:30pm and costs $3 to enter 

- dress code for SkyBar: women have to wear a skirt or dress without flip flops. Men must have their knees and shoulders covered and have closed shoes (tennis shoes appear okay)

Family adventures in Chiang Mai

Feeding elephants! 

In continuation of our family explorations in Bangkok (found here), my family and I headed up north to Chiang Mai for three days of adventure-packed fun! My step-mom, Julie, had elephants listed as a high priority for her time in Thailand, so on our first full day in Chiang Mai we scheduled a day volunteering with elephants through travel hub. As I've previously written here, responsible and ethical tourism in Thailand (and elsewhere) is extremely important, and it's crucial to understand the brutality against elephants in the tourism industry. In order to get a genuine and kind elephant experience in Thailand you should head to an elephant sanctuary, which are companies that have formed in order to rescue elephants that are stuck working on the streets of Thailand. I previously volunteered with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and loved my experience, but for round two I wanted to try something new! Like most elephant sanctuaries in Chiang Mai we started our day feeding and petting the elephants. We learned a bit about their health and how to keep them in good spirits, and then we got to give them a bath in the river! To end the day we said goodbye to the elephants and then hopped in some tubes for a lazy float down the river. We had a great day learning about our elephant friends and I think it was a crowd favorite for the whole family!

bathtime 

Day two in Chiang Mai we hired a Songtaew to drive us around for the afternoon. I previously had plans for us to rent motorbikes for the day, but after my recent run-in with the ground I nixed that plan and went with an easier option. By hiring a driver we didn't have to worry about maps or directions, instead we let our driver lead the way as we relaxed in the back. Our first stop was Doi Suthep which is a known temple at the top of a mountain Northwest of the city. Asia has presented me with my fair share of temples, so at this point I was really going to Doi Suthep for the view. Unfortunately Chiang Mai is surrounded by hills, so once the humidity hits the clouds basically stay stuck over the city, resulting in a very hazy view. This visit was no exception and turned out a lot hazier than my previous visit in January. Despite the nonexistent view we were still able to enjoy the temple and my family all got bracelets blessed by a monk, score!

Views from my first visit to Doi Suthep in January 

The Grand Canyon in Chiang Mai 

Next up we drove to the Grand Canyon which is an old mining quarry Southwest of Chiang Mai. While there we challenged my dad's fear of heights and jumped off the ledge into the deep water below. We spent some time lazing around in the water and floating on the bamboo rafts, then we wrapped up our afternoon with traditional Thai meals purchased from the local cafe on site. Chiang Mai offers plenty of activities for the adrenaline junky such as rafting trips and zip lining, but they usually come with a pretty large fee. A visit to the canyon is easy and cheap ($1.5 entry fee) and is a great way to spend the day getting some thrills without blowing your budget. And if you're not up for the three story drop then there's still plenty of action for you to sit back and enjoy :) 

Dad and Julie making curry 

Day three in Chiang Mai we put our cooking skills to the test and participated in a really awesome Thai cooking class. I normally don't spend much time in the kitchen at home, unless I'm baking something that involves chocolate, so I didn't have terribly high expectations for our cooking class. It turned out to be a lot of fun and easier than I expected! Thai food usually uses a lot of fish sauce and various meats, so I found us a vegetarian cooking class which replaces fish sauce with a vegetarian chili paste. I really enjoyed learning how to make some of my favorite dishes without the taste of seafood! We made about eight different dishes including a few curries, pad Thai, papaya salad and various forms of the famous tom yum soup. I think we all enjoyed learning about the Thai ingredients and seeing how easy it is to make some filling dishes! Our class lasted about four hours and we had six students in the class, making it a really small and easy group to get along with.

The rest of our time in Chiang Mai was much more unscheduled, involving a lot of food, laying by the pool, massages and browsing the night bazaar for souvenirs. Chiang Mai is arguably the second most popular city in Thailand (after Bangkok) but it is a lot smaller and far less hectic. It still provides plenty to do and see, but at a slower pace. This was my second trip to Chiang Mai this year and I'm looking forward to another trip next week with my sister! 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Logistical info 

- Our elephant adventures were booked through Travel hub and we paid $52 each 

- We hired the songtaew for 2000฿ ($56) and asked our hotel to refer a driver. They had a whole book of private cars, motorbike taxis and songtaew drivers who they prefer. 

- cooking class was done with May Kaidee Cooking School and was $42 a person  

Recently in Thailand

Some of my first graders

2016 (or 2559 in Thai time) is flying by much quicker than anticipated. Thailand being the vague, easygoing country that they are, has been unable to give us an end date to teaching, so we've just been showing up each day with no idea what's going on. Some days we're told we're teaching until the end of March, other days they say we will only teach through the first week of March. Overall it doesn't matter a ton, but it's been making it a little complicated to plan lessons and make sure we have all the proper grades in by the end of the semester. This week I showed up to my kindergarten class only to be told that I'm done teaching kindergarten; what!? I didn't even get to enjoy my last week with them. Fortunately I still get to see the little ones running around in the mornings and after class. School officially closes March 30, but it seems that the students might be leaving earlier than that. As always, it's still a mystery!

I mainly stuck with Teacher Tip and her class throughout the day  

Last week I got to go on a fun and exhausting field trip with grades 1-3. We started off the morning at a NASA space center in Pattaya where the kids had a tour guide who took them through the space museum. We got to watch a 3D movie which the kids absolutely loved and even though the whole day was in Thai I still think I learned a little :) After the space museum we drove another 20 minutes north to an aquarium. This was far less exciting than the space museum, but the last room was awesome, presenting us with a giant glass window looking into a huge pool of fish. I swear, at least half of the kids ran up to me yelling "Teacher! F, fish, ba! F, fish, ba!" (ba is the Thai name for fish). It was awesome seeing them apply their English during a fun day out. Personally I think a seven hour field trip is a little long for kids under the age of 9, and most of the students fell asleep on the way home. But overall I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go with them. It let me bond with the kids in a stress free atmosphere and we had a ton of fun running around learning words in Thai and English.

View from the hotel room at Sheraton Resort

The weekends have been busy as always. A few weeks ago a fellow English teacher, Yavette, had friends visiting from the States. Her one friend had a lot of credit card points to cash in, so she splurged at Sheraton Pattaya Resort, so obviously we mooched off of that for a day, enjoying their numerous pools and private beach. The entire resort was a dream with amazing rooms and stunning views of the ocean. Before coming to Thailand I was strictly a pool girl, much preferring a comfy beach chair over laying in the sand. However, endless weekends at the beach in Thailand quickly changed me, and as nice as the pool was I was almost bummed that we didn't make it to the beach that weekend.

Summer will be in full swing starting in April and I'm planning some backpacking adventures throughout Asia which will include Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. In preparation for these adventures I've needed to take two recent trips to Bangkok. The first was to get a Vietnam visa and the second was a quick trip to the US Embassy to get a new passport, because mine is almost full! In order to get a new passport I had to unwillingly turn over my old one, leaving me feeling extremely vulnerable for this past week. My new one is hopefully in the mail as I type, filled with 52 empty pages for me to fill up. When I got my Vietnam visa Emiliya came with me to Bangkok, as we're going to Vietnam together. We enjoyed a low key trip to Bangkok, simply seeking out good coffee and cheap food.

Sunset from Sky Bar 

When I went back up a few days later it happened to coordinate perfectly with Sam's trip to Bangkok. She is also a fellow English teacher who I met through our company, and we hadn't seen each other since New Year's Eve on Koh Samet, so it was great to catch up. We splurged on our evening there and lived a brief life of luxury while having drinks at Sky Bar. This location is known for it's appearance in Hangover 2 and it offers unrivaled views of the Chao Phraya River from 64 stories up. We each bought a drink for the high cost of $15 and drank as slowly as possible in order to catch the sunset. There are many places in Bangkok that offer similar views, but a lot of them have cover fees usually starting around $14, so we were happy to find a place that wouldn't completely ruin our budget. I personally think on a crowded evening it would be easy to sneak up to the roof for a quick view without buying a drink. We definitely lingered after finishing our drinks and no one
was pressuring us to buy another or leave, which was greatly appreciated.

Evening from the Sky Bar

I've now been to Bangkok six times (and returning this weekend!) and I'm still continuously baffled by this huge city. Bangkok is more than double the size of New York City and offers endless amounts of restaurants, temples and shops to visit. Each time I've come to Bangkok I've stayed in a different location in the hopes of one day fully comprehending the entire city, but I'm still a long way from that. Either way, my opinion on Bangkok has drastically changed since my first visit here. I've now learned how to take the public transportation (BTS) and I embrace the challenge of haggling with taxi drivers and I'm always looking forward to my next adventure to Thailand's capital.

My favorite view on the island, the boardwalk to Tien Beach

This past weekend I took another trip to Koh Larn, the beloved island of Pattaya. In November and December I spent most weekends relaxing on the beaches of this island, but haven't had any time to go back since 2016 started. Unfortunately it was a rather breezy day, which brought all sorts of stinging critters close to the beach, so I didn't spend too much in the water. Nonetheless, it's always nice to relax on the sand while drinking a smoothie with some friends. The island is a great weekend getaway for us when we're not trying to spend a lot of money. If we don't go crazy on food or alcohol the whole day could cost as little as $3-4. But of course I can't help myself from splurging on some ice cream or a fresh smoothie.



I recently realized that I'm not taking advantage of all of the amazing things Thailand has to offer, specifically cheap massages and fresh fruit. I've vowed to change that and have started branching out with my fruit options each evening. I usually stick to watermelon because it's the cheapest (and still delicious!) costing me about 40 cents for one serving, but I started mixing it up these past few weeks. I've learned that Thailand has at least four different types of mangoes, possibly more, and they all taste very different. There's the sweet yellow mango which is served as dessert with sticky rice, and then there are three others that are much more bitter. Recently a smaller mango appeared at the market so I gave it a shot with very disappointing results. It was like eating a lemon coated in sour flavor; it was just way too bitter! Our fruit lady didn't seem too surprised when we didn't want to order it again the next day. I've also been eating a lot of jackfruit and dragonfruit, neither of which I had previously tasted before Thailand. I'm quickly expanding my list of fruits tasted, next up is more massages!

Bananas, jackfruit and dragonfrui

An extremely bitter mango

Em's hospital bed in the overflowing waiting room

This past week Emiliya and I had to accomplish something we were definitely hoping to avoid while living in Thailand: a trip to the hospital. Emiliya had been sick all weekend with sharp pains in her side which we were hoping would heal itself on it's own, but eventually it became too serious to ignore. On Monday Em had plans to go to the clinic while I went to school, I showed up in the morning and informed some of the teachers that Em wasn't coming that day because she was sick, and they immediately sent me home to take care of her. I was really grateful that they did that because I was definitely worried about her getting around town by herself while she wasn't feeling well. The teachers were all really great about it, telling me to take the whole day off and make sure she gets better. We headed to a nearby clinic, not really sure what we were getting ourselves into. We had previously been told that the clinics are a great resource whenever we're sick or need some general first aid, but we weren't sure if they could handle something as obscure as Em's problems. We showed up to a clinic full of sniffling but generally healthy people and we realized that we were probably out of luck. The doctor spoke with Em for a few minutes and concluded that she was suffering from some sort of small intestine problem, and he urged us to head to the nearest ER. Fortunately he wrote us a note in Thai to give to the hospital, because we struggled at first with finding someone who spoke English. We've concluded that most nurses and general staff only speak Thai, but it appears that all doctors speak English. It turned into a long and confusing day which included nurses taking pictures with us (everyone is always so excited to see white people), waiting five hours before speaking to a doctor, and even then we really didn't get much more information. He told her she would be getting an IV of antibiotics and would also receive a prescription to take home. Grateful that we were actually getting some medical attention we just rolled with the punches and followed the staff around as they found Em a bed. It appears that we were in some sort of area for outpatient and simple procedures, because there were only a few exam rooms but no patient rooms. While Em was hooked up to the IV she was simply up against the wall in the waiting room.

I was pretty annoyed with waiting five hours, but I later told some of the teachers about it and they said that sounded normal, so apparently that's just how they do things in Thailand. Besides that the medical attention was decent and I think everyone did the best they could despite the language barrier. One really bizarre thing was when it came to actually getting the IV, apparently in Thailand you pay for your medical expenses beforehand. Once they told us she would be getting an IV they sent us to a cashier window where we had to pay for the meds and supplies, which they then physically handed to us and we had to transport back to the nurses. I'm curious what would happen if someone didn't have enough money, would they still be helped, or just sent back to the streets? Thailand's reputation of being cheap spreads to the hospitals, Em paid about $22 for antibiotics, saline, a needle, alcohol wipes and all other materials needed for the day. She can then submit her receipt to our insurance company and will probably get reimbursed for all of it. Once she handed over the cash they presented her with a bag full of all the necessary medicine and supplies. It was a strange procedure but also interesting to observe. 

Minus that one little hiccup, life has been going on as normal. The students start testing this week, but if I've understood correctly they still have to come to school for another week after testing has finished. It sounds like Em and I might be going on a field trip with the older kids next week to an area near Bangkok, and then at some point there will be a small graduation ceremony for the oldest kids who will be leaving school this month. It's crazy how quickly this term flew by, it feels like just yesterday was Christmas. I think I previously mentioned how my sense of time is off because of the weather, and I really do consider that a huge factor in why it feels this semester passed so quickly. Because there are no seasons I've found it really hard to process the concept of passing time, it just always feels like August. When I try to think back about something that happened all I can think is "well it was warm then, and it's warm now, so it hasn't been too long since New Years". To me that's a valid reason, who knows if there's actually any validity towards that. Either way, I have four months of teaching under my belt and I've learned so much since I began teaching in November.
Although it definitely got easier and more enjoyable as the term went on I've decided that I will not be staying for another term. As long as I'm abroad and working in a public school there isn't much potential for me to become more adapted. Unless I start studying intensive Thai, I will always be the quiet girl in the corner and I hate being that person. I constantly depend on Thai people for everything, both inside and outside of school. Papue is always talking to our landlady for us and the teachers at school are my translator whenever I need to tell the director something. I can't help kids when they're crying or trying to explain something to me. I can't even properly explain stuff myself, instead I live a life of miming and drawing out what I want. There are countless activities, lessons and games that I've tried with my students that have ended in failure because they simply couldn't understand what the heck I was attempting to do. I've helped them with their vocabulary and their pronunciation and I'm so grateful that I've had the opportunity to influence these kids, but I feel that there has to be something bigger for me in the world. I feel like no one at school truly knows me, I'm constantly slowing my speech and picking shorter words which will make me more understandable. I'm ready to go back to a job and life where I'm not constantly editing my speech. I think for now I've ruled out teaching English in public schools, but I am still very open to the idea of teaching in an international school where English is a primary language. I would love the opportunity to work around kids from all over the world and be joined by staff who are fluent in English. The future is a mystery! For now I will be teaching through March, followed by a month or two of traveling Asia, after that I will be returning to Ohio until the next opportunity arises.

A weekend in Chiang Mai

This past weekend we got Thursday and Friday off because our teachers had some sort of conference/field trip situation happening. So Emiliya and I took this four day weekend as an opportunity to finally volunteer with elephants!! It's something we had been planning on doing since day one, we just haven't had the time to do so yet. The best elephant sanctuaries are located in the hills of Chiang Mai which is about 12 hours away by car, or 1 hour by plane. Chiang Mai is thailand's second biggest city (Bangkok being the largest) and is known to be a little more eclectic and popular among expats and tourists. We planned our trip to Chiang Mai for the sole purpose of volunteering with elephants and didn't have many expectations for the city itself, so we were pretty blown away when we landed. 

We took an hour long flight from Bangkok and got into Chiang Mai just past 11pm and were greated by the lively and crisp evening of a Wednesday night. Although Pattaya (where we live) has a nightlife, it's rather rambunctious and a little seedy at times, appealing more to the party crowd than anything else. There's also an absurdly large population of middle-aged men roaming the clubs, so overall it's not always the best of times. Right away it was obvious that Chiang Mai was different than Pattaya and we were amazed to see that the city was alive with more than just bars. Our taxi took us through the streets which were littered with Thais and foreigners, all out and about just enjoying their time. It was more than just bars and night clubs, there were cafes lit up with fairy lights, pubs performing live music and people just relaxing near the canals that surround old town. We were blown away with how nice Chiang Mai is, even at 11 at night. Within that first hour I think we both realized how run down Pattaya and surrounding areas are. Sure, we have an expat community and there are places to find western food, but the whole area of Pattaya can often be dirty and the only places open late are night clubs. There's one main street that has a decent amount to offer when it comes to restaurants and shops, but beyond that there isn't really much worth exploring. Chiang Mai was composed, clean and alive. There's more to it than just one or two main streets, instead any small alley or turn takes you to a colorful neighborhood that offers markets, cute cafes or small restaurants. 

an awesome breakfast of coffee and fresh fruit with granola and homemade 
yogurt. Not something we would normally find near us! 

When we weren't off exploring, Emiliya and I spent the majority of our time just relaxing and trying all the drinks and food we could find. Chiang Mai offers a much larger selection of fruits and the restaurants do a really great job of mixing Thai food and western food, to provide a meal that's more than just rice and vegetables. We were especially excited to find sandwiches made with French bread! That's almost impossible to find anywhere south. 

Old town, the most popular area of Chiang Mai is only about a mile across, but there's so much to enjoy within such a small area. In reality, Chiang Mai isn't much different from any other touristy city. There are bars, cafes, cute shops and sites to see, but coming from Pattaya it was a breath of fresh air. The city is so much more composed and maintained than Pattaya and it felt like there was a relaxed aura throughout the city, giving off "hippy vibes" as some people say. This area is extremely popular with expats, and almost everyone I know who's chosen their location in Thailand (as opposed to being placed like me) has chosen Chiang Mai. I definitely advise this city for anyone who needs a few relaxing days during their Asian adventures.

Playing with elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary 

Although it would've been easy to spend our days in Chiang Mai in a food coma, we did our best to adventure outside of the restaurants and bars. Day one obviously consisted of elephants galore. We spent a 9 hour day romping in the hills of Chiang Mai volunteering at an elephant sanctuary, which I would definitely advise to anyone who has any interest in seeing elephants or participating in ethical animal treatment. There's a whole post here about our experience at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.

Our second full day in Chiang Mai we wanted to get out of the city walls and find some sites further away. We calculated how much it would be to take taxis everywhere, and although that option was still cheap, we quickly realized renting a motorbike would be the easiest and cheapest method of transportation. We found a place that rented out bikes for 200฿ for the entire day, that's right, we threw down a whopping $5.60 for an entire day with a motorbike. Fortunately Emiliya has her motorcycle license (although that's definitely not a requirement, they'll hand out bikes to anyone with money) and is comfortable driving the both of us, while I ride in the back and stay in charge of all the important things: directions, snacks and reminding her to stay on the left side of the road. 

Grand Canyon 

Our first stop was the "Grand Canyon" of Chiang Mai, also known as Hang Dong Quarry. This area used to be a mining quarry but was eventually left to the mercy of the adventurous tourists who now use it as a swimming place. The biggest draw to the quarry is the cliff jumping, which is available from varying heights depending on how crazy you're feeling. We spent the afternoon meeting other travelers and taking turns jumping off the canyon walls into the chilly water below. There are also bamboo rafts anchored in the water which are a great place to lay and watch others brave the jump.
Without GPS we never would have found this place. It's on a random side street off the side of the highway with no signs leading the way. Even on a hot day there were very few people there, sometimes only 5-10 people in the water, but the ones who were there were all tourists and expats. It seems that this area is still undiscovered by mainstream tourism and is a good way to escape the crowded streets of Chiang Mai. If you've got a hot day in Chiang Mai then I suggest you visit the canyon for an afternoon.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep 

The 300+ stairs leading up to the temple 

Next we headed north and took a 10 mile uphill windy road to the top of Doi Suthep mountain. At the top is Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, which is popular among Thais but attracts tourists for a different reason. Although the temple itself is beautiful, most people flock to the top of this mountain to see the amazing views of Chiang Mai. It was a foggy and humid day so the visibility wasn't super clear, but we could still see the canals and walls of Chiang Mai and the airport which is located just a few miles away from the heart of the city. We got there in hopes of seeing the sunset, without taking into account which way the mountain faced, which turns out is the opposite direction of the sunset. woops! Either way, we still got awesome views and managed to descend the mountain before it turned pitch black outside.

Inside Wat Doi Suthep

View from the top 

Day 3: Temple Hopping

On our last full day in Chiang Mai we stayed close to the heart of the city to take advantage of some of the nearby temples. There are endless adventure tours available from Chiang Mai which we considered doing, but because we were taking a night bus on our last evening we didn't want to do anything that would make us sit in our own filth for a 12 hour overnight journey. Instead we used the morning as a rare occasion to sleep in, and then took off on a walking adventure of Chiang Mai.
First we visited Wat Chedi Luang, which was originally built in the 14th century but was later destroyed by an earthquake. Although the earthquake was over 400 years ago the temple isn't rebuilt yet and is still considered to be a work in progress. On the grounds of the temple they had a little area set up with piles of tiles and bricks, which we learned were going to be used for the new roof of the temple. Visitors could write wishes or sign the tiles which would later go into the temple roof, hopefully providing a little good luck!

Wishes to be built into the new temple roof

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Sri Suphan

Next we walked about a half mile away to the infamous Wat Sri Suphan, the only silver temple in Thailand. Unfortunately there are some temples in Thailand that don't allow women to enter, and this is one of them. Instead we happily marveled from the outside and explored the grounds of the temple. It wasn't until after we left Chiang Mai that I researched Wat Sri Suphan a little more and found that the temple was built in the early 1500s but it wasn't built with silver. That addition didn't come until the 21st century and was only recently finished. The temple sits in the silver district of Chiang Mai, so it was redone to fit in with it's neighbors. 

Night bus from Chiang Mai to Pattaya

It was a hot day with plenty of sunshine, so we happily retreated into the shade for the rest of the day, spending our evening lounging at coffee shops and relishing the last bites of western food. At 7:30pm we hopped on our night bus to Pattaya and did our best to sleep through the 12 hour journey south. We rode a "gold status" bus, which gave us reclining seats, a blanket, a tv (with english movies!) and dinner. Not too shabby for $20.

Our time in Chiang Mai was much more exciting than anticipated and it's a city that I would really love to visit again some day in the future. It's also a good place to keep in mind for backpackers who need a break from the constant moving. Chiang Mai is cheaper than other parts of Asia and would serve as a good location to wind down a little.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Logistical Info

- One way flight on Air Asia from Don Muang (Bangkok) --> Chiang Mai was about $45

- Stayed at Nature's Way House in a 6 bed dorm for 150฿/night

- Hang Dong Quarry has an entrance fee of 50฿. The location has a decent bathroom and a nice cafe with traditional Thai food and a few western foods

- Wat Doi Suthep had signs pointing the way to buy entrance tickets (30฿) but after purchasing them we realized no one was around to actually check our tickets. 

- Neither Wat Chedi Luang nor Wat Sri Suphan have entrance fees, they also don't provide robes to cover knees and shoulders, it's best to bring along a sarong or sweater to be respectful when visiting these temples. 

- We purchased our bus tickets two days in advance from Arcade Bus Terminal. We got 2/4 of the last open seats on this journey. Tickets were 683฿ (just under $20). 

Volunteering at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

I've previously mentioned the truth behind elephant tourism here, but I will happily reiterate the importance of ethical travel for those who are still ignorant on the subject.

As many of you may know, Asia is known for providing happy tourists with elephant rides through the streets and jungles; practically any research on a trip to Thailand will tell you to make sure you visit an elephant park and catch a ride on these huge animals. What these websites fail to mention is how damaging this practice is to elephants, both physically and psychologically. 

Elephants are extremely social creatures who are family orientated. It's common for them to spend their entire lifetime within one heard, rarely straying from each other's company. In order to get these elephants involved in animal tourism they are often taken away from their families as a baby, and are forced to live a life away from home. This is traumatizing to both the baby and the herd they unwillingly left behind. Once the elephants are in captivity they are chained down and beaten with hooks until they're properly trained to do as their owner pleases. It's a cruel and time consuming process known as the crush. Once the elephant is working for it's owner it must succumb to it's new life of walking the same streets and paths each day. Elephants in the wild will roam up to 50 miles a day if they please, but more often they prefer to stay within a smaller radius near water and food sources. They could happily spend their entire day eating and playing with their friends and family. To force elephants to tediously walk back and forth with heavy loads on their backs is just cruel, but it's not something that many people think about. 

Fortunately there are some really great ways to experience elephants up close and personal without doing them any harm. The Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is a relatively new program that was started by a few Thais who saw the dark reality behind elephant tourism and wanted to stop it. They started rescuing elephants who were working in the tourism industry in Thailand, and instead relocated them to their new home in the Thai jungle. They were able to bring families together that had previously been separated and now they have 5 happy elephants living in the hills of Thailand. 

Here they don't use hooks to keep them in line and the elephants are never tied down or forced to do anything they don't want to do. They happily spend their days eating endless sugar cane and bananas, and they get to swim in the nearby river or take a bath in the mud pit. The owners of Elephant Jungle Sanctuaru tirelessly spend their days observing and playing with the elephants to make sure they don't get into trouble, and they make sure to provide them with enough fresh food throughout the day so the elephants don't have to go too far to eat.

Adventuring to the elephants

Playing with elephants

As volunteers with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary we were picked up at our hostel in Chiang Mai at 8:30am and jumped into the back of a truck with other volunteers and started our two hour journey to the elephants. We started on the paved roads of Chiang Mai but eventually hit the bumpy roads of the uphill trek and spent a solid half hour trying not to bounce out of the truck. We started questioning if we would make it there in one piece, but finally we arrived, slightly bruised, but excited for the next step! Once we were out of the truck we met up with Robert, the founder of EJS. We were given bamboo hiking sticks and walked about a half mile to the home of the elephants. We set down our bags and were given sugar cane to feed to the elephants and hiked a few more minutes up hill to be greated by a running elephant who was extremely excited to see his caretaker. Peter, the youngest of the elephants is only two years old and knew that the sight of humans meant he would be getting snacks. He ripped the bag of sugarcane right from his caretaker and started trumpeting in excitement. It was quite a startling site to all of us, and although Peter is harmless we were all giggling nervously as we darted out of his path. Robert explained to us that Peter is essentially a puppy and still hasn't learned his manners. Slowly we all gained the courage to walk a little closer to the three elephants nearby and started feeding them bananas and sugarcane. It was a crazy experience to be so close to such huge animals. Although Peter is only two years old he already weighs about 1000 pounds. His grandma is 50 years old and is currently 12 months into her 22 month long pregnancy, weighing over 10,000 pounds. 

Emiliya with mama elephant

It was lunch time for the elephants and we all took turns feeding them various different plants and snacks. For such large animals they're surprisingly sneaky and quiet, and the surrounding hills echoed with the occasional scream as an elephant snuck up behind an unknowing volunteer, snatching food right out of their hands. We were all timid at first, letting the elephants take foods with their trunks, but eventually we all warmed up to them a bit and were able to place the food right into their mouths.
It was a chilly day up in the mountains, probably in the low 50s, so the elephants spent a lot of time huddled around the small fire that the workers had built for them. We spent about an hour petting the animals, feeding them, and watching them play in the trees nearby. We then left them to relax so we could all eat our own lunch, giving them some time to themselves. Normally the next step in the schedule is a mud bath followed by play time in the river, but because the temperatures were so low the elephants weren't willing to partake in this activity. Some people were disappointed when they learned this news, but we quickly realized how great it was that the caretakers didn't force the elephants to participate in an activity that would make them cold and unhappy. Instead of playing in the river and mud we instead got more time with the elephants on land, just casually following them through the jungle, watching them play and relax in the trees. I definitely would've preferred the mud and water experience, but it was awesome to see how well respected these animals are and I was grateful to see that they had the freedom to do whatever made them comfortable.
We had a really great day learning about elephants and observing them in a natural setting. It was awesome to see how happy these guys were, as opposed to what I've previously observed in zoos. On top of the elephants and sanctuary workers we also met a great group of travelers who were spending the day at the sanctuary as well, and they gave us some tips for what else to do in Chiang Mai during our weekend.
I highly advise this trip for anyone who has any interest in elephants. The money goes towards keeping these elephants happy and healthy, and they're also currently saving up to buy more elephants out of the tourism industry.

** Thailand is also know for their 'tiger kingdoms' where tourists get to cuddle up next to cute sleeping tigers, take them for walks and play with them. This practice is as equally unethical; tigers are predatory creatures and are not programmed to be calm and lovable creatures. In order to get these tigers to be safe they are often drugged, starved and abused. I haven't done as much research on tiger kingdoms and at the time don't know of any ethical ways to be around them, but I as tempting as it is to spend an afternoon next to these awesome animals, I urge you to not participate in a tiger kingdom.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Logistical Info

- A full day at EJS is 2400 baht ($67) and can be purchased on their website or at their office in Chiang Mai. We booked a few weeks in advance because we were working on a limited time frame, but a few in our group booked just a couple of days before the trip 

- The price includes pick up from your Chiang Mai location between 8-8:30, lunch in the jungle and drop off around 5:30pm 

- Bring a towel, change of clothes, bathing suit, bug spray and sunscreen