Goodbye Koh Lanta, Railay, Bangkok...

Being goofy in Railay Beach; a monkey mom and her baby; crossing the mudfield to the longtail boat; the cave wall to the beach at Railay; a limestone cliff at Railay; Chatuchak market; Standing Buddha in Bangkok.





hey guys! Sorry for the delay in posting in the blog. Life has been wonderful, we have been happy and healthy, and most importantly, having fun!

On our last few days in Koh Lanta, we went to a full moon party (not THE full moon party in Koh Phagnan, but they still had a "full moon" sign that was set on fire, as well as burning bushes, which the organizers miscalculated how much the sparks would fly and they set the mats almost on fire). The next morning on just a few hours sleep we went to a cooking class run by a Thai chef. The food was delicious, but after having taken two cooking classes, we realized that oil is a central part of Thai cuisine! We made phad thai, stir fry chicken with cashews, tom yum soup, and panang curry paste from scratch. It was incredibly delicious but I definitely should have worn pants with an elastic waist!

Koh Lanta was such an unexpected surprise. It was so beautiful and the people were incredibly friendly. We had the chance to get to know Thai people away from the hustle and bustle of overcrowded tourist spots. We will always remember the nice Thai boys who put on a special fire show for us on our last night, Jennifer from California, who moved to Thailand for a sex change at the age of 52, a Swede who went to school from Eric Karlsson who now plays for the Sens, and Rob, Mem and their beautiful 8 month old daughter Stella who ran the hotel we stayed at.

Railay beach was incredibly gorgeous as well, and felt a lot like a less commercial Ko Phi Phi. I keep thinking that I find paradise, then Thailand surprises me! The view is fantastic, and the sand feels like flour under your feet. The arrival here was strange though...you got to the beach on a longtail boat, then you had to carry your own bags through the water on to the beach. Unfortunately I had spent far too much time supporting the Vietnamese economy through shopping and my bag weighed a TON! The hotel was ok, though it was more expensive overall to stay in Railay. Like Koh Phi Phi, it's a completely pedestrian island with no roads. The odd thing about the east side of the island is that the tide comes in and out a few times a day so at times it's a complete mud field for a few hundred meters!

The great thing about Railay was the walk to the west side of the beach. You could walk along an amazing jungle path and follow a cave wall; at times the wall came almost completely over to the other side. On some parts of the path you could meet monkeys that were used to being fed by people so were incredibly friendly and could be hand fed. There were a few babies that were by far the cutest things that I have seen in a long time!

We left Railay on the morning of the 12th for Bangkok. Again we had to carry our junk through the mud field of a beach to reach the longtail boat. Unfortunately on the walk to the boat we had to step over some sharp stones so I sliced my heel open, but it's far from my heart and it seems to have healed ok!

Bangkok was wonderful. It's busy and crowded all the time but there is so much energy in this city! We are about a good half-hour walk to Khao San Road, the famous tourist hangout, but it makes for a good excuse for exercise! Yesterday we checked out some Buddhas and temples, and got swindled by some tuk tuk drivers who wanted to take us to check out some shops where they get a commission ("special promotion today!") so we tired of that fairly quickly. We checked out Jim Thompson's house, where Jim Thompson, an American who was responsible for the promotion of the Thai silk industry, lived. It was interesting to see some of Thailand's architecture!

Today we went to the incredible Chatuchak market, which has somethink like 8,000-15,000 stalls. You could get lost in there for days and days! Thankfully we managed to get what we needed before breaking the bank completely!

We leave very very soon for the airport for a gruelling trip home. Overall it was an amazing trip, and I am so fortunate to have done it with one of my best friends! The trip makes me appreciate the simpler things in life and the importance of respect, friendship and family.

Thanks for following along!

M xoxo

Paradise and elephants!

hey guys! Thanks for following along! :) after spending a couple days in Ko Lanta I can see how people decide to just sell all of their worldly possessions and move to Thailand. Ko Lanta is a really cool easy-going beach town where you can get to know people and you sort of feel like the theme song of Cheers ("sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name...") is always in the background. It's a great place where you can get to know the people and talk to them. It's a refreshing change from super commercial and congested Ko Phi Phi.

We stayed a couple days in a bungalow on the beach before moving across the street to a nice room with air conditioning and a balcony. It's not on the beach but at least it's cool, comfortable, a bit cheaper and the room isn't super hot (we only had a fan) and doesn't smell like sewer. It's funny how your standards change after a while!!

In Thailand they drive on the left side of the road...which means that when you are coming up to someone it's right hand to right hand (unlike left to left back home). It also means you need to reprogram your brain to which way to look when crossing the street...it's always a bit of an adjustment but I think I am ok again! Ko Phi Phi had no roads so it was easier there to forget where you were!

Yesterday we went on an amazing snorkel trip to Koh Rok. It's like a little piece of paradise! The island is a national park so it's protected and since it's closed 6 months of the year it's quieter than other tour programs. I have been very fortunate in that I have snorkelled to some of the top destinations in the world such as the great barrier reef in Australia and the red sea in Egypt so it's pretty impossible to top that (the coral was mostly dead or brown), but the Koh Rok beach was gorgeous. the sand feels like flour under your feet and it's never burning hot; the water is crystal clear and the shades of blue and turquoise are phenomenal. There are also wild iguanas walking around; all we have are squirrels and sometimes raccoons! We spent the day snorkelling, swimming and suntanning before coming back to a gorgeous sunset. I am a little peachy from the sun yesterday so I am trying to take it easy, but it's tough when it's so gorgeous outside and we only have a few more days to soak up the sun!

Today we went elephant trekking; we really wanted to go to Pai in the north to visit an elephant sanctuary but it didn't quite work out as it wouldn't make sense to spend a couple hundred dollars to be out of the way for a couple days. We had an opportunity to find an elephant park that seemed to take good care of the elephants, where it was cool and comfortable for them, and they didn't have any dumb elephant shows. It was sooo cool! We both even got to ride on its neck for a bit too. I sort of felt like horseback riding bareback, only in slow motion! We got to feed our elephant after too and cuddle with it, which was awesome. Overall it's been a great couple of days! We are planning to stay in Ko Lanta for a few more days and then spend a couple days in Railay beach, where it's also supposed to be gorgeous, before spending some time in Bangkok before flying home.

Here are a few photos: Koh Rok beach; trying to cuddle with a wild iguana, a beautiful sunset on our beach; cuddling with our elephant "Nookyiay"; and riding the elephant in the forest.

M xoxo

Life's a beach! :)

hey guys! I hope this message finds you well. I heard that it's stinkin' cold out in Ottawa right now...or at least it was really cold a few days ago! it's a beautiful cloud-less 30 C every day here in Ko Lanta. Ko Phi Phi was fun and I am glad to have done it again but I doubt I would go back for a third time. I don't remember the island being as congested and dirty three years ago as it was this time. We also stayed at the busier end of the island though. It's a bit of a tough call because I don't think the tourists are going out of their way to keep the island clean but the locals aren't giving the tourists a reason to keep it clean either when you come back to the beach the next morning and find it in almost the same state as it was when you left it the previous evening.

I think that Yosha and I are great at making responsible choices, often in the name of saving a few dollars, but sometimes we get burned too. In the words of a wise colleague of mine, "the cheap often pay twice". We thought we would move to a cheaper room on our second and third night in Ko Phi Phi. Air con was a priority but we were willing to let the tv go because hey, we have the beach! who needs tv? Unfortunately we only noticed till after that the place we booked didn't have hot water, or a sink (note: some things on this trip have become automatic. like bringing tissues to use the toilet. but not having a sink at all? though I suppose if you use the hose to clean yourself off after going to the toilet you don't technically need a sink, but it's helpful for other things, like washing your face, brushing your teeth, etc); and you could hear everything outside. I don't know what kept us up more: the bullfrogs, roosters, drunk people coming back at all hours from the beach parties or the super hard beds. oh well! it's an adventure. and I know that I have gotten no sympathy anyways from you wonderful people back home because you'll be like, oh boo hoo. at least you aren't shoveling snow!

The highlight of Ko Phi Phi, other than the six fruit shakes a day, was the half-day sunset trip to Ma Ya May where the movie "the beach" was filmed so long ago (they are still milking that cash cow. it's a gorgeous place though!). We went swimming, snorkelling in the bay and watched the sun set. The bay is absolutely amazing with sand that feels like flour under your feet. It was really busy though but we managed to soak in the sun before heading out.

Yesterday morning we got up to the Ko Phi Phi viewpoint, which was a decent hike! The view from the top was amazing! We were all alone up there except for a guy who, turns out, is from Ottawa, lives now in Montreal, and is a beatboxer. He beatboxed some Wu Tang Clan on the way down from the viewpoint which was pretty funny and made the walk down more interesting!

We left yesterday morning for Ko Lanta, which seems to be our own little piece of paradise! The beach is a lot rockier than in Ko Phi Phi but you can see uninterrupted ocean for miles and miles. The sun sets right outside our door too (we paid extra for a bungalow with a view to the ocean for a couple nights. No air con though...so we are moving tomorrow night for something with air con but not on the beach. it's a compromise!) I think I am going to start running on the beach for the time that I have left just so that I feel like I am doing something other than lounging around all day!

Tomorrow we are going on an all-day snorkelling trek to somewhere that is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. We are looking into elephant trekking at somewhere that apparently takes good care of the animals (animal welfare is a priority for us. We didn't want to see any baby elephant shows or any of that nonsense) and likely we will do a cooking class too while we are here. so at least some kind of structure!

anyways, I hope that you are staying warm. I will be suffering a bunch to adjust to the cold when I get back!

Photos below: viewpoint from Ko Phi Phi; Ma Ya Bay; being goofy on the beach in my new ridiculous Sex and the City-meets-resort-yuppy hat :)

Update from Ko Phi Phi!

hey guys! it's my first post for 2012. I hope that you are excited for what 2012 will bring you! I know I am! :)

New Year's Eve in HCMC was awesome. We had an amazing dinner (more on food on Yosha's blog) with my friend Rheanne from my grad school days. Someone had a genius idea to blow up a ton of black and white balloons and have them all over the floor of the restaurant, so for the first little bit until the balloons burst it was an adventure to move, sit or go to the bathroom. It was fun though! After ringing in the new year (to my favourite song, "the final countdown" (fun fact: the band members are from a small town in Sweden, where a friend of Rheanne's is from), we went out after to a club called Apocalypse.

After only a couple hours of sleep we flew to Bangkok then Phuket, Thailand (pronounced "poo-get") last night. Nothing too eventful...the flights were ok. It was raining though. We had delicious curries for dinner and caught up on some much-needed sleep last night. It was pouring when we got up but thankfully the travel gods were smiling on us so the clouds parted on the ferry ride and we were greeted at Ko Phi Phi with ("co pee pee") beautiful hot sun! The island is much as a remember it from three years ago, though it seems more crowded and understandably it's more expensive. What would have gotten us a great private bungalow now only gets us a room with AC at the far end of the beach. Oh well. It's still great to be here. We will probably hang out here for a little while, relax, get some sun, and then check out another nearby island in a few days. So if I am more quiet than usual it's because we will just be sloths on the beach for a few days!



Rheanne, Yosha and I on NYE. Not too shabby for a couple girls living out of a suitcase! We had our hair done that day for a whoppin' $2 :); traffic in HCMC; the beach at Ko Phi Phi.

I tried to upload a video; hopefully this works! This is us crossing the street in HCMC on our way to dinner.