Lovely Laos - Kup Jai Lai Lai

People have often said that Laos is what Thailand was 20 years ago. A warm and genuinely friendly country, it is yet to be completely marred by western globalization or rampant capitalism. But you can tell it's on the cusp...there will be a struggle of retaining culture and mixing it with the profits and pitfalls of tourism. But for now, Laos is still a magical land of relatively untouched natural beauty with tall mountains, awe inspiring landscapes of lush greens with meandering rivers perfect for fishing and idyllic quiet villages.

It's the kind of Third world charm where old ladies still carry kilos of firewood on their back, the village women do laundry and shower in the river using a sarong for modesty. It's a place where mass poverty is prevalent, where houses are still made on uneven stilts and walls of interlaced bamboo.The struggles for modernity show with guest houses with river bungalows offering free wifi but they still use charcoal or firewood to cook their food with.The locals are chilled out and unbelievably nice and full of smilles. It's the kind of place where they apologize to you because you've slipped in the caves and hurt yourself. It has the kind of innocence and happiness where children still play on the streets with makeshift toys and everyone in a village/town still know each other. It's an interesting country where touristy places still only have 3 hrs of electricity at night. In short, get here soon!

I had no idea what to expect when I booked my monstrous 2N/3D journey from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, Laos. I just couldn't believe that it was going to take so long to get there! Thankfully,I ended up having the best group ever! We became the "Same Same But Different" (SSBD) crew...

Day 1 - We had a quick pit stop to see the White temple in Chiang Rai. Ornately decorated with little bits of mirror, the pristinely white temple shimmers with dancing light bouncing off everywhere highlighting its grandiose beauty. It's surrounded by skeleton fences and to signify crossing from hell to heaven, you must walk over a white bridge with sculptures of hands pulling you towards darkness. The interior of the temple is beautifully painted with the Buddhist images mixed with pop culture references like Batman, Neo from the Matrix, Avatar, the Twin Towers with evil serpents coiled around it and Star Wars characters. A sort of time capsule of current events, apparently it's for future generations to know what kind of things we fantasized and imagined during our time. Now that's different.

The White Temple

Day 2 & 3 - We crossed over to Laos and took a slow long-boat down the beautiful Mekong River. The "slow" boat is not so bad nor is it too slow. Thankfully we had the whole back area. We sat on mats with our 35B pillows (best $1 my ass has ever thanked), and played shithead and hung out like we've been friends for ages.

This boat is ours!

Some notable SSBD bonding awards:

• Best Solidarity Award - Staying strong against the woman in our hostel trying to rip us off at the border town.
• Most Interesting Introduction - Circumcising a boy with braces at 14! Winner by far!
• Best Fake Birthday Celebration - Finding the cheapest guest house with the nicest woman, getting free beer and Lao Lao shots and partying in Pakbeng. Kate's picture taking and having the time of her life at the Hive bar (the town's one and only best bar).
• Best Quote - Again, this one goes to Kate when she drunkenly dragged me off a bar stool saying "I'm sorry. I'm sorry but you're ours. We're family! You're our mother!!" Um, slightly disturbing for me but definitely hysterical! I just wish that it didn't stick.
• Greatest story made up - "Have you met my brother Nick?" Yup, we told people we were half brother/sister. He is 6'1, white and has blue eyes. I told people we had the same ears. Hahaha.

Happy Birthday Kate!! ;)

Luang Prabang

It's suppose to be one of the most romantic cities in SE Asia with it's mystical temples. To be honest, I liked it but I didn't fall in love with this UNESCO heritage city. Don't get me wrong there is certainly a charm about it and I would recommend renting an bicycle and exploring the interesting mixture of temples and indochinese architecture.

Ok, it was a romantic sunset over the Mekong River.

Luang Prabang from Phu Si Hill.

Highlights:

• Lao Lao - at anywhere between 50-60% alcohol - this local drink packs a punch. It's basically sticky rice moonshine but man, I don't get gut rut nor the wicked hangovers that usually come with this type of poison! Tastes like suped up sake! Charina's liver stamp of approval.
• The weird curfew where everything shuts down at around 11:30pm at the latest. On one hand it's frustrating but it's probably the reason that LP is so well maintained and preserved. There are a total of 3 bars you can go to 1. The Hive - that has some fun 2 for 1 Lao Lao cocktails. 2. Lao Lao garden where I had the most amazing Lao BBQ - I still dream about that soup. 3. Utopia - a cool wonderful bar by the river with low tables, shisha pipes, crazy giant Jenga and a beach volleyball court.
• The caves - meh. Seeing 4000 discarded Buddha relics in a cave sounds cooler than it actually is. But the waterfall is brilliant! It's a cool clear blue that was perfectly chilly. Just the right temp to cool you down.
• The After Party = the Bowling Alley. They sell a bottle of whiskey, coke and ice for $4. Surprisingly enough, in between dancing and drinking, people actually bowled ;)
• Phu Si Hill Sunset - At 400+ steps, the way up was as beautiful as the view, with statues of reclining Buddhas along the way. The top had a 360 magnificent view of the city and the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers. It's beautiful to see the sun change the colours of the sky and with beams bouncing off the waters. We took 'couple' pictures that were sweet and funny.
• Night Market - I must say Asia really has great street markets and nothing can beat yummy cheap 'all you can eat' street food. Plus they have these yummy chicken sandwiches on fresh baguettes and amazing coffee, fruit and oreo shakes everywhere!
• Offering to the monks - Nick and I woke up ridiculously early to watch the city give offerings to the local monks. The best part was at the beginning when it was still dark when we saw a group of 5 locals on the side of the street with their casings of sticky rice. There was an older, presumably head monk with 5 younger novice disciples that walked past them in a row. 10 meters down they started a quiet chant of thanks. The locals put 3 little piles on the road and poured water over it as a final ritual. On the main street it felt like a zoo of Asian tourists coming out of their vans to sit in pre-set up mats. There were tons of tourists taking pictures of the monks like it was a paparazzi field day. I took a couple of pics and that was about as culturally insensitive as I could get.

Monks. Offerings.

Love the Lao Lao. Seriously. Love it!

Ok, I didn't drink it. I'm brave but not that brave!

Freaky snakes, scorpions, reptiles in Whiskey.

I do love the rivers in Laos!

Another zen moment.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Bathing with Elephants

I'm in love with elephants! For a sec there, I was debating on whether its actually an option to cross Laos by elephant! It crazy how they just let you ride on its neck without any training and you have nothing to hold on to. Basically you are clinging with your inner thighs for dear life. It's specially freaky when your elephant starts going sideways and doesnt really feel to stable when you're going downhill. I thought the girls and I weren't to quite make it unscathed! It's a bit unnerving and odd to feel the muscles of its neck as you plod along a jungle trail and at over 8 ft off the ground that was not going to be a fun landing. The best part was bathing the elephants! We had a fun youngen, who at 29, was playful and would buck us off his head into the dung filled river. He would twist his head from one side to another until we were tossed overboard. It's like bull riding but on an elephant.

Travel advice: Don't wear short shorts cause you kinda get Elephant rash from the prickly hairs they have! And don't swallow the river water it'll make you sick!

Wahoo!!! I'm surfing on an elephant!

We're still holding on before the bucking!

Muang Ngoi & Nong Kiaow

Thanks to Heidi's recommendation - I headed north towards Nong Kiaow. In order to get to Muang Ngoi, you take an additional hour boat ride to get to this idyllic quiet village on the river that has no roads and no motorized vehicles. Its been ages since I've gone to sleep at 10 pm but there isn't much to do after they turn off the electricity. The generators kick in at around 6/7 pm for 3 hours and after that the whole village goes to bed. There is something wonderful about naturally waking up to the sound of roosters crowing at sunrise. I stayed at a ridiculously cheap riverside bungalow for $3. Everyday I would wake up to the most beautiful view of the river and found zen in my hammock. I would listen to river men busily hammering away at their boats presumably trying to fix whatever abuse they've been put through. They say if you can't fix it with a few bangs from a hammer then it's broken.

The sun was hidden by low slung clouds partially covering the mountains in front of me. It rained intermittently which wonderfully forces you to slow down and not do a heck of a whole lot. There are beautiful treks that you can go on. Many that lead past caves, perfect for walking or swimming in. You walk through fields with black and what look like albino buffalos everywhere in the fields.in between mountains, crossing over make shift brigdes of rocks on a stream. The little village I saw reminds me of poor rural areas in the Philippines with children playing on the roads, chickens running around and piggies roaming free.

Best part was hanging with the locals at Sy's place (he is adorable and everyone's "Lao boyfriend") The Resting Lady bar. I watched amateur boxing with the boys, got invited for fish Laap, took shots of Lao Lao with Tom yam soup as chasers (it's amazing how well it goes together), crashed a baby naming party and had more Lao Lao and watched the locals have a gooood time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to discover other treks and villages or kayak because Colleen and I went to the viewpoint and the caves that will now be known as "injury" cave. It was a far more arduous trek than expected. Because of the rain the trail was far muddier and very slippery. It was like a tropical grouse grind. They had strategically placed bamboos everywhere so you can grab onto it. We were rewarded at the top with 2 viewpoints, the north where you can see the whole river and layers of mountains. On the south side, you can see the entirety of the little village of Muang Ngoi. On our way down, we took a short cut to the caves with a little entrance that was spewing out cool air that felt like a refreshing AC. The cave was long and dark and we explored with our torches for a good 15 minutes- certainly the longest time and the biggest cave I've ever been in without a guide! Then this dragon - long thought to be extinct flew above our head. Not huge at around a meter long, its glowing red eyes and fierce flapping of its wings took me by surprise and I ended up taking a nasty slip, going through a crack and crevice. I got all gashed and cut up by the jagged rocks. Honestly as far as falls go I was pretty lucky and it could have been far worse but man it hurt. I keep telling myself that scars are sexy cause its going to leave some nasty ones. That's the official story and I'm sticking to it - Ok, fine it wasn't a dragon but there were big bats there. Thankfully Colleen and Aly were there to help bandage me up. I was more worried about possible infections since I pretty much slid through bat shit. See pictures of their great patch up!

The locals bathing and doing laundry in the river.

The best view in the world!

Muang Ngoi from a mountain.

On the way to the view point.

Week from Hell

Unfortunately, it was cut short when I found out that my grandmother is sick. So I decided to make my way south back to Bangkok to fly back to Manila. They say things come in 3s...why is that anyway? As terrible luck would have it - yes, it's been a rough week of random mishaps. Made it back alright to LP, bumping into Helena (which made me happy) and had a great last day biking around. Bus journey to Vientiane on the other hand is another story. The first bus broke down 25 min outside of town - which you would think is not bad, but we still had to wait a terrible 5 hrs for the next one. I got hurt myself when I went into the pitch black bus to grab my bag and went flying down the stairs. Thank goodness Ian, my new best bus friend is a med student and helped me out. However, this started a new era of more limping! Can't freaking believe it - Nothing for 15 months and then every 2 days for the last week.

Official boo boo tally: Dragon scars on left hamstring, small scrapes right foot, extremely bruised left knee, banged up right shin, bump/small scrapes on forehead, sore left thumb. (Mom, it's seriously sounds worse than it is...I'm ok! Seriously, these things happen)

Aly and Colleen's patch work. Thanks ladies!

Scars are sexy right?!?!

So, off to the Philippines for round 2 to be with my grandma! But this is what I will always remember of Lao...

Zen in a Hammock!!!

Random Connections - Northern Thailand

I decided to head up to Northern Thailand on the overnight train from Bangkok. What a great way to travel the country - it's wonderfully comfortable, the food is delicious and you get your own cozy little bunk. Definitely would recommend this over the buses anytime!

I got in touch with my aunt's friend who lives in Chiang Mai and works at Maejo University (about 30 min outside of town). You can never know too many people...I figure meet for coffee and get some advice as to what to do see. What a wonderful surprise when I walked out of the train station and saw 2 women with a sign with my name on it! One was her niece Sirikan and the other. I find out happens to be the granddaughter of my parents' hometown friends (my mom actually lived with them!) And to make things more interesting, I end up staying at the International Student dorm (follow me here...) and in the dorm next to me is my godbrother who is doing his PhD here. Oh I'm not done yet, as it happens, my dad use to coach the current uni president in soccer back in the 70s in the Philippines. How random is that?

Chiang Mai is a fantastically beautiful city with over 300 temples or 'wats'. The Old City (the main touristy drink hole) is around 2 by 2 km surrounded by canals and an old defensive wall that use to protect it. I walked and biked around, taking in all the beautifully ornate and intricate temples. I took the mandatory temple pics because there are amazing photo ops everywhere (check out the overkill number of temple pics) but honestly, it's crazy how quickly you can feel "templed" out. Somewhere after about 8 they all start looking the same! Although I don't think I'll ever get tried of seeing monks with their colorful yellow and orange robes walking around everywhere!

This is my favorite wat. I found it arrestingly beautiful.

Gold, intricate, beautiful.

They have the greatest Sunday night market - which they call the "Walking Street" market. Basically they shut down all the major roads and set up stalls that sell absolutely everything! They're quite artistic and creative with hand made bags, towel holders, scarfs, monk paintings, picture frames, clothes and other kitchy fun things. The coolest part is that they put the "food courts" inside the temples! So you get to eat your Pad Thai and watch monks at the same time. Wonderful.

Everyone should experience eating and seeing monks!

I'm kinda glad that I'm backpacking. I have no room to buy stuff!

The Elephant Show - Ok, I wasn't really sure how I felt about watching elephants play soccer, throw darts or paint...but Sirikan took me and I was amazed at how skilled and talented they are! I just don't think it's fair that an elephant has more artistic abilities than I do. It's actually unnerving how how good they are - very Van Gogh like. And some elephants really have their own personality. The baby one was quite the performing clown - is it bad that I enjoyed this?!?

Elephant hugs are awesome.

Can you see how seriously good that painting is?!?!

Meditation Retreat

The day began at the Wat Suan Dok Temple with a brief introduction to Buddhism given by the master monk. We're taught that Buddhism is not a religion but rather a way of life - a set of guidelines to help you have peace and happiness. I find it particularly resounding that the "Middle Path/Way" is fundamentally yours to interpret and integrate in your life - one that is suppose to be neither nihlistic or hedonistic. Our "phra"/monk is a happy man in his late 40s with a soothing voice that's calming, his whispered high intonations gives you the confidence that you're about to experience and learn some really amazing new things. His powerpoint and anecdotes are funny. He tells us that weneed to know the nature of our mind. We must train our 'monkey mind'.

The essence of what is taught in this 2 day retreat is learning and knowing about balance in yourself, others and nature. That through moral and mental training you can achieve higher states. It is about the right effort, observing and doing the "good thing". It's having a sense of Mindfulness and Self awareness. Basically Love all beings and wish everyone peace and happiness. Be good to your mind, with your words and your actions.

We drove out to the Medication centre - which is about 40 mins from town. Its a beautiful building built completely from donations. We're given our room keys and told to shower and change into our loose all white, non transparent clothes. Yes, at one point, I did think to myself "Don't drink the Kool-Aid". That funny thought disappears as soon as we're ushered into the dining room and find out that that it's actually a silent retreat as well. Makes sense given that you are there to learn about meditation, calming your mind and observing your thoughts. We were taught how chant in a beautiful melodic way before our meal and that we must contemplate on our food. I'm not sure if it's because you don't talk during the meals or it if was actually just plain delicious but food tastes differently/better when you sit silently and really think and feel and experience your food. Go ahead and try closing your eyes and actually think about what you're eating! It's more pleasurable.

The second day, you're woken up at 5am by the sound of the dong. The sun starts to break through the clouds as we begin our chants to the Buddha. We all stood outside in a line and gave offerings to the monk. After, we went back in our meditation room aka "the Happy Place" and learned a total of 4 different types of meditation - 3 types of walking meditation, 1 lying down and another sitting down. It's all about clearing your mind, focusing on your breathing and not letting your thoughts or feelings distract you. I really got into it. I honestly just wish I wasn't so sleepy being a night owl and all. But the whole experience seemed surreal. It was like being in a peaceful trance state - a place between reality and a dream like place of zen. In fact, it's been very odd these last couple of weeks - I feel like I've been floating high on a cloud "blissfully-out-of-it" (tm CB) but oh so very present. I've realized how fluid states of awareness and presence truly are in every moment. Sadly, the whole experience went really quickly. In fact it was a little bit too short...but it was a great introduction to something I'd like to explore further.

Wat Suan Dok - the place where I've learned to wish Peace and Happiness to all.

I'm so excited to be at a Meditation retreat! I now have meditation pants.

PAI - Randomly, I think it's really funny that I met Heidi as we both walked into the temple looking for the "monk chat" office. Officially my fave Australian that I've met traveling, we ended up celebrating our new experience over dinner, drinks, buckets and the dance floor. There may have been some chanting over shots and needless to say people fell in love with our energy. Having a great time = sexy. The random adventures continued when we traveled to Pai - a fun little town on a river in the north close to Myanmar. It's the kind of place where old Thai grandmothers jump in front of your motorbike trying to sell you ganja and opium on your way to see the waterfalls. Pai has the same atmosphere as any relaxing hippie town - a mixture of chilled out stoners, good munchies and hardcore partiers looking for cheap drinks ready to rip it up.It's nestled in the beautiful countryside with natural hotsprings and lush nature.

After a bit of a search (i.e. walking around for 2 hours), we found a perfect bungalow/d.o. den that had the world's most comfortable hammock, a big bed and right on the river. Everything we did was a "mission" of some sort and we succeeded in having some crazy funny moments. There were like a billion attempts at getting things just right but did we ever have the BEST food. Man do they know how to do spring rolls, ice cream, waffles and breakfast right in Pai. The Curry Shack and the old Thai style iced coffee was legendary. Along the way, we adopted Helena, our sweet German future documentary film maker. Laughed til 3 with an Irish comedian telling us about his slightly disturbing first Thai massage experience. Got great advice from a Hawaiin guy self medicating by smoking copious amounts of stuff because of his motor bike injuries. We scootered around town and got pelted along the way with painful drops of rain. Global change is NOT good - we couldn't believe how cold we were! But it was all worth it with our fun finds - a beautiful trekkable canyon that overlooks views of the many layered mountains, a night time drive that reminded us of home and I think we nearly died and went to heaven when we discovered The Bakery. Overall, Pai was an unexpectedly fun side trip!

World's Most Comfortable Hammock.

Pai = my fun distraction.

Off to Pai with Heidi, my fave Australian.

Most beautiful find = this canyon.

Cooking Thai

And back to Chiang Mai just in time for some festivities. Helena and I took a 1 day cooking course in a Thai Organic farm. It was amazing!!! I'm inpired to cook everything with a little bit of sugar, chilli and fish sauce now. There's something really cool about learning how to make your own curry paste from scratch with a mortar and pestle. I learned how to make Green Curry with Chicken, Tom Yam soup, Papaya salad, Pad Thai and Mango sticky rice! It was amazing and wonderfully delicious if I may say so myself! Now if only I can find the recipe book they gave me! Lol. It was really informative walking around the market - learning about coconut cream vs. milk (amount of water). The best is picking your ingredients from their organic farm and learning about the different types of spices that they use - the fact that there are 4 types of basil used, the diffrences between the types of curry is based on adding either red or green chillies or turmeric. It's unbelievablle how easy and quick it is to make Thai food...the only issue is, can you find all the ingredients that you actually need?

I think I gained about 5 lbs during the course of the day...at least a 1lb for each meal that we cooked! But was it ever worth getting fatter for!

I made this!!

I'm sooo into it!

Organic ingredients from the cooking school/farm.

Helena and I ready to pick some organic stuff...

Songkran - สวัสดีปีใหม่

This is hands down the most enjoyable way to celebrate a New Years ever! It's typically 3 days but from what I can tell - it pretty much starts early and lasts long. To bring it on the whole city gets into a gigantic water fight! No wonder they call it "Wet and Wild Chiang Mai" in the Lonely Planet. It's suppose to be THE place to celebrate and let me tell you - it did NOT disappoint. The splashing with water is a time for cleaning and renewal - a sort of metaphoric washing away your sins.

While the spiritual aspect may not be as strong, the fun part is in full force! The whole city turns into an insane street party/festival with locals and foreigners alike running around town with buckets to splash you (Helena's preferred mode of combat = one on one revenge) and water guns (my preference is aiming straight for people's faces and ears). It's crazy fun and the icey water is wonderful specially during the hot and sunny moments. So wicked but it's weird being wet for about 6-8 hrs a day! You are not safe anywhere or from anyone! Helena being blonde was the fave target of the locals and since I look Thai the backpackers loooooved trying to get me! I wish I had better pictures of how much life and fun is injected into the whole experience when everyone is driving around in trucks and tuk tuks with tubs of water. There's live music everywhere and booming dance music around the whole city. Stages have been put up to host dancing "pretties" (Thai women in sexy outfits) and even the "tourist police" get in on the action. For a bit more of a cultural moment, there's a parade of Buddhas with the locals throwing fragranced water so that it may bring them good luck and prosperity in the New Year. Miraculously the water fight stops at around 8pm and people carry on drinking the night away.

** Ugh, you know what's sad?! I have a ton of pics up on FB but this is the first time that I feel like I don't actually have any pictures that truly capture the moments I had in Pai and Chiang Mai! And I'm a bit gutted to not be able to fully share the magnificence of Northern Thailand (so I broke down and downloaded some pics - I might even be there somewhere! LOL. It's definitely in my MUST DO recommendation - well, at this time of the year **

Ok, not my pic but I might be in there somewhere!

If you see a wet Asian...um, wait...ya, we're ALL wet!

Wanna piece of me?? Bring it on Songkran! :D

Thailand has been amazing and will always hold a special place in my heart. Khop Khun Kaa. I think I've pretty much done everything that I would like...and now, I'm feeling the pull of Laos...

Itouched Bang-kok

Let's start by saying I had no intention of staying in Bangkok. A fun 12 days later I found myself not too excited about leaving the wonderful digs and hospitality of Jiggy, who I met during the clean up dive in Kho Tao. Her swank place had all the wonderful amenities of home and I took advantage of the chill out and break from lugging the pack. I got to have a taste of the city as a tourist, farang (foreigner) and as a quasi local expat. Highlights:

• Finally seeing some temples and testing out the itouch camera. The Grand Palace is grand and the giant reclining Buddha, is well, giant. Its amazing how easy it is to be templed out even though it was impressively beautiful. Vimanmek Teak palace was worth walking around for and so were the handmade art, gold and textile collections at Dusit Palace.
• Eating Thai spicy street food and feeling the burn on your tongue and lips (new trick learned - take plain rice and let your saliva break it down to alleviate the pain)
• Learning the Spanish sexy look, hanging out with cool Filipinos (complete with pop star and manager) and a sweet Natalie Portman look alike.
• Walking around street markets...ok Patpong (BKK's most famous road) is quite an experience cause you get accosted by people trying to get you to watch their ping pong show while you're trying to look for fake Raybans! Chatuchuck weekend market is so big you need to get a map to guide you from the food area to the furnitures and antique to the Thai silk textiles... Basically you should only fight the masses if you actually want to buy something and going after a Mexican party the night before is not so good. Chinatown ditto unless you want to eat as well. Fave place: this random street market on an abandoned railway track. They sold cool hip kitchy retro stuff from refurbished warehouses and so sold drinks and cocktails from old 60s VW vans which they converted into drivable bars.
• Other random moments I enjoyed were drinks at Khao San Road and the forgotten lap dance, having wine and great red meat again, eating good non Asian food and late night chats about men and boys (reminiscent of good ol girlfriend times)
• Ok so I did go to Soi Cowboy for their infamous "shows". I'd like to say that we went for a tamer and less disturbing experience...so no razor blades or fish or blue water thingy but I was oddly impressed with the darts! Like how do you even find out you've got that talent?!?!
• The oddly cool "climate change" weather was a nice break...seems that I left the islands and south just on time to escape the terrible floods.

So Bangkok was alright but what really made it for me? Getting Jiggy with it! ;) Thanks Chica!

Tons of people getting their Perv On - Soi Cowboy style.

Yup, you're readin that sign correctly! That's Patpong for ya!

Giant golden Buddha.

The Grand Palace.

Ornate and beautiful.

It's impressive as your first temple.

Italian dinner in Bangkok with Filipinos. Gotta love it.

Coolest hip street market everywhere.

Awesome company as always :) Thanks for showing me sides of Bangkok I wouldn't have!!

Islands on Fire - Thailand & Happiness

As soon as I crossed over to Thailand, I think it was the first time that I sat, took a look around and thought to myself, "Wow, now I'm really traveling!" I have no idea what's going on. I can't read the language, much less figure out this odd tonal language. I can't understand what this woman is saying to me and by the blank look on her face certainly had no clue what I was trying to explain.

But that confusion was soon replaced by getting myself on an overnight ferry, into Ko Tao - what I consider to be the "pretty people" island. Everyone was smokingly hot! I guess that's what you get for a renowned diving island on the Southern Gulf coast in eastern Thailand. I was excited to see Kat again (who I met in Bolivia) and I'm soooooo happy that I did! We had the BEST time together! She was superb company, the most awesome wing-woman and a fantastically great dive buddy! We did our advanced SSI together and well, let's just say that I freaked her out when I got lost during the night dive! In all fairness, there were about 30 people going down...I followed the yellow flippers (like I was suppose to) and there was a blond chick next to the guy that was suppose to be my instructor (buddy check done and done). I'll paint a clearer picture by saying that it's dark. I mean, it's pitch black ocean dark and we only have tiny little flashlights (dare I say rather ineffective). Anyhow, it took me about 30 seconds to realize that I was following the wrong group!! Basically, the guy turned around and when I saw that he had a beard (no one in my group did)...I thought, oh ya, not a good thing. Suprisingly enough, I didn't panic so I did my one minute check (and actually swam into 2 other groups of divers...I was definitely not alone!!) Anyway, all is good, I'm licensed and can plan and navigate my own dives! LOL. Seriously!!

*** Environmental note: My first dive was actually a clean up dive to help get trash out of the ocean - it was depressing to see how much garbage is out there. Let's try and be good and keep our oceans clean!!! Don't throw garbage out in the ocean, touch the corals or leave anything behind! ***

We met the coolest people to enjoy my first "bucket experience" with. It's an insane drink meant to be shared (specially while watching a fire show). The typical Thai bucket has a mickey of Samsong (local sweet whiskey/rum - terrible for headaches) and 2 red bulls (terrible for the stomach)! I think it tastes rather foul...so we moved onto Vodka buckets! Let's just say after a few of those there was an attempt at Fire limbo - I survived unscathed and unscarred...unlike most people! I mean, they create the most insane scenarios for people to hurt themselves. There's the fire limbo, the fire throwing, the fire jump rope, the ring of fire. There are a lot of FIRE!! I've never seen so many bandaged people in my life!

Koh Phangan - the BEST ever!

This magical island was my favorite by far. I can't even begin to explain or describe how I felt while I was here. I've certainly never smiled as much in my life and no, it wasn't "happy shakes". Neither was it the insane and legendary pool parties at Coral or even any of the Moon parties. I mean we even skipped the Black and Shiva moon party while we were there. We were all decked out with glow-in-the-dark body paint (a new fave - everyone should experience this) and we opted not to pay the 500 Bhat and just head to the beach and have our own party. Part of it are the wonderful characters that you meet and get to know. There's the quiet unassuming guy, deep and intelligent, who ends up being the most impressive under the radar party animal. There's crazy American out on a bender, letting lose from life's responsibilities who just wants to be accepted and loved by his family waking up the next day in a boat. The young innocent Brit traveling for the first time trying getting over a break up. The insanely sexy Israeli who reminds you there are great men out there. The cute Canadian girls who smile all the time with they're own box of wine. The crazy older travelers that still haven't grown up or stopped partying and is impressively or ridiculously still hardcore. The perpetually stoned Frenchman that looks like Kramer. The adorably charming Burmese men working in a party resort to support their family. The ditsy hot chick who starts off as dull but is apparently a geneticist with the quirkiest sense of humour. The German "playa" who's actually a really sweet and sensitive guy. There's so much about this island that I love. The tree house will always have a place in my heart with it's laid back atmosphere. When I close my eyes I can still feel the cool ocean breeze and hear the waves. We only got a chance to see a tiny bit of the island when we rented a scooter and went up and down those crazy hills. Thankfully the boys gave us their scooter with the brakes instead! We snacked at the market, had wonderful satay and Thai treats and ate donuts that taste like Hanukkah. There were moments of complete and utter bliss in the pool, on the beach, lazing about when I thought to myself "Life does not get any better than this..."

Then there was heading out west into Krabi and Railey - Rock climber's paradise. Even the trek to the view point and lagoon you needed to climb with ropes. That's the most ridiculously difficult "walk" I've taken to get to a tourist destination. We enjoyed eating Pad Thai from a boat = genius. Watching the sunset. The kayak flipping and losing my camera (and the fishing pole and snorkel that the ocean took) I could have done without because unfortunately all the pictures went with it...so gutted :( At least there are the memories and I'd like to keep it etched in my brain forever.

Next stop was Phi Phi - We stayed in the quiet part of the island on Long Beach in a Hillside resort with stairs that made your legs shake. You had to take a 100B taxi boat to get there so it was peaceful and quiet. The boat tour of the area showed us the picture perfect postcard were the waters are clear, turquoise and the type of blue that seems unreal. The snorkeling in Phi Phi Leh and of course the quintessential movie moment on Maya beach made me wish I still had my camera.

The whole thing was a mind blowing experience. I will forever be thankful for having been given so much. It's those moments when you feel alive and you understand all the stuff that movies and legends are made of. It's the ultimate traveling dream. I'm happy to be reminded that there are beautiful connections, fantastic friendships and so much more that you can go through in life and expand your horizons with. It's pursuing growth and learning to truly give in and enjoy these precious times that make everything worthwhile!

The Treehouse = my new Happy place.

My Koh Phangan smile. Unbridled and in its purest form.

Legendary Coral Pool Party.

Best Dive buddy ever!

Under water photo - one of my many new skills.

Oh ya I'm tanned and dark!!

Railey viewpoint. Hardest walk/climb ever!

Fire and Buckets!! ;)

Body paint and the Beach!!! :)

Yummy Pad Thai.

Oh it's meant to be shared ;)

Phi Phi Leh and the awesome colours of the sea.