Krabi Town

5th & 6 Feb 2016
Four day weekend! Woo! To celebrate, I'm traveling to Krabi town  (south thailand) with Todd and Emily (friends I met during my course) and Tash (travel buddy4L). Krabi town is a small town surrounded by beach towns and beautiful islands. We arrived Friday night and had dinner and drinks in Krabi town. Saturday we took a longtail boat to Railay Beach, where we explored caves and eventually settled on the beach to watch the sunset. Fun fact: the beach has a shrine to the goddess of love which has been decorated by hundreds and hundreds of wooden penises- what better way to show love, right? (Normally the latest boats leave the island at 5 pm but we bargained with the boat company so that we could stay until 7pm). We were soooo proud of ourselves! Then it rained and we couldn't see the sunset behind the clouds. On top of that, the boat had no lights, which meant we were boating back in the dark. Dont worry though, there was a "looker" who flailed his arms wildly if he saw another boat so that they wouldnt accidentally turn us into fish food. Some things you just shouldn't bargain over; boating to Railay is one of those things. We made it back safely and decided to celebrate with dinner and drinks at a local bar. We met some great friends while playing flip cup and king's cup. Fun fact: the bar is allowed to stay open past 2am because it pays the Thai mafia to do so. The bar owner assured us it was NBD if we saw the mafia members on our walk home #isthisreallife?

 In case you weren't sure how to use the toilet....

Tuesday dinners

2 Feb 2016
Bangkok has begun to feel like home (as much like home as a place with no snow, questionable indoor plumbing and an official language that isn't english, can feel) thanks to the help of two friends, Julianne and Jenna. Both girls live in Bangkok, so we've created a Tuesday dinner club. Each week we rotate whose apartment we cook at. (I'm partial to Julianne's place because she has a maid so no after dinner dishes for us!) Anyway, it's become a really fun weeknight activity to look forward to. We've cooked some awesome western dishes (and that's why I need a hotplate Mr. landlord!) and have even found a Thai wine that isn't too bad.

The infamous khao san road

30 Jan 2016
So I've done it. I've had my first night out on Khao San Road, the road all bangkokians flock to for a good time. It was a good time alright- 200 baht beer towers, 90 baht mixers and djs spinning until 5am, coupled with drunken mcdonalds and a view of the sunrise from our rooftop pool- thanks Lindsay and Sian for showing me how to party bkk style!

An American celebrating Australia Day in Thailand

26 Jan 2016
Today's Australia Day! I teach at an Australian International School so Australia day is a very big deal! We celebrated by having a "walkabout" aka a parade, creating dot art, having a barbecue lunch and of course by making wombat stew. (The latter entailed me making 6 boxes of pudding the evening prior without any english directions!) The students and I loved the wombat stew, even though it was a bit chunky. After work, we celebrated the aussie way by having a few brews on the patio. Cheers to Australia Day!

Erawan Falls

24 Jan 2016:
My girlfriends and I spent the day hiking up 7 tiers of waterfalls at Erawan National Park. In order to get there, we took a two hour thai bus that was absolutely bursting at the seems. People were seated on bar stools strapped to the windows, atop the island in the middle of the bus for the gear changer and on the floor. I thought for sure once the bus left the station it would go straight to the falls, but nope, we stopped along the way to pick up MORE people. Initially I worried that the bus doors didn't close because we were traveling up a mountain, but by the time we reached the top I was so thankful because having open doors allowed for some airflow on this crowded bus (fresh air was worth the few casualties who fell out- just kidding!) Once we got to the park area we started our trek. Each tier was beautiful and unique in its own way. Each tier also had a sign to mark it, so I made it my mission to get a photo with each sign. I searched and searched but couldn't find a sign for tier 6. Does it really even exist? Who knows!

Stay in a floating guesthouse? I think so!

Jan 23 2016:
We spent the night in Kanchanaburi at VN guest house. The room itself was nothing special, but the house itself was special because it was actually FLOATING. IN. THE. WATER! the views of the river and mountains surrounding the house were gorgeous! We made it back from Hellfire Pass just early enough to catch the sunset over the water as we ate dinner at the floating restaurant.