OMG!!

Ok so I know I said last post, but I went out to get some takeaway for breakfast tomorrow and found COCONUT ICE CREAM!! The real deal. In a coconut. They gave me a cup with the coconut juice to drink then gave me the coconut with the ice cream (which they assured me had no milk in it) and then the coconut shavings on top. HEAVEN <3 A perfect end to the trip :)

Final Hours Recap

Well, it's finally here: April 24th. I leave for the airport in exactly 10 hours. I've had my last Thai massage, my last mango sticky rice, my last shop down Khao San and am ready to head back to reality (for a short while). But before I leave I thought i'd  reminisce a little and recap the past four months:

So here goes: (deep breath) Buckets, paint and dancing in Koh Phi Phi, climbing in Railay, getting kissed by an elephant (on the cheek, just to clarify lol) and learning to cook Thai in Chiang Mai, zip lining, massive spiders and sleeping in tree houses in Lao, boat rides spent drinking Lao whiskey from a gas can and playing UNO, morning yoga by the river, kayaking, teaching English to novice monks, my Auzzie/Kiwi/Canadian companions,  pretty much everything in Luang Prabang :), beer pong and buckets for Valentines Day in Vang Viang, sunrise from Angkor in Cambodia, sunset quading though rice patties, the amazing beaches of Koh Rong, riding motorcycles in Phnom Penh, sand dune sledding in Mui Ne, motorcycle tours and canyoning in Dalat, sleeper buses and broken cameras, Halong Bay in the fog, spending my birthday having color fights in Delhi, Indian trains, sketchy alleys and cow shit in Varanasi, amazing sunrise/sunset boat tours along the ghats, the worst food poisoning I've ever had (Betty, we know each other so much better now lol), the Taj Mahal, getting ripped off by rickshaw drivers, shopping, gurus, monkey temple, camel safari and sleeping in the desert in Jaisalmer, trekking in the Langtang Region of Nepal, my first bucket shower, being on top of the world! white water rafting, camping, power outages and wicked thunder storms, running from rhinos in Royal Chitwan, snorkeling, suntanning and kayaking in Koh Tao, sketchy hostels (and shopping!) on Khao San, lack of sleep, and a last bit of exploring the Grand Palace and Wat Arun in Bangkok. 

And that's just the part I remember! Just kidding Dad. An amazing ride, I feel well traveled, pleased to have achieved 4 months of traveling in 3rd world countries, tried lots of new foods: managing to eat and not get too sick being GF and DF, met a lot of awesome people, got some beautiful photos, tried a few things that scared me, did a lot of things I've never done before, and all in all had an amazing time. Did I mention I'm bringing home an Auzzie? :D Stay tuned for my next trip: New Nork, Morocco and Egypt in Sept!

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Ram Buttri street at night..

So pretty :)

The Famous Khao San Road

...and shopping "heaven", well for cheap stuff anyhow. Good thing I only have one more day here, this street is DANGEROUS lol.

Wat Arun

These photos don't really do it justice, it's much prettier in person.

And...Wat Arun

Grand Palace

Grand Place

Grand Palace

Finally made it to the Grand palace today:

Breakfast!

It's going to be weird going back to shakes and oatmeal.

Off Again...

And so in true "Christina" fashion, sitting still for 10 consecutive days proved far too difficult/frustrating, even in "paradise", so after 7 days I am heading back to Bangkok tomorrow (to Khao San Road, no less) to do some last minute sightseeing, possible shopping and pass the time until I fly home. 6 days and counting :)

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This reminds me of Hornby

Some pretty colors

The other half of the view

Did I mention the breeze is amazing?

Half of the view from my 350 B room

Morning View from my 400B a night bungalow

Day two and I have almost forgotten my nightmare from yesterday and am loving this place! (despite its price - I realized that even though it's more than I wanted to pay, it's still only $12 a night) It's really pretty here, there's no sandy beach but the snorkeling is amazing! I rented a snorkel for the day ($1) and front crawl snorkeled around the bay. It was awesome! If swimming laps always had this much to look at I'd swim more lol. I can feel myself getting in shape already! I might walk into town tomorrow (apparently it's doable and only takes an hour, slightly skeptical) and buy a snorkel and do this every day!) Oh and I got into a 350B place for the night which has an awesome view, I feel like I'm in a treehouse :) I did some laundry in my sink and am not sitting here enjoying the breeze before dinner. Almost finished my first book, two more to go...any bets on how long they'll last?

Kathmandu to Koh Tao - Part 3

On the catamaran I sat up top with the wind in my hair, listening to music until the storm clouds rolled in and I went down below.

Kathmandu to Koh Tao - Part 2

After waiting in line for a half an hour I made it inside the office, showed them the booking on my phone and got my sticker (red 15) and my boat ticket for the next day and was told to come back in half an hour. I went and got a banana shake and bought some pineapple for the bus ride (I missed fruit!!) and then went and sat and ate my veggies and rice. After being herded down the street a couple blocks, buses started showing up and my red group climbed on our bus. To my disappointment it wasn't a sleeper bus like Vietnam but one with reclining seats. Still, it was much nicer than any of the buses I'd seen in the last month and a half! I put my earplugs in and tried to sleep, fairly unsuccessfully - so uncomfortable.

At 6am we arrived at the Chumpong Ferry dock and I brushed my teeth, washed my face and then ate my rice cakes with peanut butter (yup, all of this was in my carryon from the airport. I also had a pair of shorts I changed into! I was quite impressed with my packing abilities :) I watched sunrise from the dock and then got on the catamaran (first time on a catamaran!) bound for Koh Tao.

Chumpong Ferry dock to Koh Tao:

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Kathmandu to Koh Tao - Part 1

I woke up at 5am Thursday and sat in the lobby of my guesthouse, in the dark, with my headlamp on and used the wifi to pick my shifts and send off emails to my work (to ensure i'd get summer shifts), ate my bananas and peanut butter for breakfast and then walked out to the street at 6:30am and got a taxi to the airport for 350R. My first flight was short, only an hour and a bit, I chatted with my neighbors (a lady from Uruguay and a guy from India) and ate three fruit salads because the flight crew said the catering company didn't give them any gluten free food for me. We were late landing because the pilot couldn't land the first time because it was too windy, so happy I wasn't staying in Delhi - It looked stormy. I ran to my connecting flight (boarding call was 11:15am and my plane landed at 11:20am) and made it 5 minutes before the gates closed, hoping my luggage made it :S The second flight was longer, about four and a half hours and I actually got fed, real food! It had my name on it and was curry, salad,fruit and corn patty thing. Yup, I took a picture of it :)