Christmas in Paradise???

Um, not so much. Island beauty, okay yes but resort, no! The resort I booked was to say the least not what I expected or where I expected. When I was there (Ko Samet Island) in November I thought I saw what was going to be our resort...Samet Villa Resort...but when we got to the island the other day I was informed that our resort Samet Ville Resort was on the waaaay south part of the island and the south part of the island is waaaaay secluded. So lets say hello to all the couples, lovers, and gag me with public display of affectioners. In order to get to our resort we have to take a taxi...let me see if I can explain this one road and taxi business to you...hmmf for starters its a dirt road, hilly, bumpy, a bunch of rocks EVERYWHERE, lots of holes and ruts in the ground, and you better hold on for your life or you will fall off the back of the pick up truck taxi.
When we arrived (all dusty and with our stomachs in our throats) immediately you could see my moms dislike. Great. Well we don't have a choice as I prepaid for the room weeks ago, on my credit card. Fine, we will deal with it and make the best of the place...it is after all our Christmas holiday. So we freshen up and go grab a bite to eat. Where oh where shall we go? Oh that's right the resort only has one restaurant...simply fabulous...not! Lets watch TV...oh 3 channels and all in Thai, lets go online...oh no Internet...ok, well then lets just call it a night. Tomorrow should be better.
Wake up Christmas morning. Awe my mom has some gifts for me. Lets go to the beach...oh boo its cloudy. (So sad I know, I know I know most of you woke up on Christmas morning to below zero weather and snow on the ground- fine I will quit my complaining about some clouds). We lounged on the beach for the better part of the day. Then we took the ever so wonderful pickup taxi to the main beach for our Christmas dinner. Now it just so happens that my friend Phil, from grammar school, was on the island for Christmas as well. So we met up and had Christmas dinner together.

The next day...instead of staying at our secluded beach with its one not so good restaurant and lovers lane resort we opted to go back to the main beach...AAH yes people, AAAH yes an oil massage, AAAH yes a nice beach, AAAH yes good food.

Okay fast forward to today. We get up early for breakfast and I have a momentary lapse in reason and I leave my wallet in the room (I'll get to that in a minute). After breakfast we ask if there is an earlier boat back to the mainland as we were scheduled to leave at 11:30am. Yes, 8:45am. YAY its 8:30am now. Great, we'll be right back with our belongings. Okay 8:42am ready for the boat. 8:57am where is the boat? 9:13 still waiting...9:28 finally! We get to the pier, now where is the bus station? We are trying to catch the 10:00am bus. Nope bus is full. 11:00am is available...yes I'll take two please. I grab my wallet, open it up to find 2000 baht stolen. MOM- DID YOU TAKE MONEY OUT OF MY WALLET??? No...OMG OMG OMG. When did that happen? Oh yah, my momentary lapse in reason when I forgot my wallet in the room this morning. Fuckers (sorry for the foul language) And I know exactly who did it too...the little weasel who was sweeping out front of the next bungalow. He saw us leave with no belongings. Bastard. My mom kept trying to put a positive spin on it by saying that things must have been so bad for the person that they had to resort to stealing. Chances are they must have really needed it. BUT STILL!!! BASTARD!
Needless to say, I am glad I am back in Bangkok and done with that resort. I had a great time regardless as I got to spend the Christmas holiday with my mom! We are currently packing up her belongings and getting things ready for her departure in a few days. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and a whole lot more.

We had a Wat filled weekend...well just the first day. First up, Wat Chiang Man. Here is where I learned about the 8 different Buddha poses...one for each day of the week (2 for Wednesday). Next, was Wat Chedi Luang, which at one time had the tallest padago in the northern region. Now its in ruins.

Wat Phra Singh, was next, it is one of the towns oldest temples. And finally, we went to what is probably Chiang Mai's most famous landmark: Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. I climbed the 304 steps to the top while my mom took a funicular up. Here we saw panoramic views of Chiang Mai.
After all the wats we headed to San Kamphaeng Hot Springs. Here was saw the "boilegg" hot spring...which literally had dozens of people boiling baskets of eggs in a pool of naturally boiling hot water (softboil 3 minutes, half done 9 minutes, welldone 15 minutes). There was a stream of the water for people to soak their feet in. Closest to the "boilegg" pool was the hottest but as you walked downstream the water cooled off. My mom and I soaked our poor puppy dog feet in the hot spring stream. Then had a half hour foot massage. Afterwards, we headed to a Chiang Mai's Night Bazaar (and bought lots of goodies).
The next day we started out early as we were heading 3 hours north to Chiang Rai. First stop was for some coffee at Cabbages and Condoms resort and restaurant (what? yeah...). Officially the first stop of the day was Wat Rung Kun (an all white temple). This is a relatively new Wat (additional buildings are still being built). We then headed for The Golden Triangle. The golden triangle is where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet.

*An important message for those that get car sick easily...don't do it.
Next we headed to a border town, Mae Sai and visited a Jade factory. This is also the northern most part of Thailand.

On Sunday, we took a scenic drive to Doi Mae Salong where there are various hilltribes. We were able to see the Akha and Padaung tribe women. The Padaung women are also known as the "longneck tribe". They wear these heavy brass rings around their necks. Legend says they wear the rings for protection from tigers. I was in complete awe of these women. At around the age of 5, girls start to wear the rings.

And finally we took a local longtail boat up the Maekok River before driving back to Chiang Mai for our flight back to Bangkok.

The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaeo

My momma has safely arrived!! Yahoo!!!

On Monday, my mom, her friend Kumi and I headed to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo in Bangkok. The Grand Palace was gorgeous..so detailed and intrinsic. The Grand Palace was kings official residence from 1782-1946.

Wat Phra Kaeo is considered the holiest temple in Thailand as it is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The legend behind the Emerald Buddha is quite interesting...it is actually made out of green jade and not Emerald as the name suggests. It was for many many years just a simple stucco image in a temple in Chiang Rai until one day lightening struck part of the temple revealing the beautitful green image. Patrons visiting Wat Phra Kaeo are not allowed to take pictures inside the Temple, however there is a door open to allow patrons to take photos from outside (hence the pic being abit blurry).

After our day adventure my mom and I headed for massages. One hour long foot massages for less than $10 -absolute heaven, I must admit.
On Tuesday, I had to teach but was able to meet my mom up for dinner in Chinatown. Yum. And today (Wednesday) she was doing her own thing as I had to administer midterm exams...and tomorrow I have more midterm exams but then in the late afternoon we are headed to the airport for a quick weekend trip north to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. YAY!

Momma!

My mom arrives tonight! Woohoo! We have 2 and half weeks of jam packed fun and traveling...Yeah I get to spend Christmas with my mom!!! The only downfall is that I still have to work a few days. But its only a few days. We have plans to travel to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai next weekend and Ko Samet for Christmas. Sweet!!!

The Great Tuk Tuk Scam and Wat Pho

Wednesday was another holiday in Thailand- Constitution Day! YAY, another day off work! So the gals and I headed to Wat Pho- The Temple of the Reclining Buddha. But before we got inside... we got suckered into "the great Tuk-Tuk scam"

...we were trying to figure out what was the gimmick but couldn't figure it out right away... the tuk tuk drivers prey on tourists and tell all sorts of lies to get you to take a ride on their tuk tuk. And since we were playing "tourists" for the day we decided why not...so they say they will take you to several Wats but what they don't say is that they will also be taking you to a jewelry factory and a tailor shop (ah there it is). Two hours and two wats later (the Lucky Buddha and Golden Mount) we finally made it to Wat Pho (our original destination for the day).
Wat Pho is the one of the largest and oldest wats in Bangkok. The Reclining Buddha is one of the largest Buddha images and is forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high, decorated with gold plating on his body and mother of pearl on his eyes and the soles of his feet. These pictures can not even portray the size of this Buddha.




P.S. Happy Birthday Sean.

Koh Chang

Aaaah, island paradise....Shannon, Lauren M., Jenn and I headed to Koh Chang for a quick weekend get-away. Friday December 5th was the King's Birthday which was a holiday here in Thailand!. Sweet, no work! So we decided to head to Koh Chang (the 2nd largest island in Thailand). We took an 11:30pm bus Thursday night from Bangkok to Trat (about a 4 hour trip) from there we hopped on a 6:30am ferry to the island. Enroute to the island we were able to see an absolutely stunning sunrise. Heaven I say.

Once off the boat we took a 'Sawngthaew' (pronounced song-tail). A Sawngthaew is a pick-up truck with two benches in the back where people ride. The ride is bumpy but fun and you have a great view of your surroundings. And what a view! The blue-green water and the forest from the top of the island was gorgeous. 75% of this island remains untouched rain forest, not only that but the island has some breathtaking waterfalls.
So we found a bungalow to stay at, grabbed a bite to eat and played cards (Euchre) for a bit (all this before noon). We then got ready for a day at the beach. While chilling at the beach we decided to go kayaking. We rented two kayaks (for a 100 baht an hour = equal to about $3 usd) and headed to a close by little undeveloped island. Later that day/night we saw the sunset over the water.

Aaah man, a glorious sunrise and beautiful sunset in the same day...wow! I am one lucky gal. After dinner, we all were pretty exhausted so we decided on massages near the beach and calling it a night. Damn near perfect day, if you ask me!
Saturday we headed to Koh Chang Marine National Park to hike up to the Klon Plu Waterfall.

Afterwards, we ventured to the beach for an afternoon/evening of relaxation.
Sunday morning we got up and seriously had about 5 minutes of water time as we needed to be on the noon ferry to catch our 2:20pm bus back to Bangkok. Boo, time to get back to reality. But that's okay as Wednesday is another holiday (Thai Constitutions Day) and we have the day off. And then, and then, and then....this coming weekend my momma comes to THAILAND!!! YAHOO!

Thanksgiving and the weekend.

Celebrating a holiday in a country where no one knows what you are talking about was quite hilarious. Fortunately there is Sam from the International Programs office who is taking us under her wing (she feels so bad at the way we have been treated with our director)...She found a place in the city that was serving Thanksgiving dinner. YAHOO. Pass me the mashed potatoes...oh no there was none...but there was turkey! HECK YEAH TURKEY! It was delicious.

After we headed to RCA (Royal City Avenue) which is the hub of Bangkok nightlife. I may have had a little too much to drink but I had "an angel" Shannon who made sure I was okay. Friday as you can imagine I spent the day in bed. And in the evening six of us went to the movies, we saw Twilight. Saturday President Emeritus, Rev. Brother Martin scheduled a little long boat trip for us. We were told that Thailand used to be known as Venice of the East using their waterways as a means of transportation. Thailand's traditional life in rural settings has always been linked to the "Krongs" or waterways. On our excursion we stopped at a 100-year old market known as Klong Suan.


After the boat trip majority of the group headed into Bangkok to go to a Wine tasting. This was another event found by Sam. For about $9 American dollars we had 3 hours of unlimited wine...dangerous. Later we headed to a club and danced the night away. There was one point, on the dance floor, where I really missed some of my friends...I got some dance party friends at home and I wanted you here to shake your groove thing with me. Sunday a few of us went to Chatachuk Weekend Market. It is the world's largest weekend market, they sell everything under the sun...from antiques to animals. We were there for about 4 hours and only got through about 1/4th of the market. HUGE, I tell you. I bought a knockoff Gucci workbag for about $6 american dollars! Sweet.

On an unrelated side note, due to the unnecessary drama with housing, classes, etc. A group of four of us have decided to rent a townhome in Bangkok, right around the corner from the HuaMak campus. Sam (from International Programs office) went apartment hunting with us a few weekends ago. We are still keeping our rooms (dorms) on the BangNa campus but have this apartment for when we have to teach our conversational courses from 6pm to 8pm at the HuaMak campus. Have I mentioned, I am not happy with having to create yet another new set of lesson plans??? Not happy at all.

Anyways this place is somewhat furnished and we have been busy buying sheets, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc. for our new pad. Over the weekend (Saturday night) we stayed at our place instead of having to commute an hour to BangNa from the city. I will be heading there tonight with one of the other gals as I teach tomorrow at 9 am over there and it is so convenient. Right now we don't have internet access but Sam is looking into it for us. And I am not even going to tell you how much my rent is...its sick...okay okay I will...my share is less than $100 American dollars....nice! More pics of the townhome are in the slideshow below.