Thailand Bonus: "The South"

A few of the volunteers and I took a weekend vacation down to the southern islands near Krabi, Thailand. Imagine yourself in a place similar to Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with Peter Pan's Neverland and you will be in the south of Thailand.

So getting to our hotel was hilarious. First we took a bus to a harbor and then we took basically a fishing boat to the island and then when we got off the boat they told us to just walk through the island to the beach on the other side and then walk on the beach for 30 minutes. Umm. Ok. So we walked on the beach, with our bags, for about 10 minutes and then it just ended because we came to a big shipwreck rock. Turns out the beach our hotel was on was on the other side of the rock and only accessible during low tide (7pm). So... we climbed the rock. I am so glad my bag was a backpacking backpack because there were a few parts where we were basically rock climbing. When in Thailand.

Random art drawn on random cement walls near our hotel. Kind of cool.

7 Island Tour
We signed up for a boat tour, just at a little shop on Railey beach, for one of our afternoon's. We snorkeled, played on the beach, one of the girls cliff jumped because she was strong enough to climb the rope to the cliff, had a cooked bbq on the beach, were stung by mini jelly fish, some of the girls swam with plankton (I was a woose and too cold), acted like pirates, etc.

Chicken Island... Can you see it?

Monkeys!
Walking through the jungle one day we passed all of these monkeys at the check-in stand at this tiny run down hotel. We were so excited to see monkeys but also a little timid they may attack us.

The Beach
While we were down in the south the only channel in our bungalow in English was the British Discovery channel and they were showing Shark Week. We would plan our evenings around getting back in time to watch Shark Week. Well, having so many sharks on the mind made for some uneasy moments in the ocean but really we were safe and having a blast. One of the days I spent the entire day in the water, except for lunch, just riding the waves. One of the girls even said, "These waves are like the Thai people... gentle." We also had some laughs about all the honeymooners on the beach taking model pose pictures of each other and at one point we were surrounded by so many couples in the water one of the girls said, "Ooooohkay, let's get our of lover's lane." I loved the ocean and the beach in the south.

I was standing on the beach talking to the girls when a butterfly kept flying around me and landing on me.

If you look closely, you can see it on my hand in this picture.

Pictures from around the Island

Thailand: Help International

Thailand: Sightseeing

Thailand: Sightseeing

I spent a chunk of my summer in Thailand with HELP International and when the volunteers were not working hard we were playing hard.

Chiang Mai
Chiange Mai was three hours south of where we were living and is where we spent a few of our weekends. I really liked this city because even though it was a city, it still had it's cultural charm.

We had dinner one night at this restaurant where they brought you your food uncooked and then you cooked it in front of you on a grill in the table. The food was AMAZING.
My favorite quote of the night was overhearing the boys table, with their large abundance of food, "Ok guys. We need to strategize!"

I loved the pineapple in Thailand. You know how if you eat too much pineapple you start to get a filmy taste in your mouth and it feels like the acid is getting to be too much. Yeah, the pineapple in Thailand was never like that. I could eat a whole one for a snack or quick breakfast and be just fine.

Coconut Ice cream at the Walking Market

If for some reason you are craving some American food, don't settle for McDonald's. I mean, if you MUST have American food it might as well still be amazing. Check out The Dukes! But really.

Lychee! This was my favorite fruit in Thailand and the best way I could describe it is: a white grape with the skin peeled off and it taste like a sweet grapefruit. 

Getting Thai Massages: my hip sockets have never been so happy.

Grand Canyon
The Chiang Mai Grand Canyon was about a 20 minute bus ride from the city and about a $1 admission to swim and jump as long as you would like.

Golden Temple
The Doi Suthep Golden Temple is about 40 minutes up a mountain, near the city. There is a climb of 309 steps up a staircase leading up to the temple. We visited the temple in the evening to avoid the heat and to see the city all lit up.

View of the city.

The Temple

Elephants
By far, my top and most favorite part of visiting Thailand, in the "sightseeing" category, was feeding, bathing and riding elephants. One of the volunteers wanted to make sure we went with a company who was very humane to the elephants. The best we found were the elephant sanctuaries but we were unable to sign up for a sanctuary but the Chiang Mai Panda Tours was the next best company we found. A big indication is if you ride the elephants bareback or in a wooden saddle; if it is bareback it is not painful for the elephants. This company gave a great tour, fed us a great lunch, and made sure we had a great experience with the elephants.

Don't you love our funny outfits?

I felt like a kid that day and I was on cloud nine the whole time.

On our way to the elephants we stopped at a market to buy some food to feed the elephants. They mostly ate bananas and watermelon.

Tigers
We visited the tigers at The Tiger Kingdom. It was fun to see these beautiful animals and to watch them run around and play. I didn't like how much they were poked and prodded to get them to move or do something just so we could get a cool picture. Again, I enjoyed watching them but I don't think I will do this again. I don't know what I expected from this experience but looking back, I wish I would have thought more about what it was before I went.

Red Busses
We got around the city riding these red taxi busses. They were big enough to fit our whole group if we were going somewhere together and you stopped them like a taxi.

The best part was when there was not enough room for everyone to sit inside and so you got to stand outside and hold on.

Fang
Three hours north of Chiang Mai was a little town called Fang (sounds like Fung) and it is where we lived. Even around Fang there was a lot to do.

Elephant Waterfall
We went on a hike one afternoon to the Elephant waterfall in a national park near our home. It was a quick and easy hike but still very fun to be at a waterfall.

See the waterfall is spraying up like an elephant spraying water.

We celebrated the 4th of July at the pool and then on a scooter ride around the country side.

The Pool
The guys barbecued some amazing burgers and chicken for us, at the pool, to have a 4th of July BBQ and then we played in the water for awhile.

Scooters
We rented scooters from this little shack rental place and rode up into the hills to temples on one side of the valley and then up into the hills on the other side of the valley to remote villages and rice patties. I was one of the last drivers in our line up and one of my favorite things of this ride was driving through the villages where they probably NEVER see foreigners and watching the looks of the people as we drove through. First shock and confusion, and then amusement and laughter.

You know, I survived the city streets of Italy on a scooter but I was no match for the dirt roads and potholes of Thailand. Let's just say a superman move was involved in this little crash. Embarrassing moment of the trip.

One of the sweet volunteers played doctor and cleaned up all my cuts.

2nd Tallest Mountain in Thailand
Near Fang is the Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park, and the second tallest mountain in Thailand is there for you to hike. One problem, the park was closed for rainy season (and we later learned it was for a good reason because this hike probably would have been easier if it hadn't been so slippery) but our country coordinators paid some villagers to help us get into the park a back way, and away we went up the mountain.

Starting out the hike.

This really was a fun day filled with many adventures: being poked by these things that looked like fluffy balls (they weren't fluffy and they were everywhere), one of the girls being stung by a "pterodactyl," and getting caught in a down pour of rain which contributed to a lot of sliding down the mountain and catching air when falling.

I wish I would have taken a picture but, you know how in the Rocky's we have signs that warn about bears? Well this National Park had signs warning for Tigers.

At the top; through those clouds is Burma.

The villagers brought machetes along the hike; everyone had a lot of fun with them.

Toilets

Just a silly bonus to the end of the post.

When you walk into restrooms in Thailand and see a squatter toilet waiting for you... Bring it on!

When you encounter a rare western toilet... Hallelujah!