Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 4:30pm. The airport was pretty nice, it even had a Starbucks which is such s treat. Especially when you are traveling it is like a little piece of home, so comforting. We ended up messaging a friend we made in New Zealand Tabby to see where she was staying in Chiang Mai. She was at the Eagle house 2 and said it was pretty nice and cheap. So we got a taxi there for $160 baht total. Eagle house wasn't the nicest place we stayed but not the worse either it was just ok. it was also pretty central which was nice. A food market was really close plus tons of great places to eat. 

Once we arrived there Tabby came out to great us it was so nice to see her again. We ended up talking and going to get dinner with her. It was so nice to have her with us because she had been in Chiang Mai for a few days and knew where to go. After Dinner Jess and I went to the night market. We tried not to spend any money but its so difficult not to. Everything is so cheap but it all adds up. Jess did't want to take her money out of the ATM, but did anyways and ended up getting crazy haha. I just waited because I knew we would be back the following night. After that we were so tired and walked back to our place, which wasn't the closest even though Jess seemed to think it was. haha 

The next morning we got up I went to breakfast with Tabby and Jess slept in because she was so tired and didn't sleep well the night before. Tabby took me to this amazing place called Angle's Secret for breakfast. It had high reviews on trip advisor and was priced pretty low. We went, everything was so good. It was so nice to not get white bread with my omelet for once and to get nice butter with it. The little things in life haha

they also gave free watermelon while u waited for your food! Yumm

After breakfast we went back to meet up with Jess. After Tabby left for Pai Jess and I rented a scooter. It was $200 baht for 24 hours! Such a deal, however the to of us riding on one was a little scary. Especially in all the traffic and with all the other crazy drivers haha. We ended up getting the hang of it, Jess more so than me lol. We went to a few Temples around Chiang Mai. There are so many to see!

After the temples I went to the cooking class I had signed up for. It was just me and the instructor which was really nice, a little one on one action. I got to pick 3 meals to make with him. His name was Suk and he spoke english in a sing songy way too funny. He also just laughed a lot he reminded me of the Rafiki in Lion King haha. The 2 of us went to the market to get all the stuff we needed to cook dinner. I decided I wanted to make Pad Thai, Spring rolls and Papaya Salad. I was to excited to get a pic of the Pad Thai but got a pic of the other items.

Thank god jess showed up right in time once i finished cooking to help me eat all the food. We still couldn't finish the spring rolls, so much food. It was so fun to learn how to make all of it though. After Jess and I walked around and went back to the night market. This time I ended up getting a lot more gifts for people. We were at the market for a few more hours then headed back and went to bed since we knew we had a long trek to go on the next day. 

The following morning we packed up our stuff t switch rooms, had a little something to eat and waited for our bus to get us for the day trek. The "bus" came, it was more like a tuk tuk though and all 10 people squeezed in. Jess and I were laughing that we all had to ride in the open small tuk tuk all day. 

Our first stop on the trek was the butterfly and orchard park. Going in we weren't to excited because we saw a huge orchard park in Singapore. However once we were in we were blown away with how great it was. Even though it was much smaller than the one in Singapore we liked the little one better. 

The we all got back in the "bus" and went to the elephant park, which was like a 40 minute drive. The hills and turns we had to make to get there got me a little car sick, but thank god i didn't get sick. The elephant park was pretty cool. Its not every day you see an elephant. They are such huge animals, when we pulled up one was standing in from of the car and I thought it was a statue of one until it started to move. I was so shocked. We then proceeded to ride the elephants. We probably had a 30-40 minute ride on the elephants through the hills/ mountains of Chiang Mai. It was so majestic and unbelievable. Riding on an elephant through the mountains with a beautiful river down below (however Jess hated being so close to the edge of the mountain haha), mountain views in the background and rice fields we passed occasionally. So great, an experience ill never forget. Once we reached our destination we got off and feed the elephant some bananas.

 Then we walked down a trail in the forest down to the river. To cross the river we got in this cage that transported to u the other side. It was pretty cool. Once at the other side we had lunch. They gave us all these little bundles of leaves with a rubber band around them. To our surprise it was pad thai! It was also more than we thought would be able to fit in the little "elephant eggs" as they called them.

After lunch all climbed back into the "bus" to get to the pass of our mountain trek. It took us 40 minutes to reach the water fall and 40 minutes back down. It was pretty cool though. Our guide showed us and explained about the local tribe villages we passed along the way. The people that live up in the mountains, quite a different life ann the city as you could imagine. I was right behind our guide, i saw him pick up a leaf and in the back of my mind wondering what he was going to do with it. He ended up making me a hat. It was pretty cool how he did it so fast. 

After the water fall we climbed back down and got in the "bus" again and headed for white water rafting. The raft looked like a normal raft you see people white water rafting on. We got all our gear on and got in the boat. It was pretty mild white water rafting.

 Nothing to crazy happened, however once we got down the stream we were all instructed to get out of the white water rafting tubes and onto the bamboo rafts. We all did as told. You would assume them to float.... yeah not the case. We all sunk haha! Literally everyone was sitting on the raft with water up to their chest. We couldn't help but all laugh as our guide struggled to pull or push us a little down the stream as the bamboo raft grazed the bottom of the stream haha. I think if we all stood up and walked the water would of been up to our knees and we could of gotten to our next destination faster haha. It was so funny. Once we got to our next destination I changed into dry clothes and after a little bit we got on the "bus" and headed home. The ride home was about 1.5 hours. We got back and showed Jess and I grabbed some dinner. After dinner we got our bus tickets for the next morning to Pai, and decided to get some banana Nutella pancakes and wine. Best decision of the night haha. After we went back and went to bed, tired after a long day. 

The next morning we got up early and got on the bus to go to Pai.

Bangkok

Bangkok was quite the crazy place. Since we were only there for 2 days (which is plenty of time) we only saw a few things. We could of seen more, but we were so tired on the second day and annoyed because our morning started out rough. 

Once we arrived in Bangkok we took the skytrain to koh san road. It  is the road a lot of backpackers go for the cheap markets. Once we got there we found a place to stay. The restaurant down stairs had a few lady boys working at it, which is a very very common thing in Bangkok. Lots of  lady boys. 

After we set our stuff down Jess and I walked around the markets. Then we got dinner and decided that we were going to go out that night to their red light district, soi cowboy rd. This road is famous from the hangover movie. 

We arrived to early on soi cowboy rd, there wasnt many people there yet, so we had a few drinks and just people watched. It is one crazy place.

We went to one show it was insane. After our our poor inocent minds were scard for life we decided to take a taxi ride back home. 

The next day we decided to try to make it to the floating markets. Our original taxi driver who said he would take us to the floating markets never showed up, so rude we even got him a coffee from starbucks. Thenn we asked another taxi driver who said the markets were open and said 300 baht. Jess and i thought he meant 300 baht total, but no he meant 300 baht each!! we were not very happy. We even ended up giving him the coffee we got for our other driver and he still ripped us off! Once we got there we realized the market was closed! So not only did he rip us off he lied to us also! We were so mad! You know you try and do a good deed for someone and they rip ya off anyways! 

Since that was the start to our morning, we were not in the mood to pay another taxi driver to take us around. We ended up walking around and shopping more. We also got pedicures and manicures. After we got lunch and this great greek food restaurant. Jess had been craving falafel for weeks so she was so happy once her food came. 

After we picked up our laundry, went to the post office so Jess could send some christmas presents home and found a place for her to print off her Vietnam visa. Later that day i got a henna, we got dinner and walked around a little more. 

We went back to our place to pack up for the next day for us to part ways :( 

Jess's bus left at 12 and mine left at 3. We had brunch at the place we stayed at. Walked around a little then it was time for Jess to catch the bus. 

It was so sad, saying bye. We have been together 24/7 for 3 months, you learn so much about a person and we got along so well. I really enjoyed traveling with Jess and I know we will have more adventures to come. Oncee she left and I cryied like a baby I walked over to a hotel with a pool and paid 200 baht for a few hours. I meet some really great guys there from london. We talked for a little, it passed the time an kept my mind off being sad from leaving Jess. After I got my last Pad Thai and hopped on the bus to the airport. Bracing myself for my extremly long flight home! 

Full Moon Party

Jess and I relaxed most of the day. We knew we had a big night a head of us. We walked around for a bit it get food and snacks but for the most part we just hung out in the room. 

Later that night we decided to start getting ready at painted our bodies with the glow in the dark paint. Which was so fun! 

Once ready we took a Taxi/ tuk tuk to the party. It was about a 15-20 minute ride to the beach. Once we got there everyone was dressed up. People every where and vendors on the side selling stuff even stands for them to paint people with glow in the dark paint. Once you entered they give you a bracelet. Upon entering it didn't take us long to get a bucket of alcohol. That is what people drink at the full moon party. You can choose what you what in the bucket. 

After we walked to the beach and partied. We got there around 10pm and stayed till 2. However the party goes from sun down on the 6th to 7 am on the 7th. We checked out early i suppose. I was a little unimpressed with the party its self there are just tons of people on the beach parting and different bars playing loud music. It reminded me of Phi Phi just bigger. The only thing different was besides fire dancers they had a huge rope for people to jump over the only thing is that it is on fire haha. Tons of drunk people were trying it out. Some succeeding and some failing, getting burned... I also got my cards read at some point in the night with i regretted instantly. All i remember was pulling out terrible cards like death and satin... not cool. However through her broken english and my drunkeness i remember her telling me 2 people loved me and i had to choose between them. She said I would get married to someone from another country and move there and have 3 kids. Those are the main things i remember. 

On the tuk tuk ride home I got sick, to much alcohol mixed with car sickness not a fun thing. My night was very rough to say the least. Jess and I couldn't get out of bed until 3 pm the next day! Once I ate I started to feel better, however Jess just got sicker. It was so weird. The two of us where so sick all day. Thank god we didn't have to leave until the following day. On the boat ride home someone mentioned it is also possible we could of been so sick because of the ice they put in the buckets. 

The next morning we got our stuff ready and walked to the ferry. The Ferry ride back was full of who had obviously been to the full moon party. Every one was sleeping not really talking. It was acturally very peaceful and puff the magic dragon was on repeat on the speakers through out the boat haha. Once off the boat we headed to the airport to hop on a flight to Chiang Mai.