Pai

     Our last day in Chiang Mai Jess and I did a cooking course and it was great fun! We learned how to make different kinds of curries, soups, appetizers and desserts!

my spring rolls!

my coconut soup

massaman curry, coconut soup and mango and coconut sticky rice

temple in Chiang Mai

     I'm am currently sitting on a mat on the little front porch of my bamboo hut just outside of Pai Thailand. Nearly every person who passes by on the road stops to take a photo, it couldn't be more picturesque! With little stones paths up to each hut and vibrant red and orange flowers lining the way. We've been here for two nights now.
     We arrived a couple days ago on a bus from Chiang Mai with an expanded group of 7 people. There isn't too much to do in town but they brag about their many tours involving caving, tubing, and many other random excursions. I personally like to find things on my own and not be involved with so many tours but if you aren't like me, there are loads of cheap options! We've rented motorbikes upon arrival and I love them! I did crash once, into a bush actually and have some nice scratches on my face but they'll soon disapear. Gem crashed almost immediately and she no longer rides them as she got hurt a bit worse and had to see a doctor but she too will heal in due time. Pai Bamboo Huts, where we are staying is a little ways out of the city and so wonderfully peaceful but the motorbikes are a must for getting around. The first evening here I taught a yoga practice and then we spent the evening playing cards.
     One perk of our location is our proximity to the hot springs. We decided to check them out on the first morning. They brag of their healing powers and you can feel your body relax in whatever your chosen temperature is. As the pools climb up higher, they get warmer and the top is a whopping 80 degrees Celsius but that's not for going in! It also has broken  egg shells because people attempt to boil eggs in there. The water begins there, and flows down into a few different pools from about 35-38 degrees Celsius. Later on a few of us went with the motorbikes to a waterfall we had heard about. The water was as different in temperature as is possible from the hot springs! It was nearly freezing! But we were able to climb up the side and jump in so it was quite fun. Ate dinner from little vendors in the center of Pai, I had a massive baked sweet potato that had everything imaginable on it! (thats veggie of course) Avocado, corn, peas, carrots, a little cheese.. mmmmmmmm :))

     Today, after an early run, meditation, much needed clothes washing, and some reading, the other girls finally woke up and were asking for yoga! I'm so proud ;') so we did some yoga and went to Pai for some brunch. Back at the huts I was on the hunt for something fun to do, so I searched and found the Pai canyon. Turns out it's incredibly close to where we are! Hunter and I took the bikes and had ourselves an adventure climbing around this massive canyon.

    

The end of week one in Thailand

View Point in Khao Yai Park

     After leaving Bangkok we took a bus to a little town called Pak Chong which was mostly just an in between stop, there isn't much there! They do have a nice little market where we tried some local delicacies, like fried bugs. Which were surprisingly not as bad as we thought they were going to be! It's a must when traveling in Asia. From Pak Chong you can easily get to a national park called Khao Yai that is so green and gorgeous! It's massive and if you're lucky you might get to see some animals.

Monkey who stole some berries

      Apparently they have a large range of creatures including elephants and tigers lurking around but only monkeys graced us with their presence while we were there. We did one of the treks that requires a guide, it lasted 3 hours and wasn't too expensive and he was able to point things out to us like some gibbons hiding in the tree tops and cinnamon trees! The nature was beautiful with its crooked growing trees and flowing waterfalls. On the drive into the park (we hitchhiked in), the people we rode with stopped at a look out spot that was full of monkeys and they were so freakin adorable! Some were quite naughty and were stealing anything and everything left out in the bed of the parked pick up trucks.

Hiding gibbon!

Looking for gibbons with our guide?

     We spent the next day in Korat, just needing to kill time before taking a 12 hour night bus, we asked someone what we should do and she told us to go to The Mall. I have never in my life seen a mall that big! It practically had its own amusement park and even a waterfall and we easily killed the next number of hours. The night bus to Chiang Mai was not nearly as bad as I was expecting, I was able to sleep nearly the entire time and when I wasn't sleeping, I read the book that I picked up from a little used book shop in Bangkok.
      Chiang Mai is a nice but touristy town in Northern Thailand. It has great markets and night bazaars, but sadly when you live out of a backpack, all those stalls full of clothes and jewelry and hand made crafts are really just more of a tease, but it can be fun to look. The center of Chiang Mai is surrounded on all four sides by a canal and makes it quite easy to figure out where you are and where you need to be. Inside of this aqua box is something for everyone, there are lots of bars and chill out areas as well as dozens of temples full of iconic statues of gold and many people in prayer. One temple had lots of trees on its grounds and each tree had its own plaque with a quote written on it and since I love quotes, I loved going from tree to tree and soaking in their words of wisdom.

     The perimeter of the old city is quite nice for walking. Even though the water isn't the clearest, there are trees lining both sides (some of the trees are large and very easily climbable) and plenty of benches for people and pigeon (and even rat) watching. Sometimes you can see fish jump too!



     Yesterday Gem and Hunter and I went to the local "Grand Canyon", not many people know about it so it was hard to get a ride there but once we arrived the time of confusion completely disintegrated and blew away into the vast openness in front of us. It is totally gorgeous! These giant cliffs curving along like snakes to create different shapes and the bottom full of beautiful clear water. A perfect spot for some cliff jumping! Gem was a pretty scared so I did the small one with her first and we counted 3,2,1! And I jumped. But she didn't. Had to coax her in from the water! But finally she did jump and she even did it once more after that. It's interesting how frightened your mind can get looking down and the longer you stand there without jumping, the harder it becomes to actually jump. The highest jump there was around 30 or so feet ( Hunter says) and there was one other group of people there so all the guys jumped off it but the girls were afraid. So I walked up to it, saw how big it was, and jumped! Ah what a feeling to just jump and feel weightless as you drop to the water. If you've never cliff jumped I recommend it if you like thrills and adrenaline like I do. We stayed awhile and spent some time soaking up those luscious rays of sun. When we were ready to leave we walked back up to the main highway and hitchhiked our way back to Chiang Mai.
     And so far that's all! Well I'm sure I'm forgetting loads, but those are the highlights thus far. Peace and love to all.

Wat Bang Phra

      It just goes to show that the expectations we have are usually far from the way things turn out, that’s what happened at Wat Bang Phra. We planned to go early in the morning to this temple and be first in line for a tattoo from a monk and be gone within a few hours. Total time spent? Around seventeen hours! After we arrived we were told that tattoos wouldn’t begin until 2pm, as we were too far from Bangkok we decided just to stick around and go for a walk. Awhile later at the temple, a monk invited us into his home and gave us with multitudes of fruit and other little snacks and kept telling us to eat (one of the few English words he spoke). So we did! And all fell into a nice sleep afterwards. 

                Finally 2 o'clock rolls around and we remove our shoes and climb the steps to the outside of the temple building where the tattoos are to take place. The first handful of people (who arrived after us) went before us by the monks wishes, they got oil instead of ink tattoos and we had to hold their skin tight as the long two pronged needle went up and down slowly and precisely in the monks fingers. Finally they leave and it’s after 4pm but it’s now my turn!

Before it began, we decided on the sak yant for me, I got the eight directional tattoo that is a compass and provides protection in all directions I may travel in my life. It took over an hour and it was painful but very easily bearable and even felt good on some bits. When he finished, he began the blessing. After a minute or two, I became overwhelmed with an immense feeling of peace and I felt a strong energy and immediately began balling my eyes out. It was incredible.

                After mine was finished, our monk friend took a break for nearly an hour while we just waited around. I taught a little yoga practice with the girls in the meantime.

 Anna and Gemma got small ones next and by then it was dark so he wanted to move inside, which prompted another hour long break in which we sat around bored and wanting to leave! Eventually he did Jess’s tattoo and finished with Hunter’s. By then it was after midnight and we thought he would never let us leave! But one of the boys who works there gave us a ride back into Bangkok. We laid out in the bed of his pickup truck and stared at the stars to avoid the wind. It was a glorious ride! On the walk back to the hotel we picked up some pad thai and reached our hotel just before 2am! Such a long and interesting day it was.

For more info on the temple, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Bang_Phra 

finished!

Bangkok day 1

We have arrived in southeast Asia! Our home for the next number of months :) well the weather is much warmer than England that's for sure. We enjoyed our last few days in London seeing the sights and meeting new people. 

      We were unaware of the intense political situation of unrest happening right now in Bangkok. There are many protests and attacks have been taking lives such as people being gunned down by snipers as well as bombs going off. We only plan to stay another couple days and then we'll be headed north!

      There's four of us now and the fifth will join us later tonight. It's wonderful how cheap it is to eat and stay! We even splurged and got incredible one hour Thai massages which left us feeling as light as air. We ate pat Thai and drank some tasty fruit milkshakes. Hunter bought a cooked scorpion and we all tried a little bit. And by little bit I mean a small but of a crispy leg and luckily all it tasted like was an overcooked chip. It is a little confusing to convert as one U.S dollar is about 30 Thai baht or one UK pound is around 50 Thai baht. So we've been doing plenty of multiplying! Guess all those years of math came in handy. ;)

     The streets near Khao San Road are full of like minded backpackers shopping for hareems (cool popular Thai pants, I bought some!) and other clothes as well as cheap food. We're all so excited for this journey and plan to start it off properly by getting tattoos at Wat Bang Phra in the morning as a group. Pictures to come! Love and peace to all :)

P.S- the first Thai words Ive learned. Help= choo-ay doo-ay. Hello= sah-wat-dee. Thank you= korp kun.

Luzern, Switzerland

out the window :)

Almost 7 hours on trains before we made it to Luzern, luckily outside the windows were giant snowy white mountains and hillsides speckled with grand looming trees and small cozy homes that made the time pass somewhat quickly. By this point we’ve also become quite the card players! Whether it be Uno, rummy, poker, black jack, Indian one card no peaky( a definite favorite), or Egyptian rat slap, we can play cards for hours. 

Of course the first thing the boys wanted to do was buy Swiss army knives, and they did, but even before that could happen, we were in shock of the massive Appalachian mountain range surrounding the city. It did make the town seem quite cold but the views were magical! Especially as the sun was setting behind them, we walked to the river and the light was casting hues of yellows and oranges and blues across the sky and reflecting on the river. Perfect photo op! 

 

We took an evening boat cruise that lasted about an hour and a half but came free with our train passes. Sadly it was quite dark and not much was to be seen once it got completely black outside. But just for a while at dusk, when the sky was a royal blue and the mountains shown as a dark silhouette in front of them, it made it worth sitting out on the deck in the icy cold.

We ate dinner late, my parents being the bargain hunters they are, dragged us around to find the cheapest meal and finally settled on a pizzeria near the water. Prices in Luzern are a bit higher than in other areas, but that shouldn't deter anyone from this sweet little spot.

               

      The views of the Alps from Luzern make this little city one worth checking out. And don’t forget to pick up some Swiss chocolate! Sadly, we left abruptly in the morning without anymore time to explore.

A Gorgeous Christmas day in Fussen

     This could possibly be my favorite day, and not just because it was Christmas! Upon arrival in the little town of Fussen we could easily see the Alps surrounding us in the distance and the weather was clear and fantastic. After check in, we walked from town to two castles that are near each other up on a massive hill. There is a base area near the bottom that runs buses to and from town which can easily be taken but the walk is quite nice through a woodsy area if you’ve got the time and energy (and boy do we have the energy!)

Playing in the leaves!

     There are a few tourist shops and then you can choose to go either left or right; depending on which castle you want to see first. The yellowish castle to the right, named Hohenschwangau, has a much shorter walk with steep steps up to the top which offers some great views of the little lake and the other castle called Neuschwanstein.

      After walking back down from the first, we started up the longer pathway to the second castle. There are horse drawn carriages that transport passengers up to the top if they wish. The castle almost looked to be in two parts, the front red, and the rest gray. Both castles can be toured inside for a fee, we did decided to marvel at the outside without entering.

Near the side of this second castle, there is a gate of sorts, cross it. Go around the gate, I promise it’s worth it and you won’t be the only one doing it! Just follow the signs for the bridge. Before you even make it there, you come to an incredible view point; in which you can see the sun glistening on the tops of the snowy Alps in the distance, the blue shimmering lake, the strong yellow stone castle, and the vast countryside in a beautiful array of greens. This is a spot I will always remember! Not much farther up the path we reached the bridge. It just feels like you could stay there forever, being fulfilled solely by the magical views of the castle and the cliff it’s perched on in the distance surrounded by lush farm land. The air is clear and pure and there is water running behind you on the backside of the bridge that gurgles and flows far underneath your feet. My senses don’t enjoy much more pleasure than when in a spot such as that.

We ate dinner in a little restaurant in town called Gasthof Krone, one of the only places that was open. The walls were painted with horses and knights, and daggers and chainmail hung from the walls. Our servers were in costume and we each had to wear a bib when eating our roasted pork and such. We also ordered wine that we drank from a horn. It really took you back in time and the desserts were tasty as well!

Whif (when/if) I return to Germany, Fussen is one stop I will not miss, with a view like this!