Maui, Hawaii

As soon as my mom found out my Dad was invited as the representative for his office to the 9^th circuit judges’ conference held in Maui, she said, “I’m going!” And as soon as she told me she was going I said, “ME TOO!” They left me out last time. Okay I was still in the womb last time. But they also left me out when they went to Italy a couple years ago. Okay it was their 30^th anniversary. But this time I said I AM COMING AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME.

In the end, my dad didn’t even attend the conference, which actually worked out better for us since we had more flexibility in choosing our activities and how much time we spent on which islands.

I was (somehow) able to get 10 days off work from my internship, and my dad, mom and I headed out early Thursday Aug 9. We connected in Phoenix, which if you have ever had a layover in that airport you know what I mean when I say WTF?? 

We landed early afternoon in Maui to beautiful weather. We antsily picked up our rental car and headed off towards Lahaina on the west side of the island. Of course our first stop was at the liquor store so we could properly stock up. We continued our scenic route along the west coast to our hotel, which was located right on the shore. As you walked through the lobby you were greeted with a warm breeze (although no lei) and a spectacular view of the ocean. It looked so much like a postcard that when I sent it to some friends they didn’t believe it until I sent a pic of me in the shot. Various flora and fauna littered the hotel, including a parrot, cute little penguins (I felt bad for them cooped up in a tiny unnatural environment, though), swans, etc.

We took a quick dip in the pool before getting ready for dinner. We headed down to the sushi place (Japango) located in the resort. We were all feeling quite tired since it was a 6 hour time difference and we had been traveling all day. None of us could keep from yawning or constantly talking about how tired we were while waiting for the food to arrive. The sushi was amaaaaazing. Some of the best I’ve ever had. It was so fresh and just flat out delicious. So good in fact that we went back the next night!

Friday we sunned and swam in the ocean until my mom and I had a surfing lesson around 2. We had both surfed before, most recently (and my first time) in Costa Rica a few years back, but I was still nervous since I hadn’t done it in a while. I stood up my first time, though! I forgot how tiring surfing is. Paddling to catch the wave is really hard when you don’t have someone helping you, but paddling back is just as tiring since you’re fighting the waves. Our surfing instructor was really impressed that my mom was still surfing at her age. She did much better than in Costa Rica—actually stood up a few times! Go Diane! My dad captured many photos from the shore, some of which are below:

We both made the rookie mistake of completely forgetting to lather up the backs of our legs with sunscreen and both came away with lobster-red legs. Thank god for aloe vera.

Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel and ran into my parents’ longtime friend Carolyn who was there attending the conference with her friend Keith. They had just flown in that day and were a bit tired and we knew we’d see them the next day so we say goodnight pretty early. And like I said, my mom and I then headed back to Japango for more sushi (I’m getting hungry now writing about it).

Saturday we got up relatively early to go on a snorkeling excursion for the day. When our boat was zipping along on the way out to our snorkel spots, two dolphins started jumping in and out of the water along with us. They are extremely playful and apparently really like to ride along the bows of boats or in the wake of boats. We headed out to Molokini Bay and a couple other cool spots, including one place named Turtle Bay or Turtle Palace – you get the idea. And I saw two turtles! I forgot just how big they are. They are so awesome to watch gliding through the water. The boat staff told us it was okay to swim near them, but to not get too close or to chase them. But of course there was the one d-bag who did just that (always). But besides the turtles there were a lot of really cool differently colored fish to watch and swim along with.

We got back mid afternoon and rested for a bit and then I went on my long run for my training before we met back up with Carolyn & Keith for dinner. We drove about 10 minutes down to Lahaina, where we ate at a place called Pacific O’s on the oceanfront. I don’t remember what I had but it was some sort of seafood that was nom nom nom delicious.

Sunday my dad and I got up shortly before 3 am to go watch the sunrise at Mount Haleakala. My dad mentioned how they did this the last time (sans my mom) they were in Hawaii and it being amazing. We headed off (sans my mom again this time around) and drove about 2/2.5 hours across the island and up windy, curvy roads to the top. There were a lot more people than I expected to be there for the sunrise. It was awesome. Of course the crapiness of light sensitivity on my iPhone didn’t capture just how awesome it was but here are some pics:

Afterward, my dad and I drove back down the mountain to meet my mom, Carolyn & Keith at a bike shop where we were brought back UP the mountain to the same viewing point earlier. Our driver was really annoying and wouldn’t stop using the phrases “I can’t stress enough…” and “If there is one thing you take away from what I say today…” except there were about 10 endings to that phrase so how were we supposed to know what to take away? I also fell asleep briefly because, hello I was up at 3 am and his voice was extremely monotonous and boring, and he yelled at me and told me I wouldn’t be allowed on a bike if I wasn’t listening.  Pfft.

Finally we escaped the confines of his boringness and headed off down the mountain. I thought this would be a perfect crosstraining for my half marathon, but silly me forgot that the entire ride was downhill, with the only muscle work required coming from my hands riding the brakes the entire way down. The scenery was beautiful though, with constant breathtaking views of the ocean. We stopped at lunch halfway down and my mom and I split a pizza that we both agree is probably the best we’ve ever had – arugula & prosciutto with basil = YUM. Although our ride started off a bit drizzly and misty, we continued the rest of our 10,000 or so descent with clear, sunny skies.

That night we were invited to a pre-conference pizza party at one of the judge’s suites. There was plenty of pizza, beer and sangria to go around, although I could barely keep my eyes open at that point (grandma alert) since I had been up since 3 am. One of the judges assumed I wasn’t drinking because I was underage: “How old are you 16? It’s okay have a beer I won’t tell anyone!” I know older folk say it’s a compliment when others think you look younger, but I’ll believe that when I’m 30, not when I’m 23 and it’s the third time in two weeks that various people thought I was still in high school.

Monday we snorkeled a bit at the end of the beach at a place called Black Rock before we had to head back to the hotel to pack up. There were some kids jumping off a rock that was probably 15 or 20 feet up in the air. I was a bit anxious since the last time I cliff jumped I ruptured an ear drum, but climbed up anyway. You always forget how much higher the cliff actually is once you’re up there ready to jump off. I hesitated for about a minute or so while others anxiously awaited. I had to say to myself something a little French kid said to a friend from study abroad when we cliff jumped there (although there was a lot higher! Hence the ruptured ear drum): “Ne réfléchis pas,” which means don’t think about it! Basically, just go already! Little kids are always so impatient.

Before heading out we had lunch at a great fish n' chips place in Lahaina that literally stuck out right over the water. Although, I’m sure my mom would have preferred eating at Mick Fleetwood’s restaurant that he recently opened up right down the street. Even she admitted it probably wasn’t very good, though.

A warning: don’t ever fly Go! Airlines. We were taking a simple island-hopper over to Kauai to spend about 6 days there. Go! seemed great since it was super cheap. Big mistake. Despite about a 30 minute delay boarding the plane, we thought everything was fine as we started gaining speed on the runway to take off. All of a sudden, the plane slowed down and we taxied back towards the gate. The pilots came over the loudspeaker telling us the dashboard was indicating a mechanical failure, so they were calling in a mechanic to come check it out and would let us know if we had to deboard the plane, which 20 minutes later we ended up doing.

Long story short, we waited about 4 hours for the mechanic to come (which we later heard he never even came) and decided to ditch Go! and rebooked on Hawaiian Airlines. Good thing, too since we checked the travel status the next day and it was the plane never left. Go! was also just completely unprofessional – the crew gave very sporadic updates and 90% of the time there wasn’t even someone at the gate to answer question about what was going on. With Hawaiian, we had to connect through Honolulu, but arrived around 10 pm and picked up our rental car and drove north to Princeville where our rental condo was.

Making a second post since this is kind of long!

Thailand Part 2

I'm going to be brief about this because it's been about 4 months in between posts and I already typed up about half of this post and blogger deleted it >:(

So to pick up where I left off, I headed off on my tour the next morning. The first stop was outside of Chiang Rai to see the White Temple. The whole experience was very fairy-like and fantastical. Unlike other Thai wats, which are typically made out of and completely decorated in gold, this wat was all white. It was designed by a Thai visual artist and features contemporary paintings of Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow and other "evils" on the back wall depicting hell (possession, want, selfishness, etc). Paintings along the side wall show people making their way from hell to nirvana (& Buddha) on what looks like flying carpets à la Aladdin.


After the White Temple, we headed further north to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos meet. We took a boat tour along the river and saw the island where opium trades used to take place. We stopped off for about half an hour in Laos, which was cool and saddening at the same time since there were crowds of impoverished children begging visitors for 10 or 20 cents. The market was interesting featuring items from designer knock offs to snake whiskey. 

We drove a bit further north to the Burma/Thai border and stopped to take pictures at the Northern Most point in Thailand.

On the way back we stopped off to see a couple tribe villages, including the Yao, Akah & Karen long neck tribes. Each tribe had a different section within the village and sold various items, including some they made themselves. I bought a little gold bracelet from a very cute little girl for like $4 so I could take a picture of her (it was implied that if you wanted a picture you had to buy something).

The next day I had my cooking class, which ended up being a private class since I was the only person who had signed up for that day. The chef took me to the market where he showed me all of the fresh ingredients that were going into the dishes. I also saw how fresh coconut was made into coconut creme and milk and also tried Thai iced tea (which is amazing). We went back to the school and made hot & sour soup, fish bites with sauce, paid thai and green chicken curry. It was very good if I do say so myself, although I know for a fact that I would not be able to replicate it. The best part was being able to eat the meal right after I cooked it and the chef bagging up the portions he cooked for me to eat later!

That evening Emma and I boarded our overnight bus to Bangkok. I was expecting a similar experience to the one Emma had described that she took a couple months prior: personal TV screens, bus attendants offering refreshments and seats that reclined with ample leg room space. What we encountered was quite opposite: no TV screens, no attendants, no beverages and cramped space instead of reclining seats or leg room. But it got us to Bangkok, so I can't complain.

We arrived around 6 am in the morning and managed to almost miss our 215 pm flight down to the islands. We sat in a cafe for a couple hours getting breakfast, using the wifi and reading. A bit later we headed over to the mall to get lunch and try a Thai fish massage. We paid the woman about $5 each and sat down on benches in front of aquariums holding hundreds of tiny fish. Once you stuck your legs in, dozens of fish immediately swam to your legs and feet and started sucking away.

It was the weirdest feeling and I can't say whether it was enjoyable or stressful. I had to keep taking my legs out of the water every minute or two because looking down and seeing about 50 fish eating at my extremities freaked me out. 

At this point it was about 1230 pm and we didn't save nearly enough time to consider how long it would take to transfer trains and make it out to the airport. We got in line to check in at about 2 pm. We frantically ran around the airport to try to make our gate, not stopping to look at signs which led us in the wrong direction a couple times. When our watches hit 215 pm Emma stopped sprinting, defeated. I yelled at her as I passed just to keep going in the hopes that our flight had not yet taken off. Luckily, as we raced up to the gate we found that the passengers were still at the ticket counter to board. Our adrenaline wound down quite anticlimactically as we waited, panting, on the bus a good 20 minutes to head over to the plane.

Anyway, we made it fine and then still had to take a bus from Surat Thani to the cost and then a ferry out to Ko Phangan. Once there, we had to take a taxi to the north where we decided we wanted to stay. By the time we arrived, we were pretty irritable and hadn't slept in almost 48 hours. The great thing about traveling off season in Thailand is that we didn't have to make any reservations and were playing it by ear. We were walking along the path out towards the beach where the map said several bungalows were located and ran into another traveler who recommended the bungalows he stayed in. It was 10 pm and pitch black out and we had absolutely no idea what was around us, but we woke up the next morning to find that our bungalow was literally right on the beach with a breathtaking view of clear, blue waters with typical colorful Thai boats in a sleepy beach town.

Oh yeah, there were dogs EVERYWHERE in Thailand, especially in the islands. They didn't seem to have specific owners; they would just run around the beach in doggy heaven and when they were hungry, they'd go to various shop owners who seemed to feed them on the reg.

Ko Phangan is the island where the full moon parties take place, which I hear are wild. A couple of people I met along the way had either been to them or were on their way and said that they definitely recommended going (although the guide book made it seem like complete hell). However, we weren't there during the full moon and decided to stay in the north since one of Emma's friends had been to that area before and loved it. 

It was really relaxing since not very many people were around and we just enjoyed laying on the beach and grabbing lunch from one of the local restaurants. We stayed there for two nights and took another ferry the third day to Ko Tao. Since we had decided to stay in the remote north side of the first island, we decided to stay in the more bumpin' area of Sairee beach on Ko Tao.

Again, we had no reservations but had no trouble finding a bungalow, just 100 yards off the beach. In both areas, we only paid about $15 a night to stay in bungalows right on the beach. That was one of the best things about Thailand, how cheap it was. One day we took a snorkeling trip around the entire island, other days we just laid on the beach and went to get a facial wrap (since we were too sunburned for an actual massage). Ko Tao had really good restaurants and afterwards at night we ventured onto the beach to check out the beach bars.

I was quite sad to leave Ko Tao since it was my favorite out of the two islands and we met a lot of interesting people. However, we headed out on a night boat to make our way back to Bangkok. I was nervous at first about being in Bangkok by myself for a night since Emma had to get back to Chiang Mai for work. But the hostel and so many people in it who were all in the same boat it ended up being fine. I met a girl from Germany and another American from California who I had dinner with that night. We picked up some crickets on the main road in the tourist area (Kho San road, where all the backpackers stay) to try. They weren't as bad as I thought and were pretty crunchy quite like potato chips. I ended up eating about 5 (they were tiny) and we gave the rest to someone else in the hostel. I ventured out to one of the bars with other kids from the hostel (one Canadian girl who spoke French and some brits) and ended up meeting people from various European countries: Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, etc.

The next day I spent most of the day walking around the city with two kids from Holland that I met the night before. We took a boat down the river and got to see the city by boat, but then it started downpouring which wasn't a whole lot of fun. I didn't get to as many wats that I would have liked in Bangkok, but I saw plenty of them in Chiang Mai and I figure its an excuse to go back!

That night I had to catch a bus out to the airport to get my flight back to the U.S. I was sad to leave since I had such an amazing experience there and met some cool people. I definitely intend on going back someday and also traveling to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

In Thailand!

Although (unfortunately) only in Thailand for two weeks, I decided I wanted to document my travels via blog. I used this blog while abroad in France in 2010 and will be using it again when I return in the fall.



I can't get my camera to connect to the computer so there won' be any photos :/


Anyway, my friend Emma moved to Chiang Mai back in January. As soon as she told me she was moving to Thailand I said, "I'M VISITING!!!" She works for an organization called Women's League Burma that helps Burmese women refugees acclimate to life in Thailand.


I graduated from Virginia Tech on May 11, left Blacksburg on the 13th and hopped on a plane two days later to come here!


I flew Korean Air from DC to Seoul, then Seoul to Chiang Mai. When I checked in at Dulles, the woman at the counter asked if I had a visa and I immediately thought, "sh#t! Emma never said anything about needing a visa!" I said I was only visiting for two weeks and she told me I needed a visa to go to China. I was in such a rush/weird state of mind getting to the airport and trying to get past security with plenty of time that I wasn't thinking clearly... finally after about 5 minutes of arguing over the visa I realized: wait, I'm not even stopping over in China, I'm stopping over in Korea! The woman thought that CNX (which is Chiang Mai's airport code) was in China. You'd think she'd know the airport codes a little better!


The flight was long: about 14 hours. I'd never been on a flight nearly as long before, but barely slept because I was too excited about getting here. I watched movies practically the whole time. Side note:  One for the Money is not a good movie. I had about a 3 hour layover in Seoul and then hopped on my plane to come to Chiang Mai. Emma met me at the airport when my flight got in-- around 11 PM. We hopped on her motorbike with my suitcase (not the easiest feat) and headed to her apartment. 


Practically everyone in Chiang Mai rides a motorbike. I'd say they're almost more popular than cars. They're fun to ride and pretty cheap; Emma said she pays about $3 to fill up every two weeks-- such a good deal compared to what we pay for gas back home!


I crashed pretty much right away after getting in that night since I had been traveling for a full 24 hours. The next day Emma took me around the city a bit-- the city is pretty cool and divided pretty much by the walls of the old city that form a square in the middle. Emma lives on the west side of the old city off a road called Nimmanhaemin, which is a pretty trendy part of the city.


We ate lunch at her favorite traditional Thai restaurant. Then we headed over to "Honey Plaza" (so named by two of her guy friends because there's always a lot of "honies" aka cute chicks there). Emma's favorite Thai massage place is at Honey Plaza where you can get a full hour for 150 baht, which is about $5. It was amaazing, especially after traveling for 24 hours the day before. That night she had a potluck at her house for her ultimate frisbee team; they were headed off to Malaysia the next day to play in their first tournament. It was cool because I got to meet a lot of her friends, some thai and others from different parts of the world. 


Friday morning while Emma headed off to Malaysia for the weekend, I went off to the Elephant Nature Park not too far from the city. I was being picked up on Nimmanhaemin Road, but I wasn't exactly sure who to look for. A red sung tao (a cheap shared taxi service where you ride in the back of a pick up truck with benches with a roof covering) pulled up very purposefully in front of me. The guy didn't speak any English so he responded with a blank look when I asked if he worked for the nature park. Unsure of what to do (and against my better judgment), I climbed in after showing him the address for the office. Finally I was able to reach the office from Emma's phone (she left it with my while she was gone) and asked the woman if I was supposed to be in a sung tao: the answer was no. She had to get on the phone with the driver and tell him to turn around to drop me off. When he finally did, he tried to charge me 100 baht for the ride; sung tao's are typically 20 baht to go anywhere in the city, so of course I was like HELL no! He then lowered it it to 50 telling me that it was my fault he had to turn around. Finally I gave him 40 baht and just hopped out of the car... I only paid about $1 for the whole fiasco but I was still flustered!


Once on the cool-air conditioned bus to the park, I met a couple other travelers: one couple from the U.S. in their late 20s on their honeymoon, two girls about my age from the UK and a married couple in their 30s also from the U.S. Everyone was really nice, so I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be about doing the touristy things on my own. We got to play, feed and bathe the elephants which was a lot of fun! They don't let you ride the elephants there because a lot of the elephants had previously been mistreated in jobs where they did rides for tourists. They show a documentary which is really quite heartbreaking about how elephants that are used for tourist purposes (aka elephant riding) are basically beaten into submission. They're kept in a cage for 3 days up to a week where they have absolutely no room to move around and are provoked and prodded with bamboo sticks that have nails on the end of them. By the time they get out of the cage they are wounded/bloody, starved, parched and submissive. Once at elephants camps they aren't even treated well: constantly carrying tourists around, are underfed and beaten. By the end of the film I wanted to cry. But the good news is that the Elephant Nature Park rescues these elephants and provides them with a good home and plenty of food. They never have to carry tourists around again! 


A quick fun fact: elephants eat about 3 tons of food every.single.day. That's a whole lot of food = costly for the park to keep up, which is why they are more expensive to visit (about $80). But that also meant a lot of opportunities for us to feed them! We fed them baskets of fresh fruit. It was really quite interesting experiencing the elephants grab the fruit from your hands with their trunks. It's pretty funny to watch them eat. I have a soft spot in my heart for elephants now, especially the asian elephants! We headed back around 4 p.m. after a full day of elephant fun. Once back in the city, I was trying to figure out my plans for dinner. Luckily, one of Emma's friends (Hannah) texted her about grabbing dinner at a place just down the road. I responded saying I had Emma's phone while she was in Malaysia, so Hannah invited me to come along anyway! We ate at a traditional Northern Thai restaurant that had amazing food. There were 5 of us total: 3 that lived/worked in Chiang Mai (from the U.S. and Australia) and another American girl that was visiting Hannah but had been teaching English in Vietnam for a while. It's funny because you never realize just how many expats there are that live abroad teaching English or working in different countries for various reasons. It's making me re-think my life plans..... :)


After dinner we headed to a bar a couple streets over (on motorbikes, of course!) to listen to their friends' bands play. There was not a single Thai person in the bar-- it was all expats. It was a really cool atmosphere and everyone was laid back (which is basically how all of Thailand is). We got SangSom, which is kind of the national drink of Thailand-- it's whiskey that they give you club soda and a bucket of ice to drink with. Not bad, but not my preference.


The next morning I had to get up pretty early to get ready for my trek. I had signed up for a trek in Doi Inthanon National Park. However, when the guy picked me up he told me my trek was canceled but that they were putting me on one that was going to the North. I was totally fine with that! My tour guide said he prefers that area anyway. His name was Ping Pong and he was totally crazy. He had all these funny sayings like "same same, but different" (which is actually a very common phrase in Thailand), "oh my buddha!" "why you pay to walk on your holiday!? On my holiday I sleep!" and "FREE BEER... you pay tomorrow!"

Longneck woman

There were 10 of us total on the trek and all under 30 years old. It was a pretty diverse group: 3 Americans (including myself), 1 Brit, 2 Poles, 2 Dutch and 2 Koreans. Everyone was really friendly and laid back, eager to swap traveling stories. On our way out we stopped at the tourist police to receive instructions from a little French man who did not speak English, so my French surprisingly came in handy in Thailand! I translated to the group what he said about passports and scorpions, which we all felt quite worried about. He told us to put our shoes in a plastic bag at night so they couldn't crawl in (more on this later). We first drove to a butterfly garden/orchid farm, then to a longneck village (I didn't pay the pricey 500 baht to see them, although I am going on a tour tomorrow that will stop by another longneck village so I'll see them then) and finally started our trek after lunch.


We hiked for a couple hours, all the way Ping Pong asking me if I was alright since I was breathing hard because I forgot my inhaler. Along the way he kept calling the Dutch girls "long legs" because they were so tall and complained/joked about how they could walk 1 big step for his 2 tiny steps. I think we stopped almost every 10-15 minutes so Ping Pong could either smoke a cigarette or eat a snack, or both! He was not shy about the fact that he was a bit chubby even though he does treks almost daily...but seeing how much he ate I could see why he was still overweight! He was funny about it though and kept making self-deprecating jokes. After some steep climbs through the legit Thai jungle, we made it to the top of the mountain where we stayed with a hill tribe in their village. We had showers and were immediately bombarded by the women asking if we wanted massages. For 150 baht ($5) how could I say no? It was quite nice after the climb. Dinner was very good and we stayed up chatting for a while (minus the Koreans since they didn't speak much English) talking more about our travel experiences and differences among cultures/etc, just basically swapping stories and having a good time!


We all headed to bed and cocooned ourselves in our mosquito net beds. After about an hour or so, in a weird state of semi-consciousness I half dreamed/imagined that Ping Pong had caught a scorpion and put it next to my head. I (in reality) screamed and jumped out of my bed. And then fell right back asleep. The next morning everyone was asking who and why screamed last night....whoops! After breakfast we set off back down the mountain through the jungle to a waterfall where we swam for about 30 minutes- it was quite refreshing not only from the trek but because Thailand is plain HOT. It's been about 100 degrees I would say everyday. There is no escape from the heat. 


After the waterfalls we trekked to an elephant camp and rode elephants (which made me quite sad inside), ate lunch and then headed off to white water raft and bamboo raft the rest of the way. Besides almost falling out of the raft onto some rocks in a rapid, the rafting was quite fun! We loaded back up into the truck and headed back to Chiang Mai. We all made a plan to meet up later that night at the Sunday Walking Street, which is a great street market they have in the old city on Sundays (could you have guessed?) We got some great food and a lot of stuff-- everything is so cheap! Suddenly it started pouring (typical in Thailand, although it only lasts for about 10 minutes), so we dashed into a bar and hung out while sharing some beers. The British guy told us he and a friend are interested in cycling from England (across the chunnel I guess?) to China sometime next year and I absolutely want to join him! Seems like it would be a great once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. 


After bar hopping one or two more times I headed home and woke up to a mild "changover": a local joke about having a hangover after drinking Chang beers the night before. Emma arrived back from Malaysia unscathed and quite tired. Her team did very well though! They didn't win the tourney but moved up from 17th seed to 8th. She took me to a good breakfast place called Smoothie Blues that serves western fare, therefore meaning there are rarely any Thai people eating there, but it was really good! Afterwards headed into the old city for me to book my tour for tomorrow up to the North-- I'll be seeing Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle, pretty excited! Then I did a mini walking tour of some temples in the old city (there are hundreds in Chiang Mai). They were really fascinating with opulent architecture and decorations. You can get blessed by a monk and receive a little hemp bracelet (I got two!). In one of the wats (temples), you could buy a little bowl of coins for 30 baht ($1) to place in a bunch of bowls which was meant to bring good luck in the future. There were statues of buddha everywhere, but each one was unique which was great. I wish I could upload my pictures to share!


After seeing the wats, Emma and I went back to Honey Plaza and shared some spring rolls at a little Vietnamese place. They were amaaaaaaaazzzzziiinnnng. Probably the best spring rolls I've ever had-- we got one plate of fresh and one deep fried, both which came with this really great sweet peanut sauce and different types of herbs you could eat them with. Afterwards I got another massage at the same Thai massage place (c'mon it's only $5!! so cheap!!) which was really nice since I am still sore from the trek. Then around 6 pm we headed to Doi Suthep (on motorbikes!), a mountain on the outskirts of the city with a giant temple on the top. We got there just as the monks were chanting for their evening prayers-- a really cool experience. We got blessed by another monk who was quite funny and whapped my on the head with his little bamboo thingy. 


We headed back down the mountain just in time for dinner at 8 where we were meeting a bunch of people, including my friend Ben from Tech who just happened to be traveling in Chiang Mai with his brother the same time that I am here! We ate with some of Emma's friends at a Mexican restaurant called Salsa Kitchen (Mexican in Thailand you wonder?) They had good food, although not as good as back home, and great margs!


Now I'm about to head to bed to get up early for my tour in the morning. It's about an 11 hour time difference so 12:30 AM means 11:30 AM back home. 


I am really enjoying my time here and am sad that I have to be leaving in a little over a week! Although I am not going to focus on that. I'm very excited to be heading down to the islands in a few days to catch some sun and do some snorkeling. 


Everyone in Thailand is so nice and laidback; there is no judgement and everyone is very accepting. I really like the lifestyle and as I mentioned earlier, it's really making me re-think what I want to do with my life! (Which I still am unsure of but I suppose that's normal.) The Polish girl on my trek said to me "I don't know about you but being in Thailand makes me not care about anything-- my mobile, home, school, etc" and I have to agree. I think it's something in the air but I really feel at peace here (corny!) and really happy. 


I definitely plan on returning at some point and traveling to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam as well. Most of the people I've meet traveling have been there or are going there and were surprised I wasn't staying longer and traveling there too. There's always next time!


I will probably post at the end of my trip after my tour to the north tomorrow, my cooking class on Wednesday, the islands with Emma for a few days and my time in Bangkok! 


Saw Wa Dee Ka (hello and bye in Thai-- like aloha!)

Wrap-up

I don't want to look back on this blog as a fail, so I decided to write one last post to summarize the rest of my stay in Europe. Yes, I realize it is four months later.

(Sorry no pictures-- its late and I have hwk yet to do).

The weekend after I went to Amsterdam, my parents and my brother came to visit! I met them in Paris, again troubled with train strikes on the way there, where we stayed for 3 nights. We did most of the toursity things like go to Saint Chappelle (a bit disappointing since most of it was covered in construction), Notre Dame (where a man with a mask was scaring tourists) and did a Bateau Mouche ride-- the water boat tours.

We also walked along some of the bridges where people have placed many love locks over the years, where a 12 year old kid tried to heckle my brother for money for a ring he found on the ground (don't worry, Kilbourne's know how to take care of themselves).

I was able to meet up with my friend Sophia there the last night, which was fun because she has a friend that lives in Paris and he showed us some of the local spots.

After Paris, we flew down to Sevilla! It was such a change in weather, it was ridiculous. In Paris we had to triple layer to stay marginally warm, whereas in Sevilla we could walk around in shorts and be fine. I really love the Andalusian area of Spain and the architecture influenced by Northern Africa just a stone's throw away.

After Sevilla we traveled on to Granada. It was fun to be there because my friend Jaimie had studied there a couple summers prior! She told us some of the fun places to go, including the Alhambra and the Arabic Baths. You have to be careful in the upper terraces there at night, though because it can get a bit shady.

Finally, we made it to Barça! I got to meet up with my friend Helen and her dad who is good friends with my parents from school (back in the stone age... :) ). We went to an FB Barcelona game = awesome. They beat Sevilla 5-0, a bit sad for me since I just came from there and loved it but FCB is better. It was nice to ride the tourist bus with my parents since I didn't get to do that the first time I went with my friends. Such good views of the city. My brother skateboarded the whole time we where in Barça, but I guess I can't blame him since it is the skateboarding capital of the world.

Helen came back with me to Montpellier and stayed with me that week. My host family was so nice to let her stay with us and she got to meet my housemates and all of our friends. It was cool for her to see where I was studying abroad and nice to spend the time since I hadn't seen her in forever.

That Friday I headed off to London with 6 or 7 friends. Excited that we were all headed off to a country where they spoke English as natives, my friend Jacob dubbed our trip, "the language of us."

I love London, but everything there is so expensive! Friday night we walked in the rain for 45 minutes to find Chipotle. At first I was pissed, but it ended up being worth it. Saturday we did the free walking tour, of which I am a big proponent in each city. We got to see Trafalgar Square, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben and many others including Buckingham Palace (and got to hear the story of the homeless man that broke in and snuck into the Queen's bed). That night we did the company's bar crawl-- there were over 100 of us in that group which was ridiculous and fun at the same time. Unfortunately we had to head out pretty early the next morning to make our flight, so we didn't get a whole lot of time in the city, but I definitely plan on going back.

That week, a couple friends and I headed off to Ireland! We took off Wednesday night and rode a bus down to Barcelona to catch a flight up to Dublin. We had the shakiest landing into Dublin which made me freak and prompted Jacob to make fun of me; I was not amused. Me, Jacob and my friend Ashley spent Thursday exploring Dublin, tasting some of their fine Guinness and celebrating Jacob's birthday (sorry roommates).
The next morning we headed off on a Shamrocker tour of the southern tip of Ireland. I love that country- everything is so luscious and green. We got to see the famous Blarney Stone on the first day-- one of the girls on the tour somehow kissed the wrong stone! We also stopped in Dingle, Galway and got to see the Cliffs of Moher! So amazingly georgeous, I can't even begin to describe it.

The next weekend, I headed off with my housemate Andrea and our friend Miguel to see our other housemate in Switzerland! We met up and stayed in Geneva since it was halfway there for each of us. Somehow, on the way there we got on the wrong train and ended up back in France after passing through Switzerland. But luckily we were able to catch the last train back. We spent most of the day Saturday at Lausanne and got to see spectacular views of Lake Genève. We also got to go to the Olympic Museum! Thankfully our train back didn't leave til evening on Sunday so we were able to spend all day walking around Geneva exploring. We went to the U.N., saw the giant broken chair and the fountain spouting out of the middle of the lake.

That week after was a bit sad because it was Thanksgiving and all my friends from VT were going home on break to see their families. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! But all of us Americanos in Montpellier got together at a friend's house and had a Thanksgiving potluck. It was fun because people brought friends from other countries that they had met and we introduced them to our tradition. Everyone went around the room and said what they were thankful for in both English and in French (there were some protests of this rule). Overall, it was a good replacement for not having the real thing.

The next day, my friends Becky, Melissa and I went off to Pariiiiis! (Again). I love that city. It was great because they had already started preparing for Christmas, so the city of lights was lit up with more lights! We went to a cute restaurant Friday night that reminded me of a steak house you would find in NYC. We walked over to the Gallerie Lafayette and saw all the window displays, then we met up with our friend Kimmi and her bf in front of Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre and it started to SNOW! It was so awesome. Until some gypsies ruined it. The next day we walked around a bit and went to the Christmas market on the Champs-Elysées-- we went back that evening to see it all lit up with xmas lights! And then casually strolled over to the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed the views. Sunday, we were all craving chinese food for some reason and found a nice little restaurant to eat at before training back to Montp.

The weekend after, I went to Belgium to meet up with my friend Erin from the field hockey team and our friend MAGALIII who had studied at VT the previous fall. We stayed at her apt in Brussels the first night and got to walk around the centre of town and see the Grande Place and the xmas market they had set up there. The next day, before heading off to Ghent where her parents house is, we stopped at the Atomium that was built for one of the World Fairs. After arriving in Ghent, we hung out at her house for a bit and then went into the little town that was all covered in snow! So picturesque.

The weekend after (my final weekend of traveling), I headed to Baden Baden with my friend Ashley to enjoy some relaxing time in their famous thermal pools. We got to spend a couple hours there, then went to the xmas market they had going on there. I miss the brauts they had, they were soo good. We stayed just outside of Strasbourg that night and then went into Strasbourg that day to see their world-famous xmas market. It was so packed with people and vendors from all over. Then we of course, got brauts before heading back to the train station.

That following week was filled with final exams, which were done on Wednesday and I had the rest of my time to enjoy with my friends and my host family.

I was supposed to leave that Sunday to fly back to the U.S., but due to all the snow hitting Europe, my flights were canceled. Becky, Melissa and I decided to ride the train up to Paris a few days later and catch our flights directly out of there, so we had a couple more days to enjoy in Montp. When Tuesday came, we rode the train up and arrived to find out that we had all been placed on the waiting list (which was not what we were told back in Montp)! We all started freaking out, especially Becky and Melissa since their flight was in an hours time. I made my way to my gate to wait for a couple hours until someone finally showed up at my gate. During that time, I got a call from Becky saying she and Melissa fought their way onto that flight and were leaving back to the U.S. At this point I started getting a bit worried because we had talked about staying with Melissa's family in Belgium in the event that we couldn't fly back to the U.S. before Christmas. Now, I realized I was all alone and really hoped that I wouldn't have to shack up at the airport all by myself.

Finally after about 4 hours someone showed up at the desk and everyone swarmed. I kept hearing horror stories about how people had been stuck in Paris for days, having to sleep on mats and that we weren't going to get out of Paris for at least a week, etc. This only fueled my concern and my sense that I was basically alone in a foreign country. I had to wait another hour or two for the cleared passengers list to finally show up on the sign, and of course at first my name did not appear. At this point I was literally on the verge of tears, trying to communicate with my mom via expensive texts to the U.S. FINALLY my name appeared and I almost climbed over a couple people to retrieve my boarding pass. I had to borrow a fellow passenger's phone to call my mom (bawling at this point) to tell her I made it on the flight list.

After a nice long 8 hour plane ride, in which I was too excited to sleep and could only watch movies the entire time, I anxiously waited in line at customs, at baggage claim, and then finally made my way to the passenger arrival area. As I walked through those doors, all I could see was a blur of faces and colorful jackets. Almost immediately, I saw these little arms fly frantically up in the air repeatedly to get my attention. My mom was waiting there with a bouquet of flowers and a santa hat to shove on my head. I wish a camera crew had been there (they had been at Dulles during those few days interviewing delayed passengers) to catch it on tape. We both started crying at how happy we were I was finally home, thankfully before Christmas.

All in all, my experience abroad was amazing and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm glad I took the risk and ventured out of my comfort zone, flying to a foreign country not knowing anyone since I was the only Virginia Tech student on that program. I made some great friends and had amazing times in different places across Europe.

I definitely plan on going back, hopefully to teach in France for a year!

Things that are weird.

Things that are weird slash sometimes annoying in France and Europe.
*Don't get me wrong, I love France and Europe; this is just weird in comparison to the U.S."

1. At restaurants they don't automatically bring you water. And when you ask for it you have to specifically ask for tap unless you want to get charged 5 euros for it. The other day while dining at a restaurant, the first thing the waiter did was bring us water without us having to ask (and it was free!), which made me giddy.

2. You have to ask for the check at restaurants. Something I find quite strange. In the U.S. they always bring it right away at the end of the meal but here they assume you want to chill for 10 or 50 minutes afterward so they don't bring the check until you ask. Either that or they bring it before you've even received your food, even more annoying.

3. Unlike in the U.S., waiters are actually paid pretty well here so they don't have to be nice to you and most often times aren't. In the U.S. it's all about the customer but here it's all about them, they rush you out to get new business. But on a lighter note, you also don't have tip much or any at all. People typically leave about 50 cents to a euro for a 20 euro meal.

4. They don't give you butter with your bread in restaurants. What are you supposed to do with that?

5. Ice cubes don't exist over here. Or if they do they're a rare breed.

6. People eat later, go out later and stay out later. I don't know how Europeans stay out til 6 in the morning, but they do it somehow.

7. Think you're going to get cool passport stamps from all the different countries you visit? Wrong. You don't go through customs if you're traveling within the EU and even if you're not they don't always stamp. All you're left with is a neck cramp from that awkward bit of sleep you managed to attain.

8. Everything is closed on Sundays.

9. They take their siestas seriously, even here in France. You'll try to go to a shop or the visa office to try to live here legally and they are closed in the middle of the day, off putzing around somewhere.

10. The metric system. Whatever smidgens of this system I learned in elementary school went in one ear and right out the other. People look at me like I'm an idiot when I tell them no, I don't know how heavy 20 kilos is.

11. Certain websites don't work over here. Namely Pandora and Hulu, aka among the top five most important websites. No Christmas music stations or the ability to easily watch that tv show you missed last night because you were out.

12. People go out everyday. I can't sustain that because I am a grandma, but there is literally something going on every night. Monday is Euro beer nights at the Australian. Tuesday is quiz night at the Shakespeare then off to Fitzpatrick's after to celebrate the loss (the quiz is actually really hard-- how are you supposed to know in what manner 20 different famous people died?). Wednesday is always Erasmus night so on any given Wednesday there is always at least two or three different international parties taking place. Thursday is club night, as in the 'go out to the clubs near the beach and take the Amigo bus that people will curbstomp you to beat you in line' night. Friday and Saturday you're traveling (well, I am) and obviously you have to go out in whatever foreign city you're spending a few fleeting hours in. Sunday is the one day of rest. Rinse and Repeat.

13. The conversion rate. It makes me want to cry when I look at my bank statement.

14. Pillows are thin and long, almost a cylindrical shape, and extremely uncomfortable to sleep on.

15. Lack of breakfast. This is more typical to France then anywhere else. Usually breakfast consists of a piece of baguette with butter or confiture (jam, jelly, etc) or a bit of croissant. What happened to pancakes and bacon? Mmmhm.

16. No Thanksgiving :( Waaaaah. But me and my friends are doing our own little French version consisting of slices of Turkey, because it's hard to find a whole one, and wine to make up for missing our real American holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

AMSTERDAM!

Whoooops I've neglected this blog for over a month.

This is a long post because it was a long weekend

Before I get into this weekend, I would like to say a couple things about Amsterdam: I love the city, everyone is so friendly and chill about everything; it is the city of tolerance. I really want to live there and marry a tall blond Dutch boy and have Dutch babies. The end.

So the strike that I spoke of before turned into one super long strike and is pretty much just now winding down. So that means all of my travel plans were ruined. (Grèvistes = egoists means strikers are selfish)

BUT I still made it to Amsterdam! I went with my friend Kimmi who I had traveled with to Strasbourg last weekend. We were supposed to go Friday night and meet up with a bunch of other kids that Kimmi and our friend Sophia (who I met in Strasbourg) knew from Sophia’s internship program in Europe.

Our original train leaving Friday was cancelled so we took one a couple hours later and it was so packed with people that they had to slow down the speed for “security reasons.” Well, of course we missed our connection. And mind you this wasn’t the original connection, but the back-up connection also meaning that it was the last train leaving Paris to go to Amsterdam that evening.

So, we decided to hop on a train to Brussels instead because one of the employees at the station informed us that it was very likely we might not make it out of Paris the next day due to a manifestation. At first it seemed like a good idea to go to Brussels since we’d be closer to Amsterdam and away from the strikes but we quickly realized we had nowhere to stay in Brussels.

Panicked, we started frantically calling any and everyone who we knew had friends/family/any sort of connection in Brussels (surprisingly we knew a handful of people but none turned out successful). Throughout the hour train ride, I’m sure we disturbed the entire train by our state of hysteria and random outbursts of extremities whilst trying to find accommodations for the night.

We finally came to the conclusion that if we couldn’t find a place to stay we would just lock our stuff up at the train station and go to a bar or club until the early morning and head back to the train station (it was a better/safer option that waiting around in the train station with the weirdo townies and drunkards). Overhearing our no-so-subtle panic, the two women who were sitting across the aisle from us (who we didn’t realize were American until this point) asked if we were really going to sleep in the train station (of course not….). Turns out they were a mother/daughter pair hailing from Chesapeake, Virginia and the daughter was on a business trip with NATO. They were quite concerned about our tentative sleep arrangements and offered us a spot on their floor in their hotel room in Brussels.

Since our other options fell through and there were no more trains or buses leaving Brussels to Amsterdam that night, we ended up taking them up on their offer (which I’m not sure they entirely thought we were going to do). Kimmi, having her mother bear instincts on her, was a bit worried about this situation but I told her to shut it because they were from Virginia and they were a mother and a daughter on a business trip from quite a respectable company. And it beat out the train station idea.

And it did end up being fine. We went and played bingo with them at a “casino” nearby and was quite fun except for the fact that I was the only one who didn’t win anything. Then we tried to buy them McDo’s for letting us sleep in their room (everything else was closed and we are poor college kids) but they refused. We ended up getting only a couple hours’ sleep but it was nice being in a warm hotel room.

We got up early to get to the train station to catch the first train out to Amsterdam at 6:20 am. FINALLY! On a train to Amsterdaaaam!

Nope. The ticket checker kicked us off two stops later in Antwerp because it was a different ticket company than our original tickets. Sorry bout it.

Not to fear though, there was a train leaving an hour later to Amst (I’m tired of spelling it out each time) on the correct train line so we chilled in Starbucks for a while and had some good old American coffee. But this was not the Starbucks I knew; they had no free wifi…or bathrooms come to think of it.

*Note: you will most likely have to pay to use any public bathroom in Europe, especially at train stations. But it’s usually like 40-70 cents so it’s not too ridiculous.

FINALLY! On the train to Amst—and we didn’t get kicked off this time, it was the right train. We arrived around 10 am and headed towards the city centre to do a free walking tour at 1.

It was a really good tour especially considering that it was free. The company is called Sandeman’s New Europe and they have free walking tours in Amst, Dublin, London, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Edinburgh and Paris, along with bike tours (those you have to pay for). So if you’re ever in those cities make sure to do the tour (free PR.. you’re welcome).

We started off at Dam Square, which is in the main part of town, and it is so called because there used to be a dam in that spot. I did not know that Amst’s name derived from the fact that the early Dutch settlers dammed up the river Amstel to create the city. Also where Amstel Light comes from.

Anyway, then we took off through the Red Light District, which was quite interesting. I didn’t realize that the hookers had actual windows that they stood in, I just kind of figured they stood on street corners. But it’s more complicated than that. A security company rents out the windows to them, which works out in their favor in case there is a sleaze that hits them or something, the girl can hit a panic button and the security team arrives. They take their time getting there though because they want to let all the other prostitutes beat up the guy first and then when they get there they proceed to beat him up. We weren’t really allowed to take pictures though because if the girls see you do that they get pretty pissed and throw some sort of disgusting liquid on you. I got a couple pictures of the area though.

I like the architecture of the houses a lot because they are all tall and narrow and sort of lean to the side. That also means that their foundation is messed up though. Some of them lean forward because the earlier residents would tip them to make it easier to hoist heavy/large items up into their houses.

Everyone rides bikes in this city. I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place. It is ridiculous and cool. Our tour guide told us a couple things to watch out for about bikes: the locals like to hit tourists while riding their bikes. They have a point system where you get a certain amount for just hitting a tourist, hitting one looking at a map, or hitting one on a walking tour. So she advised us: “If you hear the bell, run like hell.” Secondly, locals with bikes need to watch out because people love to throw bikes in the canals. They will search until they find one that is not locked up and whoever makes the biggest splash wins. Supposedly, the first 5 meters of the bottom of the canals are just bikes. And then the city comes through, fishes them out, refurbishes them and resells them.

Smallest house in Amsterdam (across from the widest bridge)

clogs

Anyway, I’m continuing this post weeks later (actually now its Nov 23 so its been about 5 weeks hah) and specific details are becoming hazy, but basically Amsterdam is one of my favorite places. Everyone is so friendly and chill—it’s the city of tolerance so pretty much anything goes.

After the free walking tour we headed over to the Heineken Experience and met up with some friends there. It was cool because you went through the museum at your own pace and it wasn’t a guided tour. We did the little beer ride, got mini tastings, learned why foam is added (yes added) to beer: to help keep the oxygen in so the beer doesn’t go flat; and then had a happy hour at the Heineken bar where I met my future Dutch husband, Bob (who by the way, studied in Montpellier as well-- great start to our relationship).

Then after that we did a pub crawl! It was awesome. We did one on the Leidesplein instead of the Red Light District because this one was clubs and also the Red Light District can be a bit shady at night. It was a whole lot of fun. It was me Kimmi, Sophia, and the other kids from the internship program in Germany. We didn’t make it to the last couple places—there were six in total and we thought it was like 3 a.m. Turns out it was only 1 when we got back to the hostel though haha.

Sunday we went to a couple museums, Van Gogh included which was really cool because it had all his artwork laid out chronologically. We also got to play on the giant I Amsterdam blocks.

All in all it was a really good weekend. We didn’t have time to do a couple things like see the Anne Frank house or go on a biking tour or see the windmills but that just means I need to go back.

We had a bit of trouble with transportation on the way back, as our train arrived late into Gare du Nord in Paris so we literally had to BOOK IT to Gare du Lyon only to find out the train had been cancelled. Note to self: running through train stations in heeled boots isn’t the best idea. Anyway, we ended up staying the night in Paris and luckily Kimmi has a friend living there and she was nice enough to let us crash for the night.

I want to go back. Now.