Bye Bye Bangkok, Goodmorning Cambodia, and Goodnight Laos

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote and so much has happened. After Singapore I spent a week alone in Bangkok, I stayed near Khao San Road in hopes of meeting some new people, fortunately I was able to befriend a wonderful 40year old Irish woman, a very fun girl from London, and a pair of boys from Bristol. Just across the street from where I was staying was supposedly the "best padthai in Bangkok", a restaurant called Thipsamai, and true to it's name, it's been the best padthai I've had yet. I don't know if it's the actual padthai, how cheap it is, or how the line for it proceeds down the block at about 7:30pm that makes me love it so much. In short, my time in Bangkok comes down to eating, a lot. One day I joined some girls and went to three different markets, two of which were floating ones. As I walked passed the endless vendors I munched on ribs, sweets, fried rice, shrimp, boat noodles, clams, and fried bananas. At one of the markets we ran into a group of Couchsurfers who had rented bikes and were biking around the outskirts of the city, so of course we quickly rented bikes and joined them. The next night I went out to Chinatown to continue my food adventure. I dined on half a duck, shrimp dumplings, crab shumai, and fried kale with pork. After my meal I promptly bought more food. By this point the people I was with were beginning to wonder if i'd ever stop eating, the answer is obviously no. To drive home the point of my food obsession, I spent a whole day at an anatomy museum where they displayed real human bodies that had been sliced and put in formaldehyde so that you could see all the little parts of the body. Babies that had been born conjoined or misshapen, parts of the nervous system, and pictures of people who had died and the weapons that had killed them, including someone who had been stabbed to death with a dildo. When we were done with the museum I ate three delicious spring rolls and a bowl of curry. The night before Sydney came I went out with a wonderful group of people from my hostel, we scarfed down fried fish, green curry, fried pork, chicken wings, two types of squid, pad si ew, and some tom yum goong.

Traveling with Sydney has been wonderful. She's a little slice of home and it's comforting to have someone around who knows you so well. Once she got into Bangkok we sped off to Cambodia. We woke up early and started our tour of the temples by watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Walking around and in the temples is amazing. Thinking about how old they are and how well they have stood over the years is something I still can't wrap my head around. It was also really cool to go to Ta Porhm, the Tomb Raider temple, and stand by the 'Angelina Jolie Tree'. To end our day we headed over to the Red Piano and ate some traditional Cambodian dishes. The next day we hopped on a bus, a taxi, a train, a tuk tuk, another bus and another tuk tuk and another bus to get to Vang Vieng, Laos. After 31hours we made it.

Vang Vieng has been so much fun, maybe too much fun because Sydney and I keep discovering new cuts and bruises with "how did this happen" and then a casual shrug. Most of our days here have been spent under the sun tubing down the Mekong River making friends who I will never remember their names. Either tonight or tomorrow we are headed off to Chiang Mai for Songkran!

SingaPours

Visiting Singapore has been the best decision I've made so far on new places to explore, however it's been the worst decision on my wallet. Known to be one of the world's most expensive cities, Singapore certainly looks like it. Most of the buildings are well kept, clean and glistening over the skyline, the sidewalks are missing the discoloration of stepped on gum (gum is illegal!), and the attention to flora throughout the city makes it look all the more richer. Although David and I only had 4 days to attempt to cover the city, we filled everyday with plenty of activities and sights. We visited the Asian Civilizations Museum and Buddah Tooth Relic Temple, walked around Little India and China Town, took a ride on the Singapore Flight, stared at the view from the 56th floor of the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark, drank in Clarke Quay, and ate delicious food. Of course we did many other things, but my favorites were the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Zoo and the DaVinci exhibit at the ArtScience Museum. 

The Gardens by the Bay span about 250 acres, all covered with beautiful grass, trees, and flowers. The best parts of the gardens include the SuperTree Grove, Cloud Forest, and Flower Dome, unfortunately we were too late to see the Flower Dome but it definitely gives me all the more need to come back some day. The SuperTree Grove can only be described as one of the most beautifully strange places I have ever been in my life. Walking into the gardens at night with the trees glowing above you and the palms surrounding you feels like entering another planet. I half expected one of Jurassic Parks dinosaurs to come out and start chasing me. David and I had just entered the grove a few moments before their light and music show started, something we knew nothing about. We sat on the ground and watched as the trees matched with music in a awe inspiring orchestra of sound and light. I couldn't help my self and even let a few tears go due to the enchantment of the grove. The Cloud Forest on it's own is a whole other experience in its self. While having a perfectly created ecosystem inside the dome, it also has the largest/tallest indoor waterfall which is illuminated by purple lights. The forest looks more like a mountain made completely from the layering of flowers, ferns, vines, and leaves. With sky bridges floating out from the mountain, and the misting of the plants happening at the same time, for a moment I felt like I could've been in some strange Miyazaki film. 

The amazing part about the zoo was that very little of the animals were actually caged in, especially the monkeys. There were many instances while walking around you could look up and see an orangutan calmly munching on the leaves above you. Small bats hung in the rafters of shelters, and if a giraffe really wanted to, it could probably lean over the railing to steal your food. There was even a moment where I was a mere foot from a family of lemurs, monkeys of all kinds, and a turtle that attempted to bite my face off. The zoo was our first encounter with the downpours that mark the beginning on monsoon season, within a few minutes of light sprinkles, the sky became alight with lighting, thunder and sheets of heavy rain, in a just a matter of seconds our clothes were drenched and small rivers filled the walkways. When we finally returned to our hotel we stopped by a small stall to grab some pork buns, coupled with the cold wet clothes we were wearing, the little bbq pork filled bun was like a little warm hug of yummyness. 

For the first time in Southeast Asia, the works of Leonardo DaVinci had come on display. And we could not have been more fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. Being able to actually see some of the real physical works of DaVinci from the pages of the Codex Atlanticus was breathtaking. The fact that this one man accomplished so much in so many fields is astounding to me and I was even more grateful that I had the chance to see it. My favorite part about the exhibit is that they gave you physical and mental exercises to do in order to help you better understand DaVinci's mind and inventiveness. They broke the exhibit down into five large categories that explored mathematics, natural sciences, music, architecture, and technology. 

All in all, Singapore is a widely vibrant, exciting, and somewhat of a mysterious place. I will miss the torrential rains that come out of no where, the 70cent lotus cakes and 4$ plates of noodles, light shows on the water and in the trees and the ever awakeness of the city. I will not miss however, how expensive beer is, and for that I am glad to be back in Bangkok.

View of Marina Sands Bay Hotel, ArtScience Museum, and the Financial District of Singapore 

 Cloud Forest Waterfall

 Cloud Forest Dome and Cloud Bridge

 A picture I was not supposed to take of Leonardo DaVinci's sketches

 SuperTree Grove

 Just monkeying around

 Top of a temple

Outside of Buddah Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

And of course, some food

New Day New Place

Although Koh Phi Phi is amazing with it's endless array of tanning, clubbing, and meeting new people, some part of me couldn't wait to get away to a quite island. But of course before I did that I took an all day boat tour around the island and to some of the other islands around it just to make sure I wouldn't miss anything before I left. I joined a group of English girls I had met back in Phuket and we started our morning with a weird coleslaw sandwich and a fruit juice that tasted like cough medicine: 'breakfast' provided by the tour. Our boat was joined with 17 other people and after 30minutes of watching our motor fail to start, work and fail again, we were off. The first stop was at a coral reef not too far off from one of the southern part of Phi Phi, immediately you notice how clear the water is and you can see all of the fish swimming about even before you get into the water. Snorkeling there was definitely a whole other kind of experience, especially when people would throw bits of bread into the water next to you and all the fish would swarm around. After that we visited a few more swimming and snorkeling areas and even Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed. My favorite part of the tour was going to Monkey Beach, the monkeys are everywhere but you have to make sure to stay away from the big mamas because they are very scary. Besides them giving the little monkeys some food and water is absolutely delightful because they are so cute. At one point there was a girl who was feeding a baby monkey and he climbed on her head, the mom saw and started running at the girl, she was nearly bitten! I do think it takes some carelessness and stupidity to let yourself really get bitten though. While we were headed back we were able to slowly pass by some of the many towering limestone cliffs as the sun began to set. I was lucky enough to think to move from the back of the boat to the very front as the boat began to pick up speed to the pier. Everyone sitting in the main part of the boat were drenched with the spray from the ocean while I sat pretty and dry. When we reached land again I gathered my things and went off to meet a friend I had met the night before. Since most everyone I have met on this trip have been either German or English, of course my new friend David was a proper British boy. The next day David and I headed to Koh Lanta to relax and escape the chaos of Koh Phi Phi. Koh Lanta is a much bigger island compared to some and even though we didn't explore much of it, the feel of the island was quite sleepy. Eventually even the calm lull of the ocean wasn't enough to keep us there so we headed back to Phuket. This time I am staying in Old Town, which is all the way on the other side of Phuket from Patong. The area here is much less touristy and feels more like what everyday Thai local life would be. The Sino-Portugese architecture that dominates the streets coupled with modernized art studios adds a slightly quirky feeling to this town. Today we strolled around and discovered a cute second hand bookshop where I bought my second Game of Thrones book, wondered around a museum at the Thavorn Hotel, and took in the beauty of the Shrine of Serene Light. Tomorrow we get up early to fly to Singapore! I will be spending 5 days there until I fly back to Bangkok and David goes to Bali. Originally I was going to join him in Bali as well but it doesn't seem my budget can handle it... which just means I'll go some other time! Tonight will consist of packing our bags for the flight and me eating dinner at 7/11 again. Woohoo budgeting! Good thing I actually like toastys.

Partying in Phuket and Phi Phi

With a change of plans, Nils and I headed straight for Phuket instead of Burma, but hopefully I'll be able to go on my own in the next few weeks. Within a few hours upon arrival we had already managed to make a new friend, a girl from Montreal. We went out for dinner and drinks and ended up wondering around the both overwhelming and equally exhilarating area of Bangla Road. The road is what really makes up the main atmosphere that is Patong. Famous for it's endless night life there is no wonder how the road is always packed with tourists, lady boys, people pushing ping pong shows, and of course, the drunk. After bar hopping around and exploring a few clubs, we eventually settled on a Scandinavian bar/club that was a bit off the main road. The place was packed with dancing by the time 1:30am rolled around and we stayed up for most of the night. We met even more people the next day and basically just did the same thing but with more people. Nils then headed for work and I spent the day wondering around Patong with a few girls I've met. I even got my first thai massage right on the beach. Yesterday I traveled with a Californian boy named Brain and a British girl named Lauren to Koh Phi Phi. The island is so beautiful and it's filled with all kinds of people. Last night we just spent the night walking up and down the beach dancing through different bars. I'm really enjoying my time so far although while meeting new friends I increasingly miss my old friends back home. I'm excited to see Sydney, she arrives in Bangkok on April 1st so I just need to hold out until then. I think I'll try to find a new island soon, one with less crowded beaches and calmer people. But for now I will definitely enjoy where I am, especially because almost everyone on this island is extremely good looking.

Beach Bum

It's been almost a week since I left Bangkok to pursue island life on Koh Chang and Koh Phayam and I must say that the islands are much better than the city. After taking a night bus from Bangkok to Ranong with Nick and Nils, we arrived at the Ranong bus station around 4:30am, and hopped in the back on someone's truck to get to the pier. Although getting in at that time was a little less than desired, we were able to watch the sun rise over the pier and enjoyed a quick nap. We waited for a boat that took us to Koh Chang, the water and islands are beautiful to see and riding on the boat was a great experience. We were picked up and brought to a wonderful little bungalow area, it was a bit of a walk from the main beach and was less resorty feeling that some of the other places but that made it all the better. The family that worked there were all very kind and very helpful in teaching us some Thai and in return learning some English. There were also two small white kittens that were constantly running around with each other, which of course I loved. In summary Koh Chang was full of walking around, swimming in the ocean and an awesome lake, drinking beer, eating delicious food, and relaxing. My bungalow was very simple with just a bed, a mosquito net, and a squat toilet. The squat toilets are still taking some used to and they're quite intimidating to me although there are just so simple. I never thought I would get so excited to see a western toilet and toilet paper like I do. We spent three nights there before heading over to Koh Phayam, this time by speed boat which was very quick. Nick had to head back to Bangkok so it's just Nils and I for now, and soon it will be just me. Koh Phayam is very busy compared to the sleepiness of Koh Chang, there are motorbikes everywhere, and there are a ton more peolple, shops, and bars. We've met a lot of people here already and they are all so interesting and awesome to talk to and hang out with. However on this island it feels like the amount of German tourists outnumbers everyone else. On our first night here we attending a Full Moon Party at this really cool bar made completely out of drift wood. It felt as if the whole island was there and everyone was dancing and drinking and having a great time. It has definitely been one of my favorite nights since I've been out. The rest of the time here on Koh Phayam has been riding around on the motorbike, being a beach bum, and socializing and drinking with all the other travelers at night. We've been staying in a tent while we've been here to save money and its actually not too bad, it reminds me of home. Today we attempted to snorkle but the water is a bit hazy, but I did see a monkey! 

It's been a little over a week that I've been traveling, so far I have managed to climb a 50 story abandoned tower in Bangkok, picked up a poisonous frog, devoured some delicious food, visited a sea gypsy village, met some unforgettable people, developed a very bad sunburn, attended an all island dance party, befriended many animals and have so far have not injured my self at all or gotten any kind of food poisoning. 

We will be heading to Burma in a few days and I am excited to check out another culture. I will be posting photos when I have a more reliable wifi connection. 

Seattle Freeze meets Thai Heat

Yesterday I finally landed in Bangkok after sitting on a 15hr flight that proceeded to cramp up all the muscles in my legs and butt. Of course the very first thing I noticed when I walked out of the airport was the heat, and not just the kind of direct heat from the sun, but a surrounding humidity that instantly caused my hair to frizz. In the words of Nils it feels like the "goddamn rainforest at the zoo". I managed to get to my hostel, www.threeofakindhouse.com, and get my self in order. The city is huge and constantly moving, trains, cars, motorbikes, stalls, businesses, and people fill the streets. Buildings tower over everything, except that the buildings here seem to all be uniquely made, each with it's own character, where as in Seattle most of them seem to blend in with eachother. I joined Nils and some guys from the hostel to some kind of art installation, Diego from Italy, Eugene from Australia, and a French boy who has a very thick accent. The installation was in this huge mall that reminded me a lot of Japan, perfectly neat and clean. The whole top floor was filled with food that all looked too perfectly made that I didn't want to eat any of it. After we strolled through a park that was absolutely gorgeous, I am really enjoying the trees here. Later Nick met us at our hostel and is staying here, today we are going to go explore some temples and Chinatown, I haven't had much of an appetite but hopefully that will change today.

Overall arriving here has been overwhelming to say the least. Not only with the change of environment but with the realization of how long five months really is. And yes I know, the whole "five months out of your entire life is very little" thing, but for have never been away from home and my parents this long it's already been very hard. I hope that with more exploring and getting more comfortable with myself out here I will be able to accept the home sickness and move on. I also am trying very hard to stay away from all my electronics, having it been such a daily part of my life before I still find myself opening this simple little phone I have to check instagram or twitter and then realize, that I don't have it. But it's been nice not being wrapped up in those little things. Hopefully blogging doesn't become my new internet crack and I can manage to be away from it for a few days

Yesterday was hard but today will be better, and I hope things continue that way.

Very Calmly Freaking Out

Tomorrow night I proceed to the airport to get on a plane that will take me to a whole other country, city, and environment. I am so horribly nervous and excited at the same time that I seem to have just settled in the middle and am rather.. neutral about the whole thing. The trip seems so surreal that I think after I land I will have to take a few days, maybe even a few weeks to fully realize the extent of where I am and what I am doing. The hardest part about preparing for this journey has been packing since I am going to be in such a wide arrange of cultures and weather. I mean how am I supposed to pack clothes for 90+ degrees and humid all the way down to 40 degrees up in the mountains and then 60ish degrees while having to look rather presentable all into one bag?? But it must be done and i'll have to just figure things out the hard way.

What it really comes down to, all this planning and stressing, is that I get to go eat some amazing food. Food. FOOD. If you know me at all you know that 98% of the reason I am going on this trip is so that I can try amazing new cuisines and delicacies. The food stalls in Thailand. Austrian cake. Carbonara in Rome. Tea time in Ireland... I am speechless when I think about all the food I will be stuffing my face with.

Anyways if you'd like to talk to me while I am traveling I can be reached by email at blymeola@yahoo.com. Remember that I will be in different time zones and may not always have access to wifi, so give me a few days to reply!

Here's my itinerary:

February 26th - April 16th: Will be traveling with Nils in Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos. Meeting with Ben and Sydney in Bangkok on the 1st-2nd. We will all be in Bangkok during April 13th-15th for the Thai New Year's festival: Songkran.

April 16th - April 30th: Flying from Bangkok to Kathmandu, Nepal with Sydney to trek the Langtang Valley Trail.

April 30th- May 15th: Staying with Nina (Hailley's exchange student from last year) in Austria, an hour outside Vienna.

May 15th - May 20th: Flying to Rome, Italy. Staying in a hostel just a few minutes from Termini.

May 20th - July 9th: Will be flying to Dublin, Ireland and then taking the train to Carlow. In Carlow I will be wwoofing at Huntington Castle. www.huntingtoncastle.com

July 10th: HOME