NOVEMBER 19, 2008

The phone just rang for our wake up call. It’s 7:30 AM on Friday morning, Bangkok time, and back in Los Angeles it’s 4:30 PM, Thursday afternoon….a 15-hour time difference. Derrick and I flew out of LA at 11:00 AM on Wednesday morning, November 19^th, and arrived in Seoul, Korea 12 hours later. It definitely was a long flight, but one of the best flights I’ve ever had nonetheless. The U-shaped neck pillows that I purchased the day before were, I felt, the GREATEST purchase I’ve made. Haha! Those things (despite them costing $14.99 plus tax) are amazing, so if you’re taking a long flight somewhere, I highly highly highly recommend bringing those along. They will become your best friend. The food on the plane was sooo yummy. I was really looking forward to it. We had 2 full meals with 4 or 5 snacks. My favorite dish was the Korean dish (name to come later) which included bean sprouts, spinach, ground beef, and more veggies, topped in white rice, red spicy paste, and sesame oil. Wow, I love Korean food. In addition to the food being great, we each had our own tv with lots and lots of movies. I watched Mama Mia! and some other Helen Hunt movie called “Then You Came” or something like that. I fell asleep. Lol. Also, the seating was spacious, and I didn’t feel too cramped. I sat next to a really nice Korean lady who had only lived in LA for 1 year and 6 months and was just going back to Seoul to visit. Noticeably, she barely drank any water or liquid, probably because she didn’t want to have to go through me and Derrick to go to the bathroom.

Anyways, when we arrived at Incheon Airport in Seoul, Korea, I was dying to go #2. I just couldn’t do it on the plane. The bathrooms are high tech in Asia. Man, Korea is so advanced, it makes me wonder how Japan’s bathrooms are. When you go into a stall, which is super clean all the time, you press this red button on the toilet, and new plastic seat covers come out. Think tube-like saran wrap covering the toilet seat. With the touch of a button, and like a snake, the old plastic gets disposed and the new plastic comes out. Awesome! What else did I like about the airport? It was really clean, modern, and they had pretty potted orchids everywhere. After our 3-hour layover, we hopped on another plane to Bangkok. That flight was 6 hours long. Everyone seemed tired. I pretty much passed out on the plane and only woke up for the spicy chicken dish, which tasted like sweet and spicy Filipino menudo. I also ate strawberry cheesecake ice cream. It turned out to be not such a great idea with my lactose issues. Whatever, I passed out anyway. Poor Derrick. Hehe. We arrived in Bangkok at 12:00 AM, local time, 8:00 AM LA time. At the airport, we were able to get a better idea of who was on our tour. There are a lot of older people, probably age 55 and up. There is one couple who might be in their 30s. Derrick and I befriended another couple, who appears to be in their mid 20s…. Thank God. While the tour guide was talking about how we can’t buy alcohol after 12 AM, I think Derrick and I were the only ones really paying attention. We see food stands on the street, and Derrick seems to be drooling. Everytime we travel, he gets an unsatiable appetite. It’s funny. Luckily, food here is inexpensive. After a lot of hustling and bustling and organizing of our tour guide, we got to Century Park Hotel via tall bus at 2:00 AM, and were fast asleep. The beds are meant for Asian people, and I was wondering how American people would fit on the bed. Their feet probably hang over the edge. That’s all for now…Good night!

Welcome to the Philippines!!! Oh, I mean…Welcome to Thailand! As I sit in my hotel room, looking outside my window, everything I see seems strikingly familiar. There are 3 huge billboards glaring right back at me. One is for Dreamworld, which I assume by the photo montage of kids and families playing, is a theme park, one is of a half-naked woman with her back turned towards me, holding what I think is lotion as if she’s holding a forbidden apple, and the other is one of a young man in a hard hat for I don’t know what. The sky is dirty white/gray with a touch of sunshine peaking through the many clouds/pollution, and it REALLY looks like the Philippines here, except it’s a lot cleaner on the streets.

Today, we had our free daily continental breakfast, which consisted of lots of fruit to include papaya, watermelon, pineapple, jujubes, guava, cantaloupe, and dragon fruit. The buffet also boasts some tasty French toast, waffles, salad, sausage, potatoes, rice, cereal, yogurt, and much more breakfast type foods. It was tasty. We sat with our new friends Yang and Fausto, a young Vietnamese woman and Italian man. They’re actuaries from Connecticut (coincidental, right?) We were all relieved that we weren’t the only young people on the tour. After breakfast, we went to the 2^nd floor for our Orientation. The guide explained everything that was to happen, some Thai customs, and things to do or see in Bangkok. He’s really knowledgeable, and his English is pretty great. After Orientation, we went to see the following things: the Democracy Monument, the king’s sister’s crematory (she just passed away in January, and they recently cremated her body 2 weeks go), Wat Po where they house the reclining Buddha, Wat Suthat, and the White Marble Temple. About these things… the Democracy Monument was put up to honor their veterans, which leads me to my next point. Thailand is a very very democratic nation. They also have a monarchy who they love very dearly according to all the pictures of the king everywhere. People actually donate their money to the king, who then uses that money to do really great things such as build a dam to help control the water flow when it pours and other philanthropic, for the people, kind of things. Onto the buddhist temples. The temples are so intricate. What looks like ornate and almost labyrinth (GRE vocab word, did I use that right?) wallpaper, is actually hand painted. The use of colors, detail, gold leaf, levels, etc. is absolutely fantastic. The temples look pretty amazing. After that 3^rd temple, we headed back to our hotel because by that time, our group of 4 was craving some Thai food. Up until today, we hadn’t had an authentic Thai meal.

When we got back to the hotel, we changed our clothes and proceeded to walk the streets of Bangkok. On the way to the K bank, where we exchanged our dollars to baht ($1 = B34.8), we passed many street vendors. The food looks scrumptious here. After the bank, we found an awesome hole in the wall noodle shop literally, where the four of us had fish ball/beef noodle soup and 2 waters. Total bill for all four of us? B 134, which is the equivalent to roughly $4 - $5. We were quite happy with that. We were REALLY happy about that. After eating noodles, we walked around, I ate green mango with a sweet shrimp/tamarind bagaong resembling paste (mmmmmmmmmmMMMm!!!!!) from a street vendor, and Yang and Fausto bought banana crepe which was wow too. Then we headed over to a local pub for happy hour. I had a B 120 gin and tonic, Derrick had a vodka martini for B120 and the others had beer (buy 2 get one free). Derrick also ordered pad thai (B100), which he’d been craving for so long. It was DELICIOUS!

After snacking, we made our way back to the hotel, where we asked our tour guide about the nightlife and what we young people can do. I mentioned the ping pong show to him, and he sort of blushed. LOL. If you don’t know what the ping pong show is in Patpong, ask Catherine Leo or look it up on the internet. After chatting with our guide and setting up my appointment for a Thai massage, Derrick and I went up to our room and worked out. You can see actually see that from the past 2 days, we’ve gained about 2 pounds. A pound a day, and I’ll be 17 pounds heavier when I get back!!! LOL! To save time because we ARE on vacation though, we plan on only doing 20-minute circuit training. After our pretty difficult work out, I was dying. Drained of energy and on full stomachs, we still managed our way downstairs for our free international buffet dinner, which wasn’t that great because they didn’t have Thai food.

Dinner concluding, we went upstairs. Derrick showered and passed out at 8:30 PM, and my masseuse arrived to my hotel room for my 2 hour Thai massage! Holla!!!!! The lady was formally trained at Wat Po to do Thai massages, which is the top school for learning how to do a Thai massages. I was really sore from my workout, and the massage actually proved it. Thai massages are all about pressure points. The masseuse presses on your pressure points, increasing the blood flow to various parts of your body. Needless to say, it gets worse before it gets amazingly better. Pressing on pressure points hurts. The relief you feel after is soooo good. The massage was B1200, which is $40 for 2 hours. There are places next to my hotel where you can get a Thai massage for B200, but I really didn’t trust those hole in the wall places. If they press the wrong pressure points, the massage could turn out to be horrible. I fell asleep a couple of times during my massage. My masseuse thought Derrick and I were Thai. Haha. After she left, I called it a night and was passed out.

It’s 5:00 AM, and I’m wide awake. Derrick is still passed out. We have to get up at 6:30 AM to prepare for our 7:00 AM tour at the floating market. I’m having a difficult time finding free internet and haven’t found a phone card yet, and I think I really have to somehow inform my parents that I’m alive. I think I’ll give in and pay the B200/$6 for 30 minutes of wireless internet. Today’s going to be a long day. I’ll write more after everything happens.

Damneon Saduak Floating Market - It took us 1 hour to reach a fresh fruit market, and there were tons of flies and bees settling themselves upon all of the food, especially the pickled mangos. Then, we drove another 15 minutes to the starting point of the floating market tour. Caitlyn, Fausto, Derrick, me, and another older couple boarded a 007 speedboat. We journeyed through the jungle, slowing at really beautiful sights. It was swamp-like. We saw a giant 4 foot lizard. The largest buddha we’ve seen thus far (probably 5 stories high). After half an hour, we made it to the floating market, where vendors were selling a lot of trinkets. Several boats filled the narrow waterway, often crashing into each other. We were told to keep our hands inside the boat because they could be severed if caught in between our boat and another boat. Prices at the floating market were very high, as this location has become VERY touristy. Hardly any locals can be seen buying anything. We made a short restroom stop along the way, at a coconut plantation. Thais train monkeys to climb and pick coconuts. The training period lasts as long as 3 months, and it is pricey. It costs as much as $300 US per month to train one monkey to retrieve coconuts because they eat as much as humans do. Coconuts can be turned into different products, including coconut oil to make the hair shiny, food and drink of course, and lastly brown coconut sugar. Derrick bought a bag full of round shaped brown sugar and literally ate a quarter pound of brown sugar. It was really tasty, and he definitely felt the sugar high later on. We also took a short stop in this town where the people specialized in wood carvings. Wow, the detail on some of their art pieces and furniture were absolutely amazing. We took a few pictures there before moving on to the Monkey Temple.

Rose Center - After the floating market, we went to the Rose Garden. Normally, roses did not grow in Thailand, but after some scientists studied how to make them grow, they now grow in Thailand. At the Rose Center, we ate a delicious thai meal/international meal. The pad thai was delicious. I also had “sushi,” which was not that great. We walked around and saw some beautiful roses. Then, we made our way to a cultural show at the same location, where it was set up almost like PCN (Pilipino Cultural Night) except it was for Thailand. The stage was set as a Thai village featuring a presentation of local arts and customs. Performers danced traditional Thai dances, pretended to fight Muy Thai, and also showed what local marriage ceremonies are like. It was very hot, and I sat next to a rather large man who was all up in my space. By the end of the day, I was so tired. Oh yeah, I also saw elephants dancing, but did not ride them today.

Today, we took a tour of the Grand Palace. It feels like it’s getting hotter and hotter every day that we are here in Bangkok. This is by far the most beautiful temple that we’ve seen. There is so much gold on the buildings here; I’m surprised people don’t steal it. Fausto told me that Forbes just upgraded the Thai king to the richest man in the world because they didn’t realize how much gold existed in Thailand. There is A LOT of gold here. The buildings are adorned with all kinds of gems and metals. The pictures will show it all. I’m pissed off because my camera broke. I’ll have to have someone else take pictures of us. After touring the grand palace, which was insanely crowded because people were coming to the crematorium to see the king’s sister’s earn, our bus could not meet us because of the traffic. So, we had to walk a while to another location, where half of the tourists in our group took a river cruise/city tour. We opted out of that one since it was so hot and decided to go eat at a local market, where we ate pad thai for 40 baht. Then, we took a cab back to our hotel. In the afternoon, the one thing I really wanted to do was go to a Thai Catholic Church since it was Sunday. We didn’t catch mass though, which was sucky. Instead, we took pictures of the interesting artwork on the walls, which included a Thai Virgin Mary image. It was beautiful. We also listened to the choir practice singing. Their music selection was very jolly. We also prayed a bit. It was a very enlightening and nice experience to see a church in a different country. At night, we went to Chinatown, where we ate at a fabulous Chinese restaurant. There were hardly any tourists in this area, which is probably why our guidebook says to go there if you’re brave. The watermelon shake was delicious, along with the spicy jelly fish salad and tom yong kong. Derrick ordered three plates of the same thing, duck and green noodles. I admit, his dish was great. After Chinatown, we made our way to Patpong. Have you heard of Patpong? Never go there. You’ll hear stories of ping pongs shooting from weird bodily places and strippers and all sorts of things. Don’t get scammed into going to a sketchy area. You’ll lose your money, and if you argue about paying, they’ll just yell at you like you’ve never been yelled at. They’ll hover over you until you pay. We ended up going to an Irish pub called Mcsomething, where some European people were watching Lacrosse and getting really into it. After having a few drinks, we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Today, we left Bangkok and started our road trip towards the northern area of Thailand. We drove one hour to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam, where we saw a giant bronze statue of Wat Mongkol Borpith and three ancient pagodas at Wat Phra Sri. It was very interesting, as we saw ruins, which date back to the 1200s. We were able to climb to the top of some of the structures. The steps were a bit steep and I admit to being a little bit scared. Continuing on to Lopburi, a town filled with monkeys that buddhists believe to have come from their god, I got really excited. There were sooooo many monkeys all around. One monkey jumped on a lady from our tour. It was sort of funny, yet scary. Inside the monkey temple, there were a lot of bats. On the outside of the temple, the monkeys climbed. There were monkeys with large balls, cute baby monkeys, and mama monkeys everywhere. I even saw a couple of baby monkeys holding on to their mamas like koalas do. Cuuute! We ate at a REALLY good Thai restaurant in Lopburi. Here, we had this yellow noodle drenched in light yellow curry with amazing Thai spices and condiments. I also loved the papaya salad, which is something Catherine was boasting about when she got back from Thailand. The restaurant was famous for its Monkey Beer, which we of course tried. After Lopburi, I realized I was feeling really irritated. My allergies had kicked in because of all the monkey hair around town. We drove via beautiful scenery of rice paddies to our next destination, Phitsanulok, the gateway to Northern Thailand where we visisted the Bronze Case Factory to view a demonstration on how Buddha Images are made in an authentic way. The process was quite interesting as it involves heating up wax and replacing it with metal after it melts. We also went to a bird conservation, where they had the most beautiful birds I’ve ever seen. They were really friendly and talkative. After that, we had a long drive to our hotel, Topland Plaza Hotel. We took rickshaws to the night maket, but before reaching the night market, we made a stop at a bug cart, where an old man was selling us fried bugs. I was only brave enough to try the cricket and a silk worm. Derrick tried the cricket too. It tasted like chicharon, since it was heavily fried. Fausto and Caitlyn tried EVERYTHING, including a huuuuuge cockroach looking bug. They said it tasted like egg. After eating that, my stomach felt really unsettled. We made it to the nightmarket, where nobody was willing to budge on the prices. We walked a long time looking for a place to eat and ended up eating somewhere not too good along the river. Our rickshaw took us to Topland after a disappointing night with the exception of Derrick‘s excellent purchase of panda/camo shorts, and we proceeded to walk the streets. Our friends ate noodles, and we sat there not hungry at all. We hit the sack.

We traveled to Sukothai today. Our bus rides up north are short 1-2 hour bus rides between stops, and it’s taking a toll. People including myself seem to be sleeping all the time on the bus. In Sukothai, we saw the ruins of the 13^th century first capital of Siam. Everything looked really old. We learned about the city plan, the irrigation set in place, and how the Burnese burned everything down, stole the melted gold from the buddha statue and took it for themselves to create their own structure. Buddhist monks came to worship an old run down Buddha. Their saffron robes against the gray stone made for a scenic view. They were chanting as foreigners looked on. One of the monks kept staring at our group. He didn’t look very happy. I saw a beautiful tree in Sukothai, shaped like a mushroom. Of course, I couldn’t take pictures. My camera was and still is broken. ARGH! The lady we sat next to on the tour car was that was bringing us around Sukothai was really into Derrick’s panda pants. She even offered $15 for them, but I honestly don’t think they could have fit her. After Sukothai, we visited a Textile Museum, where many people bought the fabric there. Thai weaving skills were apparent in the products there. We took a photo in front of this pillow thing that in the olden days, when boys courted girls, they had to put their hands inside these pillows…. A look but don’t touch sort of thing. We continued on to Sri Satchanalai, the northern outpost town of the Kingdom of Sukhothai. A lot of people looked really bored, but Derrick really enjoyed it here. The explanation for how pottery was made was really interesting. Here in Sri Satchanalai, the Ceramic Kiln would get up to 1000+ degrees celcius in order to make the pottery. People bought ceramic goodies here. It feels like we’re going to a lot of shops, but this is what the tourists like. Some tourists love to be catered to and complain about everything and anything. It’s getting annoying, and I feel sorry for our tour guide. After visiting the Ceramic Kiln, we made our way to Lampang. Here we saw “the most beautiful buddha image” in all of Thailand. It was a really nice buddha statue. They had just restored the image 2 years ago by putting new gold leaf on it. Before we go into any temple, we have to take our shoes off. They were really strict at this temple, as a couple of people wearing tank tops or shorts had to be given fabric to cover their skin. After the temple, it got dark, and we went to our new hotel, Wieng Lakorn Hotel. Our hotel was nice. The view was scenic, but our beds were separated again. The table couldn’t be moved because it was glued to the floor. Boo! After dropping off our stuff, an employee of the hotel took us four in his private car to the Riverside Restaurant. It was super romantic here. The atmosphere was nice. The whole time I was here, I kept thinking my mom would love it because the live band played so many songs from the 70s. Being next to the river, it was mosquitos galore. Long story short, there was a bridge that looked like a mini Golden Gate bridge. It made a nice reflection in the water. Picture perfect. The food was great again. I bought cake since it was Fausto’s birthday on the flight to Thailand. The cake was horrible. They forgot the egg or something. Derrick and Fausto drank Mekong (Thai Whisky) and coke. Caitlin ordered a Mai Tai, which was sour? Then, she ordered another mixed drink that looked and tasted exactly like the Mai Tai, except it had a pineapple instead of the other fruit on top. Aside from the odd drinks, and the fact we didn’t have any utensils or plates to eat from (we ate using the serving spoons and entrée plates), it was an enjoyable night. We got back to the hotel early and got to sleep for more than 6 hours, finally.

Today, I’m beginning to feel like my vacation is ending, and I’m sad. But, it’s not really ending, we’re in the middle of it. At this point, the young and old have definitely separated into separate groups. We traveled north for Phayao, a rural lakeside town and once princely state. It is the largest freshwater lake in Thailand. Chakkritt called this place “tea and pee” because they sold really good tea and it was a washroom stop. Derrick bought really strong thai liquor that our guide said would probably give him a crazy hangover. It only cost 125 baht for the entire bottle. I managed to purchase some postcards. During my whole trip, I keep thinking about how I’m going to scrapbook all of this. It’s going to take forever! We try to drink alcohol to kill all the bacteria in our stomach from any bad food we may be eating. People on our tour have been having some stomach problems and everyone seems to be coughing! Thank God we haven’t caught anything to make us really ill. Let’s hope the whole trip stays this way. Today, instead of sitting in the back of the bus like we normally do, we sat in the front. Our bus driver is one of the best! It’s a bit scary at times in the front because we could fly out the front window, but the view is amazing, and it’s funny to watch our driver run red lights and cut through narrow pathways like nothing. Chakkritt told us that running the red light is safer than breaking hard because people will fly out. Plus, he said it’s better to pay the fine then to pay with a life.

We made our way to Chiang Saen, situated directly on the border with Laos. We enjoyed a short boat trip on the Mekong River towards the Golden Triangle - the meeting point of the borders of Thailand, Bruma and Laos. People who wanted to, for merely 200 baht per person, could step on to Laos. We definitely did because we wanted another stamp in our passports, which we got! It looks like a fake stamp though, since our friends got different looking ones. Ha! Whatever.. Being in Laos was loads of fun. We stalked up on Christmas presents, which… I won’t reveal at this moment what they are until Christmas time comes around. Whatelese did we do? Derrick tried snake wine, a jar of wine with a snake in it. He said it tastes like schnapps. Others also tried tiger penis wine, eel wine, armadillo wine, scorpion wine, and cobra wine. Some of these things including the cobra wine came from Vietnam, the owner told us. After 45 minutes of shopping, we got back on our 007 boat and saw Burma. There was a casino in Burma, where people go to gamble of course. Chakkritt says it’s very bad since buddhists believe that gambling is horrible. We got a little history of Burma which was nice. Burma, formally known as Myanmar, has a lot of political unrest.

Oh! Also, we found out that there is political turmoil going on in Thailand right now too. It’s not a full blow civil war quite yet, but it’s a big deal. It’s so coincidental because last time Derrick and I were in the Philippines, a tank had run itself into the Peninsula Hotel for a political reason. Today, the yellow wearing anti-government group, stormed Thailand’s international airport, waiting for the Prime Minister whose done a lot of shady things to arrive. They want him to step down. The red group is pro-government. I’m wearing yellow today because I love yellow, but it’s a little bit risky because of the colors and what they mean in this country right af this moment. The people going to Angkor Wat might have a problem because they are going from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Cambodia. Luckily, the Phuket group is going directly from Chiang Mai to Phuket without stopping in Bangkok’s international airport. Hopefully that all gets settled because the current flights are delayed and people are having problems coming in and out of the country. We leave on December 5^th. Is that enough time? I certainly hope so!!!! Lastly, we visisted the border checkpoint between Thailand and Burma. Here they sell a lot of fake gems, etc. Derrick and I bought koala chocolate snacks, and it turns out that they were expired. Boo! We only found out when we got on the bus. We just gave it to the local people around the bus. I sort of felt really bad, but I ate some myself to make sure it tasted okay before giving them out. We arrived at our hotel 1 hour early because our driver hauled ass!! Imagine our huge coach full of 39 tourists, 1 guide, and 2 bus people going 80 mph on a local street with other cars around. It’s was an experience. We made our way to the charming Chiang Rai. Our hotel is called “Phowadol Resort & Spa.” Our room is really nice. The lights are controlled by a master switchboard next to the bed. You turn on certain lamps and lights and the balcony lights using this thing. It’s cool. There is also a window into the bathroom. Tonight, Derrick is not feeling too well, so we’re in the hotel early, and I’m catching up on my blogging before I forget everything that’s happened. Plus, we have to wake up at 5:30 AM tomorrow for the hilltribe tour. Sigh, so early!! There is free internet, free drinks, and snacks in our hotel..,..finally! It’s 9 pm, and I may work out or go to sleep. Good night!

Chiang Rai was really nice. This was one of my favorite days of vacation. We woke up pretty early to have breakfast, which is beginning to be the same thing every morning at every hotel: eggs, fruit, and French toast. I wish they had Thai sausage because it tastes a bit like the filipino sausage longanesa, except with a few more Thai spices. Oh well. Our bus took us to a local gas station, where we all switched vehicles and got into 4 small jeepney-looking cars that would be able to take us up into the mountains to see the northern hill tribes and a green tea plantation. The first stop on the top of the hill was the green tea plantation. Looking out across the mountains, we saw row after row of green tea plants. This beautiful sight and promises of a healthier tomorrow by tea persuaded many tourists, including Derrick, to purchase expensive tea. He got oolong no.17. Apparently, it’s supposed to be the best kind of tea, and by the smell of it, I wouldn’t doubt it. The store was also selling dried and salted fruits. Of course, I bought 3 bags of li hing moi? plums and 2 bags of pickled li hing strawberries. Yum! I was thinking about Gary, Cynthia, and Jed because I think they like this stuff. I felt a bit dehydrated and dizzy getting to our stops because of the salt and the windy and very narrow roads. We visited the Akha tribe next, and it was pretty cold in their area. While they are accustomed to living 4,000 kilometers above sea in fairly cold temperature, I was feeling a bit chilly because I had gotten used to the hot, humid air of Bangkok. Here, we learned that missionaries had come and taught this tribe Christianity, which made me happy. I felt really good vibes here. They had a small church that housed a cross and a full drum kit. How great is that! We bought two elephants made out of sandal wood. One of the other ladies in our group told us sandal wood is getting difficult to find. The smell of our elephants was very strong in a good way. I’m hoping they let us take these wooden shavings back to the States. I showed a lady in the tribe my Jesus necklace, and she said, “Very beautiful!” After the Akha, we made it to another interesting tribe called the Karen, pronounced [kah-ren]. We only saw the women of this longneck tribe, as the men were out in the fields working. Most of the women have brass rings around their neck to stretch their necks. The longer the neck, the more beautiful. Darn! I wished I had a camera. Derrick’s iPhone pictures should suffice though. He bought a cd from a middle-aged woman who we asked to play her guitar and sing for us. She was really nice. Chakkritt, aka Chris, told us that the rings have to be removed carefully when they clean their necks or else they could die. Even the little kids had rings around their necks. Some, who looked to be aged 9 or 10, had also been weaving beautiful scarves. The artistry in the mountains is just something else. The hilltribes are very skilled at weaving. We also saw a dog throw up. Gross. We saw 2 more tribes, which were really cool. The old women of some of these tribes have red and black teeth (50x worse than Nana’s teeth, hehe!) from chewing some kind of substance that makes people high. A lot of the men in our group were looking for where they can get some of that. By the time we got down from the mountain, I was feeling really nauseous.

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms, a restaurant chain started by a man who came to Thailand with the intention of lowering the birth rate from 7 to 2 kids per family (which I’m not really sure I agree with), educating people about how to prevent themselves from getting HIV, and about sex in general. Our guide says sex talk in Thailand is taboo, and even he can’t get himself to say the word “sex,” but Thailand, according to him, has gotten better about that due to this restaurant chain. The restaurants are non-profit, and all the proceeds go to educating the people. I felt like I wanted to throw up after eating at this restaurant because I still felt like I was traveling down the windy road. We ended up finding an electronics store, where I bought a camera for $128. I was happy and relieved that I finally had a camera to capture all the fun and beautiful things about Thailand. The sales people were really happy I made a purchase from them. Afterwards, I even attempted to take a “jumping picture” with the sales people because I was so happy, but they left me hanging and proceeded to laugh at/with me. It was fun! Then, we ended up at the Chiang Rai nightmarket, which was a-mazing! Their food court consisted of many cleaner looking food stands. We ate pad thai, chicken skewers, and spring rolls while Caitlyn and Fausto ate a delicious seafood hot pot. We shopped for about 2 hours, and Derrick ended up buying a nice 4-string guitar. I was pretty impressed because by the end of the bargaining and by the time of his purchase, he practically knew how to play the instrument. Surprised? Not really… Everyone’s now asking him to play the thing while we’re on the bus. We took the free hotel shuttle back and went to bed. It was a great day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to our peeps back home in the States! Today, we were on the road for a while heading to Chiang Mai. We stopped at so many factories, including a silver factory, silk factory, and a umbrella factory. While they were all interesting, a lot of us were getting restless; perhaps it was due to the empty wallets everyone had by the end of the day. Everyone on the bus is sick except me and Fausto. When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Derrick was really sick. He and many others seem to have fevers, headaches, twisting stomachs, and diarrhea. I think the stomach flu is going around, especially because we’re all in such close quarters. I got scared because I thought I might get it too. There’s still many days left, and I am praying that I don’t get sick, especially tomorrow because we’re going to see the elephants.

We got to Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel, and 2 hours and a nap later, Derrick and I left for our optional Kantoke Dinner. We chose to go on this optional dinner because it was at a cultural center, where we thought we might be able to get the horn that Derrick really wants. It’s the kind that they play before and during muy thai fights. We ended up seeing one, but it wasn’t for sale. By this point, I don’t think we’re going to find it. Our guide says it’s sort of a novelty instrument that they don’t really sell in stores. The food was alright. It was served Kantoke, which is the presentation style. The food gets put into small bowls and onto one large tray in the center of the table. It’s similar to the way Koreans eat their food. While eating, beautifully costumed Thai dancers did their thing. It felt very much like a PCN. After that show, we went to a different stadium where we got close to stage seats for the Hilltribe TCN. This was my favorite of the two shows, as a lot of it was music oriented and the costumes were more interesting. It seems like all the tourists here are sick. At night, I can’t wait to make it to our hotel room, where I can breathe semi-free of tourist bacteria and germs.

I’m almost waiting to get sick. Fausto got sick at 2 AM. It’s spreading like a wildfire, but I think I’m immune to Derrick’s sickness. It’s weird. I’m feeling fine and very excited for the Maesa Elephant Camp, where we will take an hour long elephant trek in the mountains and see a demonstration of the role of the elephant in Thai culture, commerce and culture. OMG….the scenery is beautiful. We first buy our elephant-drawn flower painting before any other tourists can get their pick at the nicest elephant-drawn picture. Then, we hop on our elephant. We stepped on its back to get onto our seat. It feels like jello! Our elephant weighs 5 ton. He is 25 years old and his name is Boipeng. It was so cold, and I don’t know why I chose to wear shorts. Actually, I chose these shorts because they looked semi-jungle-y and adventurous. My goosebumps are very apparent, and the bus assistant laughed at me. Our elephant traveled through steep mountain sides and through trees and foliage that almost hit our heads. Luckily our elephant driver got off the elephant and used my camera to take our picture because we got so many pictures of others but it was hard to take pictures of ourselves. We tipped him good. Too bad, a lot of the pictures I took were blurry because the ride was so wobbly and up and down. I really enjoyed the intense elephant ride, and by now, I’m really excited. We made our way to the elephant nursery where an elephant was scheduled to give birth to a baby today. Along the way, we passed an elephant that put a hat on Derrick’s head, patted his head, and took the hat back. I got it on video! Yeah! We also saw a baby elephant and a mama elephant together. The mama elephant was going crazy trying to protect her baby from the tourists. I felt really bad. =( After hanging with the elephants, we went to see the trainers bathe them in the river. Then, we went to the stadium to watch the elephant show. Man, elephants are smart. They kicked soccer balls into goals while another elephant played goalie. They played harmonicas while swinging their trunks!!!! They painted pictures. One elephant even painted a picture of an elephant!!! Omg. I’m so impressed. They threw darts at balloons and popped them. The elephant did better than the tourist at darts. They even showed the elephant massaging its master. (MICHELLE! I WAS WAITING FOR THIS ONE FOR YOU. I WANTED TO VOLUNTEER MYSELF BUT THEY DIDN’T ASK). Then, the elephants came right up to the front row, where we were sititng, and we fed them bananas and sugar came. The elephant blew its trunk all up and down my body. GROSS! I feel super full of elephant snot but it was such a fun morning, I didn’t mind. After the elephant show, we went back to the bus. I think all of the tourists on our bus were absolutely ecstatic and satisfied with the elephant camp experience (minus the really sick ones). We arrived at our hotel, and I immediately jumped in the shower to scrub scrub scrub the elephant snot/saliva off me. The Good Earth thai restaurant next to our hotel was calling our names. We got there and I had soup and banana fritters with honey. Derrick ate a green salad and nan. Our guide told him to lay low on the spices and eat easy-to-digest food. Lunched finished, we went back to our hotel and passed out until 7:30 PM! Lol…it felt so nice to just rest. We woke up and had a nice long talk about a lot of things…one of the nicest talks we’ve ever had. I feel good about us and him. It’s just comforting having someone I can count on and someone counting on me. It makes me realize that these past 4 years have been, aside from all the hard work, so much fun! We’re thinking…can it get any better than this (because some of the couples on the bus look miserable)? I’m thinking it can… and we go into a nice discussion about it.

All changed and ready to go, we went to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. All the items look the same as the other night markets we went to. I bought a couple of souvenirs and realized I’d better write all my peeps down and know exactly what I want to buy before going to the market to make shopping a little less stressful. At the market, I ate mango and sticky rice for the first time in Thailand, FINALLY! Our guide says it’s hard to find because the yellow mangos are out of season right now. I also had one of the best meals I’ve had here so far. I ate steamed pompano in lemon and chili sauce and papaya salad! YUM! After dinner and shopping and seeing really cute thai babies, we walked back to our hotel and were in bed by midnight. We’re pretty much looking forward to the rest of the trip since there are no more tours and we can wake up whenever we want. I can stay away from sick people. Derrick is feeling better, and we’re both happy!

We got to sleep in this morning because we opted out of the City/Temple Tour. It was a nice nice sleep. We got up at 9 AM and went downstairs for breakfast. Derrick didn’t feel too good after eating, so he went back to bed and I headed for the internet café next to the hotel. I tried to check on my Lakers, check my e-mail, etc., but this man kept talking to me. He was from Seattle, and he was 47 years old. He told me he had a daughter that was my age, 22. He spoke of his job as a chef for the military, and how his friends from Thailand flew him over to cook for their anniversary. He spoke of how Thai girls aged 22 wanted 800 baht from him in exchange for them going to his hotel. He denied and just gave them 1,000 baht to go home. He kept talking and talking and showing me pictures and I couldn’t get anything done. Long story short, I found out that the Lakers have won 6 games in a row since I’ve left and I walked back to the hotel with a smile on my face. =) Then, we napped until 3 PM and woke up and freshened up. I thought that it was 5 PM, so we walked about 15 minutes to the local Church. It was a beautiful church. Derrick told me it was 3 PM, and I realized we were too early. We walked back to Whole Earth Restaurant next to the hotel and had mala kofta, roti, a mango shake, a green salad, and YUMMY banana fritters dipped in the most delicious green tea honey ever. After lunch, we went back to the hotel for another hour to watch tv and see all the turmoil happening with the airports and the protests. This morning, a government building was bombed. This is not good news. It looks like things are escalating, and I’m not sure how our flights out of this country will be affected. Tomorrow, we’re supposed to leave for Phuket at 12:30 PM from Chiang Mai. 5:25 PM came around, and we headed for the church. We got there early and went into the small chapel, but we were in the wrong place because they were preparing for a funeral or wake. We went back into the huge, pretty church for mass in Thai. I was really excited and wanted to sit in front, which turned out to semi-be a mistake. I forgot that we didn’t know the customs and when to sit and stand like they do, but it turned out to be okay. We just looked to the left and right before doing anything. Mass was really nice. It felt very comforting and I got a little emotional seeing all these thai people worship God. I was elated to be in the house of God. The peace offering was a bit awkward, as we weren’t sure how much touching we can do. We gave each other a little pat on the back during peace and did the palms together head bow to others. After mass, we went to a different night market where only locals go. We were the only foreigners there. Items were a lot cheaper, and we ate taro waffles which were yummy. Derrick bought $7 nice jeans, and I got $1 slippers, since my slippers were falling apart. After that night market, we went to the bigger market close to our hotel. Here I bought more Christmas presents and we ate the same thing: sobi, fish, and papaya salad all for 340 baht! Then, we went back to the hotel where we started to pack all the stuff we bought. I’ve begun to realize how much money we’ve actually spent. This trip is getting really expensive. Sigh. Whatever though, it’s so worth it! Caitlin and Fausto came back to the hotel, and they wanted to go to the night market to try the fish we had. We went back and then after buying a present for Grandma and Dad, we went back to the hotel, showered, finished packing, and went to bed.

I’m at the Chiang Mai International Airport right now, and it’s very hectic. We say farewell to Chakkritt and the bus driver and his wife. Sadface. They were awesome. The lines were long to check in our bags, and people kept cutting. It took us about half an hour to get our bags checked in and we headed up to the gate for our 12:30 PM departure. They announced that there is a 2 hour delay in our flight; this is not surprising because of all the stuff going on. A ton of Aussies are pissed off. They’re crowding around the flight attendants demanding to see their managers. I feel bad for the airline employees. The flight was delayed because the plane hasn’t arrived yet. The Australian folks’ had the option to take a 22 hour bus to Phuket yesterday, which would arrive in time for their connecting flight back home. They didn’t want to do the bus thing, and they heard there were openings on the Phuket flight today, so they booked it. Now that it’s delayed, they may miss their connecting flight back home, which is why they were angry. They were really upset up until they saw the plane pull up, causing cheers to erupt everywhere. The plane is now scheduled to depart at 2:00 PM. Thank you, God! I would rather be stuck in Phuket than in Chiang Mai. Alright, we’re going to be boarding soon. Khob khun ka/krob (thank you!) and bye bye!

PHUKET - We’ve arrived in phuket, and while still on the plane, the weather looked super gloomy and windy. When we got our luggages and left the airport, it was super hot. Yay! We arrived at our hotel only to realize our tour guide had never showed up since our flight was delayed. We were really pissed because we had gotten accustomed to superb tour guide service from Chris. It became evening really fast, so Chi, Karen, Fausto, Cait, Derrick, and I went out to hunt for some food. We walked EVERYWHERE only to end up at the restaurant right next to our hotel. The food was pretty good at the Jazz Cafe, but I wasn’t feeling good. It was the beginning of that time of the month (which is probably the most annoying thing that could have happened during this part of the trip). After dinner, Derrick and I went to Fausto and Cait’s room to play cards. I taught them the Animal Game, and ended up losing because of Cait’s pointing in my face everytime we had the same cards. It startled me and got me to lose…ha! Then Fausto taught us this fun fun card game called Set Back. Anyone know how to play it? It’s a team game, which makes it really fun. Cait and I totally dominated. After cards, we called it a night.

Happy Birthday, Jillian, Auntie Ruby, and Britney Spears! Today, we wanted to relax because we were getting a bit restless from the traveling so much. We spent our time on Patong Beach which was bombarded by tourists. It felt a little bit like being at Huntington Beach, except the beach was a lot cleaner and we had a better sight. There were a lot of European people, lots of old people in revealing swimsuits, and lot of mean vendors. Thai people are the most friendly and jolly people I’ve met, except for in Phuket/Patong Beach. We swam in the water, which hurt a little bit. There were little things in the water either biting or scratching us. It was weird. After the beach, Derrick and I went to drink fruit shakes and eat banana fritters, shower, etc. The beach ate up most of our day, and at nighttime, we had signed up for the Seafood Buffet. We ate tons of prawns, squid, shark, crabs, etc. I think I got an allergic reaction because my throat started to swell. There was a cute momma and baby cat by our table. After dinner, we played cards again and called it a night because we had to get up early for the next day’s activity.

Call time today was 8:00 AM in front of the hotel where this travel agency we found on the street the first night we were here would pick us up for our tour to Phi Phi Island, the location where they filmed The Island with Leonardo DiCaprio. I think I would appreciate the scenery more had I seen the movie…shucks! We started off going to Phi Phi Don to see the monkey beach. Unfortunately, the monkeys weren’t awake yet, and we only caught sight of one. Sailing on to Maya Bay, and other areas of Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lay, I could only imagine what life must be like for people who live at these beautiful places. The pictures explain it all. We snorkeled and swam in gorgeous places, and I had to tread water, since the bottom was nowhere in sight. I definitely got a work out in. Today was really romantic, and I enjoyed every bit of it minus the wooziness from driving to the port.

To our surprise, when we arrived at the hotel, we all got messages from the tour company saying that Caitlin, Fausto, Chi, and Karen had to fly back to Seoul tonight!!! That is one day earlier than planned. We were all a bit upset, but they ended up planning a day trip around Seoul, since they had 28 hours to spend there. So, after everyone showered and they packed, we all went to our farewell dinner at some beachside location, where we all ate papaya salad and drank Thai beer. Then, we went shopping, and it wasn’t too pleasant because some vendors were pretty mean (probably due to some of the mean tourists around). Then, they were off to Seoul, and Derrick and I passed out for the rest of the night. I woke up in the middle of the night around 2 pm with a high high fever. All that water and tiredness and traveling finally wore my body down, and I was sick. I thought I was going to be the only person to get away with no sickness on this trip, but alas it caught up to me. I popped some pills and woke up sweating in the morning.

Today, we packed our stuff after eating our last international buffet hotel breakfast and also found out that we would be able to stay in our hotel until 11pm, which is great because the original plan was to be out by 2 pm and leave our bags at the front desk until our shuttle picked us up for our flight at 10 pm. Today, I really wanted to parasail, but since I was feeling horrible, I thought it’d be best to just lay low and relax before our LONG travels home ahead. It was hot and humid as usual, so we made our way to Jungceylon, a shopping center/mall. We got there and were thrilled to eat at the Japanese restaurant. Ha! We were also happy to be indoors. I got as many presents as I coulod, and since I ran out of money, I couldn’t buy anymore. Talk about shop-til-I-drop… or at least til my wallet drops. Our shuttle picked us up, and we were on our way to the airport.

Our flight left Phuket for Seoul at 1 AM. I was beat. We arrived at Incheon International Airport in Seoul, which my dad claims is ranked as one of the top 5 airports in the world. Needless to say, that flight was horrible. Two elderly women were verbally fighting for 15 minutes straight, even after the stewardesses told them to stop. It was the middle of the night, and ALL of the passengers looked embarrassed for them and even more pissed off. We arrived, and after 1 hour, we were on our way to Japan (Naruto International Airport) surprisingly. After 1 more hour and hundreds of Japanese students added on to our flight, we were off to the States. The students clapped upon takeoff and landing because some, I believe, have never rode on a plane before. It was cool. Korean Airlines, once again, fed us so much I felt obese after. Luckily, it was Korean food, which I absolutely love. We got home and were very happy to have passed customs, since they always seem to give us a hard time every time we get home from somewhere. All in all, it was a fantastic and awesome trip I would recommend to anyone! We learned so much and to our great surprise, being with a tour group in Thailand seems so much better than going by yourself (if you don’t know the language, don’t know much about the country, and don’t know anyone there). Thanks for any prayers and thoughts about us while we were away, especially during this time in Thailand. Please pray for the people of Thailand, as they are all going through a rough time. Thanks!!!!!!

Pictures will be posted ASAP on facebook, myspace, and other locations. I’ll post the link once I get things uploaded.