So I am going to try and cut right to the chase here because SO much has happened over the past four days. Danny and I seized our last day in Bangkok to ensure that no wat or temple was left unexplored. We awoke at the crack of dawn and started our day by heading for a tour of the the floating market that lay about two hours Bangkok. This village was described by our travel guidebook as a mere tourist trap, but this river was actually pretty cool. We got to experience all of the villagers trying to to force their handcrafted knickknacks upon us and got a kickass boat tour down the channels. We made it fun by saying that we were going to enjoy our real-life jungle cruise. Directly after that, we shot over to check out the Grand Palace back in the city, which was the final monument to see on our tourist's scavenger hunt list. We saw an awesome tiny Emerald Buddha and once again got to sport some happening donated pants to respectfully cover our legs-- however, this time they were studly drawstring purple doctor's pants. We later boarded our 12-hour night train up to the jungles of Chiang Mai, which was such a blast because we got to sleep on table-turned-beds and view colorful blurs of Thailand from our windows. So fun!
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7 am and hit the ground running once again. Our Trekking Excursion began that morning at 9 so we had to adjust quickly which was awesome because Chiang Mai was instantly more appealing than Bangkok with its clearer air, lack of humidity and void of cut-throat street vendors. It was purely amazing and such a breath of fresh air...literally! After a quick shower in the pool's bathroom at the hotel meeting spot for our tour, we boarded a jeep with 2 Australian girls, a guy from Canada, and 2 Swiss German girls. It was an awesome group because we were all 20 or 21. We began with a long hike up the mountains to reach our destination. The Canadian guy, Jay, mentioned that he had heard from other travelers that there was a 7-Eleven at the top of the hill, which our tour guide Mr. O later confirmed-- this was easy to believe because the whole city of Bangkok was literally a 7-Eleven heaven with stores posted at nearly EVERY CORNER! After a crazy challenging hike through the jungle, we reached the tiny village where we would spend our night... I was panting like a hog when we finally got to the top but I was way proud of myself for accomplishing that hike haha. To our surprise, the 7-Eleven turned out to be a giant cooler packed with beer and soda-- what a dirty trick! That night we dined on a feast of rice and curry, hung out by the campfire where we simply had a bast! After a few beers, we even decided to run down to the stream and catch frogs to roast. They tasted like CHICKEN! "OH MY BUDDHA!!!"(OMB) -- This phrase became an instant favorite of mine as the locals mock our popular "Oh my God." Haha
The next day we hiked a heck of a lot more in pursuit of a waterfall. The sun was blazing and the company was awesome! We checked out a local school where reality hit again when Mr. O said that only 90% of the schoolchildren we saw would go on to university. Such a bummer, but it was fun to see kids playing tag and reminiscing of good times of pure childhood. We finally reached the waterfall and it was EPIC!! We swam for hours and naturally Danny and I took a ton of photos.. which we later compared to Japanese tourists for by the Swiss girls but it was worth it! Haha. For dinner that night, we enjoyed some fried fuk... which translates "pumpkin" in Thai! OMB!! One of the locals even came over and taught Danny and I some Thai songs, which I can only remember as somthing along the lines of "Du, Hee, Hah, Fo, Di, Mah, Dee, Hah"... or somthing like that but it was way fun to try and sing along haha. That night we slept in huts and were rocked to sleep by the relaxing sounds of the waterfall. AMAZING!
For our final day in the jungle I was so pumped because I knew that we got to ride elephants. This is why I came to Thailand! It was super fun, but a little depressing because the trainers would beat the elephants with long hooks to keep them on track. I guess that's what ensured that they wouldn't kill us or something but it was a bummer nonetheless. We took tons of photos and even got to feed them fresh bananas! Later, we rafted down the river on a bundle of bamboo rods which was pretty fun. We laughed so hard because the grandpa raft instructor continuously tried to throw us off and some real Japanese tourists kept crashing into us. OMB it was such a great time. After making it back to the city and relishing in another authentic Pad Thai, our trekking family reunited again to go see a Muay Thai fight. We were making bets and shouting at the top of our lungs cheering for our favorite fighters. Afterwards Danny and I checked into a hotel that we later learned was a hotspot for Hebrew tourists from all over the world to crash at. So weird haha
For our last day in Chiang Mai, we went to see some TIGERS! This was so great but right when we entered the baby tiger's pen, one playfully decided to take a nibble on Danny's shoulder. OMB! We were so shocked but still managed to squeeze in a quick tour of the long neck village before spending a good hour at a local hospital haha. Even though they insisted he was fine, Danny demanded a tetnis shot. I of course just enjoyed snapping photo after photo of this catastrophic event. If Danny ends of foaming at the mouth on this trip, these may be the last written documents of my life so cross your fingers and praise Buddha that that doesn't happen haha. Our next stop were the islands of Thailand. After a quick flight, we landed in paradise. OMB! BEAUTIFUL! We enjoyed some Long Island Iced Teas and the Thai interpretation of pizza on an oasis and completely relaxed with a view of white sands, copious amounts of lush palm trees and crystal clear waters. This is where the adventure morphed into a vacation and THIS is why I came to Thailand. I could not believe my eyes as the beached looked just like the pictures, and I found myself questioning as to whether I wanted to go home. JK mom. OMB! haha. That night Danny and I boated over to Ko Phangan to crash the epic Half Moon island party that we had heard so much about. It was awesome! People were covered head-to-toe in fluorescent body paint, dancing in the jungle! So many memories of this day on the islands that I could never do justice to blog about, but a few words I can leave you with to describe this day are "Amazing", "Beautiful" and "Kickass!!!" I can NOT wait to get finish this blog, so I can run and dive into the ocean at our beachside hotel! CIAO!
*****Check out my photos from Bangkok here*****
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***** And Chiang Mai here******
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