Monks and tigers and waterfalls, oh my!!!

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Soooo much has happened since the last post. We ended up going to a travel agent on day 3 and boy are we glad we did! Talked to a Thai travel agent who went to school in Texas and he hooked it up!!! All we wanted to do was buy a ticket to Bali but he talked us into some other adventures (and signed us up for a few surprises!) and it was money well spent. Bangkok was exciting and fun but all in all it could be done in a few days.

So next on the list was Central Thailand. A driver picked us up at our hostel and we drove an hour north to the floating market. The name says it all, it really was a floating market with people displaying their goods all along a grid of canals while you ride a boat through them pointing and buying things. After buying some mangosteen and eating some delicious rice noodle soup we headed to the World War II museum...yawn. The supply bridge the US bombed was cool to walk across but that was about it. I was recovering from some serious heat rash, so walking all over the place wasn't exactly my idea of a good time.

Next was a quick stop to get some food with the rest of the internationals on our bus and then we hit the Tiger Temple!!! This place was AWESOME. Monks and live tigers!!! We took pictures with them, pet them, walked all around the temple. Super cool. C and I both were speechless. Adult tigers, baby tigers, deer, wildebeast (sic?), cows, yaks, boars! There was animals all over this place and no fences. The monks made sure no one wore any bright colors to agitate the animals and you pretty much got to pet and take pictures with all the animals. Sooo cool.

After the Tiger Temple we hopped in the back of an open truck and headed to a small waterfall. Eh. Bought some delicious banana chips though. After an hour we hopped back on the truck and went to a floating restaurant. Didn't know this was on the schedule! Ate some delicous chicken stirfry, met some great people and then took a long boat to our floating hostel! Wow! Again, had no idea this was part of the tour, but what a pleasant surprise. Spent the rest of the evening playing Drinking Uno and hanging out with some more internationals then got some much needed sleep after a very long day.

Next day we head to Erewan Falls. A seven tier water fall up in the mountains!! Hiked an hour up to the top tier then took our time stopping in the bottom tiers and cooling off while fish bit at our legs and feet. Hours later we headed back to Bangkok and took a train to Ayothaya.

Ayothaya was the original Thai captial. There our wats and temple ruins all over the place. Spent the day biking around the city center (filled with ruins and elephants) before heading back to the hotel pool and chilling out. After a couple hour swim and some sudoku we showered and hit the night market.

Now, I love sightseeing, and the sights in Thailand are some of the best I've experienced but I think that personally, the real highlight of this trip for me (besides the Tiger Temple) is definitely the food! Thanks to the street vendors there is food EVERYWHERE and it is all delicious and dirt cheap! Literally, a bowl of the best pho ever, 75 cents. Green curry from someone's 80 year old Thaii grandma, 50 cents. Sticky rice and mango, 20 cents. And the coffee!?!? WOW!!! It's black is night, thick as oil and the term "rocket fuel" doesn't even apply here. It's like unicorn fuel!!!!! Instead of cream they use condensed milk and brown sugar. It's definitely the first thing I look forward to each morning.

So, that about catches everything up to date now. Tomorrow we catch a train to Lopburi to see some more ruins over run by a renegade group of monkeys. Don't worry, I'll take pictures. Hope everyone is well. C will be reporting the next post. Goodnight!

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Photos

The Tiger Temple
Monks and tigers, what more do you need?

River Hostel
We had no idea this was part of the plan. I felt like the Thai Tom Sawyer!

Erewan Falls
A seven Tier water fall...I'm pretty sure one would have been plenty

Ayothaya
The Burmese messed this place up real good, but there's still plenty of beauty to be found. Breath taking to say the least.