Blogs from Phuket, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Well, it happens to the best of them I suppose. We missed our alarm and woke up late, luckily we made the flight alright! We flew to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia for a long layover and had to go through customs and immigration even though we had a transfer flight to Phuket. It was really obnoxious but not gonna lie—I'm loving that Malaysia stamp in my passport. Got to Phuket pretty late but we were planning on just getting some dinner and pool time in before bed. The minibus that we hired to take us to our hotel kept a van full of people waiting in the heat for 30mins while they waited to fill one more seat which caused some early tension/frustration. When they drove out of the way to their main office so that we ... read more

Sorry for the delay in the updates on my blog. Internet here is slow and not always convenient to use. I have officially been in Thailand for 3 weeks and I have experienced and learned so much. My first stop in Bangkok was a complete and total overload. I saw and did things in three days it usually takes others a week. I saw four of the most well known temples: Wat Pho, Wat Arun, Golden Buddha and the Grand Palace. I got duped into a long tail boat ride and took a bunch of ferries across the river. I witnessed Songkran in full effect on Kaosan Road. On my way back from the Grand Palace, exhausted and sick of being ripped off I got lost. I walked a few miles on small streets getting drenched ... read more

This is it, my final Thai blog (this time around). The past week has been a whirlwind; finishing up school, packing and organizing, saying goodbyes. It has been an enormous task to go through all of the stuff I've accumulated and decide if I sell it, give it away, keep it, or trash it. Most of it is being left behind with my roommate, and the rest is going to friends or neighbors. But I feel a sense of closure, I'm at peace with moving on. There are no regrets, no tears, just happy memories to carry with me always. The one major thing I will be selling is my computer. This concept seems to absolutely blow people's minds; how could it be humanly possible to live without internet access? I will have no smart phone, ... read more

This is a heavy one, I had a lot of alone time to think this weekend... Let me start with updates. In the past two weeks I have been busy with summer school and cleaning out every old file and picture on my computer (so I can sell it). I have managed to pick up some tutoring hours to make a little extra cash on the side. In case you missed the Facebook pictures, I also had a little plastic surgery done. Don't get too excited, I just needed two tiny abscesses removed from my scar. My scar looks beautiful now; well, as pretty as a face scar can ever look, at least! Here's where I get introspective. What was supposed to be a blog describing my travels, has now become almost like a diary. This ... read more

Are you finally ready to know where I'm going?! A lot of you have told me I'm not keeping you well enough informed, so I figured it was time to let you know the next planned destination. Drumroll please.... I'M HEADING TO NEPAL!!! I will be flying out of Malaysia on May 6th and landing in Kathmandu just in time for lunch at a much higher elevation. Sadly this is as far as the planning goes at the moment. I don't know what adventures Nepal will bring me, but I'm looking forward to new food, new language(s), and lots of free time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Don't worry, May is springtime in the Himalayas and it will be in the high 20's C (80's F) during the day. I still think anything below 75F will ... read more

We took our afternoon flight down to Phuket on Tuesday, and after a quick bite to eat, my brother, Tony, came to meet us for a drink at our hostel (Bodega) bar. He entertained us with stories of his travels, and later, we (along with Marion - a fellow traveller from our hostel) went and joined him, John, Bartley and some of their friends from their hostel (Kool Backpackers). Kool Backpackers is run by a guy named Ang, who seemed really nice and had a wicked sense of humour. He often sat chatting with his guests, giving off a really welcoming vibe. The hostel is based on the hectic bar street, Bangla Road, where hundreds of touts promote 'ping-pong' shows - women doing bizarre things with ping-pong balls, and - as I was later advised - ... read more

One reason I usually avoid posting my future plans in my blog is because they change frequently. Now, this statement is more likely to be true when I am out on the road, rather than living in a fixed place. But in this circumstance, and really in general, I could not foresee the events life was about to throw at me. I made the foolish mistake of giving you a "6-month plan" in my last blog, and, not shockingly, I am currently in the process of drastically altering these plans. Thailand has been a roller coaster, but it has also been nothing less than a wonderful experience. Many things have changed in my life and in me. I have given it my all, even when it meant lowering my standards or expectations. This is not always ... read more

To get to Phuket we had a 2 day journey - from Pai to Chang Mai by minibus – train from Chang Mai to Bangkok – overnight train to Suran Tani then bus to Phuket. The first few days we stayed in Phuket Town which there wasn’t an awful lot to do there. So we rented a scooter and drove to a few beaches around Patong – the drive over the mountain was fun with lovely fews over the town and beach. After a few days we moved over to Patong to be closer to the beach and this seemed to be were all the night life was. We did all the normal things – hit the main strip for a night out – watched all the ladyboys and the dirty birdy old men with their ... read more

Thursday, March 14, 2013 The girls slept in this morning until 730am, however Michael and I were up at 630am so we could run on the beach. We ran for 30 minutes at the water’s edge. Wow, this was a ton of fun, but extremely tiring. I think I used muscles I have not used in a while. The sand was partly soft, however I preferred running on the hard packed sand close to the water. When running Michael and I were joined by a pack of three black dogs, one of the dogs was a bully to the other dogs, quiet funny to watch them run with us for a while and bark at each other. Another time a single black dog came running up to us and just started barking, not a nice doggy. ... read more