CarmenL

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I am currently in the Narita Airport in Tokyo, about 1/4 into my journey home. Luckily I had to get up at 3 am this morning to get to the airport for my flight, and after staying out later last night I was dead tired and slept through most of the 6 hour flight to get me here. Next is the really long segment to San Francisco, then an 8 hour stop-over (luckily during the day so I will be able to go out and explore) and then another few hours to get me home to Edmonton. My final day in Thailand was a good one. The tailor came to the hotel in the morning to bring me my clothes, none of which fit so they then had to scramble and alter them twice more during ... read more

If you order a mixed drink here, it always comes garnished with fruit and orchid blossoms. It amazes me that they grow like weeds here and are that disposable, when at home they are so rare and beautiful and the cost of having those garnish your drink would be insane. Makes for some pretty drinks though! They don't use chopsticks usually, typically a spoon and a fork. I have not seen a knife since I have been here, you use the fork for cutting (though most things are already chopped bite size) and you eat from your spoon. It still feels stange scooping up mixed veg or whatever with your spoon rather than fork. Rice, rice, rice! They literally eat rice for 3 meals a day. I've been doing it for two, but I just can't ... read more

The last few days we have spent at Ko Mook and Ko Rork, a couple tiny islands in the Andeman Sea off the west coast of Thailand. We had to take boat rides to get to each one, and the water was the most incredible emerald green, and went went fairly close to shores lines most of the way and the visibility was so excellent you could see the coral on the bottom and all the tropical fish. It was so tempting to dive right in! And the beaches, the sand on them was the same consistency of flour, perfectly white and so fine. There was not a lot to do these days other than enjoy the beach and the mid-30's temperatures. Perfect days ended with spectacular sunsets, I had to hold myself back from filling ... read more

Well it turns out the night safari was not so bad, it started pouring rain about an hour before we left, and we waited a bit and then set out anyway. It was completely dark so we had to see only by flashlight, with a guide in the front of the 8 of us that went and one in the back. It stopped raining not too long after we started out, and man was it humid! Droplets of water on your skin instantly as if you had just stepped out of the shower. The guides were amazing at pointing out all the critters they could spot as we went along, I don't know how they do it. We saw deer, lemurs, catepillars (extremely big and hairy and poisonous), black scorpion (also poisonous), butterflies, spiders (huge ones ... read more

The north part of the trip was soo busy that I didn't have time to add all the detail I wanted to so I'm going to give a bit more here now that it's a more laid back pace (today I slept in until 10, every other morning it has been necessary to wake up around 6am!) I have seen so many temples by now, it is totally amazing the reverence they have for their religion and wats and buddhas, they are everywhere and so elaborate! The Grand Palace was something to see, and actually that was the only place so far that I felt was crowded, everywhere else we are usually the only people so it has been really nice that way. The King is so respected, there are pictures of him EVERYWHERE, and you ... read more

The last 3 nights I have spent in a national park in the south of Thailand, this is definetely the most remote I have even been! The park is comprised of these jagged limestong cliffs popping out of this huge lake, covered in the oldest rainforest in the world. There are tigers, elephants, monkeys, and tons of spiders and other insects. We took a boat ride into our accomodation, floating rafthouses - basically a old bamboo lashed together to form a walkway with these tiny little rooms floating off them also made of the oldest bits of wood and bamboo you could find. It's dangerous to navigate, but on the flip side these tiny little bungalows are out in the middle of no where, you can here and see the monkeys everywhere, and there was just ... read more

I have been travelling through the north of Thailand and it has been so amazing. Just as a short summary, I have been cycling through villages and by rice paddy fields, riding elephants, visiting an elephant hospital, and visiting a local school and playschool to play with the kids. The older ones all wanted to touch us and have photos taken and practice the little english they knew, the little ones were too scared to come very close, and when picked up and handed over to us actually started to cry. But did manage to get them to laugh and play some games (chasing them around the schoool yard!) and then singing songs. Also done a lot of shopping and time in the markets. I took a thai cooking class and got quite drunk one night ... read more

I have figured out a little of the attention I have been getting. A woman grabbed my arm in the market who could speak a little English and put her arm next to mine and pointed at mine and said, "I like". Apparently they all want to have really pale skin here, including the sun screen that you can buy in spf 90 and contains whitening ingredients! The tour guide showed us how they are wanting so bad to be light that they wrap in all these covers when they are out in the sun, including big hats and scarfs that make them look a bit like train robbers to me! The tour guide is a Thai from Sukothai. She took us out for dinner to a delicious thai restraunt our first night, and I met ... read more

I have been busy! Yesterday I went for a massage, I ordered the 1 hr Thai and foot massage. The room had a bunch of mattresses on the floor with people lying on them and the staff at work. It went downhill fast - I wish someone would have warned me what a Thai massage involved. Owww! I was just waiting for it to end, and thinking about all the bruises I was going to have. It was half comical actually becuase this guy was using everything, elbows, slaps, jabbing little fingers, karate chops! He even walked on my back and then used his body to manipulate mine in all these really odd ways - do those guys ever get a workout! Then I went to the weekend market, it was so big I think I ... read more