Last night!

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Hard to believe I'm only in Thailand for one more night!I’ve had a great last week. After one last night out in Ko Lanta, Shelley and headed away from the beach into the jungles of Khao Sok. It actually wasn’t that jungle-ish, but our bungalow was constantly surrounded by monkeys. Shelley was laughing one morning as she woke up to me sitting on the veranda yelling “get outta here” and swatting my bright pink bag at a monkey - who apparently thought it was fruit. Oh, the sounds of the jungle 😊 We had one ‘trek’ in the national park. Unfortunately the guide book suggested using a guide, as you get to see so much more - that really wasn’t necessary as it was a pretty well marked path. Although the guide was probably more helpful at getting us to go around the “closed path” signs than we would have been on our own.

From Khao Sok we took an overnight bus to Bangkok - surprisingly much better than an overnight train! We spent the day at the Chatuchak market which is seriously the biggest market I have ever seen - they really did have everything a tourist or a Thai person would ever need. Unfortunately we were able to go out in Bangkok for Shelley’s last night (one of the reasons I came back to Bangkok with her). There was an election the next day so they were not selling alcohol. Surprisingly, the only other time this has happened to me is in Mexico when I was 19… seriously, no beer in Thailand. We were a bit chocked, but it meant Shelley got up on time and didn’t miss her flight.

I spent the next 3 days in Kanchangaburi, which I really liked. It’s a small town 2 hours from Bangkok and is really laid back and relaxed. I found a great guest house with a room on the river… and a pool above! So I spent some long hours by the pool getting my last rays of sunshine. I did do a couple of touristy things as well. I went to the Tiger Temple and got to walk around a pet about 4 cats - I liked it… apparently they aren’t drugged, they are just cats that have spent their entire lives around humans and are used to people, so when they are sleeping they don’t mind being on display and touched. The next day I took a trip out to Erewan Park to see the 7 stage waterfall. It was really beautiful and I was able to head off the trail a bit and find my own private swimming pool - which was fun until I get grossed out by the fish nibbling my legs! I met a few cool people along the way as well, so I got to enjoy a few entertaining meals. The first dinner was cut short when we noticed that there were 2 rats fighting each other in the storage room behind our table. The second was a fun dinner at the night market where I helped a Dutch guy “push some boundaries” eating street food. Good times!

So I’m back in Bangkok and not too keen to try to see any final sights. I spent last night at the mall watching a movie in the VIP section, where you get a reclining super-comfortable sofa chair along with a pillow and blanket! Today I’ve just been wondering around the streets - probably just go get a coffee (one last shot of espresso and condensed milk… oh how I’ll miss you, sweet sweet coffee) and sit by my pool. Maybe hit Chinatown tonight and make this trip go full circle!

Merry Christmas everyone - I hope you have a great holiday… I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to mine with all my friends and family!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my stories -
Love Stephanie

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Photos

Out in Khao Lak
what turned out to be the last night out with my diving buddies!

Tigers!
how cute is he?

Jungle
Our Jungle house was so relaxing I even took out my journal for the first time in 2 months!