Advertisement
Published: November 11th 2006
Edit Blog Post
So we finally made it to Thailand
It's great, the only thing we're happy to leave behind are the bathrooms! Our hotels either have self-flush toilets (you pour water from a bucket into the toilet) or squat toilets, they never have toilet paper, but always have cold showers, and sometimes no sink! oh and for some reason the towels never actually dry off the water! i take so many things for granted!
Before we went to the beaches we spent a few days in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. I took a cooking class there.....not sure why, i don't actually cook. But who knows, maybe I'll start!
Then we did a 2 day trek, which the girl who booked it failed to mention involved hiking up a mountain for 3 hours in order to get to the village we were sleeping in. Forgetting my inhaler, I was the slowest hiker, as I wanted to escape death by an asthma attack. We took lots of pitcures so that we could enjoy the gorgeous view later, when our bodies weren't covered in sweat and our heads weren't pounding! The turantulas and snakes on the mountain didn't make it any easier. The highlight of the trip was definately the elephant riding. Wwe got to sit on its neck, which was pretty cool. We felt a little bad when we found out they were beaten as babies to be trained for that. But we still did it! We also did some somewhat tame white water rafting, even though marissa managed to almost fall out of the boat. She would have if the guide hadn't caught her!
Our guesthouse in Chiang Mai wasn't bad. One of the owners was so sweet and the other 2 weer the most bitter people I had ever met. The first day I used the internet and it stopped working after 40 minutes on it. Their policy was between 20 minutes and an hour is the same price. So they charged me for an hour and i said if i'm being forced to pay for the whole hour can i come back later and use the other 20 minutes when the interent's fixed? they said no, it's not our fault and i said well it's definately not mine, i wanna come back, i wasn't finished using it. So then I had to make a phone call since I was in the middle of a conversation on msn when the Internet stopped working. after i got off the phone, they said the call was 7 minutes but i had timed it and it was only 5, so they showed me the clock on the phone that said 6.5 minutes, and i said fine i'll pay but it's wrong. (I know it's only a minute but every $ counts here.) They said fine, it's only 20 cents we'll pay it, in an arrogant way as if saying i'm the rich one i should be paying.
They got so mad at me that they didn't charge me for the whole call or the internet and instead said nevermind we don't want your money just don't come back and use our phone or internet again, too many problems!!!!! so i was banned from using the phone and internet at my hostel!! aparently everyone else puts up with their shit!
We looked for a new hostel the next day but it turned out it was the cheapest one, so I settled for finding a new internet cafe! After Chiang Mai we took 2 trains and a boat to Ko Samui...our first island. We met peolple when we got off the boat who knew of a cheap place so we followed them. It turned out to be cheap for a reason....a tiny hut with a mat ont he floor as the bed! So we found a new place with an actual bed. It's only drawback was the 3 cockroaches we found when we got back from the bars that night. So I had my first cockroach killing experience, since marissa was a lost cause.
Our next stop was Ko Phangan, the sight of the infamous full moon party. What, you've never heard of it! Every full moon there's a crazy party on the beach that lasts until late morning the next day. We surprisingly lasted until 8 am the next day! we were so proud! By the end, there were tons of people passed out on the beach. We heard about all thedrugs that get passed around during the party and met people afterwards who had taken some, but nothing ever crossed our paths. I guess we look to innocent to even be offered anything! Not that that's a bad thing, we wouldn't have taken them, it would just be nice to be included, you know?!!!!
Thai people are so friendly and helpful. They're always smiling. A guy fell on the sidewalk today and people ran up to him to help him up. another guy ran off the road on his motorbike and like 3 cars stopped to help him. It's so common here to crash bikes, that people have started calling scrapes and bruises from accidents "thailand tattoos"!!! We debated renting one for a day until every second person we met walked passed uss with either crutches or bruises.
We're now on Ko Phi Phi...pronounced pee pee, it's where the movie the beach was filmed. It's gorgeous and there are tons of backpackers here. and surprisingly lots of families with small children. We're just relaxing on the beach by day and partying by night. what a great life! i never wanna leave!
At least I have cold montreal to come home to!
You'll have to wait a few weeks till i get home for pictures, who wants to spend time downloading them when i could be on the beach?!! not me!
see everyone soon.
Trish
Advertisement
Tot: 0.039s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0221s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
debra
non-member comment
i am coming
hi girls Thailand sounds just like what i need now except for the cockroaches a nd the drugs., well...........Glad that the end of your trip is relaxing and beachy since when you come home...........enjoy the rest of it and we look forward to seeing you soon. love ya mom