Wipe out!

This whole scooter thing didn't exactly go according to plan. Yesterday was fine. I even drove the scooter all the way to the city. I met my friend Megan at Rimping (the grocery store close to school) and followed her to a fantastic restaurant called The Salad Concept. We sat there for awhile, I ate a delicious caesar salad and had a berry smoothie. Afterwards I drove home, all alone, on my bike. I was so proud of myself, as dorky as that may sound.

But then this morning happened. I decided to leave for work at 7. To give myself enough time to pace myself when riding to school on my own. I left before Kyle, my roommate, even woke up. Everything was going so well, until I came upon a u-turn type deal under a bridge, that gets me going back towards where I came but on the other side of the street so I can turn into the school parking lot. (Side note: there are barriers in the middle of the roads here, so often you have to pass where you are going and do a u-turn at a break in the barrier for turns, or at a light) So as I was going around the bend, I took it a little too wide, I think I was trying not to block cars if they wanted to pass me, and my tire hit the edge of gravel on the side of the road and I ended up skidding my bike sideways across the road a little bit. The truck behind me slammed on their brakes (thankfully) and ended up being a teacher from the school, Janet. She got out of her car to see if I was okay, as I got myself up and tried to start moving my bike. She asked if I worked at NIS and said she was a teacher there too. She told me she'd just move her truck out of the way and then come help me. At first I was in pain but felt fine, I moved my bike over to the side of the road. Then the shock set in and I could feel the colour drain from my face as I fell to the ground. I felt like I was going to throw up or faint... or both. Janet came over to help me.

Next thing I knew I saw a white car pull over too and my friends (other teachers as well) Anna and Lynn were running over. All I can remember was everyone trying to decide who would drive what in order to get us and the vehicles all up the road to school. They settled on Janet taking my bike, Lynn driving Janet's truck and Anna drive her and Lynn's car. After sitting for awhile I had felt less dizzy so I stood up, only to have to hold onto the rail as I felt like I'd fall over again. Lynn held onto me as they attempted to walk me to the truck to put me in. On the way I blacked out and walked into the back of one of the vehicles, not sure which one as I vaguely recall it all. I believe at this point I fainted and fell to the ground. At some point Megan was driving by and stopped on her bike when she saw us all. Eventually they got me into the passenger side of the truck and we headed to the school.

Lynn took me straight to the nurse and told her what happened. Anna and Janet followed and brought my bag and keys and told me to not worry about class as I had a prep to start. Then they left and Megan and Erin showed up. Megan stayed with me, as everyone had classes to get to soon. The nurse cleaned any scratches I had, and bandaged my palm of my hand and toe. She tried to roll up my pants to see any leg injuries but I had on some skinny pants that just wouldn't roll. I said my knee hurt but I wasn't bleeding so it was fine. I thought my thumb was broken as it hurt the most and I couldn't move it, but she didn't listen and grabbed it to bandage the minor cut on it. That stung more than all of it. Then she proceeded to tensor bandage my ankle, for what reason I am not sure. But I couldn't be bothered to ask.

As soon as everything was clean and bandaged, I went up to my classroom. By then I think the whole school knew what happened to me. Everyone I passed asked if I was okay. By this point, other than the pain from the scratches and bruises, and the bruise to my ego, I felt fine. I no longer felt like I was going to throw up or faint, which was fantastic. I was a little pissed that my pedicure I got like a week ago was  completely ruined, but at least my new shirt and my only pair of pants I have here did not sustain any ripping or tearing. Life wasn't total shit. I was urged to go home, but for once in my life I didn't feel like being a princess about it. I sucked it up and went to my class. I taught all my classes, and tried not to hobble around too much to make my muscles stiff.

I wasn't sure if I was going to ride the bike home after, but I knew if my all my limbs I needed to use were working that I should. I didn't want to be scared of the bike. So after school Kyle and I left at the same time on our own bikes and headed out for dinner, then we headed home. I felt fine riding it after school. I had no problems really, other than the thumb that is all banged up I need to turn on the signal and it hurts like a bitch every time I use it. Other than that, the drive was fine. I think it'll be a little more scary in the morning driving around that bend, but I will just go slow and I know I will be fine.

My bruised up calf, my hip (road rash) and my fuct up foot

My knees, my palm (road rash) and my knuckle and thumb (hard to see the bruising on my thumb in pictures).

All in all, I am fine. I will heal. And it could've been worse. I was a little embarrassed at school since everyone found out. But it seems many people do this at least once so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad. My class felt so bad for me, they were really cute. I emailed my mum right away, and she didn't freak out. I know I probably have her worrying now though. Same with Ryan. But I am okay :) and I will not make that mistake again. Good thing mechanic type work is cheap here. A few scratches and a loose mirror to fix now. But like I said, could be worse :) I am not going to feel sorry for myself. I really just want to heal and get swimming in that pool every day after school!

Tomorrow I am going to the Rimping markets (was supposed to go today but decided to postpone to tomorrow due to my injuries) with Megan. I am excited. I love all the markets here. I want to buy everything all the time. So much cute stuff. That's all for my excitement of the day.

Scootin' Around

My Scooter!

I got my scooter bike :) It is super cute and so much more my style then the motor bike sporty types everyone else I know is driving. I love it. Kyle, Bridget and I spent the afternoon at Central Airport Plaza (the mall) looking around. I wanted a one piece bathing suit for swimming after school in the school pool to get some exercise, as being in my bikini at school is just not a great plan. Bridget didn't really want to go, but ended up finding a few cute things, Kyle got some good finds and I bought a coral button down shirt I had seen last time we were there and really wanted. And I found a great retro style, plain black, one-piece bathing suit. They had a few different styles that were retro looking, but the one I ended up with is black and like the red and white polka dot one from my last post. It's perfect, as I feel I would actually wear it aside from just swimming at the school pool. The fun part though, was that since I am in Thailand and the sizing is different, I had to buy an XL. Good thing I am not one of those girls who cares what size my clothes are cause I would have cried. I started out with mediums and larges to try on, but had to up the size as it just wouldn't fit. It was kind of funny really, size small at home to an extra large here. As long as I got the bathing suit I wanted and it fits, that is all that matters. I just want to swim in the beautiful pool at school. After we finally got out of the mall, we headed to the city to get me my scooter. We parked at the Taipei Gate and decided to walk to the bike rental place. Once we got there, only one place seemed to have the type I wanted, the Fino. Thankfully Kyle talked the guy down from 3000 baht a month ($97 CAD) to 2500 bath a month ($80 CAD). So I filled out the forms, and got the key. But we left it there for now so we could go eat dinner. We headed to the Burmese restaurant, with a few book store pit stops, and I had the green tea salad, it was amazing. Afterwards we hopping on Kyle's bike and he drove me to mine and I rode it home! So excited.

School Pool

This is the School Pool

I also went on a walk one night this past week, through my neighbourhood. I really just followed my street along. It was so lovely. I walked about 30 minutes down the road and turned around. So many cute houses, stray dogs, little corner store type shops, and even little restaurants in what looked like houses. It was very different than walking down my street in Pickering, that's for sure. Every person I passed on my walk stared at me, probably wondering who the faring (the generic Thai word for Westerner) was walking down the street. It was kind of funny but I just smiled and carried on. I had my headphones on so aside from the one guy on a bike who said Hello, I am not sure if anyone tried to engage conversation with me. Many of them smiled though. I took pictures along my way, mostly for memories of where I lived and some to share with others so they can get an idea of where I live right now. 

Beautiful flower

Soi 13 Sign, my favourite number

Most beautiful house on my street

Dilapidated building on the water

Another lovely house

Random path of the street led me to this

House

Kinda wish I lived in a wooden house like this

Anorexic cow staring at me

Seafoam green house by the water

House

In my neighbourhood

One month down and four more to go until the end of the semester. Who knows what could happen by the end of my time here. So much to see and do, and I just love it all. Thailand is amazing and as much as I miss certain people more than I thought I could or would, I am enjoying my time here. More adventures to come.

Soon to be proud renter of a Scooter!

I finally got paid, which means I finally have money to do things. One of those things is getting a scooter bike of some sort to get around so I do not have to rely on my roommate anymore to get places. It is wonderful. I have practiced a bit on his bike, and last night I drove it all the way into the city to go out. It was a bit much at first, since when I pulled out of our house gate, the handle slid off and I dropped the bike on it's side (I hadn't even started it yet). But after that minor mistake, the ride itself was fine. I felt comfortable on it and I had no troubles. When we got to the bar Ann jumped off the back while I was parking, which startled me a bit, but I was still able to park alright. I am pretty proud of myself, I won't lie. I was a little terrified at first. I wasn't sure I would have the coordination to pull it off, but it is super easy once you try a few times. Everyone I know here has gotten a more sporty looking motorbike, which is like a scooter that looks more like a motorcycle. I want the scooter they call the Scoopy or the Fino, as they are much dorkier and more my speed. I see scooter everywhere that I wish I could ride. Sometimes I take pictures...

this one is super cute!

I doubt I will find these old school ones to rent.

So that is that, aside from that I have been a clumsy person, as I am. My first injury took place while watering the grass, I walked into something sticking out of the wall and cut open my leg. I didn't realize it until I was almost done and has blood dripping down my leg. Then the next day, as I was getting off Kyle's bike, I hit my leg on the exhaust of a parked bike. The bike must've just been parked, as it burned pretty bad and made me jump. It was awful. It hurt so much. We were on our way into a restaurant so when we got in the waitress gave me ice and burn cream, which was lovely. Never doing that again. It is healing nicely though. Hopefully doesn't scar. And last but not least, for now, I was in the shower and I slipped and fell right on my ass. All I hear from Kyle's room is "Are you okay?" It was that loud. I am okay though, bruised bum and a bruised ego. Some say I should be wrapped in bubble wrap, I don't think I am at that point yet, but coming close to it.

I started swimming at the school after school last week. Well I have gone once, the other days I ended up not being able to go, but I am still going to try. It is a beautiful pool and it's so nice after school, and I definitely need to get in shape, so I decided I should swim lengths. I do love to swim, so why not. It felt good to get in there, hurting a bit the next day though. I have to find myself a one piece bathing suit though. Not sure if they are too keen on me wearing a bikini on school grounds, plus after wearing mine the first time, I just did not feel comfortable. I am hoping to find a retro one that I might actually wear somewhere other than the school pool, and for cheap. But we will see what I can find.

Would love something like this.

I'd settle for something like this.

Not much else to write. School has been awesome so far. I love my class and I love teaching so much. Finally got paid, went out for dinner Thursday night to a Burmese restaurant that was really good. I had Hin Lay Curry Chicken, and a tried some of the green tea salad the others all had and it was amazing. Definitely going back that some time. Last night we had some of the other teachers over for dinner, a pot luck of sorts. Kyle made chilli. It was fun. A few of us went out afterwards to Zoe in Yellow, which is a bar but its like a little side street of a few bars you can walk between with your drinks and such. It was a lot of fun. I really liked it, especially when I saw there is live music sometimes. Definitely my kind of place. 

Next weekend we have International Day on the Saturday for school. We have to go, and Kyle, Leah and I are in charge of Italy. The weekend after that, Kyle and I are heading to Bangkok for the weekend to meet up with his sister and see some stuff. It should be fun. Flights are so cheap and we are staying with a girl he knows, so it's a pretty cheap weekend trip.

Oh speaking of trips, my wonderful Aussie's Nicole and Nick are most likely coming to visit me here. Which makes me so happy. They are probably going to fly to Chiang Mai March 30th - ish and then I have two weeks off starting on April 5th at noon, so we are flying down to the islands, probably to Phuket and then travel around. They will probably have to leave on the 10th, but my fellow teacher and friend Ann is probably going to come with so we may keep on travelling around til then end of our break. I can't wait! Traveling and seeing my wonderful aussies will be amazing!

That's all for now, I should really get out of bed.

First Week in Chiang Mai

So much leg room!

I will start from the airport in Ko Samui. I got there with good time, but my flight was delayed an hour. Eventually when we  got our shuttle from the gate to the plane (got to love small airports) and we get on the plane, I check my ticket and find my seat. It seems as though I had been bumped up to first class. How lovely, mostly cause the leg room was amazing. It wasn't like crazy awesome first class with like my own little pod, but it was better then the seats in economy class. I noticed a girl looking at the seat beside me and at her ticket, fairly confused. I told her I was too but to just accept the fact that we got upgraded. So she sat down. Turns out we were both headed to Chiang Mai. It was a nice quick flight from Ko Samui to Bangkok. In Bangkok we had to catch a connecting flight to Chiang Mai, and because of the delay we had to book it there. We ran from one gate to the next, and made it just before they were boarding. We got on the plane, no longer in first class, but it was a short flight so it didn't matter. Arriving in Chiang Mai, I went straight to the baggage claim. I watched as bags were being claimed everywhere around me. I found my new friend and waited with her. Eventually no bags were coming out and we were bagless. A lady came over to tell us that those of us who came from Ko Samui's bags were still in Bangkok. She led us to an office where we could leave our information to get our luggage sent to us. It was my turn to go in. She took my information, but when she asked what hotel I was staying at and I explained I lived in a house, she didn't seem to understand. I showed her the address I had for my house, still no real understanding. She told me I could come pick up my luggage later, that it should be there by 730pm. It was 3pm at this time. I asked her if they were going to pay for my cab, as I probably do not have a way to get back to the airport later. She just kept telling me cabs were only 100 baht, even though that was not true. After a bit of a language barrier battle, I got the number to call to check if my luggage had arrived and I set out to find a cab. The first couple cab drivers I showed my address to, did not understand and sent me to find other cab drivers. I went to the next door where there was a lady in charge of a bunch of cab drivers. I showed them the address I had. The women kept saying it was a large area, asking what hotel I was in, the hotel's phone number, not quite listening to the fact that it was a house. No one seemed to understand the address I had, as I went around to any cab driver I saw. At this point I was getting emotional. I had tried to hold in the tears but without my luggage and not knowing where the hell I was going, I finally let it out. Thankfully I found a wireless signal and was texting Ryan through it and he calmed me down a little and put things into perspective, I definitely would've had a meltdown. I tried to find a pay phone, to no avail. So I found my new roommate, Kyle's, number on Facebook, who was waiting at home for me, put my sim card in my phone (oh the charges I will have on this month's bill) and called him. He gave me directions, using a few landmarks to help me out. When I relayed these directions to the cab drivers, the woman in charge kept saying they needed a phone number and that no one would drive me. Finally one of the more English speaking drivers called Kyle and had him meet us at a Pharma Choice close to the house. Then they sent a different driver to take me. This man was super nice, but as we are driving and we pass the few landmarks I remember Kyle telling me to look for, I got worried. I try to explain to him that we just passed the Pharma Choice but he doesn't really understand. He finally calls Kyle and does a u-turn. Then he sees a 7/11 (another of the landmarks near the Pharma Choice, but not the right one) and does another u-turn. I explain to him that it's not the right one... so after one more u-turn we find Kyle sitting outside the Pharma Choice on his bike, reading. Thankfully he was awesome. And he took me home.

Once we were home, two of the other teachers Linh and Leah, came over. Then the four of us went out to Salsa Kitchen for dinner to meet up with two other teachers Anna and Lynn. At some point I called the airport to check on my luggage, they said it would be in by 7-730. I said I would be there for 9, as it was the only time I could get there. She asked me to come earlier. I said I couldn't and asked if I could come in the morning. Eventually she gave in and said 9 was okay, apparently they close at 730-8, when the last flight has come in. So after dinner, Kyle, Linh and Leah, on their three motorbikes, took me back to the airport to get my luggage. Kyle and I went in, and they were sitting there waiting for me, we got there just after 8, so it wasn't so bad. We strapped one suitcase to the back of Leah's bike and the other to Linh's, and we rode over to meet Anna and Lynn at the Drunken Flower to have a drink and listen to a couple guys play the guitar and sing. It was quite lovely. We left my luggage in Anna and Lynn's car, and enjoyed the music. Afterwards, they took me and my luggage home. And I had a wonderful sleep.

My first week here, after my nightmare day at the airport, was great. I felt like I really just fell into place. I started teaching on the Monday, which was such a great day. I am teaching Grade 6 Language Arts, and my students are amazing. Grade 6 is broken up into two homerooms, and so I only have 13 students at a time for each class. The school day is broken up into 6 periods, and I teach 4 out of the 6, and have two 50-minute prep periods to plan and mark. It's pretty nice for my first teaching job. I got right into the swing of things, planning out lessons for each aspect of language arts that I teach. And it's actually really enjoyable. I have had a lot of jobs in my life, and I have liked some of them mildly, but it is so much different to go into work every day and enjoy what you do. Teaching is that for me. It's been so nice to actually be excited about planning lessons and teaching classes. I haven't felt this happy at work in a long time. Aside from teaching, my first week was very relaxed, as most nights were spent at home hanging out, even though we didn't have internet at home until the Monday after I started teaching. It's amazing how disconnected one can feel without internet. My only form of communication was emailing while at work, and a couple phone calls on my cheap Thai cell I bought, literally costed me like 20 dollars Canadian for my cell phone. The first Friday night here, we had a few of the girls over for dinner. It was lovely. All of them are so nice, and I really enjoy hanging out with them. Linh and Leah took me for my first ride on the motorbike, me driving. I took Kyle's and they took their own and we rode down the street to the little store. It wasn't a long ride but I was pretty shaky so that's probably good. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed too. As most people just got back from holidays and pay day isn't until the end of the month, trying not to spend too much money until then seems to be the plan for most, myself included. Kyle and I went over to the girls' place to use their internet, and Kyle let me drive the motorbike home. Aside from my shaky u-turn, I think I did pretty good.

After that, we finally got internet on Monday, after a struggle making plans for them to come install it and to fix it, and all that. It was a blessing. Then we had to move the router upstairs after a couple days of realizing the range is so bad we couldn't get signal in our rooms. So now we have internet upstairs, but not downstairs. Which is fine, but kind of sucks if we want to sit downstairs or if I want to use wifi to iMessage people back home while I am downstairs. Clearly my life is rough, internet only upstairs is my biggest problem. Well one of. We also went over to the night bazaar on Thursday, which was awesome. I love the night markets. I love markets. I love cheap shopping. I could have bought so many things. It was ridiculous. We had some really good Indian food at the night bazaar and wandered around...

Night Bazaar, loved it!

Night Bazaar

Colourful umbrellas.

Random little trinkets.

Scarves, so many colours!

One of the booths at the Night Bazaar.

Friday night Kyle and I went over to the principal's place for dinner with a bunch of the teachers. It was a lot of fun. We had a great meal and lot of laughs with the principal and vice principal. Who knew you could have that much fun hanging out with your bosses. It was great. We left there around midnight, and stopped at 7/11 on our way home for some random treats. I bought a bun for breakfast the next morning. Kyle let me drive home, since there weren't a lot of cars on the road and I need to practice. This time I feel I did really well. I need a bit more practice and I should be good to rent one after pay day, well mine will be more of a scooter, less sporty. I am pretty excited.

Saturday, which was yesterday was fun and random. Kyle and I went to Duke's for lunch, and then decided to go scope out a bike for me. The place didn't have any at the moment but said they should have some scooter types by pay day, so I will definitely be going back. We strolled along that random street, went for pedicures, journeyed through a temple we came across and then went home. After we were home for a bit we headed out again to see the Umbrella Festival. We wandered down the closed off street looking at all the stalls of things to buy/eat, and met up with Linh and Brigitte. They were getting their portraits drawn by some art students who's teacher is dating Kyle's TA at school. So we got ours done afterwards. Kyle's turned out really good, mine makes me look like I have no chin, but it's pretty good otherwise. Then we wandered around some more, I bought a dress (of course) for 190 baht ($6CAD) and we bought some sweets for less than a dollar. It was a great day of random adventures, I really enjoyed seeing all of it. I took so many pictures of anything and everything. I'd rather have too many pictures while I am here, than not enough :)

Pretty bench swing and unmbrellas at the Umbrella Festival

Guy drawing me, Kyle in the background

Me and some umbrellas 

I bought two.. they were delicious.

So many random umbrella displays.

Kids making their own umbrellas, so cool!

I wanted one, for no particular reason.

Just cool.

Me being like the girls who posed before me.

And so that is up to date, my posts will never be this long again! Promise! Now onto some lesson planning and such. Maybe go outside and read a bit first. I am almost done this book and it is amazing, The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett and Amanda Pressner. Read it if you like reading/travel, it is excellent. That is all.

And so it begins...

I went back and forth on the idea of writing a blog. Personally I don't feel I have anything interesting to say, regardless if I am in an interesting place for the time being, but alas I feel it would make sense to write one, as many people seem to want to hear about my my travels and my life over here. So that being said I guess I should start from the beginning of my journey...

I left on December 29th, my flight was at 6:20am, so Ryan took me to the airport for around 3am. We waited in the ticket line up for ages, as they don't really open until 3:30 or 4. Can't remember. Either way, once I got my boarding passes and they weighed my bags (one was 2.4kgs overweight but no one said a word or charged me anything, thankfully) I got to stand in another line up, this one leading to places Ryan could not go, so we parted ways. Yes, I cried like an emotional basket case, as I do. The lovely couple in front of me talked with me and it made me feel less emotional. All in all my flights weren't bad. The food was alright. Korean air had very interesting salads and very noodly dinners. I ate a bit but I bought a box of brownies in South Korean airport, as I would. I flew from Toronto to New York, New York to South Korea, and South Korea to Bangkok. Did not sleep much at all on any of the flights, and got to Bangkok at around 11pm on December 30th, due to the time difference and flights I missed a couple days of existence but it was worth it. I took a cab over to Khao San Road and was dropped off on the one end and told I must walk. I walked from one end to the next, wheeling my 2 suitcases--I put my lovely vintage suitcases on a little compact trolley I got--along with me. I didn't see my hotel. Thankfully a lovely Scottish guy came over and said I looked lost and helped me. My hotel had a huge sign and was pretty much right in front of my face. So I finally get up to my hotel, pay, get my key and go up to my room. And I slept.

My bed at the Dang Derm Hotel on Khao San Road

The other side of my room: the bathroom

New Years fireworks on Khao San Rd

The next morning I woke up after a short sleep. I was still tired but I got up for the free hotel breakfast at about 7 and ate fruit, since my options were some beef noodle dish, cut up hot dogs, weird looking fried eggs, bread, some interesting square pieces of meat and watermelon/pineapple. I filled my plate with fruit and had some juice. I wandered around that morning, just taking it all in, but I was exhausted. After scarfing down some delicious pad thai from a lady cooking it on the street, for 50 baht (like $1.60CAD), I went back up to my room. I am not sure when I fell asleep but I woke up at 11pm. It was New Years Eve and I almost slept through midnight. I got up, made myself presentable and went outside and wandered Khao San Road. I spent New Years just walking from one end to the next, as it was packed and by the time I got back to my hotel it was around 1am. I was alone and sober, as I usually am sober, so I just decided to go back in and relax. Got some more sleep, woke up for 7am breakfast of fruit again, and I decided to go see the Grand Palace, on foot, as it wasn't too far. When I got there, I forgot my 

shoulders were showing and I had to rent a shirt outside the door to wear inside, cause they do not allow you in there without being covered. So for 50 baht I rented a lovely red and white hawaiian button down and put it over my dress. I wish I had a picture, it was such a lovely ensemble. But it was worth it. The Grand Palace was pretty spectacular. So many colours, and just such a beautiful site. I took a lot of pictures. After I'd seen it all, I wandered a bit around the outside of the walls. I was going to go see another temple close by, but I did not feel like renting another shirt to get in and I was getting pretty hot. So I wandered back to my room, went up to the roof top pool and relaxed. Then had some delicious pad thai again and went to sleep pretty early. I had a hard time adjusting to the time change. Fell asleep at 5pm ish, woke up in the morning. Thankfully I had shows on my computer to watch and certain friends to talk to over wifi.

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Mmmm pad thai

The next morning well after I woke up, I had my fruit for breakfast, and even tried the square meat things which were not too bad but still weird, and then decided to wander around. After about an hour in the sun, I don't know if I got heat stroke or something about the food, but I was not feeling well. I spent my 3rd day in Bangkok in my bed watching episodes of Sons of Anarachy. I couldn't go outside, it made me feel nauseous. On my fourth day, I took a cab to Central World, which was a huge mall. The first store I walk into, Forever 21. Needless to say, although it was something to do and interesting enough to see, it was far too North American, and I did not buy anything aside from an avocado to eat later and a mango smoothie for lunch. When I got back to Khao San Road I decided I would allow myself to buy a couple things, so I shopped around the little stalls. I ended up with two dresses (shocking I know) and two t-shirts for a certain boy. After another delicious meal of pad thai (I seriously couldn't get sick of it), this time from a restaurant type on the street, I had yet another early night. Still couldn't stop feeling sleeping around 4pm. It was fine though as I had a flight to catch the next morning to go to Ko Samui.

Flying over Koh Phangan 

Woke up and had my final meal of fruit for breakfast and got my things together and found a cab to take me to the airport. Funny how it costs half the price to go to the airport then leaving the airport. Guess I shouldn't complain, as neither were very expensive anyways. Left Bangkok for Ko Samui around 10:30am. I was so excited to get to the beach. I love city life, but it's much better when you have a friend, and since I had such early nights, I never really met anyone while in Bangkok. Once again I was worried about my slightly overweight luggage, and the fact that this was a domestic flight and I had two suitcases. But no one mentioned a thing as I put my luggage up to be weighed and they tagged it. Lucky, I guess. The flight to Ko Samui was short, as I looked out the window I got even more excited. Bird's eye view of the islands was amazing. I definitely started to wish I spent less time in Bangkok and came here sooner. I landed around 1pm and took a airport shuttle bus for like 120baht (approx. 4 bucks Canadian) and arrived at my hostel. 

I rocked up to the hostel lobby and gave my paperwork over to the lady. After 5 minutes of looking through things she said she couldn't find my reservation. I got a little worried but tried not to freak out. I showed her my print out from my booking and she kept just looking at me. Finally she put me in a single room right across from the lobby, which was perfect cause I got a great wifi signal there. The room was alright, the bathroom wasn't the greatest, but I was only there for three nights and I was in Ko Samui, Thailand. Who cares what the bathroom looks like. I decided the best thing to do now would be to find the beach! Thankfully that took no time at all. I spent my first night in Ko Samui taking a long walk along the water and snapping pictures as I did. After a delicious meal of green curry chicken, I went to sleep, later than in Bangkok, yet still early by normal standards.

At the one end of Chaweng Beach

On my beach walk

Palm trees

My feet in the sand

The next day I decided that before going to a beach that I should probably go see the Big Buddha, as I had looked up different things to see/do in Ko Samui and that was definitely something I wanted to see. I got in a cab and asked him to take me there. He was the nicest man, talked to me the whole drive about Ko Samui, Chiang Mai (where I was coming to live), Canada, and he even told me about another temple close to the Big Buddha that I could walk to afterwards before I head back. He told me Chiang Mai was too cold for him, to which I replied with 'I am Canadian, I think I can handle it'. Foreshadowing my cold mornings here on the bike into school. But anyways, he was so lovely. Once he dropped me off at the Big Buddha, I played my role of tourist well and took pictures of everything and anything I wanted. It was amazing. I can't believe how beautiful temples really are. 

Big Buddha

After I wandered around the little shops and such surrounding the Big Buddha, I took to the roads and started walking in the direction my cab driver told me to go to see the other temple. I walked on the side of the road, snapping pictures of the things I walked by and taking it all in. It was really such a lovely place. I finally got to this other temple, the name of which I have still yet to figure out, and I wandered through looking at the amazing things before me. The detail that goes into these are amazing. I am not spiritual at all, but these were definitely a part of religion that I loved, maybe the only part of religion that I loved. I wandered around, taking pictures of every single thing I passed. So as not to miss any photo op. I met a lovely lady who was there with her family, she told me about when she was young and traveling by herself. It was nice to have a conversation with someone, as I hadn't had a good one with anyone really since I got to Thailand. Then I set off to find Big Buddha Beach. I walked back towards Big Buddha and further. Found the beach, sat for a bit in the shade, just admiring it. Then I took a cab back to the hostel. My plan was to grab some lunch and go the beach but at the hostel cafe I met a nice English bloke who I had a nice conversation with, and once his two friends came back, the four of us sat and chatted all afternoon. I didn't mind so much not being at the beach, I had another day to lay there tomorrow. It was nice to make friends finally. Unfortunately for me, they were leaving that evening to head back to Bangkok, not that I could've stayed awake to go do much at night with my sleeping schedule, but it may have been nice to try. Either way, I wandered a bit and then went to sleep a little later.

Favourite picture from my adventure that day

Other temple with dog sleeping on the path

Beautiful part of the random Temple

Loved this

Last part of the temple

Spent the whole next day at the beach. Which then led to a full body burn, as I had yet to actually spend that much time in the sun, and came here pretty pale for me. But it was nice to just lay and read, and walk the beach, and listen to music. I had a lovely time. After the beach, I went to find a souvenir, and bought myself some sweet seafoam green fake ray ban wayfarers. And went to a cute little restaurant on the strip and had some cashew chicken for dinner, and went to sleep. All in all, Ko Samui was amazing. I left Ko Samui to head to Chiang Mai, where I would be living for the next 5 months, at 10am. I will leave it there for now, as I have written a ton and the next part of the story gets pretty interesting once I left Ko Samui. My traveling alone went pretty well up until this point, I couldn't wait to get to Chiang Mai and start teaching.