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.