Thailand: Full Moon Party

EVERYONE in Thailand is so hapy and nice! Its so refreshing to see a smiling face everywhere you go, unlike america, where everyone seems so bitter and unhappy.

Last monday to wednesday night I spend on the Island of Koh Phangnan for the full moon party. Word of advice: dont stay on this island any longer then you have to! Except for the full moon party, there is NOTHING to do and I was pretty bored the whole time but stayed three nights becuase that was the minimum that I could book during the full moon party. Anyway, the Full Moon party was just ok, I thought it would be better. The music was pretty mainstream and a lot of the time they just played CDs! It was mainstream pop, hip hop, and progressive house. I heard the same songs all the time. But it was on the beach and there was some amazing lightning in the background the whole time but it didn't rain! I stayed up till 8am at the party (with a quick nap on the beach from 5-6) I got pretty smashed, and dont really remember anything from 3-5am.

Thailand: Hilltribe Trek

Last Sunday we traveled from Chaing Mai 4 hours to a small Thai village to stay in the home of a village. We ate a traditional northern Thai Khantoke dinner here. This was the first night we spent sleeping on mats on the floor.

Monday through Wednesday was spent on a hilltribe trek. Over those three days we hiked up to 1500 meters in the mountains and over 30 kilometers. This was not a walk in the park, this was trekking up and down the mountain terrain stopping at beautiful waterfalls for lunch and meeting local hilltribe villagers. I hired a porter for the day and he carried my backpack for me for about $7 a day. That way, I could enjoy the scenery and the walk without a load on my back. We stayed on the floor of huts, the very very hard floor, for 3 nights straight. This was really roughing it, as I could barely sleep because it was so unconfortable. The shower consisted of a basin of cold water that you scooped onto your head. The toilet was a hole in the ground. It makes you realize that all the mod cons you have make life so much better!

Thursday we visitd the point of the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Burma and Laos borders meet. We took a fast boat ride down the Mekong river to Laos where we spend an hour looking around. The boat ride was a lot of fun and super fast! We also crossed the border into Burma for a couple hours. So in one day I was in 3 countries!

Thailand: Elephants and Monkeys and Snakes

Yesterday was spent riding an elephant through the forest. It was amazing how HUGE of an animal an elephant is. You don’t realize how big it is until you get on its back and you are like 15 feet in the air feeling the sway of the animal and feeling the muscles move on its back. We climbed mountains and walked through rivers. I rode on its back half the time and then rode right on top of its head the second half. After that we took a ride on a bamboo raft down the river and I even helped by standing up and steering the raft by sticking a long piece of bamboo into the riverfloor.

Today was a free day for us so I decided to spend the day by myself. I hired a private car for the day ($7) and they took me all around to 3 different places. First we went to the Orchid farm which was free. Next he took me to the Snake Farm ($5) which not only had snakes but birds and reptiles too. I took a picture with 3 locals and a huge snake slithering on my shoulders! After that we went to the MONKEY FARM! I was playing with a monkey for a while, she was climbing on my arm and biting my fingers with her little teeth and holding my hand. Its amazing how human like monkeys are with their little toes and fingers. I got a lot of pictures with me and my monkey too. I will try to upload some pictures to the internet soon.

Just to give you an idea of how inexpensive things are here, they are about 5 or 10 times cheaper then in the US. I had lunch (pa tai noodles and meat with a bottle of soda) for less then $1. A taxi across town is $1. To use the internet for one hour is $1. A train ride half way across the country is $10. A guesthouse is usually $10 a night, $15 with A/C. A Thai Massage for one hour is $5. A foot massage for 1/2 hour is $1.50. Its so inexpensive here and supposedly Cambodia is half the cost. The most expensive thing is the airplane ticket here.

Thailand Trip 2005

I just got back from my Elephant ride and Bamboo Raft River ride in Chaing Mai. For the last 2 days I was lazing on the deck of a teak rice barge in Ayuthaya. We were biking through the country sides learning how the local villagers lived.

Before that we were in Kanchanburi where we saw the "Bridge over River Kwai" which is part of a railway that ex-POWs in WW2 built as slaves of the Japanese. The JEATH (Japenese enslaving English / American / Australian / Thai / Holland) built this railway in 18 months and over 100,000 people died of starvation and disease.
So now we are spending the weekend in Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand in the very north. Tonight I am going to a Mui Thai, or Thai Kick Boxing event.