saying farewell to thailand

after the snorkeling adventure, i literally did nothing for the last few days. the beach was the perfect oasis for me where i could just be with me and my thoughts, which isn't always the best thing, but it was a great time to just think about my life and how amazing it really is :)
i spent my time talking walks down the beach, getting a thai massage, drinking fruity cocktails and gorging in too much curry.
the last day i took a long walk down the shore. sometimes i would stop and sit along the sand and people watch, listen to the waves and take pictures.

that night the power went out on the entire island of koh lanta! it was actually very beautiful and calm.

hands down, perfect last night sunset.

candles for light. 

 we ended up sitting at a table, drinking beers and playing word scramble against each other by candlelight :).

eventually the power came back on and we had a wonderful farewell dinner with....

 ... of course... more curry!

i did not want this vacation to EVER end. it was sooo warm and sunny and i knew i was heading back into the chilly and polluted shanghai.
i saw the most beautiful sights, had an amazing, adventurous vacation and it was the perfect start for the 2nd semester!

island hopping

we stayed at nakara long beach resort for just 2 nights and then moved to our next place down the island. jacq and i loved this place way more than nakara! it was really small and felt a lot more personal. it was called anda lay boutique hotel. we stayed there for 4 nights and 5 days. we had a huge room and it was right on the beach.
my schedule looked like this: wake up, eat breakfast and drink my coffee while watching the waves roll in, lay out by the pool all day, maybe take a walk, read a magazine... and i knew it was time for dinner when the sun began to set :)

we did this same routine every day other than one day when we decided to take a tour of 4 islands: Ko Ngai, Ko Chuek, Ko Mah and Emerald Cave at Koh Mook.

we started out pretty early in the morning and boarded a big speed boat. we rode with about 30-40 people to our first snorkeling drop off. i was so excited! the water was so clear and you could see fish swimming all around. for any of you who know me, i am pretty scared of fish. i have been since i was a little girl and got bit by a huge fish in lake! yuck. so, snorkeling for me was conquering a pretty big fear.
i looked out on the water, mentally crossed my fingers and took a big jump! i was so amazed at what i saw. i really did feel like i had jumped straight in to the movie finding nemo! if only i had an underwater camera.

 i saw some beautiful fish and swam right through the middle of many schools! the whole time i had to keep thinking "these fish are scared of me. these fish are scared of me" even sometimes when my flipper would touch my leg i would basically jump out of the water and twist my head around to see what it was. i even ran into a few bigger fish in which i swam away as fast as i could and focused on the little guys again.
next, we went to a 2nd snorkeling point where there was a huge underwater drop off. a few times i got the courage to dive deep down into the water and hold my breath. i saw even more fish and literally swam right through the middle of a thousand baby fish.

amazing.
we also got to visit an island and eat lunch, as well as just swim around and walk in the sand. this place had the most amazing views and i also found a hermit crab!

lastly, we went to emerald cave. we had to swim about 100m through this cave to the other side and at least 50m of it was in the PITCH. DARK. we were swimming where we couldnt touch, with 30+ people, in a cave. nuts. i was honestly scared. i kept grabbing jacqueline's arm :)
once we got to the other side, it was like we were in our own oasis. we were surrounded by huge rock faces with trees all up and down. the pictures don't do it justice.

the ride back on the boat was awesome as well! we got to drive by many islands. i know i was smiling ear to ear.
that day tied with the elephant training were the best experiences i've had in my life. i can't wait to have some more, which i know the next 100 days living in Asia will bring.

what happiness means today

-- getting 2 packages from my mom and dad in the mail filled with american goodies such as cereal, medicine, makeup, toothpaste, candy and poptarts :)
-- finding out my mom did my taxes for me and my return is killer!
-- talking with my dad on the phone for a half hour about the apparent 36% beef in taco bell tacos (curse you fake Mexican food chain that I love and miss still!), the show bizarre foods, alternate routes in indy, new cereals i should try and...
-- THE PURDUE WIN OVER OHIO STATE! boom!!! and the great student section singing Party in the USA whenever OSU would go to the free thrown line because some of the guys from the Buckeyes posted a video of them singing on youtube. way to go purdue! you make fun of people, and that's why i love you haha. seriously i am still so pumped about this win!
-- being sore from yoga on sunday night, which means i worked hard.
-- and... a solid day of teaching where i felt pretty confident in myself.

i am taking each day exactly like it should be, just day by day. i am working hard to get out of the 6 month blues and back to loving my life, living every minute with pure joy and not letting some"thing' get in my way of that. i've been here 183 days now, and i have a little over 100 left. they need to count. and today, i found happiness in those little things and i am about to lay my head down on my pillow with a smile and do my best to wake  up with one :)
(which is impossible because i don't know one person who smiles at 6:30 in the morning)

"... i'll learn to get by, on little victories." -matt nathanson

and finally, the beach!

when we arrived in krabi, we landed on a smaller runway surrounded by beautiful mountains! we got to walk off the plane right onto the runway, and not into the airport. it felt so tropical :) i've always wanted to walk off the plane and down the stairs, it felt very glamorous :)

we got into the airport and had to figure out how to get to koh lanta. there were many options: ferries, taxis, mini busses, busses, taxis & busses, mini busses & ferries. it was a little overwhelming. ferries were automatically out since we missed the last one. we ended up going with a taxi to the mini bus station and then taking a mini bus to koh lanta. the ride was about 2 hours through some beautiful scenery that literally took my breath away. i knew the whole ride i had the cheesiest grin on my face looking out the window.
we then were able to take 2 small ferries. the mini bus drove right on to the ferry. it was also amazingly beautiful! i feel like i use the word beautiful alot but everything was just seriously beautiful! :)
after the 2 ferry rides, we were back on the mini bus where our driver dropped each group on the bus off at their different locations.

the first place we stayed was called Nakara Long Beach Resort. it was a pretty big place and super nice. as soon as we got there we changed into our swimsuits as fast as we could in order to sit on the beach since the sun would be setting in about an hour.

our first sunset was spectacular. it was so relaxing, there was a small breeze, i had a mai tai in my hand and i was staring at the beautiful Adaman Sea. that night we had dinner right on the beach, listening to the waves and talking with Becca. i had mussaman curry for the first time and from then on, i was addicted the whole trip. my stomach is growling just thinking about it!

"baby when the lights... go out..."

remember that song by Jump 5? i always thought it was really provocative. well, in the case of this story, the song really does mean what the title says...  this is what happens "when the lights go out"... in my chinese bathroom.

tonight, i went into the bathroom like i usually do for my nightly routine to brush my teeth, wash my face if needed and, well, go to the bathroom. it's been the case since August that the light in there definitely has a mind of its own. it decides when it wants to turn on. turning it off is easy and i definitely can control that... annoying. anyways, so i walk in and try to turn on the light. i stand there a minute waiting for it to do the usual flicker it likes to do when it wants to come on. i always have my fingers crossed it comes on in general. this time, no flicker.
"great." i thought.
well, i really had to go so i mumbled a few words under my breath and lifted the lid to go.
i sit down and, oh my GOD that was cold!!
"what in the world, the heat is on, the seat shouldn't be cold" - all went through my head in 3 seconds.
... yep. i had lifted both toilet seats and sat right down into the bowl.
... yep. my ass definitely touched the water.
... yep. i had to sit there and go to the bathroom.
longest few (and cold, and dark) seconds ever.

still no light. after this i was furious. i couldn't see anything!
i run out the door and turn on the dining room lights so i can brush my teeth (this is after trying to in the dark and letting my toothpaste lid roll off the sink, and a few more mumbled !@#*%s later).
i then decide, ya know, this is a pretty funny story, i hope someone gets a laugh today out of my embarrassment. laughter is an instant vacation :)

oh and my roommate fell down our stairs tonight, too.
it's been a rough night for us :)

goodbye chiang mai, hello bangkok (for the night :)

and now, back to thailand!
sappy intermission is now over.

our last day in chiang mai, Jacq and I decided we just walked to walk around the city all day, visit this great antique store again, sight see and have dinner (aka daiquiris).

cool elephants on the river

 we visited the antique store first and spent a little over 2 hours there. it was so cool seeing all the antique Buddhas and different idols. the little Thai ladies in the store were the sweetest! i had this little scab on my shoulder and i accidentally scratched it. it started to bleed so i grabbed a Kleenex out of my bag and kept walking around. no big deal. out of nowhere this little lady runs after me and is like "ooohhhhhh come with me!" she pulls me into their little office/kitchen and gets out a big first aid kit including some iodine, cotton balls and bandaids. she stood there with the cotton ball on my scab until it stopped. then she put a bandaid on it and got me another glass of water. it was cute :)
i was able to spend some time doing some sketches of different things which was so relaxing. just laying in the sun in their small garden, drawing, watching their little dog. perfect little moment.
after we got some cool things we decided to have lunch. we sat in our favorite little place called Gekko Garden and had... 3 "extra strong" pitchers of daiquiris.

loved this place!

pitcher #1? :)

 they were excellent and needless to say, we were feeling pretty great after that. after that we went back to our resort and went to sleep.
we were really sad to be leaving chiang mai, but super excited to be heading to Bangkok and then Koh Lanta!

downtown chiang mai

my midnight snack :)

Once we arrived in Bangkok we met up with Jacqueline's friend from high school Becca who is teaching through CIEE there. We were able to stay with her and she took us to get some tasty street food. That night we just relaxed and got to bed at a decent time so we could be up bright and early to head to clear water, white sand and soon to be tans :)

some"thing"

i'm taking a thailand adventure story break, i'm sorry! i promise the next half of my trip will come soon! i have the pictures to help me remember, don't worry.

i guess this last week i've had a lot on my mind about life, my future and love. i've been having one of those weeks where you mind won't let you rest and you can't get something(one) out of your head. my heart and my head are just fighting constantly. my emotions are fluctuating so much within a day i feel like i am bi-polar! i wake up feeling kinda blue, sad, reminiscent, doubtful. i enjoy my morning with my kids equaling happiness. i have my lunch break and sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's happy (depending on where i am and what i am doing aka starbucks makes me happy :). then in the evening... ah. my thoughts get the best of me again and i lay in bed lost in my dreams and thoughts, trying to not think about something(one). (sorry for the thing/one controversy. i am trying to not admit this is a problem over someONE. so, i will say it's a thing. i am in denial obviously.)

and goodness the following song will pretty much give it away that it's a one and not a thing.

putting denial and honestly embarrassment aside... i'm not over this thing. i am not even close to being moved on like i keep telling people. this thing is getting the best of me. i'm laying it all out there. all my thoughts for you to read. does anyone out there know what it's like to lose your best "thing"?

now that that's over with.
i will not promise that a post won't happen like this again, but my happy-adventurous-day to day-stories will return tomorrow :)
i am a happy girl, and extremely thankful and blessed for this opportunity, but that doesn't mean my heart doesn't still ache for something i've lost.

love you all who are reading this and letting me open up my heart and thoughts... all cyber-like :) i hate to be a complainer.

i know i know, you came here to read about china, but i will say it again like i have many times, this is a blog about me, not just china.

this is your life.

these have been in my mind for the past 2 days &
i wanted to share them.

the trek.

the day after the elephant adventure, jacqueline and i had signed up for a full day trek. i was really excited to be able to do so many different things in one day:
1st, we went to visit a butterfly and orchid garden. the flowers were absolutely breathtaking! orchids are one of my favorite flowers (after 1. red tulips, my absolute favorite and 2. light pink peonies). I could not stop taking pictures of them. I could have spent hours in there looking around. the butterfly garden was okay. there weren't many in there, but still beautiful nonetheless.

beautiful orchids

     

*love the lighting and colors on these photos

      

me in the orchid garden (& something going wacky with my tank top. thanks backpack :)

one of the few butterflies i saw

after there we went on to the mountain where we were going to trek. we started walking in the heat for quite awhile and were able to visit a hill tribe. it was kinda interesting.... i couldn't quite believe they were a legit tribe due to the satellite dish on top of the hut. hmmm...

but at least the monkey was cute :)

 after the hill tribe visit we walked quite a ways through some beautiful hills, trees and small rivers.  the scenery was just gorgeous. i was missing my good nature pals trey and AJ! i was thinking of them the whole time i did this adventure (you'd be happy to know, boys :) we got see a cabbage field where some villagers were working (after walking basically a straight up incline, rough!).

next, (yes, the trekking list continues, and this is all before lunch time!) we were able to go on an elephant ride (AGAIN!). this time though, we did not have to guide the elephant and we sat on a big metal seat. it was just a relaxing time to see the scenery. we were at the same elephant camp we were at the day before so we felt like pros :)

after the elephant ride we got in van and traveled to the river for our white water rafting and bamboo adventure! there are no pictures of this because i obviously didn't want to get my camera wet by chance. i have been white water rafting before in tennessee a couple times but thailand was just awesome! i would say the rapids were about the same, but, hello! i'm in thailand doing it! that just upped the value quite a bit. i can't knock the mountain view in TN though, it's beautiful as well. after the rafting, we transferred to a bamboo raft. for some odd reason, which im still super confused about, the guide made me get on a bamboo without my group mates (jacqueline and the other people in our tour group)! he also made me steer it and lead the raft down river. so, picture this. I am standing on the front of this HUGE bamboo raft in about 2 feet of water with 3 asian girls, 1 huge German guy, oh ... and Jacq was able to get on last minute. i felt like an amazon woman and the asian girls kept saying "oh, you're our hero!!! so brave!!" it was the best! it was really fun. I even had to get off the raft and get us unstuck. i was seriously the guide.

still, no clue why i was chosen. haha

after the rafting adventure, it was a long ride back on a crowded song tow (open air truck type van-ish taxi :) i was going in and out of sleep. it was an exhausting but great day!

oh and we visited a small waterfall.

ALL IN ONE DAY!