Another Picture Post

OK, so I thought it was time to post some more photos.  Dan and I have picked up our pace since moving off the islands of Southern Thailand.  We have made our way through Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, and finally Chiang Mai.

Here is a little snip of what we have been up to.......

 Sorry for the blurry photo but I was literally shaking with rage.  While Dan and I were in Bangkok we decided to make our way to the Chinese Night Market in Chinatown to eat some cheap food and find some cheap clothes to refresh my backpack.  Once we found the place we made our way to the busiest part of the area in hopes of finding some eats before doing our shopping.  I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see.  Dan and I have spent our fair share of time in China Towns since we left home and I have yet to witness what I was seeing here in Bangkok.  The busiest road was in fact a street devoted entirely to various shark fin products- shark fin soup, shark fin pills, dried shark fin..... it was alarming.  Some of you might not know about the shark fin industry in Asia; if you don't then please take a few moments to educate yourself (Shark Water is a great, informative and award-winning film on the subject).  It is a uneccessary practise that is destroying our oceans at a extremely rapid pace.  I feel very strongly about the issue- on top of that, sharks are my favourite animal.  Here I was, on a street where every other shop had dried fins in the windows, fluorescent lights advertised 'The Best Shark Fin In Town', even the cheap stall venders sold only shark fin soup.  I was in a panic/rage, so strong that I needed to beeline out of there before I started yelling at the locals for their ignorance.  Please educate yourselves on Shark Finning and support organizations that strive to stop it.

This is a picture of the Shark Fin road.  The streets and restaurants are packed with people consuming shark fin soup- even writing this post and seeing the photos again brings me to tears.  Ignorance.

While in Bangkok, we paid a visit to 'The Pride of Bangkok' a series of 3 huge, over the top luxury malls.

The main attraction was the Oceanaquarium.  At first I was really excited, it was only 4 years old and expansive.  Upon arriving Dan and I realized that it was more of an attraction than an aquarium.  The plant and coral life were all fake and the fish environments were nothing like they are in the wild.  It was sad to see but hopefully it educates people on the importance of sustainable fishing and environmental protection.  Above is a picture of a Cow Fish.  I was really hoping to encounter one in the ocean while diving- I guess this is the next best thing.

Some three year old Hammerhead Sharks!!!!!  Yeah- AWESOME and sooo cute :)

A model showing the jaw span of the Prehistoric Megalodon Shark- SCARY :)

Dan was pretty excited to get a picture with me in front of this car... I don't know which 'Elise' is his favorite!

A street vender setting up shop for the day.  This particular vender specialized in fake I.D's!

They were absolutely amazing... you could purchase any I.D, documentation or certification under the sun.

Have you ever wanted to be a plastic surgeon, a pilot or how about a press reporter?

For a fee you could be any of those things :)

Buddha images are EVERYWHERE in South East Asia.  After spending the day exploring ancient Wat ruins a person becomes pretty Buddha'd out very quickly.  This picture was taken at a Wat in Sukhothai. (Wat=Temple)

This temple was much different than the ones we had seen previously.  The Buddha was MASSIVE, stunning and completely serene.

I really, really wanted to sit on  Buddha- he looked so comfy and inviting but I am sure I took a serious hit to my Kharma for doing it.  Oh well, it was worth it.

Again, sorry for the blurry photo :(  Me, Dan and Lilli at a Muay Thai Boxing match in Chiang Mai!!

If boxing matches weren't so expensive on a backpackers budget, I think we would go every other night.

The crowd was energetic to say the least.  Muay Thai is the national sport in Thailand, so if you plan to make your way out here a match is a must see.  The card ranged from 8-30 yr olds (my guess) and all the fights were worthy in their own right.  Beers, Fighting, Screaming and Betting... can you think of a better way to spend the evening?

This was the temple at the Buddhist Uni- the jetting off point for my meditation retreat. 

The night market in Chaing Mai, where there are blocks and blocks of venders selling everything and anything a person could want.  Whiskey shake anyone?  Gross!

Dan and Lilli having quite the serious game of Connect 4 - awesome!  When was the last time you saw that game?

Some examples of the quirky, random stuff you can buy at the market.  These are hairclips made out of various candies- brilliant.

How about some dead bugs in a frame?

One of my favourite sections of the market was the art walk.  Oh if only I had $ to buy paintings because they were beautiful and original - lovely :)

Do you have a Monkey Mind?

It is probably safe to say that most of you take care of your body every day.  You shower, brush your teeth, eat and some of you even exercise.  How many of you can say that you take care of your mind?  Even though it is a part of your being and you use it every moment of every day- much like your bodies- have you cared for it?  Have you trained it to obey you or is your mind like a monkey- jumping this way and that- totally and sometimes dangerously unpredictable?
When Dan and I decided to embark on our trip of a lifetime I had a few goals in mind.  I had decided that I wanted to explore and experience all that came my way- to make the most of my journey.  I also had a small list of “to-do’s”:  I wanted to order off menus that I couldn’t read (not an easy feat when you are a vegetarian), learn conversational words in local languages, take time to learn guitar- the list goes on.  One thing that was particularly high on my list was meditation.  I had dabbled in some unsuccessful, and admittedly uninspired attempts over the past few years, but it is something I have always longed for.  I saw meditation as a way to still my overactive mind, a relaxation from the fast pace of my life and an all around pleasant club that I wanted to be a part of.
While in India I encountered some opportunities that fell through.  Mostly they were free guided meditations and that wasn’t really what I was looking for so I can’t say I was too upset.  I also had an opportunity while in northern India to sign Dan and I up for a 10 day Vispassana retreat.  I was stoked but after Dan read that it would require his total restraint from cigarettes and everything else (reading, writing, speaking, everything) he declined.  As eager as I was, I would be lying if I said I upset with his lack of interest- 10 days is a long time.
India came and went with no meditation.  I was feeling defeated; up until now I had been crossing off items from my list almost daily but I guess things seem to work out just when you stop trying.  My lovely friend and travel companion Lilli would be meeting up with us in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) and her hope was to attend a 2-day Buddhist Meditation Retreat.  Awesome.  Once we met up and with a little leg work on her end we were quickly on a Tuk Tuk to the Buddhist University in Chiang Mai to sign up for the retreat!
We purchased our modest white clothes that we were required to wear for the duration, paid our 500 baht and sat with the 20-odd westerners in a conference room, nervously and awkwardly awaiting instruction.  We were then introduced to our Master (a 30 yr old monk who had been wearing his robes for 20 years!) who commenced to deliver one of the most inspiring lectures I have ever had the pleasure to hear.  He took no less than two hours to explain the basics of Buddhism, including the history and a few basic beliefs, the history of the Monk Chat and the Meditation Retreat, the benefits of meditation and the techniques we would be practising over the next two days.
We all left excited and motivated to train our Monkey Minds into submission.  After an hour long drive to a peaceful, tranquil, remote location we filed off the bus and again, waited for instruction.  We signed up for our rooms (two of the same gender per room), got our keys and listened to our itinerary for the next two days.  It went something like this…..
- chanting before dinner.  Once dinner was served silence would commence until the end of the retreat.  Yes- complete silence- no talking.
-5 minute break
-chanting in the Meditation Hall followed by 45 mins of meditation practise.
- 9 pm bedtime
-5 am gong.  YUCK!
-5:30 am chanting in the Meditation Hall followed by 45 mins of meditation practise.
-offering of Alms to the Monks.
-chanting and breakfast…. remember, no talking!
-chanting and 45 mins of meditation practice.
-discussion and a temporary break from silence.
- silence resumes. chanting and 45 mins of meditation practise. 
- chanting and lunch.
-goodbyes and bus home.
AWESOME!!  I could write and write for hours about all that I learned over those two days.  Not only did I practise three methods of meditation (all of which are completely easy to do on your own) I learnt about the daily life of the Monks here in Thailand.  It was not only a fantastic way to get the tools I need for meditation practise, it was also a great way to learn more about the culture and beliefs of the Thai people.  By no means will I become Buddhist and at no time did I feel like I was being preached to but I did find beliefs that I know I will apply to my daily life.  I could write for hours and bore you with what I learned over those two days- I won’t.  I will say that the experience was something I would never trade and it changed my way of thinking.  Please, if you have any question about what I learned, just ask me or check out the Monk Chat website.
So now I have checked yet another item off my list!  Tonight I will do my meditation before bed and feel better for it :)  Yeah Me!!  Thanks Monk Chat, for asking me some important questions.
ps- photos of me and Lilli will be one the website shortly.

 Me and Lilli in our white clothes.  I can't recall the last time I wore all white.



Bangkok – Scammer’s Paradise

I feel bad for Thailand- I haven’t done many posts.  It’s not that I am not enjoying the country, it is beautiful.  The people are extremely friendly and the landscape is gorgeous but all that aside, it is nothing but easy to travel here.  This makes my blog-life difficult.  Gone are the days when simply walking down the street would leave me shocked and bursting with funny and often awkward travel stories.  I guess I have to change my approach, bite the bullet and share a story that I am not so proud of.
It all started when we arrived in Bangkok, after a long journey from the south island of Koh Pangan.  We hired an over-priced Tuk Tuk (Thai Auto-Rickshaw) to take us from the bus station to the so called ‘backpackers Mecca’, otherwise known as Khao San Rd.  We made our way from guesthouse to guesthouse in the hot, sticky, sweaty heat trying to find a decent, well priced double fan room.  We settled for a place, parked our things down and immediately fell down in bed for a much needed nap.  A few hours later we awoke, only as refreshed as the heat would allow, rolled out of bed and hit the bathroom for a nice, refreshing cold shower (the backpackers only relief from the hot, hot heat- oh that and the lovely air conditioned 7 Elevens on every street corner).
Since the late afternoon was beginning to cool and our bellies were grumbling, we decided to take a stroll around our neighbourhood.  Once we were all filled up with yummy Thai street food we began meandering, but while we were getting our lay of the land we were approached by a friendly Thai local.  This is in fact somewhat rare in Thailand, as the people tend to be more shy and reserved but this gentleman was the exception.  He was well dressed, had fantastic English and was also visiting Bangkok for a few days.  We chatted, he about Chang Mai and us about our travels.  He taught us some useful Thai phrases and suggested we go on a tour of the famous floating market while we were in Bangkok.  How convenient- Dan and I were planning on taking a trip but hadn’t priced it out as we had just arrived in the city.  He suggested that we avoid the tourist ports and go to a local port where the tours are cheaper and the boat less crowded.  Now, against our better judgement (I am blaming the islands for dampening my instinct) we decided to go on the tour that afternoon.  Why not? we had nothing else to do.  Another shocking convenience we neglected to notice was the oddly cheap Tuk Tuk driver that was conveniently close by and able drive us to this prime, secret location.  Upon arriving we forked over 700 Baht each (enough to pay for 5 days of accommodation) and hopped on a beautiful long boat, which we had all to ourselves.  This is when I snapped to my senses.  What had we done?  We had just gotten taken!  We paid too much for a private tour of the market- Shame on us.  Little did I know that we were scammed even worse than that.  We did get a somewhat nice tour of the river, but our market tour was nothing but a snails pace tour of a local river side town, then back to the dock.  We were livid.   I marched my way over to the man Dan guessed was the one that sold us our tickets and demanded a refund.  We argued back and forth for a few minutes- his argument was that he had closed his shop and that we were never promised a market tour in the first place.  My argument was simple- give us our money back.   Long story short, we did not get anything back and we never did see the famed floating market.
Basically, it was a huge embarrassment.  I was proud to say that up until this point Dan and I had yet to fall for any scam.  Yes, we did pay tourist prices from time to time, but even then, we tend to get a fairly good deal- this was just plain stupid on our part.  Every traveller reads about the scam artists that frequent at popular tourist destinations but I have yet to encounter  them on the scale that we encountered while in Bangkok.  Once we were aware of the game, we were approached by yet another man the next day- same story.  Well dressed, this one a music teacher, also from Chang Mai. And again a day later in a different part of town.  They are tricky here and unless you trust your instinct, I can almost guarantee that you will fall for one of their games at least once while staying in Bangkok.  I imagine there are plenty of friendly, legit business men in Bangkok, but now and forever, I will never trust one further than I could throw him.

A awesome tree beside the 'ticket office'- not sure why they decided to decorate

it with garbage.

A couple pics of the floating village.



I’ve Aged 10 Years!!

 

Let me explain……

Our first stop in Thailand brought us to the lovely island of Koh Lanta.  The rainy season had come early here, and we were lucky enough to have the island mostly to ourselves.  There was the odd couple with children and young 20-something backpackers, but all around the island was a chill spot.  Hmmm, maybe my first thought of Thailand would be incorrect.  The people were SUPER friendly, the beaches and surf were picturesque and we settled happily into island life.  Where were the garbage-filled party beaches that Thailand was famed for?  The evenings ended early and they were generally peaceful- except for the odd frog orchestra :) 

After Dan and I finished our Advanced Open Water diving course, we decided to move on and see what other delights could be found here in Thailand.  Then we arrived in Koh Phi Phi, and all my previous reservations about Thailand greeted me in full force.  We were bombarded by the trade show that is the island of Phi Phi.  Booze buckets were everywhere, garbage and over- browned bodies littered the otherwise beautiful beaches and it was all I could do not to turn around and run.  The island lacked any romance, there was no hidden culture or vibe- it was just stall after stall, row upon row everywhere.  Rows of tanned, fit bodies, rows of beer, rows of useless tourist crap and no matter where I looked it made me sad, this once beautiful place was now a slave to money; it was a stop off for kids to come, have their time away from school or the stresses of parents.  Can you think of a better way to entice the confused?  Sex, booze, bright colours and the endless consumption of all things that are bad.   I had to leave and Dan was kind enough to understand my loathing of the place, so thankfully we were able to book a night ferry out the next day.

After a long trip of buses, after buses and ferries after ferries, we made it to the quirky island of Koh Tao.  Yes- I was back in my element.  We signed ourselves up for some more dives and proceeded to go to a local hotspot for westerners to fill up on the pizza and shakes.  Things where looking up.  Yes, the crowd was still young, but the island managed to hang on to some of its finer points.  The beach was dirty, but it was manageable.  The island was larger, so the younger crowd congregated at one corner- this I could deal with.  My plan; we would just stay away from this part of town and I would live in my happy life- where I am still young, fresh and have my whole life ahead of me :)  That was until Dan and I started eavesdropping on a table of guys behind us.  When you travel for long periods of time, you often find yourselves speculating and guessing where other travellers are from.  While we were listening for key giveaways – an accent,mannerism or mention of a particular sports team, we couldn’t help but be intrigued with the way their conversation was going.  We listened, embarrassed for their rudeness and youth as they reminisced about their plane ride over to Thailand.  With far too many F-bombs for the middle of the afternoon they proceeded to roar and rave about their mistreatment of the flight attendants and staff as they stammered, drunkenly through their long flight.  Lovely.  I was blessing my stars that these are the classy folks that represent my country, when they went on to discuss the age of two of their fellow travellers.  All but two of them were born in the late 80’s- the other two where born in ‘82 and ‘79- tragic.  They proceeded to gasp in awe at the ‘ old guys’ age- they were shocked!  ‘If we were as old as you, we would look like old men’, was what they concluded.  WOW!  Really??  Where am I exactly?  Am I in an alternate universe, where the twenty something makes the world go round?  Where entire islands of people rely on them to come and get drunk, eat expensive western food and buy heaps of ‘I heart Thailand’ souvenirs?    Well, maybe I am a little sensitive.  The pretty, fit girls are slightly threatening to me and I am reminded every day that I am getting older, that I can’t get away with acting like a total tool and wake up in the morning feeling that I had “like, a sweet night!”

Reminder.  I don’t want to be their age anymore.  I don’t want to be still learning who I am and what I want.  I am perfectly happy being older- in fact, you couldn’t pay me enough to relive my late teens and early twenties.  So I guess I need to take a breather and see the positive side of it all, past being knee deep in 19 year olds, listening to them puke in the stall next to me and saying the word ‘like’ 4 times in every sentence, I am getting an in your face reminder to be happy for the phase that I am living right now.  So, yeah, stay positive.  Only one more day of island time, then up to the big city of Bangkok.  One more day :)

My Brilliant Idea

I have heard from many of our readers that you all love photos, so before I do another photo post I thought I would let you all in on a little problem I have been having.
Dan and I just finished our Advanced Open Water Course today- YEAH!!!!!  I already logged 11 dives and have spent more than 8 hours under water and the count is just going to go up and up.  I am addicted.  I cannot remember ever being this excited about anything- I love diving!  After spending years and years watching documentaries, films and T.V programmes about the deep blue, I can actually go there!!  I have seen so many sea creatures and I have just begun my new hobby!  Most of our days have been spent on the boat, in the water or studying for tests, so the only photos I could have posted  would be of all the brilliantly, stunning and awe inspiring life I have seen under the sea.  Yes, all the photos I could be taking, but can’t :(  - this brings me to my problem and also to my brilliant idea… so smart, so smart :)
I figured that if all my readers really enjoy my pictures that much, they could start me a little ‘ UnderWater Camera Fund’- brilliant, I know :)  Now, don’t worry, they only cost a small fortune, but think of all the colourful, exciting photos I could take for your enjoyment :)  I kid, I kid :)  Anyways, I wish that I had a specialized camera so that everyone could see what I have been up to in the past few weeks.  Shoot!  Instead, I will post some more boring pictures of beautiful sunsets and beaches :)

 The sunset at our beach in Koh Lanta... OH SO BEAUTIFUL :)

This is a photo of the sea when we left for our 3 hour cruise to the dive sight.  The rough seas have come earlier than usual, which meant rain and BIG waves.

 

The sunset our our way home from diving.  Sorry, I can't recall the name of these islands.

The beach at Koh Haa- our dive sight for the day.

These are fishing boats :(  They are always in pairs, with a large net in between them.

As we dive and enjoy the sea, they are just a few minutes away, fishing anything and everything they can catch.  If they catch something they don't like (whale sharks, turtles or mantas), they throw it back, but not before it has 'drowned' :(  Just awful.

  Another view of Koh Haa.  The dive sight is made up of 5 islands, including caves and an underwater 'chimney'!!!  So cool :)

Our 'home' for two AMAZING days here in Thailand. Thanks Peter (the Captain) for a very enjoyable and memorable experience!

It's Been a While

Ooops……
We have arrived in Thailand and I have yet to do a post after spending a week here.  I don’t know what it is but the posts are becoming harder to write, maybe it is because we have been spending our time differently in the last two countries.  Our pace has slowed further and there aren’t so many ‘sights’ to see.  Our days aren’t spent at Wonders of the World or at ancient and spiritual monuments, but that could just be the difference from one country to the next.  Or, it could be that we are addicted to the sea!  It is soooo nice to swim in the water when it is hot and humid out- a real relief.
I am feeling a little bit guilty but I know I shouldn’t; I do make an effort to remind myself multiple times a day that I am extremely lucky.  I am travelling the world, meeting new people, tasting new food and having amazing adventures.  The adventures don’t come every day; often our days are spent in transit or just resting and catching our breath but it is truly wonderful that every single day poses a new and often exciting challenge.  Hmmm, maybe I am just getting comfortable with the life of a gypsy.  I love that I can move from a place that doesn’t inspire me and that I have the opportunity and the time to try anything and everything I could have ever wanted or dreamed of wanting.  I literally have no responsibility- none and it is so refreshing.  On the flip side, it has become our 'normal' and I am having a hard time translating our normal life into an exciting blog post.  Is that weird?
Has our extraordinary become ordinary?

The Coolest Museum EVER!!!

  Dan and I spent the day wandering around the largest toy museum in the world!!!  I took so many pictures (sorry, the quality of the pictures aren't the greatest) at this museum that it makes me feel guity and a little nerdy.  I LOVE museums and I can say that I have been to a fair few in my time, yet this one was one of the most interesting.  There had to be thousands upon thousands of figurines under this roof.  We saw so many toys that we grew up with, from so many different movies and TV shows- it was a blast to take a walk down memory lane.

There were Disney movies, cartoon characters, heros and villians and a seperate room for horror films.  I picked a selection of photos,  but I could have posted many more.

Harry Potter and Dobby!  Oh yeah.

Dan with Lara Croft.  There were many life-sized figures of Lara and Dan complained that the one he took his photo with didn't have big enough boobs- classy Dan :)

 

Awe :)  My heros, The Ninja Turtles.

He He- me with Seven of Nine.  How cool am I?

Biker Mice from Mars... does anyone else remember this show?

 

Dragon Ball... awe Kelin, are you jealous?

GREMLINS!!!  I was in love with these movies growing up.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  They had the library set up and everything.  I tried to get a good shot of Angel.

Oh Angel.

 

E.T.- do I need to say more?

 

Me and Bruce... the best Great White shark in film history (sorry Jaws)

Chun-li and two other girls from Virtua-Fighter (?)

About these figurines... not sure what they're about... not sure if I want to know.

Gross

All-in-all... AWESOME!! :D