Cold hearted snake

Today was AMAZING, to say the least! 

We booked a tour of the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market for today. The small size tour bus came to pick us up early on in the morning, and we headed out on an hour and a half drive, South East of Bangkok. I left the city, which was exciting to me, though I have found a nice area in Bangkok that I really like a lot. Our hostel is right in that central area, so we are super lucky. 
We met some really nice people on our tour. The way that they arranged these tours is that one bus goes to several locations to pick up different people booked on the same tour, and also those same people may have additional tours that same day so they later separate on to their next adventure. (This info comes in handy and makes more sense later)

We arrived at the first leg of the market tour, which was a river boat ride. I LOVED this part, a lot!

This whole area is made up of rivers, and there are a ton of boats, everyone has nice wooden ones, and small slips just outside their home, and it is a river based community. I really liked it, though the water is this same color throughout Thailand, in Bangkok, and out where we were. It's not clean looking, or smelling.
The tour was a complete tourist trap. I had actually heard a lot of great things about this place, and I also saw it on "No reservations" and was super excited to go here, however, once I arrived, it felt like that same old dirty tourist scam/attraction that I continue to encounter here. I realize that this is their business, and this is how they make money, but honestly, ALL the tourists know to shop at MBK (the best mall/swap meet ever) or at the actual swap meet, NOT here at the river. I really didn't enjoy it. The main reason we wanted to see this place was to eat. It was a let down. Once you get off the main river boat, you are able to hire a person who rows a whole group of people through the material items for purchase area. The whole set up was bad, but we enjoyed riding in a boat..

We actually asked to be let off the boat early, and just get out of there. I had had enough. We walked over to the food, and ate some Thai sausage, which we have come to really love, and then waited to be loaded back onto the bus.
Now, here is the part where all the multiple packing in of people comes in to play. We thought we were just going to be going back to Bangkok, but that wasn't to be so. Our next stop was the nearby Elephant village, where you could take an Elephant ride. If you didn't want to do that, the next place was to be the snake farm...


Once we arrived at the snake farm, we were pretty annoyed that we were being dragged to this place and that when all we wanted was to go back to Bangkok and do our own thing. Nothing worse than being on the agenda of someone else, basically being held captive. So, again, once we arrived, we were annoyed, however, we decided since we were there, we may as well go in.. This is where the day took a turn for the better. Amazing, to be exact!

Once admission was paid (150 Baht= 5 bucks), you could pay 50 baht ( just under 2 dollars) to have a picture with this python!! HELL YEA!

It just got better from there. There was a snake charmer/tamer, who went up against a king cobra, who was equipped with actual venom (they later milked the snake for all to see to prove this). They even took the cobra around for everyone to touch it, because they said that in their culture, if you touch a cobra, you will have good luck. Cute, right? I enjoyed watching people squirm and flinch as the snake came near. I let him wrap it around my shoulders! That picture will have to wait until Ryan posts it. There was another act with a python, then there was a SNAKE FIGHT! A snake, vs. a mongoose!!! The mongoose kicked the cobra's ass.. I mean, it almost killed it! They explained that in the wild, it's a fight to the death, mongoose victorious, however, they weren't going to let that happen there at the ring. It was really impressive how the mongoose went after the snake!

Go check out Facebook for all the videos of the snakes and the mongoose vs. snake fight.. It was amazing!!

So, after being dragged to places that we really didn't want to be in, this place more than made up for that whole scenario, but it wasn't over yet! After our long hour and a half ride back to Bangkok, where we were all tired, we had to make one more stop, to Thailand's largest gem showroom; in fact, it is the world's largest gem showroom, complete with armed guards and all!

So, it was obvious that the gems there were amazing, however, many of the items were complete with cubic zirconium, NOT diamonds, so it was a little silly. Thailand has a thing for tailors, and gems.. both of which are annoying to deal with. Honestly though, the tailors offer amazing deals on custom made suits for men. Women, are better off getting clothes at the department stores. 
This wrapped up our day long tour, and tour of places we didn't need to see, but ended up loving anyway. We got a nice air conditioned free ride away from this place and hopped off on our road, and went exploring. We discovered new places we are sure to love in the future, and enjoyed our walk. We came back to the hostel, had some fun talks with people in the lobby, and then I came up to do my "homework". If I don't set aside time each day to upload photos, and write a blog, SO much will be behind.. after all, we're busy busy busy here in Bangkok!
Until my next post
xoxo

Gypsies Tramps and Theives

Today we decided to go to Wat Po, and see the giant sleeping Buddha. It is an enormous Buddha which is lying on his side; after attaining enlightenment. This is also the site of the Wat Po Massage School, where they do Thai Massage.

The day began with a fun little sentence: Chao Fard Pad Fuk, Yen Fard Fuk Pad. This translates to something about eating squash noodles in the morning and evening. Our hostel has a fun little contest where if you can say this sentence in 4 seconds, you win a free night's stay in the dorm room (or in our case a discount on our private room).

Tuk Tuk. For those of you that may be familiar with them, let the eye rolling commence. Tuk Tuks are basically large motorized scooter carriers. They are open-aired, and generally you can get a really cheap deal with them, but at a "price". Tuk Tuk drivers are aggressive, and basically they will stalk you while you walk, trying to get your business. We got a driver this day who waited for us to have breakfast, and then swapped drivers on us, only to have the new driver cut us a cheap deal, with "fine print". This is the scam/deal they make. They offer you a cheap price, but you have to help them get gas tokens. That basically means that they take you to specific shops, you look around, but aren't obligated to purchase anything. They have deals with sponsors, and it helps bring business to these places. Our tour took us to mostly tailors shops and one jewelry shop. It was laborious and after the agreed upon 5 stores, he tried to offer us to ride for free if we went to just one more. We were over it, and so we said no, to just take us to Wat Po.

Wat Po was amazing, to say the least! Wat Phra Chetuphon, or "Wat Po", is well known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, as well as being Thailand's first “open” University.

This is where you go to get training to do Thai massage. They also offer Thai massage, which we got, with herbs, for about 20 bucks. While it is more costly here than in the area of our hostel, I felt okay about paying that price, since it was going to the school.

We took a few hours here at the temple, exploring each and every room we could find, and making sure we saw as much of everything as possible.

After leaving the Temple grounds we walked here, to Khao San Road. On the way we encounters some scammer gypsies. It was NOT a fun or pleasant experience, however, we quickly learned from it, and will be better of in the long run because of it.

We were on a search for our trekking/diving company host, to book our trekking and diving excursion coming up this next week. We made it to our destination; hot, sweaty, exhausted, and a little (a lot) jostled by the gypsies. 

After doing the dealing with the friendly people at Buddha view trekking company, we went for some food, which we both needed.

After we ate, we hopped in a taxi for home (hostel), and I basically passed out after my shower. What a day.

Until the next post-

xoxo

Hair; "the long and short" of it.

What do most people do after 16 hours of flying, on a hot, stormy night in to a new town? Sleep right away so they can wake up refreshed and ready for the next day? Not likely!
After Ryan and I got back to the hostel, and I put up my second post, about the adventure here, I guess we both caught a wild second wind, and we decided to play "make-shift hostel salon invention". Well, the short answer is, I cut my hair!!!


I have been growing my hair out for a long time. I started growing it to donate it to children with cancer, and well, I got attached to it, and decided to keep it a little while longer.


The before:

Here it is mid-way, chopped and not yet cleaned up. I liked it like this, and wanted to maybe leave it this way:

But, here is what we ended up with, which I LOVE!!

 

I used to wear it like this all the time, and now, I will again. It works out SO well for this hot weather, and for the easy maintenance I need for this trip also.

So, this is what I ended up doing at 3 a.m. this morning, instead of sleep. Sorry lub-d (our hostel), we got hair all over your floor! Thanks Ryan for cutting it!

Until the next post!

xoxo 

 

Sawadee Ka!

I made it to Thailand!!
Ryan and I are safe and sound, but no great adventure would be complete without it's share of snafus. The first (well, only one really) arrived this morning as we were checking in to HNL, on our way to international travels. Apparently the booking agency booked Ryan's first and last name as "Ryan" and the ladies weren't about to let him on the plane. He called the booking company, who wasn't helpful at all, either, and as time drew nearer to our departure time, I had to make a tough decision; leave my friend there, and head off to Bangkok all alone, or risk missing my flight. Ryan and I both agreed that my going on without him was the best choice. All I could do then was pray, to whomever, that he made it on to that same plane.

This event took some of the wind of excitement out of the initial trip through the international terminal, heading to my gate. It didn't feel great to leave my friend, and imagine myself off in another country all on my own, however, inside, I felt calm; I knew it would be alright. I had a watchful eye on the people arriving at our gate, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ryan running up to the gate at the last minute. When it was my turn to board, I reluctantly walked up to the ticket agents, and headed down the concourse. One on board, I just barely had set my bag down, when I heard Ryan calling my name! I was so excited to see him! It turns out he had to purchase a new ticket, NOT something that he anticipated having to do. He is currently, as I write this, in the midst of trying to get the ticket issue sorted out, so it doesn't weigh heavy on his mind during our first few days here.


We flew into Narita airport first, and it was SO exciting to touch down in Japan, and see the first glimpse of a new country outside of the continental U.S. 
We poked around the airport, just being awed by the simplest things that the airport had to offer, since they are all new to us. After an already 8 plus hour ride to Narita, it was time to get on another plane and ride for 6 plus more hours! 

Arriving in Thailand was pretty impressive and amazing! The airport is beautiful, and so modern! The people were already pretty friendly. We hopped into a taxi, and headed on to our hostel, Lub-d, on Silom Road, in Bangkok. This place is cute! It's modern, clean and in a good location!

I am excited to sleep, but more excited still to get up and start to explore the city!
More pictures to come soon, and more blogs, I'm sure!
xoxo

The storm before the calm

Today is my last full day here in Honolulu. There have been so many things to take care of before my departure, it is comical. There are things I didn't count on having to deal with, but I managed to deal with them anyway and not lose my mind. Thank goodness things work out the way they do. I got everything done, and then some. I am now ready to take off on the most epic adventure of my life so far.

I want to thank Erik, for coming to my going away party, which I honestly didn't even want to have in the first place. Erik, Jose, and Shawn. Yep, that's it, no one else came. I have to say I was honestly disappointed that more people didn't come, but what are you going to do. Erik got me a cake, which I thought was amazing. We had a great time, despite the turn out. Thank you, my friend, for a sweet send off. 

I look forward to posting in the future, all of the things I will see and do, and although I feel so self-aggrandized by posting a blog, I will do it anyway, so you can all share my adventures.

See you on the other side (of the world!) xoxo