I don’t even know where to start since I last wrote. We
arrived in Chiang Mai from Bangkok last Thursday. Since it was Songkran (Thai
New Year), things were insane. The Thai New Year is a time for cleansing. The
streets were filled with tourists and locals armed with water guns and buckets
to soak you. We spent the day walking and partying the streets completely
drenched. We even saw Thailand’s Prime Minister in the parade about five feet
from us, which is a huge honor.
The following day, we set out for our trekking trip. We took
a miserable, hung-over van ride out to the start of the trek with two Danish
guys, a Dutch girl and a German guy. I was a little nervous because I didn’t
bring any shoes except flip-flops and they recommended running/trekking shoes.
Once we arrived, we met up with the rest of our group and our guides. There
were four awesome Kiwi guys we hung out with most of the time. Taylor is just
now starting to understand their accents and lingo. Our trek was about three hours long. I had a
blowout with my flip-flop one hour into the walk!!! Luckily, another girl
loaned me her shoe. We all know how small my carny feet are. They were about
four sizes too big but I was grateful! The Thai guides were laughing at me
because they basically knew that was going to happen. Oops… should’ve planned
ahead. We stayed the night in a tiny village with the locals. They had little
huts made of bamboo and leaves, which we slept on the ground in. They were
really cool people, but spoke very little English. They made us dinner and we
all sat around a campfire where we hung out listening to all the crazy sounds
of the animals in the jungle hoping they wouldn’t attack us in the night.
The next day, we went on another trek for about three hours
walking the jungle. We also bamboo rafted down the river and rode elephants. I
thought I would love riding the elephants but I ended up just wanting it to
end. I thought it was really sad. A cool experience I guess though.
Our last day in Chiang Mai, we went to the Tiger Kingdom.
That was my favorite experience so far! We got to cuddle the baby tiger cubs,
which were possibly the cutest things I’ve ever seen in my life. We also went
in the cage with the BIG tigers. I stayed right by the trainer. They were so
intimidating. I petted its back and touched it’s tail, but tried to stay far
away. So scary, but amazing! They are treated really well there.
I have to mention one of our Tuk Tuk drivers. I, like an
idiot, put my camera in my pocket. It must have fallen out at some point. I
know Thailand is notorious for having a lot of theft. Well, I realized my
camera was gone after we got out of the Tuk Tuk at our hotel. I just let it go.
Didn’t want to spend any time dwelling on what I couldn’t fix. We came back to
the hotel a couple hours later to find he had driven back and returned my
camera!!! What an amazing person.
We left Chiang Mai and took a plane to Phuket where we
arrived late in the night to go straight to sleep. The next morning, we got on
a boat and headed straight to Phi Phi Island. I can’t even describe how
beautiful it was. We just relaxed and hung out. So nice after a crazy week.
Taylor and I spent the night watching a fire show. It lasted several hours and
was so amazing. The performers were so talented. I could’ve watched for hours. They got the
crowd involved in the end. One of the performers twirled fire all around me
while I sat in front of him on stage. I even jumped rope with fire! It burned
me about four times, but well worth it! My mom and dad are going to kill me for
that one. Video on facebook to come
soon!
We’re currently at an island called Railay. The scenery is
stunning. I think we’ve decided to stay here for at least more than two days!
We’re tired of moving for the moment.
That’s all for now. Will update again soon!
