It's been way too long since I last wrote, but I have a pretty good excuse.....I was in Thailand! For someone who had never left the country before moving to Korea, well I had been to Canada but that doesn't count, a trip to Thailand had only been dreamed about! We had been planning this trip since we can to Korea 5 months ago. It had been talked about for so long, I thought it was just something we would talk about but would never happen. That's why the whole trip was so unreal, but also amazing, wonderful, and so hard to put into words. But god knows I'll try.
We, and by we I mean myself and 5 of the other foreign teachers. We left early Saturday morning, around 5:30am and we had a long day of traveling in front of us. We had layovers in Shanghai and Bangkok before finally arriving in Koh Samui at 9pm Saturday night. Even though it was a long day of traveling, once we got to the island we were so excited we didn't care about the 12 hour travel we had just endured.
We got a shuttle to our hotel, got in our rooms, and went straight to the beach. Even though we couldn't see anything, I could hear the waves crashing and feel the sand beneath my feet and I knew I was some place special. We spent Sunday just relaxing on the beach. We all got massages and pedicures on the beach and ate wonderful "street" food from the beach vendors. These vendors sold ,whole pineapples, grilled corn on the cob, and papaya salads, and for very very cheap. I think I probably ate about one whole pineapple each day, they were just so good!!
Sunday night we took it easy and found a good place to eat right on the beach. We discussed what we wanted to do that week and decided to sign up for the Elephant Trek the next day. The elephant trek consisted of viewing the mummified munk, riding an elephant, feeding a baby tiger, going to and swimming in a waterfall, visiting a "magical garden", and finally eating a Thai style lunch atop a mountain with magnificent views. After dinner we walked around to find the place to sign up for the trek, gave them our money and called it a night. It's amazing how much the sun really drains your energy.
I woke up early the next morning, and every morning really, to go for a run. It was interesting running in Thailand. First, they drive on the left side of the road so I had to get used to that. Also, there are A LOT of stray dogs. At first I was a bit scared they would start chasing me but they were quite friendly and didn't even flinch when I would run by. After my run, I met the others for breakfast and waited for our guide to pick us up for the days adventure. We stopped and picked up two other couples along the way, one pair was from Australian and the other from Sweden. They were all good people and fun to have on the trek.
Our first stop was the Mummified Monk. This was a man who had his body preserved for his family. It was a little creepy and gross but interesting all the same. After we saw that, we headed into the "jungle" to ride elephants. This was pretty cool! I got to actually sit on the elephant, like I was controlling him! A bit scary but unbelievable at the same time. After the elephant ride, I held and fed a baby tiger!! This was one of the highlights of the trip! It was so cute and so sweet but yet in the wild, a completely terrifying animal! After the animals came the trek to the waterfall. The 4X4 we were ridding in had places to sit on the top of the roof, so me and two others got to ride on top of the car as we climbed into the jungle. Let me tell you, this was one of the roughest, craziest, most fun rides I have ever been on! It was once again a bit terrifying but very cool all at the same time. Once we made it to the waterfall, we took pictures and went swimming. Even though this water was not the clearest, it was very very refreshing, and just really cool to be able to swim in a waterfall.
After the waterfall, we got back on the 4X4 and headed higher into the jungle to go to the "Magical Buddha Garden" and eat lunch atop a mountain with "magnificent views", these are not my words, these were the words the brochure used to describe the trek. I was back on top the 4X4 for the climb to the garden and I think I saw my life flash by eyes about 8 times with tree branches and power lines flying by my head! But we made it to the top safe and sound and walked around Buddhas "Magical" Garden for a bit. By this time we were all famished and ready for some grub,ewe climbed back in the 4X4 one more time and climbed higher to the top of the mountain for lunch. And they weren't kidding with the "magnificent views." It was breathtaking. No other way to describe it.
After lunch, we piled back in and made our way back to the hotel. We were all pretty beat so we decided to relax on the beach and swim a bit in the gulf, it was a rough life for a while I know! We showered up and headed out dinner. We were staying in a great place, we had food markets, restaurants, and shopping markets right outside our door. We found a restaurant and enjoyed some delicious Thai food. It was once again an early night, I think I was in bed by 10:30, but god did it feel good to sleep!!
Much more to come on Thailand...but if I wrote about the whole week in one entry you may never leave your computer. Part II to come shortly......
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