There's an elephant on my car!!!

Relaxing in our hostel outdoor common space, safely in Chiang Mai!!!! For the few of you that emailed me about bombings in Bangkok, we were in no way affected and didn't even hear anything about it around Thailand until some of you clued us in on it. We left Bangkok Tuesday morning and apparently they happened Tuesday afternoon. But thanks for the concern!

We spent the past 2 days in Khao Yai National Park, seeing as much wildlife as we could. We (somehow) arrived just in time to jump onto a half day tour which took us to a cave full of bats (disgusting at first, but really cool once you got comfortable) and then to this place where every night, at sunset, 2 million bats fly out of this cave and go hunting for the night. This site was amazing, and it seemed like much more than 2 million bats. I will post pictures when I can....

Our journey to Khao Yai was funny because we had contacted our guesthouse again the morning that we caught a bus to Pak Chong (the closest town to Khao Yai) and they said that they would pick us up at the bus station but there is no way to confirm times or anything. So Katy and I get off this bus with our giant packs and are clearly the only tourists around and there is no indication of where to find this transport to Greenleaf (our guesthouse). So we wander around like idiots for a while and then this girl on a motorbike pulls up and is like "Greenleaf?" Of course our answer was "yes, please." So she tells us to hang on for about 15 minutes and someone would be by to get us and then speeds away....and 14 minutes later a truck pulled up to transport us to the guesthouse. I guess they must just drive past the bus station every so often looking for people....

We spent the night making new friends in the guesthouse common area and then caught a few hours of sleep before our all day trekking/safari tour the following day.

Part of the safari day was spent in an open air vehicle driving around the park and then part of the day was spent trekking. We were lucky enough to spot gibbons and macau monkeys, as well as lots of hornbills (gorgeous birds), and some interesting plants. We then picked up pace quickly as we heard there were elephants nearby and we wanted to get to them.  We found out the context when we emerged from the jungle onto the road and saw one of our safari vehicles with a big dent in the hood and a smashed in window....the elephant decided to play with the car I guess :)  There was a man who worked with the resort who had seen the elephant come up and smash the car, and he was kind enough to let me take a picture of his picture (also to be posted shortly).

We enjoyed lunch in the jungle while the (still angry) elephant wandered around down the road....we weren't allowed to get close as he was clearly a little aggressive at the moment. Lucky for all of the men who worked at the resort, the vehicle was driveable, so we hopped back in and continued on our day. We stopped by a waterfall for a bit and then back to Greenleaf for the night.  A few rounds of Chang beer and hands of cards later, our international group of friends was well-bonded :)  Katy and I were the only ones from the States (per usual), and we were joined by a girl from Belgium, a guy from Holland, a guy from Germany, a guy from London, 2 guys from Canada, and a guy from Switzerland (I think). I absolutely love the conversations between travelers when everyone is in that nomadic mindset, everyone has a different accent, and everyone has a different story to offer.....I feel like I learn as much in these few hour conversations as I would in a year of schooling. 

We were lucky enough that most of our new friends were headed out of Khao Yai and on to Ayuthaya the next morning, as was our plan. Ayuthaya is the former capitol of Thailand, and was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767.  The town is really cool to walk around, full of old ruins. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.  So six of us took the train from Pak Chong (near Khao Yai) to Ayuthaya....about a 3 hour ride with no A/C and next to a few interesting locals....one who drank 6 beers during the train ride and another who kept stroking our (male) friend's hand....it kept it interesting :)  There were 4 of us who were staying in Ayuthaya for the day (the others were continuing on the train to Bangkok), and one of the guys was actually spending the night there, which was perfect for us because we were able to use his room to stash our bags and grab a shower.  We grabbed our Lonely Planet and headed out for the afternoon. It was a great day- the weather was gorgeous and they were preparing the ruins area for some sort of festival later in the evening, so there were mahouts (elephant trainers if you will) dressing the elephants and rehearsing their tricks.

After our day at Ayuthaya, Katy and I boarded the night train to Chiang Mai, which is we are right now. The night train was actually quite comfortable and we were able to get some sleep.  More about Chiang Mai later, however...we have a three day trek that leaves in the morning and we need to get some sleep before!! 

Thanks for reading :)

Which wat is what?

Today was a day full of wats...or Thai temples. After our relaxing day and social night the day before, we woke up early and were determined to spend the day seeing all the sights of the city.  I feel pretty satisfied that we did a great job! Katy has been to Bangkok before (on a cruise, for about half a day), so she had some ideas about what we should see....and we figured out the rest along the way. 

We started off with a delicious breakfast in our hostel.  An omelette, toast, and the best iced coffee I've ever had, all enjoyed in the outside lounge area for 80 baht...that is less than 3 dollars (and let's remember that since we were at the hostel, of course the prices were jacked up). Can't beat that Thai pricing :)  Then we headed out toward the Grand Palace, which houses Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha). This palace is the former royal residence and is still used by the King for some things (for example, one of the building was closed off as his cousin has recently died and her body is being held there until the creamation services commence).  We found some Canadians (of course, that seems to be the trend here) who were headed in the same direction as us and all found the entrance together. We rented clothes so that we were properly dressed for the Palace (despite the stifling 90 degrees) and ventured in.  The palace is beautiful, with colorful tiles and marble everywhere. The Emerald Buddha is a sight to see. It's a rather small buddha but perched high up in the temple. He is made of Jasper and the King changes his garb three times a year, depending on season. You are allowed to enter the Wat as long as you stay respectful, obviously with shoes off, stay quiet, no pictures. You cannot at any time point your feet towards the Buddha, in Thailand, feet are seen as the lowest and dirtiest part of the body and it is extremely disrespectful to have them raised on furniture or pointing at anyone.

Katy renting a skirt....outside of ABP (ha that's for all you work people)

 

 

 

After our time at the Grand Palace, we headed towards Wat Pho, which houses the reclining Buddha, 46m long and 15m high. The reclining position signifies the exact moment of the Buddha's englightenmnet and death. The Buddha is finished in gold leaf and is pretty magnificent. The eyes and the feet have mother of pearl inlays. We pretty much just walked in and marveled at this huge image and then headed out again.



After the reclining Buddha, Katy was pretty set on seeing the Golden Budda, or Wat Traimit. She had seen it when she was in Bangkok before. However, this Wat isn't nearly as famous as the others (although, after seeing it, I am unsure why) so it was an experience to get there.  Times like the one I am about to describe is why I love traveling so much. 
So we grabbed our trusty map and tried to figure out what the heck the Golden Buddha was labeled as on it (at this point we didn't know the Thai name). The great (sarcasm) thing about Thailand is things are spelled differently every place you look, so Wat Traimit was Trai Mit some places, Trimit some others, and Traimit some others.  We finally found a guard on our way out of the Reclining Buddha who very confidently pointed us in the direction of the Golden Buddha and we understood that he said "boat."  So we walked toward the water, found a ferry that looked promising (and that was only 3 baht, about 10 cents), and hopped on.  Ha. We got all excited as this thing started up and we were on the Chao Phraya river. We also thought we scored a fantastic deal.  We quickly realized we weren't headed up or down the river, but across it. And that was it.  We had paid to cross the river.  No wonder it was 3 baht.  But it looked cool on the other side, so we decided to get off and wander around. It was SO COOL over there! I felt like we had wandered into Oz or something because I had no idea there was something to see on the other side. Perhaps I should have read my guidebook more carefully, because we realized what it was after a few minutes of wandering....Wat Arun! Another temple, and a beautiful one at that....one that we would have never gotten to if we didn't grab the wrong ferry. So we explored here for a bit, and then continued on our quest for the Golden Buddha. 

View of Chao Phraya

Wat Arun

On our way up Wat Arun

Area outside of the ferry station near the Golden Buddha

We crossed back over the river and decided to spend more than 10 seconds reading the ferry schedule. It was pretty simple to figure out, actually- so we waited for the proper ferry to come by, hopped on, and got off at the closest stop to Wat Traimit, which ended up being a mile or a mile and a half away. We trusted our map skills and took a pretty cool walk through some Thai neighborhoods (we were definitely the only tourists around at all, which is so much better than being one of a million white people as you are trying to explore other cultures) before we FINALLY found the Golden Buddha.....aaaah. This thing should have been illuminated by some crazy lights or something after the journey we took to get there.  You can't take pictures, but I'm sure if you google Wat Traimit you can see what it looks like.  This Buddha had actually been hidden in stucco a long time ago for safekeeping and was rediscovered during temple construction quite recently....from the info we were able to find they dropped this giant piece of stone and it cracked and inside was this beautiful Buddha.

Woman outside of ferry station

So now you know which wat is what :)  As I write, we are on a bus headed toward Pak Chong, which is the closest town to Khao Yai National Park. Supposedly, there are some people from the guesthouse we contacted who will be waiting to pick us up and get us into the park...let's hope so :)

One night in Bangkok....

Well, we actually have two nights- but only one has happened yet :)  So we made it! The airport hotel we stayed in the first night (we arrived about 2am on Sunday) was interesting....but we were only there to catch some sleep and then we made our way into the city and quickly got very comfortable at our amazing hostel in Bangkok, NapPark.  This place is fantastic. I don't think many of you are familiar with hostels and I know a lot of people think they are dirty, etc- but the only reason this place is considered a "hostel" is because you sleep in dormers and your bathrooms are shared.  However, I wouldn't have it any other way at this point. The culture of using your room only to sleep promotes everyone to chat, learn about each other's travels, make new friends, etc.  And the amenities are here great- cleanest bathrooms I've seen in a long time, western toilets, really nice showers (with towels and shampoo!!!).  These are big things to be excited about, folks.  They have a lounge room on the first floor with a bunch of mattresses laid out if you want to catch a snooze in the middle of the day but still be in the action, and then a row of computers with free internet.  There is a great lounging area outside and plenty of English speaking employees who can help you plan where to go.  All in all, a great way to start off our trip.

Weather-wise, I feel like I am in the Amazon- but its pretty great coming from all the snow in Chicago. It is about 90 degrees here and 95% humidity....I have given up all hopes on my hair for our time in SE Asia, that's for sure!

So what did we do yesterday? Pretty much just familiarized ourselves with the area, wandered around Khao San Road (backpacker central), went to the famous Chatuchuk (sp?) weekend market, rode on multiple tuk tuks!!, and had a few brewskies with our new Canadian and Irish friends.  The area we are staying in is just crawling with backpackers, which I don't wish for the whole trip but is a great way to get our bearings and throw ourselves into the lifestyle.  Its a feeling of camaraderie when you have all been sweating all day long and you realize the guy next to you has been wearing his clothes for 3 days and no one gives a you-know-what.

Today our plans are to make our way over to the Grand Palace and see all the famous Buddhas that Bangkok has to offer (and hopefully learn a little bit more about why they are so important!)

Hope all is well with everyone in Chi!!!

Day 1!!!!!!

All winter long, I had been hoping that I could slip out of the States before winter really hit..and I almost made it.  My parents (chauffeurs?), Katy, and I were just about to leave the house for the airport when big, fat, snowflakes started falling....and they continued falling through our take off. So I guess I almost made it! Luckily, we only had to sit on the plane for an hour or two before we were able to take off-and if your first flight is 16 hours, what difference does an hour or two make? Plus, I think Katy and I were so excited about the fact that this day was actually here that we could've cared less what happened.

So here we are, about an hour away from landing in Hong Kong....and day 1 of our RTW adventure has come and gone....hard to believe!  Like I said, my parents took us to the airport this morning and after a minimally tearful goodbye, we were off. Luckily, it seems like they are going to hold our connecting flight for us- so we should still be able to arrive in Bangkok late tonight (Saturday).

With the exception of a slight wave of nauseau and some brief hyperventilating as we were pulling up to the airport this morning, I still don't think that I realize that I have embarked on this life-changing adventure.  I can only process this trip in segments, so that is exactly what I am doing.  First segment: 11 days in Thailand :)

I can't wait to see what our first couple of days in Bangkok bring, who we meet, what we see...and I am curious as to how long it will take me to resist the desire to throw away the majority of the clothes I brought when I relalize how large my backpack is.  I swear I went through those clothes again and again and again, I took out numerous items, and I seriously don't think I could have gotten rid of anything else.

Next time I post I will have stepped foot onto Asia for my first time......talk to you all then!