Day 9-13

Lisa and I have had quite the adventure finding a place to stay. Hattrin is so narrow that on one side of the town the sun rises and on the other side it sets. We are on sunset beach, its more relaxed than on sunrise beach(where the full moon party takes on full force). We were originally at Coral bungalows and we managed to get a 500baht room. The resort had a swimming pool and amazing food. We decided to pay for a week at the resort, however, they recently have invested in Internet bookings and told us we had to be out of our place by the 31st. Most of the places here fill up based on first come first serve, and the earlier you get here for the full moon party the easier it is to get a nice place to stay. We ended up getting into a bungalow at Seaside which is way nicer. The view is amazing. We have a hammock set up on the porch and we can see the ocean when laying in it. The resort is super chill, they play hippie music so pretty much i am in love with this place. For happy hour the beer is 40 baht, so every night we have been watching the sun set while chilling in the hammock and drinking beer for just over a dollar Canadian (can't get much better...paradise!)

I toured around the town to see where Luke stayed when the boys came here. It was ridiculously far away...... silly boys. I hiked up to Sunsmile resorts. The view was pretty amazing, there were boulders everywhere and it was really relaxing to sit on top of them and listen to the water crash into the rocks. Over on the beach there were 5 kite boarders on the water. I may have to give that a rip before leaving.

I experienced my first bucket here on the island. The drinks come in buckets with straws, and the bucket will have about a mickey of hard alcohol, red bull (real red bull not the watered down stuff back home), and pop. The night clubs blare their music while everyone dances on the beach, best party ever. I figured I should start to game up for the full moon party. We also watched flame jugglers, pretty much fell in love with them........jk fell in love with their mad flame juggling skills.

Since we were a little under the weather this morning (little too much wobbly pops) we decided to head to town and get a massage. I had a Swedish oil massage and it cost $9 Canadian. Kathryn arrives tomorrow on the 11:30am ferry. I am stoked to see her.

Can't wait to bask in the sun tomorrow.........until next time keep fit and have fun!

Day 6-8: The Islands..Finally

I flew down to Surat Thani in the morning to catch an afternoon ferry to Koh Samui. (Islands on the South East side of Thailand) As soon as I landed they had a huge bus waiting to take everyone to the ferry. It was nice since the operation was smooth unlike Bangkok. The ferry ride was about 2 hrs. long, and I met a couple of Canadians traveling on an Intrepid tour.

Landing in Koh Samui there was taxis everywhere trying to get you to go to the report that they work for. I ended up getting sucked into a ride to a place called Palm Tree Resort. It was more money than I wanted to pay but the place was really nice. The rooms were concrete so there weren't any bugs. The resort has a pool and a restaurant. It rained a little bit the one morning, and stupid me left my book by the pool while it was raining, and its now like 3 times the size it used to be. I am still trying to air it out.

I ate at a bar on the beach that has lay down chairs. The music was really loud, and Love Generation seemed to be the song of choice most of the night. After dinner the bar had a fireworks show on the beach which just about gave me a heart attack since i didn't expect the loud bang. They were pretty sweet though.

I rode on a scooter taxi with my huge bags to catch the morning ferry to Koh Phangan. Taxi's at Koh Samui are not as efficient as in Bangkok, which just means less chaos. It took about an hour. I met a girl from Ottawa, and we decided to share a room at the Coral Resort. The room has an extra bed for when Kathryn gets here. The resort is on the sunset side of Hat Rin. It's so beautiful to watch the sun setting while hanging out by the pool. Lisa (the girl from Ottawa) is back for her 3rd full moon party, and knows a few locals which is nice.

I met one of the guys that works at the resort. He is from England and does all the ad's for the resort. I introduced him to Xavier Rudd, and he wants to start playing Xavier's music at the resort which will be sweet. I am enjoying Koh Phangan more than Samui, it has a younger crowd, and nicer beaches. I am planning on chillng here till Kathryn arrives (t minus about 5 days). Lisa and I might rent a scooter to check out the water falls here. I'm off to lay by the beach and catch the sunrise.

Day 5: Ayutthaya

Waking up early i caught a cab to the train station to take a day trip up to Ayutthaya, which is the old capital of Bangkok. The train ride was definitely an experience. The plan was to take a 2nd class train but i ended up buying a 3rd class train ticket. I met a girl on the train that was hoping to study in Canada but didn't pass the test required to go to university in Canada. I sat mostly with locals since most tourists take the 2nd class trains. One lady gave me some exotic fruit. I haven't been able to find the name of it yet, but it was amazing and looked a little daunting.

I toured around the island in a taxi since the sites are all far apart. One of the tour guides said that i was crazy for only spending a day in the city. It was Bangkok's capital for 417 years. I climbed the stairs at Chedi at Wat Phu Khao Thong, which was quite the hike in the heat. The view was amazing, i could see the whole city. One of my favourite places to see was the Wat Yai Chaimonkorn, Courtyard with Buddha Images. The courtyard was filled with palm trees that had scripture written on them, and Buddha images everywhere. There was also a covered Buddha near the courtyard.

I also visited the remains of the reclining Buddha. The Buddha's are massive, and hard to capture on camera because they are generally crowded by by other temples. I tried to see as much as possible through out the day, but I found the trip to be very exhausting.

The train ride back seemed like it took 5 hours. It was neat to see the majority of the city, the highs and the very lows. Tomorrow I am heading down to the islands and I am definitely looking forward to it, leaving the madness of Bangkok behind.

Day 4

I took a boat taxi through the canal. It was really interesting to see how people lived. We ran into a couple of alligators. The water was filled with boat taxi's, which made it hard to get around since we had to wait in lines to go under bridges. If you decide to take a boat taxi make sure to give yourself lots of time. Vendors had little rafts filled with stuff to sell. I ate at a floating restaurant, which had a weird smell but the food was really good.

I found a sweet hostile to stay in, just off of Kohsan road in Bangkok. Its called My House, and i recommend it to anyone staying around the markets by kohsan road. It has a lay down lounge where you can relax and read. They show three movies a day on their big screen, the only movie that i caught was The Break-Up. I mostly bummed around the market and picked some stuff that i need for the islands.

They have fresh fruit stands everywhere, and tons of food. The food from the vendors is amazing and really cheap.

I toured around the Grand Palace in Bangkok for an afternoon. The Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha houses a beautiful statue of Buddha which is made of jade. We were not allowed to take pictures, it was so beautiful. The Chapel is so elaborately decorated on its outside walls with hundreds, if not thousands, of small golden statues of mystical figures. The Grand Palace was really busy, there were a lot of locals and tourists visiting the site.

Hello Thailand - Jan 20

I finally arrived!
The flights were bearable, except when i had to pier through an outragious hairstyle to watch the movies. On my 10 hr flight to Tokyo the guy sitting beside me drank 2 Pepsi's, 1 orange juice, 3 7-ups, and a water, and didn't go to the bathroom once................pretty impressed not going to lie.

I got into Bangkok at midnight, and then caught a cab with some people from the flight. One guy that helped me out was down for his 7th time, he was really helpful.

I am going to jet to go enjoy the market.
Take Care

Thursday O'Byrne's Irish Pub- Edmonton

I am flying out Thursday morning, so come and have a drink at O'Byrne's on Whyte

I will be heading down there around 10pm

Keep your stick on the ice...............

Edmonton

My Edmonton view that i will definitley miss..............