Sunshine Award and Inner Peace Award

I have been awarded Sunshine award by http://processingthelife.wordpress.com/ and http://doncharisma.org/. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. So thank you to you both and to everyone else that takes time out to support my blog. It is this support that encourages me to continue my passion that I have acquired of writing about my experiences.  I am truly honoured and I accept my awards with relish.

Rules for the award are:
1. Use the Sunshine Award logo in the post.
2. Link to whoever nominated you.
3. Write ten pieces of information about yourself.
4. Nominate ten fellow bloggers, “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”.
5. Leave a comment on the nominees’ blogs to tell them of the award

10 pieces of information:

1. I am finally departing the UK on 27th January 2014 for 2 sunny weeks in the shores of Sri Lanka, before finally landing home again in Thailand on 10th February to start a new chapter in my life.

2. My favourite food to eat is Indian and pizza.

3. I have a secret passion for Bollywood.

4. One of my heroes is David Attenborough.

5. I love running to keep fit.

6. I wish I didn’t love wine so much.

7. I just graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) 2.1 degree.

8. I love all things nature.

9. The older I get the more I want to learn about the world.

10. My parents are the most wonderful people I know.

The only “rule” for the inner peace award is that you write a short piece on why you are accepting it. I would suggest that you forward on to other bloggers who you think would like it, 3-10 up to you:)

Why I am accepting the Inner Peace Award:

The reason I accepting this award is because http://doncharisma.org/ offered this to me and I am so very thankful. I have only recently begun to share my life with others through the medium of writing, and gestures like this award make me feel confident and eager to carry on. I have had awards in the past through things I have done in my working life but this type of award makes it all the more special because it relates to my own personal endeavours and passions.

I hope that by sharing my own life and experiences that I might give some positivity and inspiration to others to do the same. Thank you to everyone for the support you have given me thus far.

My 10 nominations for the Sunshine and Inner Peace awards are:

http://thebohemianlifestyle.com/

http://liberatedtraveler.com/

http://amarnaik.wordpress.com/

http://myoutlookinlife.wordpress.com/

http://kingofpictures.wordpress.com/

http://momentsinyourlife.wordpress.com/

http://stevemcp2002.wordpress.com/

http://flaneurabroad.wordpress.com/

http://theeagertraveller.com/

http://theworldandhistuktuk.wordpress.com/

You all positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.

I hope everyone accepts the award 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge- Horizon

One Night in Krabi

After a few more nights on Koh Phangan and a couple more back on Koh Samui, and with two more friends in tow (Colette and Becky), we made our way to Krabi which is on South Thailand’s mainland.

We were only staying one night so didn’t get to see much of it but what we did see was very funny indeed. We had dinner and found a bar nearby where we had a very random night with a guy called Richard, from Alabama. He was absolutely hilarious.

Becky, Hayley and Colette

Funny Times

He had one tooth and was completely stoned. He told us that he grew his own marijuana and got everyone else to do the work on his land so he can spend the day getting utterly hammered- we took what he said with a pinch of salt! He told us that he had killed a few people, who had ventured onto his land, and promptly retrieved an axe from the back of his truck to embellish his storytelling- a little disturbing!

That was before he had several more drinks, 2 more spliffs and then fell over, trying to get onto a motor bike, and literally rolled down the hill. No one seemed to take any notice (we were a little worried though); I think probably the rest of the bar had seen this more than once. In between his story telling he stopped abruptly, invited us to his farm then gazed into my eyes and told me my eyes were “like a dream” and that “ he could get lost in my eyes”….er sharp exit!

Hayley and Me

The things he told us were too ridiculous to be true (although so ridiculous they were probably true!). I wish we had taken his photograph but he wouldn’t allow it, maybe he was on the run from killing a few people. Who knows… all I know is that we had a great time with Richard, from Alabama and he made our one night in Krabi to be all the more memorable.

An Intro to Turtle Island

The first time I went to Koh Tao was with my friends, Hayley and Nikki, who were visiting me for a few weeks. Koh Tao- Thai for “Turtle Island”- is the smallest island when compared to its neighbours, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui and like them it is very beautiful but small enough to explore easily. On one of the first days Hayley and I went for a little walk, while Nikki stayed on the beach sunbathing. The trouble was when we were together we got itchy feet and a little bored sunbathing, so off we went to explore the island a bit more.

Hayley and Me

We walked for quite a way up towards the north of the island until we basically ran out of road. We followed the pathway and came across a building site for a new hotel, which has now since been completed, and we realised that we couldn’t get through the building site so we decided to walk back, the way we had come, to Sairee beach, stopping for refreshments in a small bar, which had wonderful views overlooking the bay. Then we realised that we only had about 30 baht on us so we had to share a bottle of sprite. Honestly who goes on a walk with no money and no water! (Oh yes, no water in the heat of the day- that was the reason we stopped because we were so thirsty).

A Bar with a View

We spent three glorious days on Koh Tao and one of those days we took a boat across to Nang Yuan which is a small island near to Koh Tao. It is actually a dive resort and it is so small that there are no cars or motor bikes, just calm and serene-it is simply stunning and has one of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand.

Nang Yuan

 

You can walk round and up to the top of the largest part of the island where you can get fantastic views of Koh Tao, Nang Yuan and the surrounding ocean. It is a bit tricky in parts to reach the top, there being some scrambling over large rocks, but it is well worth the effort.

On the way to the Top

Nang Yuan

 

There is a coral reef, close to shore, called the Japanese Gardens. You can enter the water from the shore and it is very shallow so perfect for beginner divers and snorkelers. During our day trip to Nang Yuan we went snorkelling here and saw some beautiful coral formations and a fair few fish.

Japanese Gardens

There is a 100 baht fee for day visitors to Nang Yuan and, in the name of conservation, plastic bottles and cans are banned from the island, but there are refreshments available at the restaurant there but at prices higher than what you would normally pay. Nevertheless, it is money well spent to spend a few hours in this little bit of paradise.

Weekly Photo Challenge- The Hue of You

The colour green is so prominent in nature and it comes in many different shades as you can see from these photographs taken in Vietnam.  The vibrant green of the paddy fields to the darker shades of the ocean represents the diversity of nature- for me the colour green symbolises a feeling of being alive and it evokes a sense of wonder in everything around me.

 

 

 

A Little Bit of Songkran

Songkran is Thai New Year and occurs mid April, and it just so happened that my friends were arriving from the UK for a holiday. The first to arrive was Nikki, but me and Tri had decided to go for a couple of drinks before heading off to the airport and we got absolutely soaked through. Basically Thai New Year is bedlam, everywhere closes for 3 days (10 days in other places such as Pattaya) and everyone tries to soak as many people as possible with water guns, buckets and hoses. In the beginning Thai New Year was a calm ceremony where monks would use water to bless people but, somehow, over the generations it has turned into a massive water fight. There are so many people- Thais, Westerners, young, old, children and adults walking around or in trucks soaking everyone in sight or covering people’s faces in flour. Everyone has fun and takes the soaking in good spirits (can you imagine doing that anywhere else? I think not) but after three days it’s a little too much.

Khao San Road Songkhran

Me and Nikki

We arrived at the airport, soaking wet, met Nikki at arrivals and got a taxi back to the Khao San Road. As soon as we arrived, Nikki dumped her stuff, got changed and we went back to join in the party. We went to DJ Station, which is a European disco in the Silom area of Bangkok- a gay club with a mix of Thai and foreign party-goers. It is a great place to party, although it gets quite overcrowded at the weekends.

DJ Station

 

Anyway we girls were having a great time dancing with the guys but we had to go to the airport again, this time to pick up one of my best friends, Hayley. By this time it was around 4am, and as we had to leave at 5.30am we decided it would be better to stay up and go straight to the airport from the bar. I have had better ideas before this point! Anyway we had a few more drinks before leaving, once more, for the airport. When we arrived Hayley was already through immigration and waiting for us. We were absolutely pissed, something that she found quite amusing (well I hope she did). We got back to the hotel and had some much needed sleep ready for another afternoon of Songkran.

Songkhran- got to be experienced

Later that day we emerged from the hotel into the throng of people on the Khao San Road- the amount of people that were partying was ridiculous, there was no room to move- so much so that we lost Hayley within 30 minutes of going out. It was actually quite scary because if any one of us had tripped and landed on the floor I am sure that we would have gotten trampled over. In fact we saw a couple of people being carted away on stretchers. Today was much the same as yesterday- it was crazy, getting soaked and caked in flour whilst drinking our way through the day. It was so much fun.

 

Me and Hayley

 

Later we all got dressed up and got a tuk-tuk to go to DJ Station again. To this day I really do not know why we got dressed up AND got a tuk-tuk, in the middle of Songkran, because Silom road was busier and crazier than the Khao San Road and the tuk-tuk dropped us quite a way from the club and we had to walk. On the way we stopped at traffic lights and promptly had a bucket of ice cold water thrown over us- we were absolutely soaked and had to go into a small bar to dry off a bit before going into DJ. We had a great time in there as usual and left at the end and went to bed at 5am.

Water and Flour Drenching

The next day we went to the Grand Palace and shopping at MBK centre and decided to stay away from any Songkran festivities, so we walked along Silom road but there was still people partying so we walked the other way away from them and found a nice restaurant to have dinner in, followed by a few drinks in an Irish bar until we thought it was safe to return to the Khao San Road (1am being the curfew for Songkran soakings).

Happy New Year!

 

 

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is beautiful – it is located, some 12 hours bus ride from Bangkok, among the highest mountains in Thailand. It is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, having everything that Bangkok as (more or less), but cheaper than Bangkok and a much more relaxed atmosphere.

When I first went to Chiang Mai I arrived around 3am and I had already found a hotel, that I planned to stay in- “Our House”, but the tuk-tuk man told me it was closed so he took me to prove that it was closed. I must admit I was a bit scared because it was pitch black and he was taking me down some very dark soi’s and I didn’t have a clue where I was. I was ready to practice some Muay Thai on him if he tried anything. But there was nothing to worry about because after he had showed me that the hotel was closed he took me to another one called “Plaza Inn”, which, despite appearances, was a lovely little place to stay, near to a good selection of restaurants, bars, and markets.

Plaza Inn

Today I was feeling very lost and lonely without my friends, especially Tri, who I had become very close to in a short space of time and spent most of the previous two months with.  So finding myself alone I felt pretty miserable as I walked around, but during lunch I decided that I would cheer myself up by booking myself onto a tour for the next day.

So the next morning at 8am I got myself ready for a tour to Doi Ithanon National Park. There was just me and two other people from China. The guy picked me up from my hotel and we drove to the first part of the  tour, which was an elephant ride. Me and said elephant had a slow walk through the forest and then splashed our way along a river, with a mahout sitting up front of course- I have no experience of controlling an elephant so didn’t think it wise to try.  The elephant kept putting his trunk back towards me because he knew that I had bought some bananas for him. I thought he was just being friendly but I soon realised that it wasn’t me he was interested in, just the bananas- he didn’t stop until they had all gone. Along the forest track there were little bamboo huts in case you wanted to buy some more bananas, so I thought it polite to oblige the animal who was carting me around in the heat of the day.

Elephant Trekking

The next part of the tour was bamboo rafting- literally a raft made from bamboo poles around twelve feet long, tied together with some sturdy rope. The others in my tour group were not interested in this bit so I was the only one on the raft and the guy, who was steering the thing like how you would steer a gondola but with a bamboo pole (am sure steering is not the right word but for one who knows nothing about sea or river faring vessels, that’s all I got!) every so often kept slapping the water with the pole and shouting crocodile! Hence I got very wet, even more so by a group of kids playing in the water who promptly chucked a load more water over me. In the end I thought sod this and retaliated, splashing water over the guy at the back of the raft, and over the boys in the water. It was actually really funny and had a lovely time rafting down the lazy river.  Afterwards I met up with my tour friends and our driver took us to a nice little restaurant where we had lunch of veggies and rice.

Bamboo Rafting

After lunch we made our way up into the surrounding mountains of Chiang Mai and arrived at Doi Ithanon, which is the highest point in Thailand, some 2521 metres above sea level. The drive up to the summit was off road and quite bumpy in the 4×4 but when we got to the top it was worth the pain, because it was so beautiful and had stunning views of Chiang Mai and the surrounding countryside.

The Highest Point in Thailand

Beautiful Countryside

At certain times during the year parts of this countryside are covered in beautifully coloured flowers. On the main road to the summit of Doi Inthanon stand two Chedis against each other; one called Naphamethinidon (นภเมทินีดล), meaning ‘by the strength of the land and air’, and the other, Naphaphonphumisiri (นภพลภูมิสิริ), meaning ‘being the strength of the air and the grace of the land’. These temples were built to honour the 60th birthday anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1987, and the 60th birthday anniversary of Queen Sirikit in 1992, respectively.

2 Chedis

Floral Gardens

On the way back our guide, whose name was Aood, asked if I wanted to sample the local Thai culture with him and I thought why the hell not- again another random night in Thailand. So later on he picked me up from my hotel again at 7pm and we went to a little roadside bar where we had a few drinks with the locals. I even had an arm wrestle with one of them after I had told him that I had been doing Muay Thai boxing for the previous two months. Silly me thinking I could possibly win- he gave me a chance but he still won. I ended up having such a great couple of days in Chiang Mai, ending with a night out with Aood, and it made me realise that, as a solo traveller, you might feel lost or lonely sometimes, but things happen that always have a way of making you feel good again.

Weekly Photo Challenge- Infinite

Wats and Pachyderms

I had a second visit to Ayutthaya, this time with some friends, who were also in Thailand doing the “volunteer” experience.  As I had been here before I didn’t want to see the same things so, whilst everyone else amused themselves taking elephant rides, I took a small group, who were happy to tag along, to Wat Phanan Choeng, which is a popular tourist attraction in Ayutthaya Historical Park.

Wat Phanan Choeng

It  houses a large Buddha from 1334 CE. It is called Luang Pho Tho, and is thought of as a guardian for mariners.

Luang Pho Tho

There is also a traditional Thai house that you can go into and walk around. It is built on stilts to provide the area beneath the house with storage, a place to relax during the day, or to keep livestock. This is a traditional way of building Thai homes mainly due to heavy flooding during the year and, in ancient times, to prevent predators dropping in!

Traditional Thai “stilt” house

I gave my eager listeners a little information about the ancient city (with thanks to a copy of the Rough Guide to Thailand), and after lunch we went to Wat Yai Chaimongkol, which is situated a short truck ride away from the main city and surrounded by sprawling countryside.

Wat Yai Chaimongkol

The temple itself is nestled into neatly kept gardens. You can walk up the many stairs to the top of this temple, which is hard work in the heat of the day, but worth it at the top where you can get great photographic shots of the gardens and green countryside.

A View from the Top

Also within the temple compound is an impressive white reclining Buddha, which represents the Buddha after his death.

Near to the ruined city of Ayutthaya was an elephant village, where the elephants rested after a tiring day, ferrying hordes of tourists back and forth for their enjoyment (the tourists not the elephant’s enjoyment). There are quite a few elephants housed here and you can watch them get fed, watered and taking their daily baths. There was a tiny baby one, which was very cute. I say tiny, tiny compared to its mother, but it still managed to butt me out of the way, with quite a bit of force I might add, so that I toppled backwards and landed in a pile of kee (shit). Poor thing got its own back, from being annoyed by humans, by head butting quite a few of us.

Baby Elephant

Working

Relaxing

Eating

Wats and Pachyderms aside, on the way back to Singburi myself and another girl in the group, asked to stop so we could relieve ourselves. The truck stopped beside the roadside and unbeknown to us there was a mud hole and because it was dark (and we were desperate) she went flying into the mud (she went first-sniggers) and got completely covered. I followed but realised what was happening and so saved myself only to lose a flip-flop, which I managed to retrieve. Why the truck driver didn’t tell us we were only two minutes away from a service station, I still don’t know- I mean, they do this route every month with new volunteers (maybe that is why he didn’t tell us- for the amusement factor). Our co-ordinator made us get off the truck and wash the mud off because one never knows what one could catch from putrid mud in these tropical climes. And the moral of the story? Don’t go to the toilet in the dark- you never know what you might find!

Heroes and Turtles

On one of my many trips around Singburi province I visited a village called Khai Bang Rachan, which is remembered for resistance against Burmese invaders in the Burmese-Siamese War (1765-1767). One of the most prominent monuments here is the Heroes of Khai Bang Rachan monument, which remembers the villagers who bravely fought against the Burmese. There were many more troops to villagers, but it took the Burmese eight attacks before the villagers were defeated due to shortage of weapons.  The monument itself stands magnificently in impeccably kept gardens.

Heroes of Bang Rachan

Gardens at Khai Bang Rachan

As we wandered around the gardens we came across a local Thai women releasing turtles. This is something you see in many places throughout Thailand where you can pay money to release a turtle into the “wild”. I have done a bit of research on this and apparently this is a traditional way of merit making for most Thai’s on a lot of occasions, such as birthdays and to bring good luck. On the surface this appears to be a nice thing to do, to release a turtle into the wild, but if you look they are all cooped up in a small, bowl –like container before being “set-free”, and then caught a few hours later and put back into the container, only to be “set-free” once more for the next paying tourist. It’s supposed to provide good luck- for you maybe, but for the turtle it is deprived of a normal life and will probably end in its death. Much better to get involved with one of the many turtle conservation projects, like the one I visited on the island of Koh Mannai, off the coast of Laem Mae Phim, where you can help to care for the turtles and learn about the work they do, breeding and releasing them into the wild (properly!)

Baby Turtles

Turtles in their Tanks

Ready for Release

Enjoying Freedom