My family is truly the best. Really. They've helped me through the good and bad times, always been a shoulder to lean on, supported me through all of my traveling ordeals... and sent me a GoPro for Christmas! WEEEEE! As a traveler, a GoPro is definitely one of the best gifts I could've received. I absolutely love my Canon DSLR, but sometimes it's a bit of a pain to carry around. That's where the GoPro comes in! Mom and Dad sent it before Christmas, but it got stuck in customs and didn't reach me in time for the North. However, last weekend was a three day weekend due to Teacher's Day on January 16. What better way than to celebrate a long weekend than to hit up the beach?! So, back to Koh Samet we went where we met up with old friends (Olly, Manny, Kevin), and met some new faces. Below is the video I made (little hobby of mine) with my first go at the camera. I definitely still have a bit to learn while using it, but I think this shows how solid of a weekend it turned out to be! The transition from 2014 to 2015 couldn't have been more surreal, social, relaxing, and inspiring. Due to the long holiday break, Katrina and I went north since it was just about the only time we would be able to visit. We visited the three main cities: Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and Pai. Each city offered new adventures, new sights to see, new people to meet, and old faces to reconnect with. Chiang Rai was our first stop in our journey to ring in the new year. We took an overnight bus from Suphanburi to Chiang Mai, then had to hop on another bus to drive an extra 3 hours to Chiang Rai. The trip was long and exhausting, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the city. Since we arrived a bit later, we decided to relax while we waited for other OEGers to get to Chiang Rai. The first day consisted of walking through the bazaar (both day and night), getting much needed massages, listening to live music while enjoying some good drinks, stumbled upon a flower festival (which we have dubbed "Selfie Stick Festival"), danced with the locals, and watched the clock tower light up every hour. Day 1 was very successful. Day 2 was even more amazing. We met a new friend, rented motorbikes, and visited two of the main hotspots. Both locations are supposed to represent Heaven and Hell, and you can definitely see it at each place. The first spot was the Black House. The local artist wanted to create something that opposed the idea of Heaven and created this small village of odd statues, intricate dark carvings, skulls, animal hides, and dark, wooden houses. It was eerie and creepy, but strangely intriguing with how the artist was able to use strange objects to create something quite beautiful. The next stop was the amazing White Temple, which symbolized "Heaven." The White Temple was definitely one of the most stunning things I've seen here in Thailand. The temple had interesting aspects to it, like carved snakes, hands reaching out from below, random Batman and HellBoy head statues hanging from the trees, and other oddities. However, these strange aspects didn't take away the beauty of the sunset, the gleaming reflections, and the serenity that surrounded it. The next morning we headed to Chiang Mai, where we met up with a whole bunch of other OEGers. The two main highlights of Chiang Mai included my first time ziplining and celebrating New Year's Eve in the city with floating lanterns, which is what Chiang Mai is known for. Katrina and I decided to do ziplining, both our first time ever and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful area to experience it. We signed up for the "Silver Package" with Eagle Trek, but was bumped up to the "Gold Package" for free! This meant that we got to experience more crazy ziplines, more abseiling, and crazy bridges and obstacles. This experience definitely helped me get over my fear of instability and heights. It got to a point where I was laughing with excitement and twirling purposefully on my zipline. We were also in Chiang Mai for the beautiful floating lanterns for New Years. We were chuckling about the lanterns that were stuck in the trees because we believed that meant that they were going to have a rocky year. Well, I should've kept my mouth shut. My lantern got stuck in the power lines for all of 2 seconds before floating off to join the other well wishes in the sky. Later that night, a small shard of glass pierced through my flip-flop. No harm, no foul. But on the next day, New Year's Day, I experienced my first motorbike accident. I am safe and only received a minor scrape and bruise. I know people who have experienced worse accidents, and I'm thankful that I walked away with only little bumps and bruises. Our final destination for the week was a little town called Pai. In terms of sight-seeing, there isn't much to do here. Pai is known as a "bohemian hippie-ish" area that is surrounded by beautiful sights and sounds. We stayed in a hostel known as SpicyPai where we slept with mosquito nets and was a little walk outside of the town. But I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful area to stay. New friends Diego, George and Pat joined us in Pai, and we watched the glorious sun set behind the hills while we say in front of the large white Buddha. Pai was more of a relaxed atmosphere, and it was nice to be in a town where we didn't need to bounce around from point to point to make sure we see all the sights. We enjoyed great friends, great food, a beautiful atmosphere, amazing music, and stunning artwork. Pai was the best way to round out the weekend due to the calmness that the town offered. This was my first New Year's out of the country, and it was definitely weird to welcome in the new year 12 hours before everyone back home. But reflecting back on the past year, I can't believe how far I've come mentally, spiritually, and physically. My dreams of traveling the world are finally coming true. For the most part, I've been able to accomplish this all on my own financially and have received nothing but the most amazing support from my spectacular and magnificent family. I am able to pat myself on the back for all that I've achieved. This year has had some head-in-the-cloud highs and lower than dirt lows, but having these experiences have helped me become a stronger and well-rounded individual. I volunteered for a month in the amazing country of Peru, I backpacked Europe in 6 weeks, moved to a foreign country, worked 3 jobs that helped shape me for the future, and met the most amazing people from all around the world. To say that I now have friends and family in Peru, England, Germany, Australia, Thailand, Barcelona, and of course back home is one of the most unbelievable thoughts. The connections that I've made around the world are helping me realize that the world truly is small. I've felt my Uncle and Nomma with me every step of the way, and I can only imagine what 2015 has in store for me.
Coming to Thailand has introduced me to a lot of "firsts." I rode an elephant for the first time, got face-to-face with monkeys for the first time, and lit off a Chinese lantern for the first time. However, two huge firsts that have occurred over here were my first multi-day music festival and missing Christmas with my family. Wonderfruit Festival was from Dec 19 to Dec 21 in Pattaya, just about 2 hours southeast of Bangkok. This was the festival's first year happening (see! Firsts all around). The festival was based around a "no trace left behind" philosophy, and was geared towards promoting living a sustainable, healthy life-style. The food was simply superb (cheese-steak cheeseburger! WHA?!), the atmosphere was the most relaxing, and the music was beyond compare. I hadn't heard of any of the performers whatsoever, but being introduced to new music was one of the best parts of the entire festival. We watched groups like Fat Freddy's Drop, T-Bone, Woodkid, and other smaller acts and DJs. My absolute favorite group was called Little Dragon. They put on an absolutely amazing performance and was so full of energy. Music and art was everywhere you turned, and we met new faces every day that we're still in contact with today. I couldn't have asked for a better festival to have been my "first," and I definitely can't wait for my next festival! Bonnaroo, Coachella, Electric Forest, or Firefly anyone? Another major first here in Thailand was me missing Christmas with my family for the first time. I obviously knew I was going to be missing both Thanksgiving and Christmas when I came here, but I didn't realize how hard it really was going to be. As a family, we had said that since Hayley has missed one Christmas, I was allowed to miss one.
Christmas was definitely weird here. To me, Christmas isn't about the gifts and such, but more about the beauty, the spirit, and being around the ones you love no matter where you are. Christmas Eve was the big "farang" dinner. We dressed up nicely and went out to a restaurant where I was finally able to have a decent glass of wine (or two.) Being around the friends who have become so close to me and making new friends all in one night reminded me that Christmas doesn't have to be exactly home to be celebrated. I had school on Christmas day where I had to give a midterm to my M3's. I was heartbroken to do such a thing, but there was nothing I could do. The beginning of the day started with a wonderful assembly where a lot of the Sa-Nguan Ying staff sang Jingle Bell Rock and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It was a jolly way to start off the day, and we had so much fun sharing our tradition. Even Thai Santa showed up! Later that night, some of our friends came over to Yoo Dee Mee Sook where we ordered pizza, watched Elf, and reveled in each other's company. It wasn't exactly the Christmas I'm used to, but my first Christmas without my family couldn't have been better. |
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March 2015
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