Burmese Temples and Beaches

Hpa-An

After my time in Inle Lake I headed south to Hpa-An where I stayed for two nights. My first day there I just wandered and ate but then early the second day I joined up with a group of four others to take a hostel tour of the surrounding area. We piled into one of those sketchy little trucks and started off at this one monastery cave that was a giant cavern that we could walk through that was dotted with religious figures everywhere and beautiful views if you were willing to climb up a bit. The next temple we saw seemed to be flipping off gravity itself. There was this giant rock and at the very top of this teetering rock was a pagoda seemingly there by magic. Weirdly we were actually able to climb the stairs up to the top, I say weirdly because the way it was balanced I’m amazed it could handle the monks inside it so a steady stream of tourists seems too much like tempting fate. On my way up to the top I was stopped by a monk who grabbed my wrist, then blessed me right there and wrapped an orange thread around my wrist to bring me protection on my travels. I could have used that bracelet before the dengue fever or falling through sidewalks but better late than never! The final stop on our tour was this giant cave filled with bats where we needed flashlights to go through. It was also bizarre walking barefoot through this giant cavern but because it was like a religious pagoda to them we had to adhere to the no socks, no shoes rule. At the opening on the other side of the cavern we found the long boats waiting for us where we were transported through the reeds back around to the entrance and somehow the weirdly balanced pagoda was still always in view. After the tour we headed to the Thanlyin River where I saw one of the most amazing sunsets every before heading off to my last destination in Myanmar.

Sunset over the Thanlyin

Traveling to Chaung-Tha

From Hpa-An I travelled to Chaung Tha and my journey from hell actually started off pretty decently. I easily caught a bus from Hpa-An to Yangon and while it was weird that at one point some man took my passport, left the bus and showed up with it 10 minutes later and we had no leg room because it was taken up with cases of beer (that we weren’t allowed to drink), it was a great bus ride because a half hour into the overnight bus ride the a/c broke greatly reducing my chance of freezing to death. In seemingly no time at all we were at the Aung Mingalar station aka My Personal Hell, this bus station is so crowded, huge, confusing, and covered in unreadable lettering that I’m sure it’ll be the setting of many future nightmares. The taxi drivers were harassing me from the second I stepped off the bus and as I wandered around trying to find out where to catch my 6am bus to Chaung Tha. The cab drivers of course told me there was no such bus and that I needed to pay 8,000kyt to get to the other station, however when I finally found the rare bus station employee or traveler who spoke English they also told me I needed to go to the Kline Taya station. I kept trying to research the station and find out where it was but it didn’t seem to exist so I had no clue how to get there or if there was even a Chaung Tha bus there. Turns out Kline Taya is spelled Hlaing Thar Ya and there was in fact a share truck I was able to take there for only 1,500kyt. Sitting next to me was a man who’d been on the Hpa-An bus with me and who ended up being my Guardian Angel aka GA. The drive to the also confusing Hlaing Thar Ya station was 30 minutes of death defying driving with a madman at the wheel where seatbelts weren’t needed because we were crammed in so tightly. GA showed me where to catch the bus and as we’re in the middle of nowhere waiting for a random bus to another town with an unpronounceable name where I am the only westerner at this station, I thought for the umpteenth time, where the hell am I? The bus broke down twice and the third time it broke down we waited so long that the next scheduled bus caught up to us. GA tapped me on the shoulder, said ‘We go, bus not going’ and we ran onto the next bus. This bus was so full that the aisles were packed with little stools and people packed on them. I was sitting between the legs of some old dude as GA was sitting between my legs, where my knees were up to my chin and a chicken sat next to me. That was an extremely long 5 hours. From there we were dropped off on the side of some random road, grabbed a share taxi into a random village and caught the final bus on my journey. The entire way was horrendously confusing and I guarantee without GA guiding me every step I would likely still be lost. Even when he got off an hour before me I was still surrounded by lovely people who kept trying to share their food with me. Also I think they are trying to kill tourists. Every bus that was predominantly foreigners has had the worst music ever. Sometimes just religious wailing cranked up to max volume. The zillion local buses I took to Chaung Tha all had decent music. Coincidence?

Chaung Tha

I arrived in Chaung Tha dead tired after my million hour commute and a little pissed off because apparently there was in fact a direct Yangon-Chaung Tha bus at Aung Mingalar station that locals don’t seem to know about, and even though I was tired and desperately in need of a rest, I quickly found out that Chaung Tha was the most difficult town to find a guesthouse in. I asked the first place how much for a night and they just shook their head. This happened multiple times and sometimes they’d mix it up by responding “No, you no stay here”. Finally after checking a dozen places one person spoke enough English to explain to me that guesthouses needed to pay for a special permit to have foreigners stay there and most places didn’t have one since it was more of a vacation spot for locals. Miraculously I did find a place a little out of the way that even had a ‘dorm room’. Well the dorm room was a cottage surrounded with beautiful scenery with 3 queen size beds (pro) and only one single couple staying there who didn’t seem to want to socialize the one night they were there (con).

When normally thought of Myanmar I pictured temples and pagodas (so basically Bagan) but never really thought of it as a beach destination, turns out the beaches in Chaung Tha were pretty beautiful. I spent most of my first day there enjoying relaxing and watching the sunset and being mistaken as a mermaid - okay that last part was weird even for me. The next day was somewhat of a tough day for me. I was completely alone in the dorm, there was nobody around for me to hang out with so essentially I spent my entire birthday by myself. I still made it out to the beach that day but my heart just wasn’t in it, I’d never been alone on my birthday and I wasn’t even able to call anyone from back home. Luckily my ex boyfriend and mother saved the day. Before my mother visited me in Thailand they coordinated to have dozens of birthday/Christmas cards given to my mother that she passed along to me. These cards had been burning a hole in my pack since November and finally I could justify opening them. At this point I’d been away from home for 6 months so these cards and messages of love meant the world to me. I am so incredibly grateful to all the people who wrote cards and especially to my mother and Phil. For the rest of my time in Chaung Tha I mainly wandered the small beach town and bounced back and forth between the two main beaches. One was a mostly empty beach next to my place where there was the occasional foreigner and you could wear a bikini, the other was the main/locals beach where I wore a tank tops and shorts while swimming and it was still the most scandalous swimwear around.

My time in Myanmar ended so quickly and while it ended up being pricier than I’d expected it was a place of beautiful endless pagodas, great and dirt cheap food, absolutely lovely people, bizarre road rules, great beaches, nauseatingly bad bus soundtracks, and amazing scenery. It’s bizarre to think about much it will likely change in the upcoming future and that if I return in 10 or even 5 years, it will likely seems drastically different and/or much more touristy.

Our view from the boats in Hpa-An

Trekking from Kalaw to Inle Lake

I loved Myanmar and had some great experiences there but my favourite part hands down was when I did the 70km trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake. I checked into the Golden Kalaw Inn early in the morning and spent the morning wandering around the tiny and beautiful town of Kalaw hunting down the best tour company. At the end of the day I had booked a tour with the best which was of course the first one I’d checked out which was offered by the Golden Kalaw Inn. For 40,000kyt ($40cad) I’d be going on a 3 day tour hiking through small Burmese villages with the amazing tour guide Jojo. Since the tour didn’t start till early the next morning I was able to explore the town, stop for chapatti, potato curry and loads of indian sweets for about $1.50 and later meet and talk with my fellow trekkers Eliza and the couple Thi Thi and Phil.

We left early the next morning and passed through farmers fields, over lush hills, through plains and hills and saw so much stunning scenery. At one point we passed a random house and Jojo spoke with the lady and since she was so unaccustomed to people passing by she insisted we come into her home and share tea and snacks with her. We couldn’t understand her but sign language did the trick, and once again I was blown away by the sweetness of the Burmese people. We continued walking and each time we’d pass through the tiny villages the children would smile and follow us while shouting ‘mangalabar’ (hello). The village we eventually stopped in for lunch was small and filled with garlic and while Jojos cousin cooked us a delicious lunch we chatted, or attempted to, with the 80 year old men who lived there and had the most incredibly lined faces you’ve ever seen but beautiful smiles. Afterwards at the nearby viewpoint I nearly had to be dragged away it was so beautiful. 

We walked for a few more hours and I chatted with Jojo the entire way and talked about Myanmar and learned some great stuff from him, then next thing I know we’ve arrived at his mother in laws tiny village. There are numerous trekking companies in Kalaw and they pretty much all take the same tourist trail but because Jojo’s Hpa-Oh wife’s family lived in that village we took a different route and never ran into the other tour groups. Like most Burmese houses it was a two story house with produce and storage below and the family household on the second level. The family we stayed with didn’t speak English but the language of food is universal. We sat in the kitchen with the small family as dish after dish was made and it was like watching fine art seeing it all come together around the warm glow of the hearth. It was 7 courses and possibly the best meal I had in my travels. We ate till we could not possibly eat anymore and then sat around the fire shelling and roasting peanuts. During the days it was fairly hot weather but nights were freezing so it took all the courage Eliza and I had to step outside to head to the bathroom outside but the second we stepped outside we were completely floored by the sky. It was like we had never really seen the stars until that exact moment. We stood there for ages completely mesmerized by the brightest stars we have ever seen until we retired for bed and fell asleep under a mountain of blankets.

Covered in thanaka and ready for another day of trekking

After a great breakfast we were on the road again trekking for hours seeing wonderful sights like fields of ladies and children picking fire red chillies, men threshing rice, ancient old men behind ox driven carts and the adorable Burmese children. We walked upon a school class practicing an end of school year dance and a little later we came across some little kids and somehow ended up getting in a burr throwing fight with them. One of the gems we found was when we came across men making honey in a field. They had giant buckets of liquid gold full of honeycomb and for 2,000kyt ($2) we walked away with half a litre of the freshest honey I’ve ever had and a giant bag of honeycomb to snack on as we walked. We stopped at a fresh stream and Jojo showed us this sapyati fruit that when split the liquid inside is like soap, very useful for washing our honey covered hands!

We spent our last night in one of the (slightly) larger villages where we found ourselves back on the tourist trail with other groups around. One more night with our group and meals around a kitchen hearth and sharing some Myanmar beers and suddenly it was the morning of our last day. Now that we were back on the tourist trail I could overhear some of the guides and we clearly had the best and most knowledgeable guide. Plus he had great stores about the local Hpa-Oh culture that involved alchemists and their dragon ancestors. We said goodbye and parted ways when we reached the river and got on one of the long boats. On the boat we passed farms that were actually in the water with the houses on stilts, we saw the long neck weavers, monasteries, and the famous one legged fisherman of Inle lake. Once we arrived in Inle Lake I said goodbye to the lovely Eliza and Phil and the crazy-not in a good way- Thi Thi, and found myself on my own again (and loving it) and after the last few action packed days I was able to relax in Inle Lake, see markets and visit the local winery. Months into my trip and I hadn’t seen wine since vineyards don’t exist so when I heard the Red Mountain Winery was located close to the town I had to check it out.  The wine was pretty mediocre but I was happy to pay the 3,000kyt for 4 tasting after so much time of wine deprivation and the views were incredible from up there. Getting there I had walked half the way and ended up hitchhiking the last bit and it was then I realized how bizarre it is hitchhiking in Myanmar. They drive on the right side of the road so when the driver pulls up to let you in he’s on the right side so you have to go around the car into traffic to get into the passenger side. The Burmese man who picked me up was an absolute sweetheart who repairs monasteries and seemed genuinely happy to help out a random stranger, once again reminding me how genuinely nice the people are in Myanmar.

The rings around their neck are unbelievably heavy!

Normally they stand on one leg and use the other leg to paddle so they can fish hands free. This guy was just showing off.

Heading North into Myanmar

Mandalay

After Bagan Mandy, Line, and I headed north to visit Mandalay, a town that was so drastically different than Bagan and seemingly more congested than Yangon. We checked into our hotel and then rushed to find a taxi that would take us to the U-bein bridge, the worlds longest teak bridge and our main reason for visiting Mandalay. We found at taxi for 15,000ks ($15) which was definitely overpaying but absolutely worth it since we were in a rush and the driver was a great guy who taught us a lot about Myanmar. It was through him that we learned more about the recent election that had actually gone peacefully, how many Burmese schools taught English, and most interestingly we learned why the cars in Myanmar are so confusing. Every car has the steering wheel on the right side, however they also drive on the right side of the road. Apparently they used to drive on the left until 1970 when the ruler of the country changed it to the right side....based on the advice of a wizard (crazy military government). Since then all modern cars with left side steering wheels are too pricey so they buy second hand cars from Japan with right hand steering wheels. Seriously. A wizard.

We arrived at the U-bein bridge and while I hadn't been to excited for it before, I was pretty impressed by it. Mandy and I were too cheap to spend the 4,000ks ($4) to watch the sunset by boat so instead we walked the length of the bridge and at the midpoint we still saw a pretty spectacular sunset.

Hsipaw

Getting the bus to Hsipaw was further proof of how awesome the Burmese people are. Finding the bus station was difficult since the signs are impossible to read and it was just an open garage door with a desk but while looking for it every single person along the way was incredibly helpful, even if they had no grasp of the English language. We stayed one night at the Yee Shin Guesthouse and the next day we swapped places to the Red Dragon Hotel where I was thrilled that there were finally cheap accommodations in Myanmar. Mandy, Line and I went out to explore a bit and we wandered through the small village of Hsipaw, walked through the daytime market and found the famous Mr. Shake where we had dumplings, ridiculously good guacamole and magical oreo shakes that were dirt cheap and awesome.

After a day of bumming around we decided to rent bikes and go exploring along with a random friend Jeffrey that we had met outside our hotel. Whoever said its just like riding a bike was wrong, after months and months of not being on one I was pretty wobbly. Luckily the stunning country roads, the farmers working in the green fields, and the misty mountain views distracted me from my wobblyness. On our way to the falls I somehow was tasked with being the leader and at one point I look behind me and the other 3 had disappeared. Mandy's bike had died so it ended up just being Line, Jeffrey and I heading to the falls. After being sick in Bagan it was so good to finally be hiking and biking again. We passed a monastery, hiked through fields, passed farmers houses that surprisingly had satellite and finally reached the falls which were surprisingly large and impressive. After a day of hiking and biking we also rewarded ourselves with more dumplings and fruit shakes at Mr. Shake. Afterwards we visited the bamboo buddha and a monk school and soon I found myself saying goodbye to the girls. They decided to leave and I felt like staying another night.

Heading to the Nam Tok Waterfall

Monk school

I'd gotten used to traveling solo so after the girls left I actually found myself feeling a bit relieved, I'd been somewhat of a third wheel for the duration anyways and now I was free to do what I wanted. Which after I said goodbye to them was finding a small bookstore and finally getting the book Burmese Days and talking for ages with the Burmese store owner who shared tons of information and history on the area and the setting of the book. Later, while I was feeling antisocial the universe apparently had other plans for me. I ordered a pina colada shake at Mr. Shakes (they're only $1!) and 3 people asked if they could join my table. We parted ways and as I was leaving a large table of girls called me over and I saw that it was 2 of the girls who had been on the bus with us from Mandalay. I ended up sitting with them for more hours sampling the pina coladas, mojitos and caipirinhas, all of which were amazing.

Despite the late evening with the girls I was finally able to make it out to the morning market, a market that is open from around 3-5am. I arrived a little after 3am and being there was a little bit like going back in time. Instead of using electricity most of the produce stalls were lit by candlelight, a completely bizarre concept. After going back to bed for a few more hours I spent my last day in Hsipaw exploring the city (on foot) and visiting Mr. Popcorns garden which also had great shakes, delicious food, and was a great place to sit in nature and read and relax before I had to get on my umpteenth night bus.

The Many Temples of Bagan

I flew early morning from Bangkok into Yangon, Myanmar and as I was going through the hassle of security and boarding I found myself thinking I actually prefer night buses to flying (what is wrong with me?)...a sentiment that would really be put to the test during the rest of my time in Myanmar. I had the same flight as Mandy, another Canadian with identical flight dates so we stuck together in Yangon and after 2 hours in traffic, we tried to figure out the food situation in Yangon. While walking through a market she asked a tout where was good to eat. He brings us in the building with several restaurants and the second the ladies see the four of us hell breaks loose and I swear I lost my hearing from them yelling at us to go to their restaurant as they would physically try and drag us as well. I ordered the pickled tea leaf salad because when I asked the price it wasn't too bad. Well the other two didn't and paid $10CAD each. An obscene amount for their first meal. Odds are when we asked the bills the tout told us the price plus a hefty bonus for himself since he never left our side for that meal. We met up with Mandy's friend Lina later and got dinner of roadside noodles and that meal was excellent and $0.50. The lady running the stall got such a kick out of us that after taking pictures of us (I had to teach her how to turn on flash) she started giving us more and more foods to try.

We only wanted to stay one night in Yangon so we walked to the Schwedagon Pagoda at night to make sure we didn't miss it. Entry is 8,000kyt ($8) and worth it, this pagoda is absolutely massive, golden on every square inch and packed with old and young monks, religious followers praying or locals and tourists taking pictures. An interesting thing at the buddhist temples here was that they seem to put weight on dates of the week. There was a shrine for each of the eight days of the week and the animal associated with it and people would give offerings depending on their birthdates. Oh and yes eight days of the week, they count Wednesday twice from what I gathered.

Schwedagon Pagoda

We took the overnight bus to Bagan,  a city I'd been dreaming of seeing since I started planning this trip and saw Bagan on a list of SEA places you MUST go. I remember wondering where the hell is Myanmar (my Asian geography was shockingly bad) but clicking the link and being blown away by the beauty of it. Well we were finally here and by some miracle the hostel let us early check-in at 5am so we could rest up before our long day of walking. We were in new Bagan so we set out walking north to get to Old Bagan and the path was just surreal, you take a few steps and see a pagoda, a few more and another pagoda. With 2000 or more pagodas in Bagan the place is littered with them and you could even go in and explore. Every so often you'd come across a really large over the top pagoda and they often had interesting backstories. At the Ananda Pahto temple the king who had it built wanted it to be so unique that once it was done he killed his architects. I'll try and remember that story if I ever get a boss I feel like complaining about.

We spent hours exploring all the temples but for the sunset we'd been told the Pya Tha Da Temple was the best so as it got later we headed in that direction. Unfortunately everyone else including dozens of buses of chinese tourists had heard the same thing. The sunset and view were still amazing but it would've been better without the crowds and buses below. After a beautiful sunset we waited for the hordes to descend first since there was only one staircase - a supremely idiotic idea because that meant it was dark by the time we started our hour long walk back.

If you are a mother or someone concerned about me we made it home quickly and this is the end of the blog. The End.

Okay the truth, for the walk back we followed my offline gps map Maps.Me, which is possibly the best app in the world. I have used it on so many trails and have always gotten to my destination and the same is true in Bagan but we took some scary paths. The amount of times the 3 of us would stand at the entrance of a path and say "are we SURE this is a path?" And I'd respond that Maps.Me says so. Walking in the pitch black with one phone lighting the way going single file down a creepy cornfield is a memory that'll stick. It didn't help that the girls would ask how much battery my phone had left and rather than say less than 10% I'd just respond "Don't worry about it....but lets walk a bit faster". The walk took longer because we vetoed some roads that were too creepy but we made it back and collapsed at the first restaurant we found. I ended up being sick the next day so unfortunately I didn't do much more in Bagan but we still saw a ton that first day which was absolutely amazing.

The Wild Side of Bangkok

My mother and I arrived in Bangkok a little after 4am and since public buses were miraculously still running we avoided the dreaded tuktuk/taxi dilemma and within no time had arrived back at The Overstay where we had left some lugofgage. We hung out there a bit before doing some sightseeing and I was again struck with the sentiment that I wish I could have spent more time at that hostel. Our day of sightseeing began with visiting the Grand Palace, then deciding it was too hot and crowded and giving up on the palace, taking a picture in front of it instead so we could claim we were there. We visited Terminal 21, a bizarre mall with a different country theme on each floor, made even more bizarre by the fact we were there - the jury is still out on which of us hates malls more, and later a walk through Chinatown. I seemingly blinked and found myself standing at the ARL station hugging my mother goodbye.

The first time I was in Bangkok I had taken it easy, nerding out with boardgames and night markets, this time I was meeting up with my Dutch friend Freddy who I'd met in Chiang Mai and we were staying at a hostel on Khaosan Rd so there was no mistaking that this time would be different. My suspicions were proven when I met up with him and within moments we were on Khaosan Rd having what would be the first of many drinks that night. Having been in Bangkok multiple times Freddy was the perfect tour guide into the hedonistic wild side of Bangkok.

Drinking & Laughing Gas
On Khaosan Rd you can find a myriad of things, which we sampled ranging from cold beers and buckets of booze to laughing gas. The buckets I've grown used to but the laughing gas was a first. We sat down at one table to share a bucket and next to us was a Thai woman selling balloons of laughing gas that tourists would buy, inhale and exhale almost instantly  experiencing a laughing gas high. A truly bizarre experience.

Ping Pong Show
Yes I saw one. It could be worse, that was Freddys second time seeing one in two days. I'd been torn about wanting to see one since it sounds terrible but weird enough to be intriguing. Which is exactly how it was. Getting there is a bit of a scam with the tuk tuk drivers and negotiating the prices (we agreed on 700bht for 2 then once we were there it became 800bht) but soon enough we had our free drinks and were inside. Sure enough we saw the girl who was able to bounce multiple ping pong balls into a bucket at the other side of the stage which left me wondering how you discover such a talent and also wondering how I can be so terrible at beer pong when that lady on stage can aim so well with her "no hands" version. There were a few other acts as well each weird in its own unique way and while it was an incredibly bizarre experience the earlier drinks and the good company dulled the weirdness somewhat.

Freddy forcing me to try a scorpion

Freaky Street Food
Normally street food is something I am wild for but on Khaosan Rd there are a few street food additions I didn't care too much for.  As it would get later, the scorpion vendors would come out to play and I may have even glimpsed a few giant spider dealers but I was excellent at ignoring those. My first night Freddy kept threatening that he would get me to eat a scorpion. I successfully avoided it the first night but was less lucky on night two. Freddy stopped one of the vendors and bought two scorpions as we tried to convince the lady that we wanted the teeny tiny ones not the jumbo ones she tried passing us. We counted to 3, he succeeded at eating his and after a false start I managed to get mine down in one gulp. The taste itself wasn't so bad but I could feel legs and pincers and other unsavoury bits that were impossible to chew and swallow. It made me wish for more silkworms and crickets.

My second stay in Bangkok was short but jam packed with weird adventures and as I was leaving for Myanmar I knew I was in for a drastically different experience.

The Chiang Mai Lantern Festival

On treacherous roads some pray to god, for me on the road from Pai to Chiang Mai I prayed to Gravol. I'd slept through the entire drive to Pai so I'd been blissfully unaware that there were 762 curves in the road however this time I was awake and feeling it...until the Gravol gods heard my prayers and the drowsy anti-nauseant kicked in. Praise Gravol! At the bus statiom we caught a songtheow and I felt proud that I had kicked ass at bargaining - something that fills me with dread and anxiety - and had properly conveyed our destination. The trouble came afterwards when we were on the right street and couldn't find the Mojo Guesthouse that we'd booked on Air BnB. Nobody on the street knew of it and even more perplexingly nobody knew the street name despite living on working on the street. We finally asked Baan Thai Resort for directions and discovered they'd renamed themselves ages ago and had forgotten to delete their old AirBnB account.

My mother bailed on the Sunday night market so I met up with Carlota and we made our way over to the giant, crowded street full of trinkets and food - which we thoroughly enjoyed. On top of the food and sights we ended up at one closed interection where a group of guys were jamming on didjeridoos and drums, so of course we pushed past the crowd and sat on the asphalt at the front of the circle. Then, because a night out with Carlota never ends early we found ourselves making our way to the Reggar Bar, something I found hilarious since Carlota had just bought a new 85L backpack so it came with us to the club. In Thailand the bars close at midnight so afterwards we were mingling outside with some others when a motorbike with a thai guy and Carlota stop in front of me and she shouts "Get on! We're going to a secret after hours club" which led to another Carlota-esque night where I found myself returning as the sun was rising.

The morning after I still luckily made it to the Myanmar embassy where the line was non existent, the staff were super friendly, and the application was easy despite a few odd questions (i.e. What is your skin colour?). Somehow the ride there was 40bht but coming back the cheapeast was 150bht so out of stubborness I walked back in the blazing sun, arriving just in time for my mother and I to sign up for a cooking class for later that evening. The class started with a tour of the market where we learned about some thai ingredients and then we drove out to the countryside to a farmhouse where we would learn several dishes. The entire course was so much fun and the instructor Richie was great, when teaching us how to make the chicken cashew nut dish he impressively set the wok on fire, then told us we would be doing the same trick,  starting with yours truly. He got me to tilt the pan, pour the mix in and leap back as a fireball seemingly erupted in my pan. The best part of course was eating what we'd made which consisted of papaya salad, mango sticky rice, curry paste, green curry, pad thai wrapped in an omelette, chicken cashew nut, and chicken coconut soup and every single dish was unbelievably good.

The day after our cooking adventure we decided to embark on an elephant adventure. I was dead set against elephant riding and wanted an elephant sanctuary whereas my mother desperately wanted a picture with an elephant and wasn't too picky where she got it. Luckily we found a place that was not just an elephant sanctuary but a BABY elephant sanctuary, for young elephants rescued from the circus. Kid, our fantastic guide, picked us and two other girls up and once we were at the sanctuary and had changed into our very flattering mahout attire we got to meet the 3 babies (more like toddlers).

The three girls were Nathalie, Bplaifun, and one with a name impossible to remember with the youngest, Bplaifun, being 2 years old and about a head shorter than me. It was actually intimidating at first meeting such a large foreign animal that had a trunk moving all over the place but we fed them an absurd amount of bananas, moved past the intimidation stage and into the stage of awe and admiration at these beautiful creatures. We led them up the hill for a walk, joking with the mahouts, one per elephant, and feeding the girls the entire way.

After the walk we ended up at a small pond where we waded in, fully clothed, to swim with and wash the elephants, which of course was just another excuse to joke around with the others while the elephants shot trunkfulls of water at us. My mother refused to go in the water because she heard the elephants pooped in the pond but so far on this trip I've been covered in worm poo (vermicasting at Layog Country Farm in the Philippines), chicken poo (cleaning the chicken shelf at Clayzy House Koh Lanta), bat poo (stupidly posing for a picture in a cave in Pai not realizing that was not dirt...), so whats a little sketchy pond water? Besides, we had a great time in the water with the elephants and I would not have traded that, not even for perceived cleanliness. Saying goodbye to the elephants was sad but it was a great adventure at the Elephant Park Rescue.

Part of the reason why we had chosen to be in Chiang Mai for those for those dates was because of the Li Peng and Loi Krathong festivals. We had watched some of the Li Peng  festival the night earlier where we'd watch them put floating lanterns down the river however as cool as that was, the main event would be the floating lanterns the next day. The only problem was that the festival was so disorganized. We finally discovered that there was the main event that you had to pay 100USD for and book a year in advance, and a free event that had been cancelled that year but was somehow still running anyways outside the wall of the main event. Another confusing option was that people were letting lanterns float up within the city walls however that option was an unofficial one and technically illegal. With the first two options we were able to watch the lanterns being set off by the unofficial event and then at 9pm the official release would happen. All this information we learned while picking up my visa at the Burmese embassy when we asked Kenny the super helpful employee there.  We found out the events were held near the Mae Jo University which was about an hour drive north and then as luck would have it, Kenny said he lived near it and if we could wait 40 minutes till his shift ended he would drive us there. Embassy hitchhiking, best way of getting around! For two hours we watched lanterns being released next to the river and even released one ourselves but the truly amazing moment came after 9pm when the official event was allowed to release their lanterns. Before the sky had been dotted with hundreds of lanterns but when the official release happened it was like a swarm of thousands of lanterns blocking out the night sky and full moon and was only made more impressive by the fireworks that were let off slightly afterwards.

Lesson learned:Cooking Thai food isnt that difficult and I fully intend to cook it frequently when I have a kitchen again (whenever that may be).

Bangkok and Pai with my Mother

The only thing that pried me away from the amazing place I'd found with Wanderlust Hostel in Koh Phangan was the prospect of meeting my mother in Bangkok. I've met travelers who have not been home or seen family in years and they seem fine with that but that is not me! Back home my sister is my best friend and I'm extremely close with my mother and father and stepmother so being away for so long has been tough. I'm not sure how I succeeded but I managed to convince my mother to join me for two weeks in Thailand and as her visit approached I was more and more excited. Does it make me a terrible daughter if I was also really excited to see how she handled the crowds, the language and lack of any english on signs, the first time when  a Thai person would tell her some food was not spicy when it was and the bathrooms with bumguns and no toilet paper? Probably.

I got to Bangkok a few nights before her and I walked around a lot, went to the nearby night market every night but I barely did any sightseeing. The nerd that I am, the highlight of my days alone in Bangkok were when I found an online meetup for boardgaming and spent 11 hours playing games with locals and boardgame cafe hopping with them. After 6 months I was pretty deprived of gaming and I can even try and claim it as a cultural experience too because by the end of the night I had learned numbers in Thai. My lameness may have also been a good thing because the others at the hostel seemed to have suffered from the infamous Khaosan Rd. One guy had his passport stolen, another had his passport, wallet, phone and likely dignity stolen and the biggest tragedy of all was one poor girl who had lost her phone, her money, then missed her non refundable flight back to London, then while spending a few more days in Bangkok she was robbed twice more and for a second time drunkenly missed her flight back to London.

My mother arrived on November 16th and since it had been so long since we'd seen each other I was not sure I'd be recognized so I made sure to stand next to the taxi drivers holding a sign that read "Mom". She claimed to have recognized me but I'm pretty sure it was the sign that did it. It was amazing and surreal seeing my mom standing there in Bangkok and I was so glad to have her there but her first 24 (36?) hours there were rough. We exited the airport and she was crushed by the heat, then since the Airport Rail Link that I  had now mastered was closed, she was subjected to the joys of catching an airport taxi in Asia which took several tries. I had given my mother a few options of places we could stay and instead she sent me a link of the exact hostel I would have loved to stay at but had assumed she would hate. We booked it, checked into the hostel and as I had expected I loved it. Also as expected, the hated it. The Overstay is this fantastic hostel that may be a bit grungy but has a great vibe and collection of people and is the kind of place that would be great to just hang out. Unless you are looking for a perfectly clean place that has a/c blasting everywhere and is quiet, then like my mother you would be complaining and miserable to. The daughter laughing and saying I told you so probably didn't help her mood. The next day we wandered around Bangkok and Khaosan Rd but she was so miserable in Bangkok that when we checked the bus prices to Pai for the next day she asked if it was possible to leave that night. We got tickets, sped back to the hostel, furiously packed and somehow made it back in time to catch the overnight bus which was 12+ hours of solid sleep for me and another 12 hours of miserableness and carsickness for her.

Just in case

Getting our feet eaten at a fish spa. 

Once we arrived in Pai the culture shock and not so fun experiences stopped for my mother because we were finally in beautiful Pai. After the heat and crowds and concrete jungle in Bangkok, Pai was like a paradise for us since it was so tiny you could walk everywhere in town, it was cooler or at night even cold, and there was beautiful scenery and views everywhere. Our first two nights were at the Pai Circus school where I learned a bit more Poi and some firestaff (still no fire) and not only did my mum stay at the Circus school too but she even tried a few of the activities, slacklined, and one night she hung out late with all the young hippies and held her own. My mother and I really wanted to see the surrounding area but the fact that every person at the hostel was covered in bandages from motorbikes wasnt making us feel too confident. Somehow miraculously we found a taxi that would take us around for 1000bht, then 2 french girls overheard us and asked to join in. Then a third girl, Vie, overheard us and also joined in bringing the cost to 200bht per person. The hilarious part was Vie had rented a bike that morning and we had seen her driving and that had been the final straw in our decision to not to drive a bike. A minute after she passed us she crashed and turned around. That day we saw the Pai Grand Canyon, we visited thw land split (not too impressive), saw the waterfall which was beautiful and swam in its icy waters, and ended the day at the sai ngam/secret hot springs which at 20bht entry was much more preferable to the slightly better one that was 300bht! The entire ride I sat in the back of the pickup truck with Vie and the views were beautiful but the steep ups and downs of the roads would have been terrifying on a bike.

My mother rocking at the slackline

When we got back to the Circus I was greeted by the pleasant surprise that my friend Tyer had now checked in. To me the Circus School was a fun and funky place but for Tyer it seemed he had found the spot he belonged the most in the world. I've never had that but seeing Tyer experience it I hope to god I do someday. The 3 of us ventured out to the main street to see the daily night market and it was a colourful mixture of artisan handicrafts and more importantly, delicious foods. Tyer would see a colourful sweater, I would see khaosoi salad, he would see a gem necklace, I would see bacon wrapped mushrooms. The only thing I wish I hadn't seen was the bug stall. I've avoided trying them so far because I didn't want to buy a whole bowl of them but then as we're watching some poor tourist who is about to try them he offers me some. So I pick up a silkworm, we cheers, then down it. He offered me a fat beetle which I said hell no to so we settled on trying crickets together. The silkworm was okay (can't believe I can say that) but the cricket was all legs and crunch and felt like it never left my teeth. To rid myself of the terrible cricket taste I treated myself to even more street food.

Pai Grand Canyon

Stunning view from te Pai Circus School

Yeah...I ate that

After 2 days of being a trooper and putting up with staying at the circus my mother opted for getting our own cute little bungalow away from the crazyness. We spent the rest of our time there getting thai massages and one night we even searched out the Purple Monkey hostel when we heard they had poutine and caesars. Sadly the poutine stops after 5 but that was the best damn caesar ever.

Our last day in Pai we decided to have a nice lazy day tubing down the river. We get in the tubes and then are immediately separated, then launched into the rocks, escape the rocks, then were launched into spiky bushes and spent the next five minutes de-thorning everything. It was chaotic but hilarious, especially when you add in my mothers reactions. The group eventually became myself, my mother, Luke, and Connor and miles back were the rest. While talking together Luke, the super sweet South African guy found out I wanted to learn to ride a motorbike but was too scared so after tubing he made it his goal to teach me. After tubing he drove around a bit and we visited the waterslide waterfall where you climb up, look down and go "Oh crap I have to slide down THAT?" but it was actually a blast to go down it. The water in the shallow pool below was Canadian cold so I was okay but poor Luke being from South Africa was shivering to death and I swear he was turning blue. Despite seeming nearly hypothermic and me being fine he still insisted I be the first to use his towel. Then the scary part comes. He pulls the bike over and says 'Your turn'. It was terrifying to me but he was an awesome teacher and sat on the back so if I messed anything up he could adjust it. When I think of how many tourists are thrown on a bike by the bike shops and are told 'this is gas, this is brake' and then start driving I can't help but feel incredibly lucky that I had Luke to teach me. The hills in Pai are insane so I wasn't up for braving it all the way so we thankfully switched after a while and drove to the white buddha to watch the sunset. Then my mother and I ended the day yet again at the night market. I think night markets are like sunsets, you can never see too many.

Lesson learned: If you are a terrible and nervous driver like myself but you still stupidly want to try riding a bike 1) have someone actually properly teach you, 2) do it before your medical insurance expires! (Dec 20th - Happy Birthday to me!)