Dreams Come True in THAILAND

Sunrise walk to the Ferry

The beautiful ocean blue

Big Fish

Paradise

There's something about the unknown future that sits like a spark inside you when you're travelling. I felt it when I first arrived in Taiwan, but since then i've made a home of this distant land. Although in September, I never thought it would happen, I've become accustomed to the sights and sounds of Kaohsiung. I've finally gotten a chance to "feel it" again on my recent trip to Thailand. On the day of my departure, I found myself sitting at the airport watching the reunions and goodbyes of so many people. It's not often you truly realize that other people's worlds don't revolve around you.

So my first impression of Thailand is that it's completely catered to travellers- that feeling was only further concreted after spending two weeks there. I spent my first night on Kosan Road in Bangkok which is the launching point for almost all backpackers around south east Asia. It's an in-your-face place where you can purchase anything you'd ever desire; clothes, music, college degrees, prostitutes, massages.... none of the above would cost more than about $20 (although I didn't investigate them all extensively). After exploring the Grand Palace- a collection of buildings and Wats (temples) that took my breathe away, I began my first of many tuk-tuk adventures. A tuk-tuk is the cheap man's taxi. A driver came up to me and said he'd take me to a bunch of different tourist sights around town for only 10 baht (about 30 cents) if I stopped into a tailor shop, because they give the drivers free gas for bringing people in. Somewhere along the line, he asked me to check out a second shop the which I politely declined. That was the first time I was abandoned at a Buddhist Temple.

An overnight bus ride from Bangkok got me to the ferry station in Chumphon around 4:00 am for a 7:00 am boat to Koh Tao, a little island that turns out more divers than the rest of the world. I fell asleep next to the ocean watching the stars and woke up to one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever experienced. It only got better because once in Koh Tao, I checked into a resort where I spent the next 4 days diving (SHARKSSHARKSSHARKS) and reading by the beach. One of the coolest dives was at night. The boat left around sunset and it was totally dark by the time we got to the dive site. We jumped in with torches and pounding hearts to explore the deep blue by night.

I left the island and found my way back to Bangkok where I met up with Robyn (after a long struggle to find each other). It was awesome to finally see a familiar face- the first one from home in almost 5 months. We went to China Town for a Chinese New Year celebration and then took an overnight train to Chang Mai which is a really unique city in the north of Thailand. There's a huge prevalence of Buddhist monks in bright orange robes and an abundance of elaborate temples. We took a Thai cooking course- because there's truly no better ethnic food in the world. We also did an trek in which we rode elephants, visited hill tribes, slept in the jungle next to a waterfall, went bamboo rafting.... the whole sha-bang. One of our tour guides, Gun, caught a 2 meter long rat-snake which we ate in a curry dish for dinner. So delicious.

After the treck we immediately went to the train station for an overnight ride to Bangkok. We decided a bottle of wine would go well with the train ride so we grabbed one and began our journey. Somewhere along the line we decided to head to the food cart for dinner where we were greeted, like a slap in the face, with blaring rap music and a bunch of Frenchies dancing around their table. Could it get any better? We danced the night away around the food cart with travelers from all over, because everyone who came in for food immediately got sucked in to the chaos. That was pretty much the last hurrah of my trip because once we arrived in Bangkok, I only had enough time for a fruit smoothie and a quick massage before heading to the airport. There's so much to say about Thailand. It was a bit surreal to go somewhere that's been in my mind for so long. It's the land of smiles and delicious food. I have no doubt I'll return before long.