Koh Samet, Mermaid Island <3
Quote of the day: "Don't let your dreams be dreams."

 While Chaing Mai holds the most adventure so far, the Island of Koh Samet is the most magical place I've ever been. It is, in every sense, a tropical paradise that I've only ever dreamed of experiencing.

After a ten hour journey of a couple vans and a speed boat, we arrived on the island a little foggy brained at 11:30 PM, found our bungalow and fell right asleep. The next morning I woke up a little early and walked down a few flights of sandy stairs and saw the Real ocean for the first time. I was in absolute awe at the turquoise water and the sand on my feet. The sand here is so white and fine that it literally feels like flour. Ah I love it. When all the other girls woke up we played in the water all day. We bought these super classy goggles and I brought an underwater case for my camera, loads of fun :)

We looked like little kids because we were so excited to use these goggles!

This Island is famous in Thai literature for a story about mermaids to there is this huge statue right next to the water. If you know me at all, you'd know that this made everything even more exciting because I may or may not wish I was a mermaid ha

 Beach life is awesome we laid in the sun, floated in the water, acted like kids and played with goggles, made sand castles and basically forgot about the time just relaxing. Such an amazing break from regular routine. After a day like this, we walked around the island and found a secluded and quite beach to relax on  and then all the sudden we got to light and let go of one of these lanterns that you always see pictures of. It was so magical I can't even explain.

 Later we got Roti (this delicious fried crepe kinda thing with Nutella) but the guy who was making ours was super funny and kept joking with us and we stuck around long enough that he taught us how to make them! when it was my turn he just left to go who knows where and I had to figure it out on my own haha later it was just me and he left again and I had to start making one for this customer from Denmark who I'm pretty sure could tell I had no idea what I was doing haha

 We also stumbled upon the coolest fire dancing show ever. The guys would get in standing pyramids while spinning around flaming sticks,dancing and kicking around a flaming soccer balls. So awesome and extremely impressive. The guy who taught us to make Roti used to be a fire dancer and taught me a tiny bit of how to do it! without flames of course. I'm almost as bad at fire dancing as I am at making Roti. This picture is from the finally when all the fire that they were spinning was going everywhere!

The next day we spent our time at the beach of course and these guys would walk around selling the most incredible mangoes I think i'll probably ever eat again. I miss them already.

We took a Truck across the island to a different beach to watch the sunset but its almost all dirt roads on the island. so it was more like off-roading with not seat belts! so fun. 

When we got to the other beach we were pleasantly surprised because it was almost completely deserted. Turns out this beach has a few pricey resorts with rich people who don't play in the water, (some people are so poor, all they have is money) but don't worry, we took advantage of it for them :)

We ate dinner right on the beach. Its crazy that we can have such luxury for a fraction of the price it would be back home. I've never been so pampered in my life! 

All in all, this weekend was again, the most magical couple days I can even imagine. It still feels like a dream and I don't think I can love the beach any more than I do now. Honestly I'm considering planning a few months of becoming a beach bum into my future. ha. Well, unbelievably, there are more adventures to come.

Love from Thailand,
Nesha <3

Sukhothai and Birthday

Quote of the day: "Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself."

So we decided to go to Sukhothai on a day trip since its not that far and it was quite the adventure. We didn't realize how many different forms of transportation we would be using until the end of the day. They include: Two different bikes each, Trains, Buses, and several Tuk Tuks, it was awesome to have them all on one day and not to mention, very cheap. So after about two short hours of travel, we arrived in Sukhothai, Split a Tuk Tuk with some Belgians who bartered us into about 50 Cents each. (gotta love bartering), and then arrived at Sukhothais "Old City" where many ancient ruins can be found. 

We rented bikes because the ruins are pretty spread apart and it's a lot easier to explore that way. We were actually surprised by how impressed we were by these 1 dollar for a day rental bikes. I even had an extra seat to carry my super heavy purse :)

The ruins were pretty impressive. They were really beautiful in a different way than we usually see here in Thailand. Usually the temples are decked out in ornate detail, impressive jewels and gold paint. But here in Suhothai, things were quite, the bricks were falling to crumbles, and it was just as beautiful as ever. 

The ponds here are almost always filled with these lily pads and flowers and if its possible, make everything greener. 

 There are so many of these huge Buddha's in the remains of 26 temples and Royal Palace from the 13th and 14th centuries. When we left the actual historic park we rode our bikes on the high way for a few minutes and stumbled upon this really cool elephant temple. I looked it up and I think its called Wat Chang Lom. Anyway, it was pretty cool.

 Behind it, we found these remains of ancient pillars probably holding up another temple and may or may not have done a few Yoga poses on them. :)

We also found this cute little bridge and to our surprise  all that green stuff underneath is entirely FOUR LEAF CLOVERS. Now that's one lucky bridge. So we got one for each of us and pressed it in my journal. 

After exploring we went to find food and found the famous Sukhothai noodles that we've heard people ravig about. I thought they were absolutely delicious and after adding some of the spices they gave us, my mouth was on fire. I might add that my Chop Stick ability is improving immensely.  

 On the way home, our train ticket got mixed up and we ended up staying there for about three hours longer than anticipated. While we were waiting in the station, one of the guards guided us into the VIP room with couches and air conditioning, for whatever reason, and then left us haha It was super nice of him. After waiting in there for a while we went out to check for our train and an old man started singing something about how we stole his heart haha. He was able to speak to us in English though and wasn't a creeper like some people who sing to us as we pass through.

On Monday was my Birthday and the kids attacked me from the beginning of the day :) You cant tell here, but I'm pretty sure there were five kids attached to me!

We were suppose to make chefs hats in my class but it ended up like this (Party Hats?) idk but the kids loved them!

This is Mhew... She's precious and always tries to help me clean everything up all the time. 

Aren't they adorable! I'm so lucky :) When I walked into our apartment after school, the girls had decorated the whole thing!! Notes and streamers and Happy Birthday signs hanging from the ceiling and sparkly table clothes, a "red carpet" to my bed haha and an actual cake! It was so Awesome of them. 

They also made this card that all my kids wrote adorable notes in and the girls wrote our inside jokes on the back. I'm not gonna lie, I cried a little. 

Later that day we went to one of our kids restaurant (or her parents) and had a delicious meal as well as the fancy Ice Cream place in town. And at night I got to babysit and play hide and go seek with some of my favorite kids on earth. 

 Love from Thailand,
Nesha <3

Lions, Tigers and Elephants...Oh My! Welcome to Chiang Mai

Quote of the Day: "An Adventurous life does not necessarily mean climbing mountains, swimming with sharks, or jumping off cliffs. It means risking yourself by leaving a little piece of you behind in all those that you meet along the way.  "

Chiang Mai is my favorite city on earth so far. It is incredible, exotic and full of adventure. We had amazing experiences that I will tell you about. right. now.

 
So before we even got to Chiang Mai, we stopped in Lampang where our driver just kind of pointed at these horse drawn carriages and opened our doors so we could give it a go...pretty random and unexpected but we though, hey, what the heck. we'll do it. It was pretty fun but Lampang isn't a huge city so of course the white people are already a big show, then you add a horse drawn carriage and a guy in from ringing a bell and you have the whole circus. haha

We also stopped at this awesome temple in Lampang!

Just getting to Chiang Mai was beautiful, sights like this filled our whole trip, not to mention the weather got about 100 times better when we drove up to higher elevation!

 We found some places to grab some sustenance. Did you know Ronald McDonald Sawadeeka's his guuests?! Then there was MEXICAN! I know, come to Thailand to eat Mexican food?  but trust me, we eat alot of Thai food. Anyway the Mexican restaurant was having Karaoke night!So we did a few horribly off key numbers and got alot of other people to go up! Good times :)

Then we went to the Saturday night walking street and bought bartered our way into a lot of great deals. We also had fantastic Thai food on a boat on the Riverside. Pretty great. 

Who knew there were tons of incredible artists here. I was in heaven with all these beautiful elephant paintings.

 The next day we went further into the mountains and went Zip Lining! Zip Lining through the jungle already sounds awesome, but it was even better than I imagined and can even explain.

 Our guides where Tik and Banana. They were a blast and made jokes the whole time. On one of the lines, Tik was taking a picture of sarah as she came in and didn't catch her. She ended up back in the middle of the line, stuck. He went out to get her and as she said "you didn't Catch Me!!!" He just said "yea but I take Good photo and now I save your life" haha

 

 
Then we went to see the Tigers who could have ripped off our faces. But lucky for us, they have been trained since birth not to eat humans ;) haha

 Paw as big as my hand. No Big Deal. 

We went to the zoo which was HUMONGOUS. There is no way you could walk to whole thing in a day so we took this bus thing that you could get off of anytime you wanted. Driving around the zoo we found this beautiful view of Chiang Mai AND our favorite stop was this beautiful elephant!

We got to feed it bananas! This big-guy was pretty greedy and ate bananas from four of us!

We also found these hippo's. I hesitate with this story but, Okay I'll tell you. So we were amazed at how close you could get to all the animals and when we saw the hippos, we went running. But as I got within about 5 feet of a Massive one, he did his business and promptly began using his tail as a windshield wiper of destruction, exploding poo EVERYWHERE. I Sprinted for cover as fast as I could and luckily, I dodged those bullets but I will never look at hippos the same. 

When we got back to school, Michaela was teaching the kids the letter H with the "Happy Hippo" book, she told them what happened, and in those precious little minds, they twisted into, "Teacher Nesha got Hippo poo on her face!" haha They'll never let me live it down. 

And then there was this incredible waterfall that we had a blast in. 

Could anyone ask for a better three day weekend?! I think  not! Chiang Mai was amazing and I can't wait until we get to go back in April! Thailand has most definitely the best two months of my life so far. I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Love from Thailand, 

Nesha <3