A dessert a day keeps the sadness away

Typical Thailand... But I agree! This was written on the wall of my new favorite ice cream and coffee shop called Tonruk! YUM!

So boy oh boy was it a busy week! So last weekend I went to Koh Tarutao (be sure to check out my last post!) and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, teachers and a group of 150 students headed to La Ngu for English Camp!

English Camp was super fun, and if I could only do those instead of teaching, I 100% would! It was so much better than teaching and everyone had such a blast! The students were engaged, listening and participating in all of the activities and workshops. And I'll bet you they actually learned something! (Totally different than my classes where they refuse to pay attention, resulting in me only teaching like five students, and who knows what they actually remember...)

(White Sharks for the win!)

I did a workshop where we made clocks. It was super simple, but I've noticed that telling time in English is an hard thing for my students, so I wanted to practice that skill a bit more. It was really fun and the kids made some pretty great clocks!

(They know the way to my heart!)

My awesome group of kids was the White Sharks Team and we rocked! One of my girls, Chumpoo, won Miss English Camp after a great presentation of her English skills and a fun little dance. I'm so proud of her because when we were practicing, she kept mixing things up and was so nervous! But she did great once she got up on the stage! We also won the talent show with a wonderful rendition of the Hokey Pokey and my Shark song (Thank you LaForet Camp songs!)!

I'm not bragging or anything but, you could say we were the overall winners of English Camp!

Thursday and Friday went by fast and then it was the weekend! Saturday, eh. Sunday however... Woo!

On Sunday, I went to a place called the Dragon's Spine with 6 other friends. We took a Longtail boat from the Hat sai yao pier and about 30 minutes later arrived at a sandbar that connects a few islands. The sand bar is only visible during low tide and so boats can only get there during this time. So, we met up at 7:30 am and headed off to find this natural phenomenon!

(The Dragon's Spine)

It was so cool! We walked along the sandbar, which is made up of broken down shells and coral for quite some time and then walked through water up to our calves to get to a separate sandbar. On the way back, the water was mid-thigh height, proving how fast the tide comes in! It was a race against time to get back to the boat! It was really cool to experience!

Supposedly one of the islands have a staircase you can walk up and get a better view of the surrounding area, but sadly by the time we got back to the boat, we couldn't get to that island anymore! Oh well. But it was well worth the trip!

These next two weeks will also be big ones with the Red Cross Fair all this week, the Satun International Kite Festival this weekend, and my family's arrival in Thailand the next weekend! Stay tuned for all the fun stories to come!

(Beautiful Panorama of the fishing village island!

Photo Credit: Isaac Haro)

Pancakes, plankton, and pirates

This past weekend I went to the mysterious and often overlooked island of Koh Tarutao. Boy was it an adventure!

My adventure started a week earlier when I booked a room on Koh Lipe instead. For some reason my booking didn't go through and I decided to do something else. Well I thought about going to Krabi for about two days then botched that plan because I didn't want to travel that far. And finally I thought about going to Koh Tarutao. I tossed around this idea for about a day. Was decided to stay home and be bored in Satun, but then at about 9pm Friday night, I changed my mind and went home to pack for my island adventure!

(In front of the entrance to Tarutao National Park)

I left early in the morning to catch the hour long ride to Pakbara Pier, booked a boat ride over and what ensued was a terrifying longtail boat ride through open water with waves as big as the boat. The reason I was on a longtail was because 7 others and myself arrived to the travel agency at about the same time and wanted the make an 11:00 speedboat. Well apparently there was no speedboat, or it was full, or something, but anyways our agent found us a longtail boat leaving within 30 minutes. Rather than wait for a speedboat, we hopped on and took a terrifying 2 hour ride.

Anyways, we made it to the island, paid our entrance fee and booked some bungalows. The group I met were so nice and I even shared a bungalow with one of them and did most other things with them too! So we got settled and hot the beach! There were about 20 bungalows at Ao Moe Lae and all of them were filled. But, despite there being between 30-40 people on our beach, it was so quiet and seemed like no one was there! The beaches had maybe 5 people on them and just around the corner were more beaches uninhabited and littered with, well litter, and shells!

Pancakes. Oh my lanta were these the mother of all pancakes! They were huge and fluffy and super yummy! Add some pineapple and wowza talk about a filling breakfast!

(Ao Thalo Wao pier)

On Sunday, I took a solo adventure and took the 12 kilometer bike ride to Ao Thalo Wao. This is the original pier for the island and the National Park headquarters. It was a tough ride and I had to walk about 3 km worth up and down hills. The bike's brakes sucked so bad that biking down the extremely STEEP decline was the safest way to get down without going into light speed! The pier alone was worth the ride, but the Historical Trail that was near the pier was very informational and cool!

Pirates. So Tarutao was originally an island full of criminals. Thailand sent criminals to Tarutao because there was no hope of escape, between the sheer cliffs and shark infested waters, escape was a far off dream. At one point there were 3,000 criminals on the island, but between the years 1941-45, half of the population died due to malaria and other diseases. After WWII prisoners were no longer sent to the island and everyone all but forgot about this southern rock. The prisoners and guards teamed up and turned to piracy to get supplies. They raided ships traveling between Thailand and Malaysia and hid their goodies on neighboring islands.

(I should mention that I rode a bike a total of 25 kilometers and walked a total of 6 because of the hills and another 2 because I got a flat tire on the way home. Thankfully it was so close to the bungalows! Lucky break!)

Over the years, everyone died or left and the island became a National Park for its natural beauty and pristine waters. Now, there is one main taxi that is more of a tank on wheels in order to get over the mountains and only a few of the local staff have motorbikes. Walking and biking are the main methods of transportation here! The island is only open during the high season and closes for the rest of the year. There is a lot of history on this island and is practically unknown to most travelers.

(My neon bike. Worst brakes ever, hardest seat ever, coolest bike ride!)

Plankton. On the last night on the island once it got dark, a quick dip in the ocean proved that there is luminescent plankton that glow when moved! Walking in the dark before the moon rose fully, we were able to play with the plankton and experience this phenomenon. Even though it wasn't like the pictures where there are like fields of glowing water, and it was more like little lightning bugs in the water, it was pretty cool!

This was such a quiet and relaxing weekend and I am SO glad I went to Koh Tarutao!

(More photos will be on Facebook, so look there to see what else this trip was like!)

Its been a while...

Hello my friends! I'm sure you have been eagerly awaiting my next blog post (I mean it has been over a month since I last posted! Where does the time go?!) But really, January was such a slow and dull month and not a whole lot happened worthy of recognition!

Well here's the gist. I worked out a lot, then stopped, then started back up. I ate way to much mango sticky rice, tried participating in "dry January", I visited friends in Hat Yai two weekends in a row and saw Star War: The Force Awakens yet again! I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of roti, and hit the beach (well what passes as a beach in Satun) a few times.

(Pak Bara "beach")

So there ya go, my new year really started with a bang huh?!

Last weekend, we had Monday off, so a group of friends and myself went to another cave! This one is called the Jed Chot Cave but every sign we saw had the name spelled a different way so I don't really know if that's right! But anyways, this cave is only accessible by river, so we had to rent some kayaks and paddle down the river to get to the cave. It wasn't the third largest cave in the world or anything, but it was really spectacular! Kayaking through a dark cave is so serene and it was tons of fun! The were so many bats along the roof of the cave chattering away when our lights hit them. There were some beautiful skylights and rock formations, and even though it wasn't huge, it was worth the trip!

Upon exiting the cave, we posed for a picture on a little beach and then hopped back in the kayaks with our tour guide. We were then attacked by naked children splashing and laughing and trying to hop in the boats with us! That was fun!

(The gang in a cave)

Besides the fun excursions and mini trips, school has been a drag. As January wore on I became more anxious to be done. My family is visiting in March and then I get to do some travel solo and with friends in April, and I cannot wait! I love the kids, but I hate teaching and feel slightly bad about not renewing my contract because of the kids and the friends I've made here, but I know I will be much happier back home in the states. And anyways, my next adventure starts in August!

So there you have it, until next time!

(Can't beat those Thai sunsets)

Out with the old...

Happy New Year! Good lord, where has the time gone?! I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that 2015 is over and 2016 is just beginning.

This time last year, I was starting my first big adventure, living and working in Washington D.C. Since then, I have travelled throughout the United States and in the process have met many amazing, inspirational, loving, kind, adventurous, and wholeheartedly good people from the states and abroad. I am so thankful for all of the opportunities I've been granted and cannot thank everyone who helped me enough. I wouldn't be where I am today without the support and love of my peers.

(The sun setting on the last day of 2015)

Ok now that the sappy "thanks" are over, let's talk about 2016!

I spent the holiday in Koh Lanta. This is a large island in the South part of the Krabi province. I took two different busses and a car ferry to get to the island, but boy was it worth it! This was such a chill, relaxing weekend, and it was a long overdo vacation!

Koh Lanta itself is lovely, if not a little disheveled. It was hit hard by the tsunami some years ago and has since been rebuilding slowly. Despite this, there are so many  places to stay and go and eat that there is no shortage of things to do.

My first day on the island and the first day of 2016, I took the liberty of signing up for a 4 islands tour with a company called "The 4 Islands" (righty so...). The trip including jetting around 4 islands in the area, onboard lunch and snacks, endless opportunities to snorkel, exploring a cave and relaxing on the beaches. So yeah I was pretty pumped! It was so much fun! I met some great families and couples on the tour and had a blast chatting with them. Besides the social interaction, chilling in the water and swimming with the fishes is a favorite past-time of mine, so you could say I enjoyed myself! The Emerald cave was our second stop on the island of Koh Muk. This was wild! So we had to play follow the leaded into this sea cave (that isn't very big when you try fitting three groups of conga lines in it), and we just kind of bounced around on the inside until escaping the dark to swim into the center of a hole. Wild! There's a random hole in this island and in the past, pirates would use this secret spot to hide their spoils of war and treasure. Then, it became a spot where fishermen would stop to collect the bird's eggs that nested on the walls. Now, it's a tourist attraction. There's a little beach and foliage, and shallow water to swim in and the overall experience was, well, wild!

(one of our stops to snorkel)

The rest of the tour was fun. I saw some neat fish, got some cool pictures of the coral and tried my hand at taking underwater selfies with the GoPro (a lot harder than it looks to get that "insta" worthy shot!) Getting back to Koh Lanta around dinnertime, I took a dip in the pool, got ready and headed out to find some food! I didn't have a single disappointing meal on this trip and I discovered the love that is mango sticky rice! Man I think I ate my weight in mango sticky rice while in Lanta!

The rest of my vacation was mainly spent getting incredibly sunburned on the beach and relaxing with a good book. It was a solitary trip for the most part, but I enjoy my alone time! It was nice to not have to worry about anyone's schedule but my own! And ringing in the new year on Koh Lanta was quite the experience and one that 2017 is going to have a rough time of beating!

So New Years Resolutions. What's next?

Well I've got a few like everyone else and their mom, but I don't dwell on the things I know will not change and instead look to the things that I have direct control over (with the exception of my body. Like my idol Bridget Jones once said, I'm always going to be just a little bit fat, and you what?! I'm OK with that! Deal with it.) But I have big plans for this year! Adventures I want to go on, loves I want to pursue, and things I want to try.

(Inside the island of Koh Muk via the Emerald Cave) 

The next big move will be back to the states. I have decided to finish out the semester in Thailand and then do some travel in the northern part of the country before coming home in April. I will spend the majority of the summer in Wyoming with some trips to Colorado to hike, see family, go to camps, see friends, ect.

Then, the next big move will be to Africa! As many of you know, my best friend in the whole wide world Laura, is embarking on a year long round-the-world volunteer extravaganza. I will be meeting her halfway through her journey in Cape Town, South Africa where we will hang out for a week or two before heading to Tanzania. While in Tanzania, we will be volunteering with and HIV/AIDS relief program. I am so incredibly thrilled to be working with this program considering the amount of research and study I have done on the subject!

So that's what's up with me! Happy New Year and 'till next time!

Satooning around

Ok so now that the obligatory christmas post is posted, here's a look into everything else December has been about!

So December was a big, eventful, tiring, and amazing month here in sunny Satun (if you want to see more photos, Facebook is the best place to find those...)

With the end of the rainy season, it was so freaking HOT! We still get rain here and there but it doesn't last long and I kinda miss it breaking the heat of the day. But whatever, I'm not Mother Nature and can't control that no matter how hard I might try. Kinda makes me miss the wind and chilly Wyoming air. But that's what they say right? You never appreciate something 'till it's gone.

Bike For Dad. All across the country, people mounted their bicycles and took off on 40 (+?) kilometer rides down highways, country lanes, and roads of all shapes and sizes in honor of the King. I had to work on this day so didn't actually get to participate in the bike ride, but I drove past it on my motorbike and saw everyone lined up ready to go! So many people came out and there where bikes and riders of all shapes and sizes! It was quite the sight, masses of yellow everywhere!

My visa expired. But don't worry, I got my official work permit! Hooray! I'm legally allowed to work in Thailand now and have my visa extended until October 2016. My amazing agent came and picked me up and we took a whole afternoon sitting in offices and making sure everything was all set. I shamelessly fell asleep in the Immigration Office in what turned out to be an hour long check that was only supposed to take 20 minutes. We were a little ircked about that, but hey! I got a nap in the middle of the day!

Satooning around! We have been exploring the farther reaches of Satun Province recently and I've seen some pretty neat things! My friend and I visited Cheibilang Pier and went to a mutual friend's shipyard to check it out. There are some beautiful boats there and we were able to watch them haul a sailboat in that needed some work. It was quite the endeavor and process but really cool to see! Oh also, there were puppies! We also went to Tamalang Pier and that was a great little adventure. There is a massive Nemo fish and Crab statue that were very photogenic. We also walked around a boardwalk (which I wasn't too sure would lead to anything because it just wound through the musky mangroves) but lo and behold it opened up into an open pavilion area right on the water. There were little pagodas to sit under, a lighthouse-esque structure that you could walk up in and it provided a pretty view of the southern waters and islands!

(Heaven is where there's water and boats)

The next weekend was monumental. Why?

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Holy macaroni and cheese! What a good movie! I am a huge Star Wars nerd (Thanks to my dad for instilling that love at a young age) and really enjoyed spending a mini-break in Hat Yai to see the movie and hang with friends. We saw it in 4DX which was a little tooooo much sensory overload for me! Our chairs moved in time to the movie and when anything was flying, we were rocking and wind was blowing on our faces, really making it seem like we were RIGHT there! So it was a lot to take it, but it was worth it! While in Hat Yai, I met up with some friends and we set off for the big municipal park to visit the ice dome! I've heard great things about it and was so excited to see ice (weird I know) but sadly, we go there, and there was NO ice? What?! Apparently the boss-man didn't want to deal with ice this year so they just had flowers. Lame! so we hung around and shopped instead!

(Cool statue at the Park in Hat Yai)

Finally, now that we are all caught up to speed, I can tell you about this past weekend!

We got a group together and headed off to Namtok Wang Sai Thong. This is such a beautiful waterfall and it was super fun to hang out in the refreshing waters! It's so big and has tiers that form countless pools that you can swim in. And because the rock is so weathered, many people slide down the rocks from pool to pool, jumping and swinging in periodically. It was beautiful and well worth the long, winding road to get there!

(View from almost the top of the tiers)

Guys, I WENT TO THE THIRD LARGEST CAVE IN THE WORLD!!!

Phu Pha Pet Cave in the Northern part of Satun and is the largest cave in Thailand (but you won't find it in many tourist books!), and it was a new and thrilling experience! I am so thankful to have had such a good group of fellow adventurers to go with! After the waterfall we ventured off to find this cave and after a few hecklers and a hike up a mountain, we arrived at what seemed to be nothing. Oh yeah, then we noticed the itty bitty hole that served as the entrance into the cave. Shit. How am I supposed to fit my fat ass through that opening?! After toppling inside, we followed the stairs to the first of many massive caverns!

(Before entering the deep dark)

This was such a cool cave and it was such a neat experience to guide ourselves up and down the stairs and get lost off the beaten path. There was one cavern that had a skylight leading outside. To get there, you had to scale a sheer, slippery, muddy/rock mixture and then climb out over some more rocks using ropes. During the course of this, I slipped and fell, scraping up my arm pretty bad. But whatever, I knew I was going to fall at least once and was prepared for it. After backtracking towards the exit, we finally found the little opening once again and were getting ready to leave. Me being me, I stumbled backwards for no reason, caught a rock, lost my balance, and fell pretty roughly between some lights, rocks, and the ground. Literally three steps away from the exit. Bruised both hands, scraped up my OTHER arm and I'm pretty sure I dislocated my thumb.

Finally leaving the cave in a sweaty, muddy mass, we drove back to Satun with the fading sun, and all was well. Despite the fact that we are all pretty pooped and in various states of frazzle-ment. It was a superb weekend and I loved every minute of trying my hand at being Indiana Jones!

(Car selfies are the best selfies!)

It's the most wonderful time of year

HOLY COW! How is it already the end of December? I don't know where the time went, but I can tell you truthfully that I spent it struggling through lesson plans, having mini-adventures, singing carols over and over until I wanted to pull my hair out, and sweating out every ounce of water in my body!

The biggest thing to happen since I last blogged was CHRISTMAS! It is so different celebrating my favorite holiday without my family and friends and the sub-zero degree weather of wonderful Wyoming.

Christmas looked a littler different this year, but that really shows that it's not where you are, but the people that make your holiday great. At school and at home I experienced love and excitement for Christmas and it still felt pretty darn festive! (I love Christmas carols so I didn't actually want to pull my hair out, but we did sing them everyday for the entire month!)

(The foreign teachers in all our red glory)

The last half of December was spent decorating classrooms, learning to wrap a gift, making snowflakes, wreaths, and snowman, and learning Christmas carols in english. I wasn't sure how festive this holiday would be since it is not celebrated the same way in Buddhist and Muslim cultures. Despite this fact, Christmas is still widely "celebrated" mainly for the decorations and for schools to learn about Santa and stuff. So it was very festive and joyful and very fun to experience!

(Santa and his mini me)

The Christian meaning of Christmas is nonexistent here though, and that's what I missed most. One of my favorite holiday traditions is attending the late night worship service with my family, and then doing holiday shenanigans all night until we all drift to sleep one by one. Then waking up on Christmas day to someone inevitably singing some wake-up/good morning song and gathering to share the holiday together in our pajamas. That's what I missed most about not being able to be home.

Despite having to work on Christmas day, everyone wished me a Merry Christmas and then that night, there was a big party hosted by @On's.

(Disclaimer: On is so amazing and is so fantastic when it comes to helping out and supporting people who come through Satun!)

I started the night with my make-up on point and even took the time to straighten my hair! Of course neither of these things lasted more than 10 minutes, but hey! It looked good for a bit! The party had a live jazz duo who played songs all night, there was delicious food (and plenty of it for those of us who went back for seconds, thirds, and sixths), and hanging out with friends new and old was so fun! I drank, danced, and was merry, and experienced my first Thailand Christmas with my pseudo-family.

Go Speed Racer!

(That theme song went through my head multiple times this past weekend when driving through the curvy, hilly, and winding roads of Phuket!)

Phuket is the largest island in Thailand and one of the most popular tourist destinations! The streets are littered with hotels, restaurants, coffee huts, shops, bars, places to rent this or that, and tour operators. So there is no shortage of things to do! My long weekend in Phuket was a much needed get away from the ho hum Satun lifestyle I have come to know and love.

Thailand is a truly diverse and exciting place to live. There is something for everyone and being able to experience the many aspects of thai life and culture is truly a rewarding experience. Phuket is a metropolis of excitement and lounging on beaches, hitting the clubs, and visiting other attraction like waterfalls and hanging out with friends was how I spent my time. The only downside of the weekend was that I got so sunburned that my nose, forehead, and chin blistered and are healing very slowly!

Meeting up with some of the friends I made in Hua Hin was so great and hearing all about their stories and just knowing we are not alone in our endeavors is very comforting! It was great to catch up, and having some tour guides was also a nice perk! We visited a very secluded beach, Paradise Beach, that was stunning. We kayaked, snorkeled, sunbathed, and relaxing enjoying to simplicity of life! Patong on the other hand, was much faster paced, with huge multiple story clubs and music so loud it'll make you go deaf. We drank and danced our way into the wee morning hours!

(Paradise Beach after a storm rolled by)

I will be going back to Phuket to visit more of the surrounding area in the future! But getting back to Satun and my house was the real adventure! I took the 8 pm bus back to Satun, so I knew that it would be early morning before I got home. The bus rolled into the city around 3:30 in the morning and stopped about a quarter of the way into town. Close to the Big C supermarket that is a 45-60 minute walk to my house. They refused to take me to the bus station and speaking hardly any Thai and them not understanding my English, drove off abandoning me in the dark city. My motorbike was at the bus station. So I walked the 30-40 minute walk home and promptly collapsed into my bed to get 2 hours of sleep. I woke up early, thankfully caught a motorbike taxi to the bus station, got my motorbike, and headed off the school for a busy Tuesday! I don't know if I was just too tired, or my students were exceptionally ornery, but man! It was horrible! Everyone was wild and loud, and not wanting to do school. So we didn't learn anything this week haha

(Janie and I rocking that motorbike life!)

Overall, it was a great weekend and a short school week, so that's always nice! Thursday was Constitution Day and Friday was Bike For Dad, so lot's of things were happening in the city and not a lot of school was going on. Here's to an adventurous weekend and new experiences!