Muay Thai Madness!

We got to Ao Nang and dropped off our stuff for the day and headed out to the beach - PARADISE! it's really hot here so its awesome to just jump into the sea and cool down.



We stayed at a homestay with a Muslim family, around 5% of the population in Thailand is muslim. The guide showed us around his village, where there are an abundance of crops: cotton, sugar cane, pineapples, cashews, rose apples, tamarind, catfish (in a pond), rubber trees, papaya and more. We got back and had the most amazing thai food! I think I've packed on 20kgs since leaving because the food is so great!!






(dinner, rubber tapping, cotton, cashew nuts)

After dinner me, Stace, and Nadine went to Muay Thai with our host! It was an amazing experience. We wish we could have gone in Bangkok, because apparently they scout Thailand for the best fighters, whereas in Ao Nang they are more casual about the fighting, and it more a hobby than a profession here. Still, 3 knockouts out of 7 fights!!! It was a bit hard watching the youngest fighters go, because they looked around 10 years old, but they were totally into it, and were friends outside of the ring. As the night progressed the fighters got older and more professional. Before the match there is a ritual "dance" that the fighters do, out of respect, and also for warm up. Then they get into it with each other! The ref will wipe them down as they are covered in oil, and checks that they dont have contraband on them (knives, etc) and makes sure they havent put tiger balm on their gloves (causes the eyes to sting and weep). If anything like that is found theyre banned from fighting for around 3 months.




We spent today chilling on the beach and relaxing! Tomorrow we're going to the tiger cave monastery, and then having a cooking class! Pad Thai for everyone!




going out for dinner now! NOM NOM NOM!!

xx Laura

Monkeys and more!

We met up with our tour group and its ACE! We have a really small tour group, 5 people including me and Stace, and theyre all pretty wicked people. In the morning we were taken ona khlong tour - a longtail boat tour of the canals, and we stopped at a temple where no fishing is allowed, and fed the massive catfish. After that me Stace and Simon (guy from tour) headed to the Temple of Doom (Temple of Dawn actually, but temple of doom just sounds better, and easier to remember). After navigating the Bangkok boat system and doing 2 ferry transfers we made it to the right side of the river. The Temple was absolutely AMAZING! It's ridiculously steep, so if you get vertigo, never go there. The tile work is incredible and it has a different style from most of the temples I saw in Bangkok.



its not the best picture but I havent really had time to weed through all the photos! On the way out we came across a lady who was dressing up the tourists (i.e. Me) in traditional Thai clothing for photos




After that we all jumped on the night train to Suratthani - it was so much fun! We had dinner onboard (not so awesome, but not terrible either!) and there were people going up and down the isles hawking thai food products (like weird cakes and stuff I cant even begin to describe). We arrived early morning and took a Songtheaw (a ute witha seating area in the back) to the pier where we took a longtail boat to floating raft houses! The raft houses were fantastic! You could step out from your house and jump straight into the lake. At your doorstep it's about 30 metres deep! We watched the sunset and lazed around for a few days. On one trip out our boat suddenly lost it's propeller - out in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception, and about an hour's speedboating away from any civilisation! Luckily another couple had the same idea to watch the sunset and their driver fixed our boat for us!






The last pic was taken on a nature walk we did, it's a Bull Spider. We also saw flying lizards, chameleons, monkeys and frogs.

We left Suratthani yesterday and came to Khao Sok National Park. We're staying at this MINT lodge - Art's Riverside lodge or something like that. It's right on this river, with monkeys on the other side, and a rope swing into the water (went for a swim today - so nice!)

We've just been mooching around, looking at monkeys, going for nature walks, and this morning went to ride some elephants!






Tomorrow we're heading to Krabi (Ao Nang) for some sun time!

Till later!
Laura

propositions, protests and pedestrians

We finally got here! after a three hour flight into Sydney, and a 9 hour flight into Bangkok, we finally got to the hotel at around 1am. We took a quick tiki tour around Khao San Road and then tried to crash out for the night. A lady-boy tried to pick up Stacy, and I think he's scarred for life. I think I slept about 2 hours max. We got up super early and made our way to Chinatown and quickly realised we stepped out of the tourist track and were the only whiteys around. People kept talking to me in Thai and replied to Stacy through me... and I dont even look Thai!! We walked around pretty much all day, and Stacy got scammed. Scammed hard! This crazy looking woman ran up to him and started pouring corn kernels into his hands, three bags full! And then demanded 150baht off him (around NZ$7.50), he ended up giving her 20baht to make her go away, LOL. I think I caught the exact moment he realised what was going on...



We went to Wat Pho and saw the Reclining Buddha, dropped some coins for good luck (how did I end up with half a pot left??), posed with some statues which look a lot like Davey Jones (pirates of the caribbean) meets Jackie Chan, and saw the most Buddha statues I have ever seen in my life. These guys dont just like Buddha, they LOVE Buddha! The place is just amazing, there's this great glazed colourful tilework everywhere.


(sorry if this is sideways)







We had a bit of a wander around Bangkok on foot, and came across the flower market, and the Amulet market (can I just say thank god drinks are cheap here! Its so hot and humid we have to stop and duck into a 7-11 for drinks every half an hour). The amulet market is a bit bizzare - it all looks like cheap trashy Buddha statues and pictures of some old guy (sorry whoever you are), but the Thai's all whip out these little jeweller's monocles and study them minutely for ages... and it's not just one random guys - there's heaps of em! There have been a couple of surprises already: This little old lady was sitting there peddling her wares, and I noticed a beautiful gold bottle, and I asked her about it. She whipped off the lid and snorted out of it and then tried to shove it under my nose!

There's currently a protest going on - not sure what about, but there are hordes of police all over the area near Wat Pho. Some guys in red shirts causing trouble or something. The cops are'nt really doing too much though, just sitting around eating mostly.



Anyway, after all that walking around we jumped ina tuk-tuk, pee'd our pants as he weaved through traffic, and went to a day spa. A fish day spa. These little sucker fish eat the SKIN off your FEET! It tickled like crazy, but after a while felt kind of nice. It was a little weird because our spa room was in a big open windowed room, facing the busy street, and we had people trying to speak to us through the window and taking pictures of our feet. (We asked a lady to take this one - maybe a little too much glare? LOL)



Alright! Now don't go expecting this much from the blog on a usual day - we just have a bit of time to kill before we meet our tour buddies. Next stop - Southern Thailand!!

xx Laura

Ka Kite Aotearoa

My last weekend in NZ was spent in one of my favourite little towns with 2 of my favourite people. Me, May Lee and Mum went to Raglan for an overnighter, and we spent the last couple of days chilling in the sun and visiting the beautiful landscapes of our country.

The funny thing is we booked into an "Eco Lodge", not realising it was a pretty full on hippy commune - complete with an Earth Dome LOL! There were crazy hippies everywhere, and signs for people to avoid flushing the toilet if possible.



This weekend we had amazing weather. We relaxed in the sun and had a picnic dinner watching the surfers at Manu Bay. Mmmm chicken!



I spent this morning with my toes in the sea... I love Raglan's beaches and the gorgeous sunrise peeking over the hills. I love watching the early morning strollers, the woman wrestling to control her three dogs, the lonely fisherman whistling to himself, the surfers crashed out in sleeping bags next to their boards. There's something beautifully serene about dawn at the beach, before the bustle of the day.






Next blog after take off!!

xx Laura

6 Days To Go And Counting...

It's been a hectic couple of weeks, packing up our stuff, organising leaving parties, getting papers sorted, quitting our jobs. We had an amazing party with friends - it was awesome to see everyone there - thanks for coming guys!






As a lot of you will know, May Lee is also going on her O.E. at the same time (roughly)as me and Stace, so we threw a party to say goodbye to the "Dutch Clan" who are our family here in NZ. Our cousin Martyn and his girlfriend Nicki are ALSO going overseas, and we had a teary (on my part!) goodbye Wednesday night. Who knows when we will all see each other again!



And finally, yesterday we had our last day at work and all headed to the pub after work in celebration. Because I'm bloody useless I only have a pic of Stace and his work buddies...



A big thanks to everyone that came to say goodbye! It means a lot to us and it was great seeing everyone!

xx Laura