Koh Samui

When I left off in the last post Doug and I had just landed on the island of Koh Samui and were staying the night at The Lucky Mother. We stayed there a total of two nights. Our room was cheap, nice, and had air conditioning.

The beach in front of the guesthouse wasn't the greatest. It was a little on the mangy side. Doug and I laid out on two worn out lounge chairs and two seats away from me was quite a rough looking dog. Sadly there are lots of dogs roaming the streets of Thailand and the beaches as well. 

The Lucky Mother was located in a decent area near shops and nightlife, so we spent our evenings walking around and perusing the night markets. There was a ladyboy dance house right across the street from us which was a sight to see in itself. I promise there is never a dull moment in this place, especially with Doug. I don't know how the guy manages to get himself into the situations that he does. Take for example the monkey. 

We were just sitting on the beach one night enjoying a couple of cheap beers when Doug literally for two seconds smiles at a guy carrying around a monkey. Next thing I know the monkey is sitting on top of Doug's head and I'm racing for my phone to take a picture. What?! How does that just happen?! 

Anyways...Doug and I ate at various places in Koh Samui.  We were in a more touristy part of the island, so we had way more than Thai as an option. And to be frank, I was a little Thai'd out, especially after our cooking class. We ate salad mostly. It's so hot here that we're never really that hungry. However, one night we did manage to come across a very inticing Italian restaurant. We totally caved and went in to have some pasta. I think our total bill came to $20.00. On that note we ate: complimentary garlic sticks with a variety of sauces, bruschetta with garlic tomatoes, each had a pasta, and each had a drink. Plus the waiter put our napkins on our laps and brought us fresh flowers and amazing smelling wash clothes (fancy!)  before our dinner. It was unnecessary, I admit, but it was amazing and I miss pasta that isn't spicy or named Pad Thai! 

You can't make me feel guilty! 

Although I'm sure you are all super curious about our eating habits, I'll move on to something else!....Hmm........

I got nothin'..... 

Just kidding. After our two nights at The Lucky Mother (still not sure about the name) Doug and I moved on to the Samui First Hotel. We packed up our bags and walked a mile and a half down the road. By the time we got there we were both fully drenched in sweat. 

We were looking for something cheap and found this hotel last minute on Expedia. Let me tell you, Expedia is the way to go! We've booked everything through Expedia, including our flights, so now we are getting additional discounts. Our hotel room that night cost less half of what we paid for a stinky hostel room in New Zealand and it had a pool with a gorgeous beach! We completely lucked out and we knew it! 

We had an awesome time swimming in the ocean and getting our tan on. 

The walk to the ocean was super short but did have a neat little bridge that crossed over where the locals tied their boats. 

We even had a few surprises at the pool that day. I don't know what it is with us and pools lately but they are proving to provide us with many laughs and entertainment! The story is a little inappropriate for the blog, but if you ask Doug I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you. I will say this... He had a great view that day (a couple of them to be exact)! 

When our time was up at that hotel we moved on to The Samui Beach Apartments. Again, we booked on Expedia last minute and wow-za did we get hooked up. The receptionist said Expedia mixed up our booking so she therefore gave us a complimentary upgrade. Score! Our room had: a kitchen, oversized bathroom, a living room with a tv, and two bedrooms. What?! Luck, pure luck! The beach at the apartments was nice as well. 

We spent a large duration of our time by the pool. 

Doug made friends with one of the workers there and next thing I know he's giving us weird foods to try and is cutting down fresh coconuts for us. 

The coconuts were really good, but the green plants? seeds? (I'm not sure what they were- which sounds really bad), but they were like a sour candy. I kind of liked them and was able to see how they were grown. 

Our day at the Koh Samui apartments was a great one! The pool was nice, the view was great, and the weather was perfect- complete with the right amount of breeze. This was probably one of my favorite places we have stayed at this far. 

That night we agreed to just eat a light supper at the hotel, nothing special. However, much to our surprise our hotel had tables set up right on the beach, so we ate dinner on the beach and it was one of our cheapest meals in Koh Samui! So lucky! We had a great time. A meal like that in the states would have been so expensive, but in Koh Samui it was right around $10 for our meals combined. Although I did have to giggle because the hotel had lights set up around the beach dining area and they were bright neon green- making both our bodies and our food an unnatural shade of green as well. I didn't care though, I loved it! 

After dinner we braved the street markets of Koh Samui and then headed for bed in our unnecessary huge apartment for two!

That next morning we woke up early to catch a taxi and then a ferry to our next destination, the island of Koh Tao. 

We stayed in Koh Tao for a total of four days and are now currently in Koh Phi Phi. The next post will be about Koh Tao :) 

Have a lovely day and thanks for reading! 

Tigers & Cooking & Elephants

Our last few days in Chiang Mai were spent stepping outside of our comfort zones and into....The cages of tigers!  The cooking flames of Thailand! And the world of elephants! 

February 16th- Tigers

On the 16th, a Monday, Doug and I planned to visit the "Tiger Kingdom" which was located outside of the city. We weren't completely sure what to expect, but knew we would get to see tigers up close. Doug wanted to see the big guys and I wanted to see the babies (of course). We woke up super early but not on purpose. Our bodies are so messed up from time changes and our sleep schedules are way off their norm. Regardless, we were up, so we decided to get a smoothie at a small cafe near our guesthouse called "The Bear Hug."

After that we got into the back of a make-shift truck taxi and were off to tiger kingdom. No matter what form of transportation we take in Thailand, something funny always seems to happen. We had a pretty steady driver this time. However, about half way through our drive, the driver slammed on his breaks and Doug about broke through into the front seat (smoothie in hand). Once I knew he was okay I laughed (a lot) at him. 

After arriving at our location we picked the 3 sizes of tiger we wanted to see: smallest, small, and big cat. 

The smallest ones were super cute and we had a fun time playing with them and scratching their bellies. 

Next up were the small ones which were way more lively than the little ones. I noticed the bigger in size we approached, the more intimidated I got, but as long as Doug went in so did I (why? I'm not totally sure). The small tigers really didn't seem that small to me. They definitely could have taken me down if they wanted to. One smack of the paw and I'd probably be toast. 

There were roughly five tigers in the caged in area with us at a time, along with the people who worked there.  There was lots of room for them to run around so we spent a large amount of time watching them wrestle one another and playing with their trainers (I'm not sure what you call the people who take care of them, so that's the word I'll use). 

I'll be perfectly honest I had a feeling the tigers were going to be on some heavy sleeping meds. Much to my relief (and not to my relief) they were up playing around and getting their exercise in. The trainer of course told us when to pet them and when to back up (a.k.a when Lydia should hide behind Doug). I mean, goodness, I didn't just go walking up to a tiger and pretend it was a house cat. The small ones were a blast to watch and then it was time for the "Big Cats!" 

You know when you get yourself into a situation and right as the scenario begins you think, "hmm... This probably wasn't a smart thing to do.." Well that's not exactly how I felt. It was more like..."What the heck are we doing?! Why does Doug always get me in these situations!? Ugh, crap... I'm gonna get hurt." 

Luckily we didn't get hurt. We put our lives in the trainers' hands and apparently they knew what they were doing. 

When the big tigers got playful with one another I wanted out of there. They weren't as lively as the others, but were still roaming around quite a bit. 

Looking back, this probably wasn't our best decision but it was an experience without a doubt! 

We had fun and were pleased to see that the tigers had plenty of roaming around space and good relationships with their trainers. I felt uncomfortable, not because I thought they were going to come after me (although I do think I look more appetizing than Doug) but because they are just so HUGE! Needless to say, my dad wasn't too pleased when I sent him the pics later on...whoops! 

That evening we decided to meander through the city again and were lucky to stumble across a temple conducting monk prayer. It was quite a peaceful thing to witness- the sort of thing that instantly calms your pulse. The dedication the monks possess continues to blow my mind.

It's fascinating that in a city with such frequent chaos, there can be such a state of peace. The diversity in Chiang Mai is incredible. One minute we are walking past prostitutes and the next, past monks. It may seem confusing but everyone just does there own thing here and I never notice any pointed fingers or judgement. I also don't speak Thai, so I could be missing something!

Side note on the monks: Doug and I learned during our monk chat that monks go to temple at least 3x a day and that they only eat 2x a day. They walk around the city those two times and people come from their homes to give them food. If people don't come, then they don't eat. Also once they become a novice (basically like a student monk) they can no longer live with their families. 

February 17th- Cooking 

The 17th consisted of Doug and I taking a Thai cooking class at the Siam Rice School of cooking. Doug and I are major foodies so this was a blast for us! 

There was a group of about ten of us in total. In all, we stemmed from: The USA, London, Australia. Singapore, Canada, and Thailand.  First we started at the market where our instructor educated us on the background of all the ingredients we would be cooking with. 

Next we headed for the kitchen and put on our aprons. Each of us had previously chosen 7 dishes we would make individually from a menu. 

My personal menu consisted of: sweet and sour stir fry, hot and creamy soup, chicken pad Thai, red curry paste, green mango salad, massaman curry with cinnamon, and warm bananas in coconut cream. 

Doug's menu consisted of: chicken and coconut soup, cashew chicken stir fry, spring rolls, red curry paste, red pineapple curry, drunken noodles, and sticky rice with young coconut. 

....Is your mouth watering yet?...

I'm so happy Doug and I did the class together because that meant we got to try 14 different dishes! They were nothing compared to my mom's cooking, but still super delicious! 

Each dish was a different experience for my tastebuds. It got exciting when Doug had to cook his drunken noodles. Hence, the FIRE! He about lost his eyebrows! I recorded the whole thing and again could not stop laughing. I don't think he knew what he was getting into! 

Our curry pastes were fun to make as well.  We basically chopped a lot of ingredients into really fine pieces and then ground them up, careful not to touch our eyes due to all the chili peppers! 

It was so much fun to use fresh ingredients and to smell the variety in the seasonings. It was the perfect day and we had such a great time. 

Needless to say we were absolutely stuffed when the class was over and spent the remainder of the afternoon in a food coma. 

Not to worry though, we got the recipe book! We are hoping to replicate some of the things we made once we get home to our own kitchens :) I'm sure our families will appreciate us taking the class. 

February 18th- Elephants 

On the 18th we booked a last minute adventure to go hang out with some elephants.

 We originally wanted to go to "The Elephant Nature Park," but unfortunately it was completely booked through the end of February. Doug however did a bunch of research and found another elephant park that was nice as well. Sometimes elephants aren't treated well in Thailand so we didn't want to go to a park that didn't support the health and well being of the elephants. We've found that in some cases the parks are geared more towards the tourists rather than the elephants. Regardless, we ended up finding a nice park where we were able to feed, ride, bathe and learn about the elephants. 

We had a great time bonding with the elephants and hearing their stories. They are amazing creatures. 

The ones that we interacted with were gentle giants really and loved eating bananas! One of the mothers had just had a baby so we got to see her as well! It's unfortunate that elephants are often taken advantage of here in Thailand. If you ever do go to a park, I suggest you do your research prior too. 

Moreover, we had a good experience and were completely baffled at how sweet such massive creatures can be. 

We especially loved bathing our elephant (whom I named Lady). 

She loved getting her back scrubbed and we enjoyed her splashing us with water from her trunk. 

It was a very eye-opening day and one we were thankful to be a part of. 

February 19th - Bye bye Chiang Mai 

The 19th was a big-time day of travel! We  were leaving Chiang Mai and making our way towards Koh Samui, one of Thailand's southern islands. 

Our day started off with Doug accidentally agreeing to pay 150 baht (way more than necessary-oops!) for us to take a taxi to the airport. Again- we do not speak Thai and when I say taxi- I mean a random car with the actual word "taxi" no where to be seen on the vehicle! So there we were...in a random's car hoping for our lives that he was really taking us to the airport. It was sketchy! He did end up taking us to the airport (phew). 

Next we boarded a plane to Surat Tani and left Chiang Mai! 

Straight off the plane we immediately caught the last bus to the ferry docks! We had hardly any time to spare and Doug almost didn't make it on the same bus as me because he couldn't find room for our bag! Can you imagine if we had left him? Oh my goodness! 

After a long sweaty bus ride we made it to the docks. We then proceeded to get through an impatient crowd of people and into the ferry! After that it was a ride in a van with a crazy driver who loved his gas pedal a little too much. We had him take us to a guesthouse that we hadn't even booked yet! Thankfully the guesthouse did have a room available so we stayed there that night. After one heck of a day we had finally arrived in Koh Samui! We were staying at a guesthouse called "The Lucky Mother" (I don't know why it's named that) and we were tired. 

Despite the hectic day traveling, Koh Samui has been pretty phenomenal. The sun is hot here and we are soaking it in :) 

We've currently been here 4 days and Doug has already made friends with a monkey!

 I'll fill you all in about our time here in the next post. 

Thanks so much for reading and have a beautiful day :)