new years eve!

Not really knowing my plans for new years eve, i ventured out to have a walk by the ocean around midday when i finally got out of bed. I ate my leftover pizza from the day before. I felt very relaxed.. i walked around a lot and enjoyed the city of Quy Nhon. What a calm city.. i strolled by an open market before coming back to my hostel to rest. Later on, i did my makeup and got ready to go out and enjoy the evening. I got a tip that there was a new years celebration happening in the city square, so i headed that way. I heard seafood in this city is really good so i stopped by a restaurant on my way and had a crawfish & corn dish. The table next to me started talking to me and invited me to join them for a beer. They told me they planned to go to the square for new years and invited me to come with them. There was three of them 2 guys 1 lady late twenties or 30.. mostly ended up hanging out with one of the guys wife, My. I did not realize at all the size of the celebration in the square, it was hundred of people and a giant stage with djs and idol groups performing. The rain started gently a bit before midnight, then i swear after midnight it started pouringgg and everyone was trying to get outta there. I got pretty soaked, My ended up calling mena rode home and i showered off and hit the hay. Here comes 2024!

scenic cable car

breakfast and BBQ

i woke up sooo early this morning to meet up with Thy for coffee. At first i thought she wasnt coming, but she just overslept. We got iced coffee under a tunnel and chatted. Afterwards she took me to a place to get bun rieu, a type of soup. The broth was really delicious and it came with all kinds of interesting toppings. I came back, took a long nap.. Got dominos pizza. Back at the hostel we had a bbq night woth everyone, it was really fun. :)

bicycling

i had a leisurely day bicycling around can tho. I had a delicious lunch with pork belly and gravy and rice. I bicycled to a pedestrian bridge and enjoyed a piece of cake i bought. Later on i drank some beer with people at the hostel.

exploring can tho & meeting Thy

i walked a lottt today. Probably too much. I desperately needed to do laundry and i didnt have any clean socks left, so i got a small blister on both feet from walking T-T However, Can Tho is very enjoyable to walk around. I got a grilled cheese from a family selling them out of their doorway. I went to a lake nearby where people like to gather and do aerobics in the evening. I had matcha boba and stopped in a cafe for lunch. I was so tired after that i took a grab home even though it wasnt very far. My ride was only 53 cents. I took it easy for a bit, then walked to a nearby mall and got some new stickers and had KFC. I went back to the lake for sunset and then to a night market, where i got a hello kitty shaped bao bun (so cute!). I came back to the hostel for awhile, then decided to go to a cocktail bar nearby that was recommended by one of the workers at my hostel. The bar reminded me a little of campground in arcata, it was pretty upscale. I sat at the bar and got a margarita and the girl sitting next to me struck up a conversation. It was nice to talk to someone who lives in Can Tho and grew up in the surrounding area! Her name is Thy, pronounced "tea". I was soo hungry and after she left i left also to look for something to eat, but she saw me and offered me a ride on her scooter. She dropped me off at a late night bahn mi spot, it was delicious. I walked home after and went to bed.

flight to can tho

today was mostly a transit day. I booked a minibus taxi to the Hanoi airport from my hostel in ninh binh. I got all nervous because they originally dropped me off at one of their bus stops and i wasnt sure if i was gonna get taken to the airport or not. It was all fine in the end, but its hard being alone in a place where you dont speak the language. Everyone who was on my original bus taxi got off and got into separate taxis to be dropped off different places in the city. Then it was just me all alone! There was no one even at the front desk. But eventually some Vietnamese people showed up and told me my taxi was coming. I ended up being at the airport about an hour later than i thought i would be, and i only had about an hour to check in and go through security which was stressful but it worked out.

cat cafe chill day

I went for a really nice walk around a small lake in the morning and stumbled across a cat cafe with a big garden. I had a hot chocolate and sat for awhile.. they had a scottish fold, a munchkin and a persian cat. There was also a mischievous chihuahua. My hot cocoa was really good. I got a strange but tasty sandwich with some spam-like meat and corn. I saw a bus bar on my walk and told myself i would go back for a drink later, but i never did. I went to a restaurant and got chicken wings and a couple beers before returning home. It was a relaxing day, but i was a little lonely.

ancient capital Hoa Lu

I met up with Libby and her friends to go see Hoa Lu, the first capital of ancient vietnam. There are ancient temples built in honor of the first emperor of vietnam. They had displays showing some of the country's first currency. It was really serene and interesting. We got lunch after and i got goat pho, the most flavorful pho ive had so far! After that we split off, Libby and her coworker friends went to do a boat tour while i came back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit. We met up for dinner later and i had my first bun cha, super yummy! Libby and i went to a bar afterwards and had a few drinks by a campfire. The staff were roasting things on the fire and offered us both baked sweet potatoes, which was kind of them.

missing entries

oh no! It seems like some of the entries have been lost.. maybe they will be found someday. Here are some highlights: I flew from chiang mai to hanoi on december 8th I immediately came down with an intense head cold.. i stayed in bed for days, and didnt feel good enough to do anything for a whole week! I took a bus to a natural area called ninh binh and spent a lot of time to myself. It turns out someone i know from highschool, Libby, was teaching english in Hanoi! We ended up meeting and hanging out in Ninh Binh together for a couple of days. North vietnam is very very cold in December!

MOTOGIRL IN THAI

it wasnt the easiest thing, but i was able to rent a moped today! I woke up early. The first place i went to the man just held up his hands in an "X". I dont know if that meant he was out of scooters for the day, or if i just didnt pass the vibe check, but every time i tried to go to him (yesterday also) he just did the same thing T-T i went to a different place that was also recommended on a travel blog and the man told me there was only one! scooter! left! It was a bit pricey (250baht when there exists 100baht rentals..) but i decided to go for it. To give perspective thats around 7$ for a 24hr rental. my accommodation here has varied between 4-7$ a night. however, I didnt have to leave a deposit, just my American drivers liscense as collateral which was a plus. The model is called Zoomer which is hilarious obviously. It was a very "state of the art" scooter and i was a little embarrassed looking for the kick start when its actually just a button you press i learned ^_^" he told me the headlight is also just automatic.. Funny thing about all these hyper new features is i drove away to my hostel, parked, grabbed my stuff since i was checking out, and i couldnt get it to start. Like, wasnt even sounding like it was trying to start. I had to get a german fellow to take a vid of me trying to start it and he was so kind to give me a ride back to scooter shop. I showed the man and he told me the scooter has a mechanism that wont let it start if the kickstand is down. I felt like such an idiottttt!!!! LOL. But it really worked fine after i knew that haha ^_^" i ended up checking in early to my new hostel and it is beautiful! Very big with huge outdoor areas, swings, straw huts, hammocks and its right by a river! Theres also a ton of natural vegetation on the property so its very serene and shaded. I hit up a Saturday market which was very small. It was about the size of only 1/4 of the arcata farmers market, but there was cool vegan hippy food and some interesting used and vintage stuff. I ate a papaya salad and some fried blossoms and enoki mushrooms. I got a hummus tofu salad wrap for later. Having the motorbike really encourages you to do as much as possible as its a bit of a waste to rent it and just sit at home. It was another hot day and i decided i wanted to check out Mo Pang waterfall for some swimming. The ride was wayyyyy way way more chill than i was expecting. I think i was fearing for the worst. It was actually very chill and scenic, not hardly anyone on the road.. no sand, gravel, no hairpin turns.. the hardest part was actually parking once i got there as the parking lot was not paved and was just loose rocks. It took a bit of strength to guide the bike where i needed to go. As i was leaving the attendant actually helped me guide the bike out. The waterfall spot was really cool, it was nice to be in nature. It wasnt extremely crowded but i looked awhile before deciding on the right spot. The water was very cold actually. I did swim for a bit. A group of four cute thai kids were taking turns sliding down the cliff into the pool of water. I left after a few hours to go home and take a nap. I met up with this korean girl i met on one of my first days here. I think her name is yuchae? I followed her friend as she rode on the back of his scooter. Ive not gone that fast on a scooter before ! I think i forgot for a bit that the numbers are in km/h though haha. I saw 68 per hour and i was like damn!! Then crunched the numbers at home and thats only like 40mph hahaha. The sunset was really beautiful but i think i liked viewing it at twohuts a bit better. Pai canyon is also a trail, a very narrow, steep, sandy trail and i wasnt interested in doing that in my offbrand-one-size-too-big crocs x0 so i didnt. We rode back, i went back to my hostel and met two travellers named Josh and David. Josh is british and David is from Barcelona. Josh was so friendly, he reminded me soo much of a male version of my friend Christina, down to his facial expressions. The three of us and three others decided to walk to the night market together and get drinks. I had some really good pad gra pao. The man working suddenly burst into tears and i asked him what was wrong. He made a motion that he got chili in his eye. Im not sure if that was really true or if that is the thai equivalent of saying "im not crying, its just raining" haha. But the food was really good. We went to a few bars, i ended up at the jazz bar and met up with my korean friend. She told me she actually lived in australia from when she was 13, then studied for 7 years in america and got her bachelor's in film or something? And now she just recently moved back to korea to live with her family before going on this trip, where shes just visiting thailand. What an international life right? Reconvened with the other group and then we split off and i ended up coming back with some others to the hostel to sleep. It was really refreshing getting to hang out with a bigger group after traveling alone.

cutest kid

i didnt do that much today. I tried to get a scooter but every shop had already rented out all the little ones. I didnt want to get a giant bike.. i had a smoothie.. had a cry . Felt lonely today and missing home and uncomfortable. I got a falafel plate at a vegetarian cafe, it was ok. It was amazing for $3.50. Then i went to the chai cafe again to work on my blog a little and relax. Its pretty cute here.. Someone offered to dread my hair here and i declined. Its funny how different european and american views on that are. Tonss of white people (and thai ppl ) with dreads lol. Pai is very hippie, but i forget that some parts of hippieness i dont really jive with. I went to the outdoor lobby area of the other hostel before i went to look for a scooter today to ask for advice on where to go and it was allllll beefcake guys. Someone in particular looked just like this person Victor i used to know and it was kind of triggering in a bad way. I just felt so uncomfortable there so i left right away, before i could really talk to anybody. They were deeply involved in their conversation about drum and bass or something and didnt really acknowledge my existence. I dont know.. arcata is a hippie town, and i like it there, but theres this whole side of hippy stuff that i find really unsettling. Dont really know how to explain more than that.. i was really sad today and realized i started my period T-T hoorah i guess. I was crying in the dorm bed when the cleaning lady and her little toddler came in. I played with him a little with my stuffed animal and it cheered me up a bit.

K.O.

woke up EXTREMELY hungover. Started gathering up my things as it was check out day at the Yor Song hostel. Tried to extend, they were booked. Came to find most places were actually. I saw one in town that looked pretty bad, maybe passable, $5 a night and decided to go for it and start walking. However, in the time it took me to walk there they had already filled up. Apparently the owner owns 3 hostels in pai though and told me i would be able to stay in one just down the way. I booked it, paid her, and went to go drop off my stuff. It was and is .. incredibly bad T-T like the worst !! Barely barely anything. It is my fault for not booking in advance i know but jeez. I see why this was the only one left. Theres no front desk, or front door.. like a small hole in a fence you go through.. no check in, no kitchen, no laundry, no lobby/ chilling area.. 8 bed mixed dorm, one bathroom included in the room, the bathroom wall doesnt go all the way to the ceiling so you can imagine the sounds and smells that results in. Not trying to get too graphic here but it has been a bit of a personal hell. Especially being soo hungover. I did spend a bunch of the day chilling at the outdoor hangout area of the other hostel. i also got a chai at a cafe nearby, "art in chai" and that was cute and cozy. I tried reaching out to some of the people i met to hangout and a couple replied but i just felt sooo tired and my morale was so low i just hung out in a hammock outside of my room for the bulk of the evening. Then went to sleep.

beautiful pai

i definitely woke up a little hungover, but not terribly.. i was walking around town eating a 7/11 sushi roll for breakfast when sean spotted me and asked me what i was up to. I said , "this?" Haha. He said, wanna come with me to meet my friends and then go to some natural place? Of course i said yea!! We went somewhere called paradise bar, it was a bit of a journey but fast on a bike. We took a wrong turn at some point and it was just beautiful scenery and cows grazing. When we got to the bar it was a bit of an odd vibe, just a lil quiet, he introduced me to his friends. One of them was from texas, im not sure the others. They were in a band together and were on tour. For the most part of my interaction with them seemed to range from them being totally disinterested in me to slightly "cooler-than-u" typa vibe but then they started jamming and that was ok. We all ordered kratom drinks from the bar. Think it was served in pineapple juice. Sean and i left but decided instead of going to a natural feature, like the hotsprings nearby, that he would give me a motorbike lesson at my request. Which was really cool and he was very patient. I learned about shifting gears on a bike and stuff and it was the biggest bike Ive ever ridden (honda wave 125cc). We practiced on an empty road and then also in traffic. Hopefully now i can feel a little more confident renting my own bike. Went home to take a little nap then decided to go to twohuts - a scenic vista to watch the sunset. And there are two huts there lol. And many many hammocks and swings. We get there and there were a lot of people, but in a chill way. It was abuzz , not like hectically crowded but a lot of people vibing and chilling, smoking weed, drinking beer etc. stopped and sat to enjoy the view and overheard some people talking about a "genderswap party" their hostel was throwing. I inserted myself into their conversation to ask for details. We did end up going to the genderswap party and it was silly and a lot of fun. I dont think sean was super comfortable with it, but he strikes me as a very shy person. I did do a highlight and some glitter eyeshadow on him as provided by the hostel muahaha. And i changed into pants and a muscle tee and drew on a mustache. The party moved to a bar after and we did some dancing. He told me after that he had never in his life experienced anything like that lol. I guess from what i learned from paul and sean is that at a thai party or something like that its less about talking and socializing and moreeee like dancing ? Or something? Still cant wrap my head around that one. Because i remember when i went out with Paul and Tide the first bar we tried in Nimman was really loud, and i mentioned it might be hard to talk over it, and they were down to move but also had a little laugh about it, like its so american or something ? I dont really get it lol. We decided to leave at some point, picked up some thai whiskey from the 7/11 so i could try. I think this is what did me in. When we got back to the hostel i got yelled at by the same girl twice for being so loud. Felt bad a little lol.

arriving in Pai

I checked out of my hostel and got a bite to eat from a food cart. Then took a scooter ride to the bus station. I was supposed to take the bus with Kim, but when i got there she wasnt there.. i got a message from her saying shed be late and asking me if i could try to get the bus driver to delay leaving LOL. i said ok but didnt really do anything. I realized when the busses, plural, pulled up that we werent gonna be on the same one anyway. I took some motionsickness medicine before getting on the minibus and let me tell you it knocked me outttttt. I could not stay awake, even though my body was being jostled back and forth due to the notoriously windy road. I was so groggy when we finally got here about 3.5 hours later, but i figured out the direction of my hostel and started walking. The hostel is really cool its a "traditional Lanna-style house built in 1978". Its huuge and spacious and quiet. There was no one to greet me when i got here, i had to call the number and wander around and wait. Eventually the manager, Jae came down. She was just upstairs cleaning. I think Jae seems like a very cool person. Its clear that shes an artist. She showed me some of her work , its kind of keith haring-like , a full page filled with interwoven doodles of things and characters. She has a drawing tablet as well as an ipad + apple pencil set. I also saw a sewing machine out and she told me she sews. I went to the room and it reminded me of a country cabin in Wisconsin. Everything was all wood, it was slightly hot but not terribly.. just very cozy. Another person came in and i struck a conversation with them, his name is Sean and he's thai and he works at a farm not too far from here, said hes visiting Pai just cause he can and has never been here. We decided to go to the night market together and were surprised by a a loy krathong parade happening! then came back to the hostel and formed a little group to go to muay thai. It was me, sean, a german girl named mika and the hostel lady jae. Ive never seen muay thai before! There was a big crowd. It was pretty fun. Talked to some people in the crowd, met someone from spain who reminded me so much of my friend nuna. Also met someone from Xi'an which was so exciting because i got to say i know liang pi (.. their famous noodle dish) and she was happy to hear. After muay thai i think mika split off and it was just jae sean and me. I said i was hungry and we went out for a meal together, it was so nice to eat family style. They ordered fried pork, sauteed morning glory and tomyum soup. It was really good in that moment. After that we walked home to the hostel and went to bed.

Loy Krathong

i stayed for quite awhile this morning chatting with people outside the hostel. Daisy, Kim, and others. I finally snapped and told off the swedish girls this morning for being extremely loud and inconsiderate, which was a popular topic haha. The thing is, i can give a pass to most noises, snoring for example, is unconscious, rummaging through bags, is necessary, but the thing that really bothered me was how every morning i would get awoken to talking. It was especially bad because i was bottom bunk to one of them and every morning the other girls would stand infront of my bed to talk to her. That basically meant they were talking like a foot away from my face as i was trying to sleep, and i gave them manyy warnings. I finally said something about it.. im not sure if it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do, or maybe neither and it wouldnt really matter if i said something or didnt. I told myself it was a good opportunity to stand up for myself since i will not see them again. I regretted it more later because Daisey was talking so much shit on them to anyone who would listen and i didnt want to be lumped in with that.. i saw them again later and they did apologize and had a casual chat with me about things to do in Pai. Its hard not to look at things through an american lens sometimes. I think people have different attitudes towards things and it can feel really hard to understand and not perceive as like mal - intent. Anyways it was checkout day at my Nimmon hostel so i eventually took a scooter to a new hostel inside of the old town. As soon as i got here, i was ushered upstairs and told to come down right away as they were having a krathong making class. I joined; it was fun. Ate some fried rice from a place off the side of the road later. Chilled for abit, talked to raven. The evening time started to get really stressful as the hostel was packed with people. Its a major holiday, Loy Krathong, so lots of people were coordinating rides and what to do. Seemed like the popular things was to go to a nearby place, Doi Saket to see the lanterns released. I tried signing up for a ride, but they were all full. I did end up getting on one after all but it was definitely confusing and intense. The one i ended up on was mostly solo female travellers though, which was really cool! I wouldnt have known, because a lot of them did know each other at least for a few days. The ride took awhile because of traffic due to the festival. On our way there we could see fireworks and floating lanterns in the distance. We got out and the cab driver told us to be back by 9, which gave us only an hour and a half. The group split into two pretty fast, as some of the people needed the restroom right away. Me and two girls didnt wait for them and kept walking towards the entrance. It was very very crowded, the entrance led us through a thick crowd and a bunch of food vendors. The two girls and i wanted to release our krathongs so we headed towards the water slowly. There was so many floating lanterns and fireworks , It was amazing. It took quite awhile for us to get to a place to release them due to the crowd. After that i split off from them because i wanted to get myself a beer and i knew it would be faster if i went alone. I meandered a bit, and got some various meats on skewers before it was time to start leaving. Then i tried to leave, but i realized i got so turned around i wasnt sure which was the correct exit to take.. i asked a random person who was a traveller walking also and they didnt know but they walked back with me back into the festival. It was seriously dumb luck i ran into the rest of the group i came with sitting right there. I felt so stupid at how lost i was in that moment! I took a picture of the taxi liscence plate even to help find it after but i didnt even think to drop a location pin. It felt so straightforward when we were entering. But none of the roads here are ever on a grid, so i learned my lesson and will be more careful in the future. I was really surprised, but everyone in our group of ten made it back to the taxi by nine. I thought surely someone would get lost or not make it back in time. We paid the man and got on our ride home. One extra person joined us, he explained he had no way to get back and begged for a ride and was charged 200baht, which we all said was not bad.

Swimming at Grand Canyon

This morning i woke up excruciatingly hungover, obviously. I was downstairs making my first cup of tea when this other person in the lobby asked me if i wanted to join her swimming at grand canyon. We introduced ourselves, her name is Kim and she lives in the Netherlands. I invited Daisey and we decided to all share a taxi there. Kim insisted that the red songthaew was the cheapest option, but im not really sure now that it was. Traveling with Kim and Daisey was interesting, because i felt like nothing happened if i didnt initiate it. I was trying to be polite and patient, but after a few hours of them just chit chatting in front of the hostel while i laid there, i finally said "are we ever going..?" And immediately after that we left. Kim told me a good price for the red taxi to grand canyon was 500 baht. Its about a 30min drive. We stopped one of them and the driver asked 600 for where we wanted to go. I held up five fingers and said 500. He said ok. Daisey and Kim were like, "wow!!! So good at haggling!!" And i was just like, Not really!!! Hahah. We got there and theres two parts to it, an extreme water park and a more natural side. Its called grand canyon but its really just a big quarry. We kind all were under the impression the natural side would be free, but it wasnt. 70 baht for sightseeing and 150 if you wanted to get in the water. Kayaks, paddle boards, jump off points and all that included. Daisey was driving me nuts because she was going back and forth with the receptionist if she could pay the 70 baht price and "just dip a toe in" it was soo annoying in the moment but maybe that was her trying to learn how to haggle? Thats not really how it works though.. haggling is more for markets and some rides.. You would not haggle at a supermarket or your hotel most likely for example.. but anyways the place was really beautiful when we got in. It was very serene and actually very quiet. We were basically the only ones there the whole time. I split off because they were chatting and taking foreverrrrr. I got to a nice spot and got in the water right away because it was very hot out. The water was amazing, the perfect temperature for swimming.. i swam for a bit then decided i wanted to take a paddleboard. I paddled around for a but and then came back to my stuff, drank a lime soda i bought and ate some leftover fried chicken, which was perfect. I always crave weird junk food like that after swimming. I got back on the paddle board because i finally saw them over by the kayak zone. I said , "are you going to get in?" They were soo slow lolol. But it was nice even to enjoy by myself. They eventually did get in a double kayak and we explored around. Kim told us it was a big goal of hers in her life to jump off a cliff into water. I convinced her to hold hands with me and jump, and she was so happy after. We did a much higher jump after that too. Maybe even 40 meters!? I had to be brave since she was so scared. It was a lot of fun. They ended up ordering some food from the restaurant there and i played with one of the worker girls dog. He was a tiny white french bulldog named robot. She told me her mom made krathongs and me and daisey bought one from her. Then she invited us to go with her to a small loy krathong celebration nearby, which was really cool! We set off fireworks, released our krathongs and took a bunch of pictures. I dont know how i would spell our thai friends name in english, nouueee i guess!! Haha. After we were ready to go from the small festival, she had offered to call us a ride back but none of them were accepting. I dont even think Daisey or Kim noticed at any point what was happening, but i was a little concerned for sure. I was able to book us one though, much to my and noueee's relief haha. Once we got back home i just crashed so hard. All the sun and swimming really took it out of me. I watched some Bobs Burgers (just very american) and ordered some stirfry delivered. $3. Imagine that in america T-T

Drinking in KFC

I was just hanging in the hostel room complaining to Raven about some of extremely irritating other guests (3 girls from sweden, here is a list of the annoying things they did: made phone calls at night in the dorm, had food in the dorm, took up 100% of the shared counter space, had all of their laundry strewn across the floor, and talked at full volume in the morning) Overall they were very inconsiderate of the other guests. I said hi and one of them said it back and the other just completely ignored me! While they were inches from my bed throwing their clothes everywhere too lol. Anyways i heard someone else get checked into the room and i introduced myself to her (Daisey) and she was actually from the states (NYC) also! We got to talking and i asked her if she wanted to go get something to eat. we ended up going to the food market at One Nimmon , kind of an indoor/outdoor mall. It was nice to talk to someone from USA, i havent met a lot of them. The food was really good and there was a live band playing. Paul ended up being there too and joined up with us for some drinking. We had a beer there.. got a soju at the 7/11 and came back to drink more and enjoy the music.. then we decided to go to warm up cafe, which i heard from Tide (pauls friend from chiang mai) is the happening spot. However, while we were trying to enter, Daisey had forgotten to bring any form of ID so she couldnt get in. I went in and used the restroom and the vibe struck me as sort of fancy, with a lot of people sitting down, so i suggested we get her ID at the hostel and go somewhere else. We ended up going to a club called zoe in yellow, which was extremely busy and touristy but it was fun. They were playing techno remixed pop songs from like the 2010's and a lot of people were dancing. We drank several more sojus. The bars close at midnight in thailand but we stayed a little later than that.. then we somehow ended up at a 24 hour KFC. I think paul overheard me and the american girl gushinng about how much we miss chicken biscuit sandwiches from kfc hahaha. After a bit surprisingly Tide showed up with two biggg beers for us all to share. We were openly drinking and eating fried chicken in the KFC it was so fun hahaha. They dont have biscuit btw, we got a huge basket to get the side of mashed potatoes which was small and overly sweet and a little mid. We were talking about whataver dumb shit lol. Eventually i think the KFC did close, at least the lobby, so we had to leave. It was a very fun night. I really enjoyed myself.

cooking class

Today i went to a cooking class. They picked up me and a bunch of other people in a shuttle bus and took us to a market first to talk about traditional thai ingredients. I picked up a potato and okra for myself on the side while we were there. After that we were driven to a huge, resort-esque yard with a bunch of kitchens attached. It was a pretty cool experience, we had our option of things we could make for each course and i ended up making coconut soup, curry and pad thai. Mango sticky rice was served to us at the end. All in all it was a very fun and delicious experience, even if a little touristy. From what i gather it is not super common for a thai person to invite you into their home, and my dream would be to learn how someone cooks in their home kitchen.. I gotta temper my expectations though , so im glad i took the class for the experience. They had a garden as well where they talked to us about different herbs and vegetables common in thai cooking. The most interesting ones i learned about was thai parsely (which smells like cilantro) and mini eggplant (which wasnt technically an eggplant i dont think; it grew on a bush). I even learned how to make the green curry with eggplants that james and paul served at the hostel in bangkok. After u got home i got another matcha at the same cafe i went yesterday and watched an episode of mushishi, a show me and raven are watching together. It was also thanksgiving day for all my USA friends and i did feel a little lonely in the evening. I ended up going to a supermarket and getting a couple things for dinner, my first time in a supermarket here and my first time cooking a real meal on this trip. I had madhed potatoes and gravy, a sirloin steak, stir fried okra and fried thyme. It hit the spotttt. I was gonna just go to bed and be lazy until i fell asleep, but paul who is in chiang mai invited to pick me uo and go to the night market on campus with me. It was perfect because i desperately needed socks lol. It was very cute. After that we just walked around the campus for awhile, chatting. It was peaceful. He told me how he used to raise giant beetles to sell as a kid as a side hustle. I was pretty tired, so i just went to sleep right after he took me back to my hostel.

Thanksgiving, i guess

woke up extremely hungover. I had originally planned to go to Pai for tonight and tomorrow, but the busses were all completely sold out. I thought i would be in the clear booking day of since last night there was still a bunch and they leave every hour. Oppsi :p I took it as a sign to stay in chiang mai, honestly once i learned the bus takes 4 hours to get to pai, going for two nights seemed kinda rushed. I had already booked my accommodation for the weekend over in the nimmon neighborhood, so i just decided to stay here tonight and tomorrow night as well :) luckily they had availability, but ill have to move from the female dorm to the mixed dorm tomorrow :p i think the person who runs this hostel is korean. There are a few koreans, one Japanese girl erika, and one person from the UK, anya. Korean decor is always so cute. It reminds me of a cafe i used to go to all the time in portland, soro soro. I was hungover so i didnt do a lot today, but i did take the hostels bicycle and take myself out to a nice dinner. Oh man .. it was the best salmon don ive everrrr had.. for $5. I got edamame as well and the meal was $7 in total, the most expensive meal yet on this trip. I cannot emphasize how delicious the salmon was haha. Also earlier in the day, like right when i checked in, i went for a matcha and ended up at the cutest most serene yet adorable tea house. Like, it was insane.. i will definitely go again.

Nimmon

I decided today was gonna be a chill day and i wasnt gonna load on loads of pressure to do lots. I went to the nimmon neighborhood and wandered a little. It was really embarrassing, there are a lot of japanese shops and restaurants in that area and when i got dropped off at the matcha place this morning, i was like aw damn the sign says they dont open til eleven!! ( in japanese font except the numbers of course) So i killed an hour just walking. I came back and sat outside for like 10 minutes before they opened, they greeted me and let me in... and it was a ramen shop ORZ the matcha place was actually behind it , and it opens at 9 every day. I had to excuse myself. Many such awkward encounters T_T i felt soo bad.. & the matcha i got was just ok.. I went into a mall and bought some knock off crocs, hopefully will be a good shoe for me:) then i came back to the hostel, grabbed the bicycle and went to a restaurant in the old town. Bicycling is pretty fun here, but i wish there was less traffic. Tomorrow im going to Pai, which is a much smaller town about 4 hours away. Kind of excited to be away from all the bustle, the big city. I am a girl of small places for the most part i think... i am considering renting a scooter and getting some practice in a smaller town. Ive been getting used to the left side of the road thing bit by bit on bicycle. I ended up going out at night with Paul and his friend Ty in the Nimmon neighborhood. My first time getting bottle service :0 we drank a lot...

Arriving in Chiang Mai

The bus wasnt very comfortable, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as it could be. The person next to me was friendly so that helped a lot. We arrived in Chiang mai about 6:30am. I took a grab to the hostel im staying at and discovered that theyres like 17 different hostels in a row here. I came straight here even though reception hours are not until 9 because i was hoping to stow my bag, which i ended up being able to. My room actually wasnt available until 1pm so i laid around in the hammock outside. The sun moved and woke me up from the deepest nap, i felt like i was being fried alive. Walked around and got the worst matcha on my trip so far. The area Im in is very touristy and that killed my vibe a little for a sec. I think i was pretty grouchy still from sleeping on the bus. I paid to get my laundry done, i took a shower, and then later i took one of the bicycles the hostel provides for free and biked around the old city which did hold a great deal of magic.. as soon as i crossed inside the old city walls the road was cobblestone with pretty little lights and shops and temples. I came home and stuck up a conversation with some more people from the UK and went to a night food market with them. I split off to buy new shoes.. haggled the seller down from 800thb to 200thb but im still not sure how i feel about them. Im hoping hoping hoping this problem doesnt persist T_T next time i would definitely drop $50 on some tevas before coming!!!

Leaving Bangkok

My actual last day in Bangkok after that fakeout last night. This time my bus is scheduled for 8pm-6am. I didnt get a personal dropoff to the bus stop this time, but i made it with the perfect amount of time anyway. Not that i wasnt stressing the whole time on my train.. I dont know if ill ever conquer my irrational fear of "missing my stop" on busses and trains LOL. Busses are worse no matter where you are cuz sometimes you have to pull the string thing to indicate you are getting off or else otherwise they dont stop. My internal monologue is like, "when do i pull it... now ? now? now? ...DID I MISS IT!? no.. didnt miss it.. NOW?" Dont even get me started on transfers. I specifically took a slightly longer trainride because there was no transfer. (Just so you know, i did a transfer coming home from chatuchak yesterday.. thats why its an irrational fear after all haha) but anyways all i had to do was take the train then take a grab. Im now so comfortable with the whole scooter taxi thing. Its so convenient and fun and you get to see a lot that way. I had a bit of time before my bus today but i didnt do anything that crazy. My new shoes were giving me a blister and i desperately needed to get socks to relieve the discomfort.. i tried to go to the same market as yesterday by the university and it was closed.. i ended up going to MBK again but it lost some of the dazzle it had on me the first time. Mostly because my feet were hurting and i just didnt feel like browsing at all. It would have been nice to get slides as well as the single pair of socks i got but oh well. The listed prices were about 3x higher than what i wanted to pay and i just didnt have the energy for haggling right then. After that i took a train to Lumphini park, which was really beautiful. Talked to the attendant about the monitor lizards and if theyre mean or not. He demonstrated with arms extended the closest i should get without fear of getting bit (he did a biting motion.. it was funny haha). I got some great footage of one!! The strap on one of my my new sandals already broke T_T so i need slides more than ever now. But getting them in Chiang Mai shouldnt be too much of a problem i hope.. on the bus i sat next two three redhead triplets from the UK. They said , i dont know why, but we have been very popular with the thai people and i said uhhh maybe bc youre redhead triplets?? Thats pretty wild lol. Theyre names were Eden, Blaze and Cam. And they were very friendly!

Chatuchak market & bus fiasco

James' friend Paul lives about an hour away (still in Bangkok) but he ended up staying the night at the hostel last night. When I came downstairs Paul and James asked me what my plan was for today and i said "i dunno , my bus is later at 7, until then didnt have a plan" and James said, "Paul would you wanna take her to chatuchak market?" James explained that he had to do admin work for the hostel until 3. He seemed a little bummed lol. Of course I happily agreed to go to the market with Paul and it exceeded my expectations definitely. After a 45 minute train ride, we got off a chatuchak park and walked around a bit. We decided to stop for food before going into the market to get our energy up. Paul and I shared a pork fried rice, which was really good. They gave us a chili fish sauce to have on it which was really salty and savory. Paul said he had never seen a farang (foreigner) eat fish sauce and that made me sad a little.. Its literally in every pad thai, stir fry, soup and etc. I would say it is as foundational to cooking here as butter or olive oil in the states. (Obv the ingredients serve different purposes but you get my drift) Just because the fish sauce was served on the side instead of stir fried in I see no difference. It was tasty. We crossed a street and walked into the market, which was bigger than you could ever concieve.. Look it up if you want to get some idea of the scale. There's storefront after storefront, some are airconditioned, others are more in the sun and open air. There was even a fancy art gallery section.. We walked around awhile, i picked up some things i needed (shoes, coinpurse, long skirt) and then we decided to go to a mall on the adjacent street. It was all consignment, and it was interesting to see what kind of vintage thai people like. We noticed that there was a door to some sort of balcony (we were about 3 stories up) and went outside to see food vendors and an awesome view. Paul was soo stoked he was like, "i never knew this was here!" I wasnt very hungry but paul got a quesadilla and I tried a bite out of curiosity. I would say tortillas are one of the only breads i see thai people here eating. It was some kind of shreaded beef and cheese, with sriracha on top. It was not spiced at all which i was really surprised since people here looove their spicy food. Ill be keeping my eye out for more though, Im definitely curious about mexican thai fusion food. I was looking for something with Tom and Jerry to get for James to express my gratitude for all his help, but there was only a couple shirts and they were too big or too small. After we got to the train platform, Paul and I split ways. He said his place was only two stops away so I came back to the hostel. I didn't have a ton of time, so i ran to 7-eleven and got a few snacks for my 10 hour bus journey. James and I took his scooter to get a dinner before I left. We went to the nearby university campus Chulalongkorn and there was an open air market with food vendors and clothes. He got some kind of spicy soup and i got a fried potato on a skewer. He also picked up about half a dozen of some kind of cream filled pastry treat and gave them to me. Some were filled with pandan cream. He offered to give me a ride to the bus stop which I accepted, since the train wouldve taken like an hour or more as opposed to 15 minutes. Got there and said goodbye. Got to the bus. Got on the bus. Got into my cozy bus set up. Thought, "maybe I should see what area the bus terminal is in Chiang Mai.." Entered the address on my booking into google maps..... AND THE BUS WAS GONNA TAKE ME TO A TOTAL DIFFERENT CITY!!! Omg!! Running! Grabbing all my stuff! Stuffinng it in my bag!! Walk down to the first level of the bus , the bus starts moving!!! Im talking to the attendant, like sorry, please let me off, I dont speak thai but she doesnt speak english, but i get my point across and get off. I went back inside to the ticket office to see if there are any busses left for Chiang Mai, and learn, northbound busses dont even depart here, or even near here. Omg. I was talking to two thai gentlemen who were trying to explain things to me. They were using the google talk to translate app which was kinda sick. I dont know why they were trying so hard to be helpful but it was nice.. I tried asking them if i could take transit to the other bus station and the conversation kinda went nowhere. They tried to help me a lot, they offered to call me a cab but i said i got it.. and then I took a scooter ride back to the hostel and said, "you cant get rid of me that easy!" LOL. while it was a little jarring, experiences like that help me remember that Im capable of handling a lot.. If I can handle that situation in a foreign country where I dont speak the language, it gives me confidence that I can handle a lot more adversity in my home country than i give myself credit for.. It all turned out fine in the end.

Haircut

i decided i wanted to get a haircut today. I piddled around a bit at an outdoor market and got some pad thai. I used a squat toilet for the first time (look it up) and once i got back i just laid around quite awhile. The haircut was fast and cheap. I believe it was 400 baht and i tipped 50. Thats like 12$ for a wash, cut and blowout. It was nice to just feel a little pampered. I havent got a thai massage yet but its defin on my bucket list. After i got back to the hostel I just laid around for quite awhile.. honestly I had a tummy ache pretty much all day :/ not severely.. just enough to drain my energy and make me feel a little nauseous. Getting food poisoning is pretty common here, so im glad i didnt pick up anything more serious. It was family style dinner night at the hostel so i was super sad that I was not feeling well. But! The food was amazing. I can tell a lot of love was put into it. James' friend Paul actually came to help make it! They served tom yum soup, green curry and sauteed veggies. I slowly sipped the broth for the tom yum and it brought back my appetite a little. The curry was definitely my favorite, they used green eggplants which i never had before but liked it a lotttt. There were three thai speaking people at the dinner table and they told me that my name, Leila, in thai is basically a word they use to call someone a stick in the mud or lazy haha. The night before when we went to the rooftop bar and drag show I mentioned to James i wanted to go to Khaoson Rd (super famous) and I didnt wanna back out today just cuz i had a little tummy ache. We actually managed to get a little team of Me , Paul, James, and this american girl Isa to go out , & we started our night at the same rooftop bar as before and chatted for a bit and then Paul and Isa split off. I took a taxi with James to Khao san and it wasnt really my cup of tea but at least I can say I went. It was soooo crowded.

Drag show

Today I woke up super early and couldnt fall back asleep. The morning air was so nice and not super hot so i went for a stroll to the indian temple and after came across a bustling market. It was the perfect temperature and the perfect amount crowded.. I bought some oranges and a small cake wrapped in leaves and some kind of meat i think ?. It was a really nice experience i really enjoyed and it was very near the hostel! After that i was feeling really tired so i went back and took a break for a bit. Since i got up so early , it was still before noon when i went out again. I walked to a matcha place and hung out for awhile. My plan was to go to Wat Saket but i knew before i left that it was like an hour walk away and no great bus or train route there. I did it on purpose because i knew i needed to conquer my fear of getting a grab which is basically like uber but they have scooter rides as well which are the best, cheapest way to get around. I walked for soo long until i totally exhausted myself and couldnt take another step before ordering one. I was so nervous!! But it was really not that bad.. I asked before i got on if it was ok if i held onto them during the ride and they said yea. Thai ladys are real pros at taking scooter rides, they sit sideways if they are wearing a skirt.. holding on just to the back of the seat with one hand. When i saw that my mind was blown lol. ive ridden on the back of motorcycles before so I understand how to lean with the driver when they are making turns.. whenever we were weaving through traffic and it felt a little too close, i just closed my eyes problem solved. We were there before i knew it. I left a big tip with a note thanking them for my first ride :) The temple was huuuge and really serene with lots of garden elements surrounding it. I didnt go up to the top of the mountain for the main temple because i happened to be wearing shorts (NOT super short, i saw men with shorter shorts lol) but saw a sign that said no shoulders or shorts above the knee. I didnt learn til later that at the admission office they will give you a fabric to cover up with free of charge. Stupid stupid me hahaha. I walked around the area for quite a ways looking for a shop I could buy pants or skirt in because i refused to buy the elephant print classis tourist pants they were selling at the gift shop there. I was unsuccessful and so tired so i made my way back to the temple and called it quits, to another grab to the train station and then took the train to the nearest stop to my hostel and crashed. Some hostel people made plans to go to a bar in front of me without inviting me and it got me kinda bummed out so i moped around for a bit. I got soo hungry eventually and i was gonna just have my old soggy french fries but James the hostel worker made me fried rice, it almost made me cry !! So kind!! Chit chatted for a bit then i said .. i want to go to a bar.. where can i go etc.. i ended up going with James to a rooftop bar called Heaven and had a few >beers< over ice. He told me he went through a breakup with a german girl a few months ago and teared up a bit. I learned he is a cancer which tracks. He said he thinks its bad the messages the patriarchy sends to men about how they should never cry and so he shows his emotions. Maybe thats how we got on the topic of trans people? Societal expectations of each gender? But i told him i love gay and trans people and have lots of them as friends and he suggested we go to a drag show which i happily agreed! And the show was really fun!! With a hyper crowd in a tiny venue. I had a lot of fun, then it was time to go home and get to bed... Did you know that while gay marriage is still not legal in thailand, transgenderism is very common and accepted? Even in rural areas and not just in cities. Based upon how ive seen US commenters refer to "ladyboy" i thought it was almost a slur. Not the case here! "Ladyboys" are what we would call a mtf transgender person in the states and tomboys are the ftm equivalent. Most transgender people in thailand do not seek bottom reassignment surgery, and the roles are somewhat more straightforward than they can be in the US, from what i gathered tomboys are tops and ladyboys are bottoms. Gender replacement hormones are also actively available over the counter at the pharmacies here. Here is more info on gender identities in Thailand.

MBK

I decided to walk over to the hostel that Christina told me about after getting a ham and cheese croissant from the 7/11 .The person who was working, David, was really nice and talked to me for awhile. I didnt realize until after our conversation how much I needed that. He gave me a recommendation for a cafe near an indian temple but i decided to go to MBK , a big mall with cheap stuff for haggling because i needed a purse to hold all my stuff. I ended up taking the skytrain there. I spent a long time in the mall, it was amazing and filled with lots of cool stuff and huge. I found a bag I wanted right away and tried haggling the price down from $18 to $5 and the shopkeeper got really mad heheh. I wasnt trying to be rude or anything, I said i might come back and she said dont come back!!! But i did end up coming back because after wandering the mall for forever.. I really did want the bag. We settled on 350 baht which is basically $10. I got a matcha soft serve after with a falafel wrap with some fries. The wrap was really mediocre, before you ask whyyy in the world i would try to order falafel in thailand, it was the bread okay. I really wanted a bread meal instead of a rice meal. the fries were good (havent had bad french fries ever on this trip yet) and the matcha soft serve boba latte was delicious. The boba was really soft. Since I left my luggage at the last hostel, taking the skytrain back didnt really make sense. I contemplated taking a grab (scooter taxi) but i was carrying my french fries and ice cream and it just made me too nervous. I ended up walking back , which was not a far walk, like 25 minutes. I brought my bags to the next hostel "el biografo" on foot and chatted some with James, a thai guy who works there. I was pretty sweaty and exhausted so i just kinda relaxed for a bit (it was the hottest part of the day). A little later I came down to try to be a little productive and James invited me to grab some thai food with him. We talked about thai culture and it was really nice. He told me there is a major south chinese influence on thailand from way back and a lot of the food is similar. I got pad see ew moo (moo=pork) for dinner and he told me the see ew is actually from the chinese word for soy sauce. My noodles were delicious and soft. My first time eating in a thai restaurant!

FIRST DAY IN BANGKOK

Today was my first full day in Bangkok. I had a matcha at the hostel and sat around for awhile in a daze. I walked around a little to explore the area. I happened into a library looking for air conditioning and a Canadian named Christina was there and recommended I go to El Biografe hostel and to tell David I sent her. I thanked her for the tip. In the later afternoon i went to a rooftop green park on top of a nearby mall. I went to chinatown in the evening and looked at all the crazy food they were selling there. I learned since that this is the biggest chinatown in the world! I took the MRT subway train to get there, which was exciting! Some kind person had shown me the button to change the kiosk machine to english.

INCHEON AIRPORT

after a grueling 12 ( or more? Lost a day due to time zones ) hour flight, i landed in seoul's incheon airport intact. I wanted to mention that the food they served on that flight was super good, for dinner it was bibimbap with a kombu soup and some pickled radishes and the meal they served in the morning was some kind of curry chicken rice served with a bread roll. I spent most of my day (11hr layover) napping in the airport, i only just now got on my outbound flight to bangkok. I did try some korean burger king, which was interesting , and i got to do some activities at a cultural learning activity thing. It was pretty cute, i learned a little about how the korean alphabet works and the attendants dressed me up in a hanbok and took pictures. One of them was thai and i got to talking to her about how im visiting thailand. Her name was Charmy and she told me about the town she's from and gave me her WhatsApp to reach out to her if i have any questions. She said she likes living in korea for the weather, quality of life and stable economy but she likes thai people better. By the way, on my previous flight there was someone behind me also catching the same flight to bangkok. He tried his best to answer some of my questions about entering korea for a day tour. well; i didn't make it to the tour, i was just so exhausted after that flight and I didnt figure out the meeting place until it was booked up anyway. But i ran into him again in the quiet nap zone (incheon is a super nice airport for a long layover) and we had a short chat. He told me hes Russian but has been living in the USA for the past 13 years and that his name was Paov. He asked if i wanted to get a drink but i said no since i had a pretty bad headache (hopefully not getting sick!) and he gave me a granola bar and said in his culture thats a gesture of good will. I accepted happily. I decided not to try to stay in the airport so once i land i will have to navigate getting a taxi to get to the hostel i booked. Very excited to get out of the airport thing and wake up in a new place!! i will write more soon.

OUTBOUND FLIGHT TO SEOUL

HERE I GO!! im so excited! I was so frazzled getting to and thru the airport but now im waiting in the boarding line! I wonder if theyll serve us yummy food on this korean airline? I forgot my covid vaccination card in the rush , i think i will be fine with a picture of it. Or not need it at all. Well, still have a long way to go, but closer than ever!

SF BOUND

Raven is driving me to the bay. I was hoping that a new debit card i had applied for would come in the mail before i left but since its veterans day, i think it was delayed. We got ralibertos breakfast burritos and apples from the farmers market for breakfast. I learned about some new kinds of apples from apple day! I got one that i liked during apple scoring, but it wasnt as good as i remember..

final countdown

I'm so excited and nervous for my trip to southeast asia! Raven is playing SA2 while i work on my neocities. We tried getting this app called locket the other day, it is supposed to allow you to send pictures to your friend's homescreen, but we couldn't get it to work grr! I'm going to be leaving soo soon aaa! I am frightened a bit to be honest, I feel unprepared but also like theres not much more i can do..

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