Thaibodia

All pictures can be found here: https://picasaweb.google.com/nyxnightingale/Thaibodia#

Okay. I have no idea how I am going to segment blog posts of this trip. My plan, essentially, is to write as long as I can until I pass out. This has been a trip of a lifetime and I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to enjoy it.

Friday-Sunday Feb 18/19/20: Bangkok and Full Moon Party

I arrived in Bangkok just before midnight and took a tram to Khao San road, the main tourist/backpacker hotspot in Bangkok. I stayed at the closest place I could find to my bus ride in the morning, Four Brothers Inn (the dodgy end), right next to the Lomprayah meeting place. I woke up at 5:00 and boarded the bus for the 10 hour trip to Koh Phangnan for the Full Moon Party. I quickly realized that there are almost no American tourists in Thailand. And I also realize I've lost my camera. And I can't find my friends because my cell phone doesn't work. But, hey, Koh Phangnan is beeeeeautiful! And these Swiss and French people are nice! I got some French fries and internet in an Israeli restaurant and eventually found Ben. The Full Moon Party was what was expected: A gargantuan, pumping, booze-fueled dance on a tropical beach in Thailand. Need we say more? I slept in a chair in an open terrace restaurant, and we left Koh Phangnan for Bangkok at about 11:00 the next morning. This one was longer. About 16 hours on a bus. Definitely go with Lomprayah if you can. It's worth the extra 300 baht.

Monday Feb 21: Temples, Zoo Without Animals, and Ladyboys

This was a day of sightseeing in Bangkok! I learned the dangers of riding in a tuk tuk from falling out of one and we visited the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, The Royal Palace, and The Dusit Zoo (possibly the most terrible zoo I have ever been to in my life.) BUT! That night we had a night on the town, made our way to Na Na and saw things that can never be unseen.


Tuesday Feb 22: The Way to Cambodia


This was the trip's lowpoint. The plan of meeting at 7:15 didn't work, and I couldn't contact my friends without a cell phone. I went by their hostel and their names weren't on the roster. I tried using Skype to call and text, still to no avail. Ben showed at about 11:00 and I was pissed. But we made it to Cambodia and met a nice Japanese couple to share a taxi with! And the Rosy Guesthouse in Siem Reap was hands down the best place I stayed on this trip.

February 23: Angkor F*cking Wat!

This was one of the most amazing sights I have had the privilege of seeing in my lifetime. I was literally speechless for most of the journey through the temples, and despite crawling with tourists, I feel very lucky to have seen them.

February 24: Museums and Rum
Today was mainly a transit day. I did have the chance to see the Angkor Museum in Siem Reap, which was amazing even for the somewhat steep fee of $12USD. It was remarkably informative but I didn't really need the audio tour I bought. We left The Rosy Guest House and took a taxi to Poi Pet. Ben went to a Casino and I went back to Bangkok.

Friday: Urban Biking and Big Ol' Malls

We took the Grasshopper Bike Tour of Bangkok and visited MBK and other giant malls in Siam Square.

February 26: The Best Adventure in Thailand

Flight of the Gibbon (www.treetopasia.com) is a zipline tour in the forests just outside of Bangkok. IF YOU GO TO THAILAND YOU MUST DO THIS.

February 27: Char's Day

This was an amazing day. I did everything I wanted to do. I started by visiting the Damnoensaduak floating market. Very very cool. My lunch was vegetarian lasagna at Ethos at Khao San. I then moved onto the Erawan shrine in the center of the city to see traditional Thai dancers. While soaking up the incense and chanting, I met a cool Czech man who kindly took me to the GARGANTUAN Chatuchack Weekend Market at the edge of Bangkok. The day was ended with a $6 Thai massage and a giant fresh baked baguette sandwich. It was a wonderful day. And a wonderful trip. Amen.

Trip to the DMZ

Most foreigners don't know much about Korea. Tourism isn't a big for this little country. But, one of the most unique things about Korea is that it is the only country in the world currently split in two, with one side officially at war with the other.

South Korea invites us to explore this unique aspect by offering several tours of the DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) near the border of the two countries.

The tour consisted of:
The Third Tunnel
-A (now blocked, thankfully) tunnel dug from the North Korean side in the 1970s, designed to infiltrate Seoul. There are supposedly dozens of tunnels still undiscovered!

Dora Observatory
-Where you can sneak a peek at North Korea.
Dorasan Train Station
-One ticket to Pyeongyang, please! ..Or that's the hope after unification anyway!

Imjingak
-As close as you can get to North Korea without special permissions. It is also a popular destination for dating Korean couples, complete with a theme park!


Anyway, at first this seemed to me an absolutely bizarre tourist attraction. Not many tours boast a tunnel dug for infiltration. But I feel privileged to have been able to visit the DMZ at this strange point in Korean history. A~saaaaa!

January 2011: A retrospective.

This entry is a sneaky, sneaky cheater! It's not recounting my most recent Korean memories but rather, backtracking what was sometimes described as "abysmal" month of January.

I've somewhat habitually stated how much I have hated the cold. And the snow just exacerbates the cold. And once warmed, it melts into a freezing watery mess that trails through your apartment hallways, leaving them muddy and slippery for an unsuspecting Floridian to fall on her hindquarters. Ahem.


This doozy was taken during a snow "sprinkle" in Cheonan after I finished apartment hunting on the 22nd. I was tricked into walking in the snow, and to say I was livid might be an understatement. If this had been an old-fashioned camera, I might have melted the film with this glare. But seeing as it was a digital camera.. I think I just messed with the battery life a little bit.


Anyway. Looking back, January wasn't all that bad of a month! She had her shining moments, always in the company of wonderful friends, dotted with rays of sunshine like Skypes with Mom and Sissy and Andrew. Alas, here are the adventursome highlights;

A Monday meetup with Japan's very own, Christybomb at the Hello Kitty Cafe in Seoul!


Lunch with my amazingly amazing Julie teacher on Thursday the thirteenth. How I will miss her help, and I hope she knows how much I treasured her in the classroom.


A 15th shopping trip and dinner in Myeongdong with two of my favorite Jochiwonians, Rebecca and Ruth! Sang doesn't count. He's a Seoul-villian.


Followed by an amazing bellydance party that very same night hosted by Belynda Azhaar! Me and Miss Ange!


A Wednesday outing to the US Air Base of Songtan with Suwonfolk Luke!


Viewing of the amazing stage production of Hero: The Musical about Korean hero, Ahn Jung-geun.


An ice-skating trip to Daejeon [again] with the crazy Jochiwon girls..


A visit to Gongju and Gongju fortress with miss Kaylakay.


And finally an adventure with Ben and company that started with Canadian beer and with him winning big at a casino.


In retrospect, January 2011, despite all its gloom, was a great month! Cheers to you Old Man Winter!

Happy Seolnal!

January was a very uneventful month in the land of kimchi and kimbap-- the snow and bitter cold kept many people indoors and away from adventure, and a brimming Winter Camp schedule kept me very busy!



However, February has begun with a bang! Korea celebrates a huge feast holiday for the Korean New Year called 설날 or "Seolnal" (Hyperlinked for those curious!) Korean people travel home to their families for a large dinner and festivities, and they eat 떡국 "dduk guk", a simple rice cake soup which is one of my favorite Korean foods! Three days-- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-- are national holidays for the Lunar New Year, which is wonderful for Koreans and their families. For us expatriates, it means everything is closed and despite having vacation, there is very little to do! Many people also leave the country during this season!

However, we found things to do! Wednesday night was spent in Seoul with my amazing friends Stephanie and Emily. After wandering and subsequently discovering that Gr8 Hookah was closed (T_T) we visited the wonderful Club FF in Hongdae, which offers a cool atmosphere and indie music! But even better was what we did the next day!


Thank you, Corrie for that picture! ^_^

Everland; Korea's largest theme park! Love, love, love! The theme park admission was 50% off for foreigners during the New Year and is sooo much better than Lotteworld I cannot express. Each season has a theme, currently it was (of course) Snow Festival! There were decent roller coasters and scary rides, along with some adorable theme rides, and it was kept impeccably clean. But best of all; there were no lines because of Lunar New Year. Heck. Yes!

To say I was pooped by the end of that day would be an understatement. So the rest of my week was spent low-key. Making pancakes. Watching episodes of Community online. Playing Zelda. Reading the Hobbit. And I went to see Shanghai in theaters (John Cusack starring generally = a pretty ho-hum movie nowadays). I'm happy with this week; but I'm not-so-secretly looking forward to going back to work! I love seeing my students! ^_^

I am planning a trip to Thailand and Cambodia at the end of the month, the 18th~28th, as well as readying myself for Andrew's visit in March! Let the good times roll!