Thailand with my Mom

I'm definitely an adult now

Completely over eager I got up early this morning and rushed to the bus station. I had some stuff to buy before heading overseas but I didn't have to do it at 10am. Now i'm on my way to the airport about 5 hours early. Yeah a bit over eager. But I'm definitely excited to see my mother for the first time in 4 months. 

Bangkok

What an experience. The Thai people are so much different than the Koreans. As I am really intrigued by culture and their differences being here in Thailand has been quite another learning curve. I arrived quite some time after my mother and had to find my way to my friend's house on my own. Having no internet to search for the address on my phone and not being able to speak the language I was left completely stranded and in the care of a stranger, my taxi driver. I had the address but I don't think my driver could read... After about an hour of driving through the streets almost getting a heart attack because of the "reckless driving" of the Thai people I arrived at my friends house. Here in Thailand you learn very quickly that road rules are simply a guideline on how to drive which makes jaywalking a big NO NO!!! And I really wanted to hire a little scooter to drive around whilst I'm here to get the full Thai experience but it soon became very clear that it was safer not to even get on one that's a taxi. Not in bangkok at least. 

We did so much shopping. To the point where I started feeling guilty for giving out so much money. But in all honesty everything here is so cheap and the fact that you can bargain makes it even more compelling. The amount of fakes that you find here is also quite astonishing. They even sell fake Apple products (ipad mini 64GB- R3500) for next to nothing considering it's an Apple product. I wish it was real stuff and not fake but I would much rather buy an original product. Clothing here is also super cheap. I also found it quite awesome that a guy can get a suit made from scratch according to his liking in less than a day. This also counts for evening dresses and even wedding dresses. There is also to many markets to go to that you should definitely choose before the time. And just to make this clear no market or stall sells the same stuff, they are all different.  

#Tip: If you bargain you firstly decide what you want to pay for something and then you choose your starting price. Say something costs 350 Baht and you want to pay 300 Baht then you start bargaining at 250 Baht and you will very likely get the price you eventually ask for.

My mom had to show me this Ping pong show that's apparently quite unique to Thailand. Let's just say my biological knowledge reached new depths. It was interesting but a one time thing. You can google it if you want to know more...

We wanted to go to the floating market where everyone sells their stuff on their boats or on the side of the canals but apparently there is no market on a Monday since everyone works on a sunday. But we went through the canals on a little boat anyway and I was quite pleased to see how these people live and how their houses look and how it's built. It was completely different than what you would see in the big city. And it really had a very unique feel to it and it was artistically beautiful with it's rotten planks, pollution and ever greens. We fed about a 1000 hungry fish as well and got splashed a lot as they fought over a slice of bread. Afterwards we jumped into a taxi and said "please take us to the closest mall". We eventually ended up at one but if you ask us where the mall was and where we were we won't be able to tell you. We are definitely two lost, blonde females without a map with no planning involved at all and it's actually nice that way. We still managed to find our way home miraculously. We also managed to get a very nice, english speaking, personal taxi driver who gave us his number to call if we needed a taxi to go anywhere. What blonds can't get right huh?

Buddhism is the main religion here in Thailand and as part of their religion they believe that they should provide housing for the ghosts of the people who died on the ground that the new owners own. So almost on every corner in Thailand you will see a little buddhism statue in a small little temple. They also believe that they should provide energy to the ghosts and they do so by offering a little bottle of red fanta and it must have a straw in for the ghosts to drink from. It's quite amazing how much superstitions the asian countries have as part of their religion. 

After staying in Bangkok one day longer than originally planned since we had to change our flight dates and couldn't get a flight to Phuket sooner than Tuesday I think it really planned out quite well.

Thanks Fc and Niecie for opening your house to us and making us feel very much at home. We had a blast with you. You and your cat kids will be missed. 

Phuket

Firstly, I would just like to tell any future travelers traveling from Bangkok to Phuket via Don Mueang take into consideration that it's absolutely chaotic. There is no lines whatsoever and the building cannot handle the amount of feet in the place. It was a miracle that we made it in time for our flight needless to say we were at the airport a good 2h30 early.

Our first day in Patong was quite an experience. We got to the hotel (Phunara Residence), booked in, packed out and headed to the beach. It's hot and humid and the ocean water is crystal clear and lukewarm. The scenery here is beautiful. In patong you have a semi-circle surrounded with mountains on the outskirts and beaches in the middle. There is also a lot of restaurants on the beach so sitting with your feet in the sand and having a nice cooling cocktail in the hand staring at the beauty of the open seas in front of you is quite something I would like to call paradise.

We also booked ourselves tickets for the Simon Cabaret (ladyboy concert), Fantasea (almost like a circus show) and elephant trekking. The adventures of Thailand starts here. These activities are world famous and you cannot see the same thing anywhere else in the world.

The Simon's Cabaret show was interesting. Something completely different from what I have seen before and they wore the most beautiful dresses with all these feathers everywhere. It was spectacular. The amount of plastic and what plastic can do was remarkable. Me and Mom enjoyed nice cocktails during the show and before the time.

The elephant trekking was really special. Although I don't agree with how these animals are being used to generate an income I must say their conditions were quite well looked after and they have a very special bond with each of their riders. I got to feed a baby elephant banana's and got to rub it. Being an animal lover this was definitely very memorable. After the little baby show we went on a ride on the elephant. We were just out of eyesight from the rest of the riders when the guide got off and told me I can ride the elephant. Besides that I can semi sort of ride a horse I can now ride an elephant too. This was really special. He also said that we shouldn't say anything to anyone since he might get into trouble.

We went to see the Fantasea extravaganza and this show is definitely a must see. The animal cruelty that does take place in show I didn't like at all but majority of the show consists of Indian and Thai dancers which made it quite beautiful and interesting. They had a elephant show, a tiger running the stage, acrobats, fairytale characters and more. And the laser technology used was also spectacular.

We didn't do much yesterday. We did however manage to do a lot of shopping and that after saying we are just going to look around what they have other than what we have seen before. Everyone back at home will get something after yesterday's shopping. It's ridiculously cheap to buy here especially clothing which is also one reason why we had to buy an extra suitcase. And shoes as well. Thailand is a girl's best friend I tell you. Later the evening we went to the beach for a nice foot massage and some tanning. The weather is gorgeous here and being on the beach having your feet massaged on the beach is what I call Life or should I say heaven. We came across a very unfamiliar phenomenon. The phenomenon where you cannot drink a sundowner cocktail on a weeknight because it's a special day for Buddha. No restaurant sold alcohol before midnight in the whole of Thailand. We thought that maybe a franchise like Hard Rock Cafe would sell cocktails but we were quite wrong about that one. I saw various people who just couldn't understand why they cannot order a beer at a restaurant. So my Mom and I decides to go walk through town for the rest of the night in search of the party street called Bangla road. Eventually we found it and also found out that there was no party at all nor will there be a party on the friday night because they won't make money without selling alcohol. Tired with sore feet we decided to head home when we came across a very nice restaurant who had a live band and sold alcohol as well. So in the end we did get to drink a "sundowner".

One thing we keep realizing everyday is that we hardly eat anything during the day and we don't get hungry. We eat because we should probably eat something. Most of the time we drink A LOT of water that's pretty much it. But I can say that the food that we have eaten so far has been of top quality. I think the humidity might play a role in this.

Today we went to the beach again but this time we skipped all the stalls and little shops we loved running into the past week. We slept in a little and only saw daylight around noon and that in itself was really nice. I'm feeling revitalised already. We went for a stroll on the beach after tanning and swimming and thereafter we treated ourselves to a Thai massage. The woman basically cracked my back by standing on my back and lifting my legs. And then she twisted my body and pulled me over her lap like a little child getting a spank. Weird but really nice. So on the main beach where we have been chilling half the day by everyday, under an umbrella on a little mattress, there are Jetski's you can hire as well as parachuting. And man are these people busy. Every 1,5 minutes a parachute goes up and 1 comes back and it goes on and on and on and on all day long. I never parachuted before and knowing that my mom sticked me for a ride over the ocean at an extreme height. I didn't even have time to get myself mentally ready. From the minute I collected the money from my mom to the point where I have my harness on and had to run for dear life to fly was about a blink of an eye. The guy spotted me walking with money in my hand towards the parachute when he and his men ambushed me and got me into a harness and life jacket. I'm glad I did this here. Whilst being up there in the sky I couldn't think of anything else but how beautiful it was. I had a spectacular view. Now it's back to the hotel and packing for the next adventure. Phi Phi Islands... But first going to the beach to see what a blue moon looks like.

Phi Phi Island

This place is paradise. It's a natural beauty that's definitely a sight I could look at of a very long time. With it's crystal clear waters and the forest-like mountains and beautiful beaches it's a place where you could chill and just become one with nature. We were only on the island for 2 days but that two days was long enough to make me fall in love with the surroundings. The people here is so friendly and helpful even though there is a language barrier most of the time. The amount of foreigners on the this island was also no surprise to me. We arrived on a ferry the Saturday afternoon (01/08) and walked what felt to us at the time quite far to our hotel (Papaya Phi Phi Resort) where we booked in for the two days. The hotel is on the mountain and you have to walk about 132 stairs before reaching our room. There is no cars, no roads, only walkways everywhere. The island is relatively small, 15 min walk to cross the island from one end to the other. The rest of the afternoon we walked around the island getting to know the little streets and we did a little bit of shopping. We don't have any space left to buy and the airline back to Bangkok only allows us 15kg of baggage which is definitely not a lot. We went out the evening, had some dinner with Mont Claire white and red wine (South African wine) which was quite awesome. We went walking around town again which was much nicer since it wasn't that hot. It really gets hot here. One thing we were also quite surprised about was the amount of tattoo parlors on this small little town. In one street there was like 4 parlors. It's a little ridiculous according to me. On our way home we got stopped by a foreigner who works in one of the clubs offering us free shots. We never got the shots but we did however end up buying some cocktail bucket mix and played some beer pong. I was offered to help out some guys who really sucked at beer pong and also ended up spending the night with them. Then I played another game. Me and my mom was in a team against another foreign couple. We won the game. And I think it's really awesome that my mom was open to the idea of going to the clubs and playing. Very cool mom. She ended up going home a little while after the game and I stayed behind joining a group of people for a super awesome beach party. There is definitely something different about dancing with sand on your feet under the stars in the sky with the sea to cool you off and awesome loud music. Fantastic friends made and fantastic memories.

The Sunday we went snorkeling around Krabi Island which wasn't that far from Phi Phi island. The beauty hidden underneath the waters of this place was mesmerizing. I however had a rough start to my day. I think the wine I drank was off or something but my body didn't do very well with the motion of ocean. But once I was in the water I felt a little better. It did however affect my experience a little since I slept most of the time on the boat whilst changing destinations around the island. We went home afterwards and took a Really long nap. It's so hot here during the day that you rather choose to live life during the night anyway. The evening we went to a Restaurant called The Rock and I had a really nice Thai dish for dinner. We also met a Dutch family and had a nice conversation with them. After dinner we went for a walk around the town again and came across the all the clubs on the beach. This was quite cool. There were fire dancers everywhere jamming to the beat of the music creating quite an hippy island vibe. It's such a nice feel. We went home after a little while of watching all these people just enjoying life.

One thing I can say about this island is that there is quite a lot of cuteness walking around. The island have so many cats walking around and there is probably a sweet little litter of kittens playing with each other around every corner. They made it hard not o pick one up and take them home. I love animals way too much. I also got to hold a very cute little White Handed Gibbons. Although I really don't like seeing these types of thing where you get to be with an animal but need to pay for a photo since it's animal cruelty. They use the money to feed the animals and take care of their surroundings but this in itself is very unnatural for the animals. I just can't resist on touching cuteness when I see it.

Our last day it started raining so hard and our room has a tin roof so you could imagine what that sounded like. It woke us up during the night. And we actually had a discussion to go to the beach the following day for a last tan and stare into the neverending beauty of the island. But that didn't work so well instead we slept late and got breakfast in bed in our hotel room and stared at the view of the mountain tops from the comfort of our bed.

We got on the ferry later that day and headed back to the mainland. The water was quite scary since it was extremely ruff. But it was all good. With a lot of video editing to do it past by quickly. When we arrived in Phuket we slept in the same hotel as the previous week. We went on one last shopping spree, one last walk next to the beach and one last massage. We did go all out!

This was definitely a holiday I will never forget. I have learned things about my mother I never knew before and I developed even more respect for her. She is just an all round amazing person.

Next up was South Korea...