Bangkok visa run days

Bangkok visa run days 

So being in a city never really does it for me these days...so I wasn't overly excited for my time in Bangkok. It's a city I tend to go to for visa runs, and then have to hang around for a few days at a time killing time. This time I was applying and waiting for a 60 day Indonesia visa for Lembeh :) I had planned to try to make it different this time, go sight seeing, see the Grand Palace, go the massage school, really explore it like I did years ago and play tourist. However the reality was that by the time I got to Bangkok I was exhausted of playing tourist. Perhaps even of walking around with a backpack. Constantly moving had taken it's toll and I was just excited to get to Lembeh and start unpacking my backpack in my bedroom, making a home and settling into a routine of teaching yoga :) I also had such a big to do list for the practicalities of being about to go and spend 2 months on a tiny island with no entry or departure except via boat.

I did surprise myself though by feeling a little sad to say goodbye by the time I left. I had stayed in a hostel in Victory Monument which by the time I left felt like home. It was so welcoming and so far removed from tourist spots it was a pleasure to be in the thick of local life.  The lady who runs it is amazing, every day asking what you will do and helping you with the most authentic ways to do things. She loved that I took the local buses everywhere and ate the street food and hung out in the communal area instead of the room.... I made acquaintances with a Thai woman who cooked street food each evening for me! She would tell her locals "no no Farang" and point at me, making them wait to be served! I never had any idea what treat she was cooking me, she would just smile and hand me a paper parcel :) I had intended to stay in a dorm room to save back some money that I had spent in Cambodia and Vietnam.  But I woke up at 3am each night by girls who had been out partying and lived their lives by throwing the contents of their bags across the whole floor. I quickly decided that this was not the time for me to be sharing my personal space, so I moved into a private room in the hostel and instantly felt happier :)

I spent a lot of time in Bangkok organizing my life. I saw the dentist, I got a hair cut with a crazy cool scottish man in a room above a travel agency, I bought a new backpack (couldn't escape the idea of bed bugs maybe following me, and it stank after Thailand and the Lahu Village bonfire experience), caught up on my journal, wrote postcards, bought stuff to help me through 2 months on a small island with no shops, drank a lot of coffee and watched the world go by for hours at a time and just generally chilled out and caught my breath. Sometimes when you are back packing you are literally always on the move, and although it is an exciting kind of exhausted, it can be super tiring always thinking about where you are going next, hostels, flight, bus or train details etc...

I did a lot of handstands, including asking a random danish family to take a photo of me outside Madam Tussauds! The daughter was so inspired by my 365 day handstand challenge that she jumped up onto her hands as well to support me - awesome :)

The most exciting part of my Bangkok adventure was realizing that my good friend Liz and her husband Brendan were going to also be in Bangkok and for once we weren't at opposite sides of the universe, having missed each other normally by anywhere between 2 hours and 24 hours!! We met up and spent an afternoon bikini shopping, having pedicures, swapping stories and catching up on the last 5 years since I had seen her!! Such a great afternoon together :) Can't wait to try and see more of her in Asia before I leave. Khao Lak just got added to my must visit when in Thailand next list. Awesome :)

So glad I decided to stay in a local area, it made for such a more interesting trip and made Bangkok feel like another new city rather than just a boring visa run... I met some really nice people in the hostel all filled with positive energy for their travels, which I needed as I had started to lose wind and motivation for always moving.  It's back again now :)

I am two planes, a car ride and a boat ride away from being underwater again in Indonesia!! Yoga, diving, and chill time with old and new friends in Lembeh :) I can't wait to see that beautiful island again and enjoy the stillness it brings to me every time.

Good times!

I LOVE PAI :)

I LOVE PAI :) 

Literally I could just leave it at that. It is the truth. I really do love that place :) Amazingly chilled backpacker town, where I could have stayed much, much longer than the 72 hours I had available to spend. I will be back, it's not a promise. Just a simple fact :) 

After surviving the 762 hairpin bends that you pass through on the road between Chiang Mai and Pai, I fell in love with this little town big time. Beautiful, crazy sense of calm hits you the moment you leave the bus and start walking down the street to your hotel. Just amazing how it happened. Love at first sight :)

I think it's fantastic that so many of my friends know me so, so well that they knew before I did just how much I would love Pai. Even people who had only met me briefly on this adventure called backpacking emailed me to tell me "Caro you will love Pai, you have to go to Pai". You all know who you are, so THANK YOU, eternally thank you. I think everyone knows from facebook just how much my heart and mind fell in love with this crazy little town. 

I stayed at a cool little hotel called Family House @Pai. It was amazing, such friendly staff and my room was amazing! I had a huge bed, bog sofa, a balcony overlooking their fabulous swimming pool and a really comfortable reception chill out area. They were located right on the river so it was a little bit further back from the noise and activity from the bars in the evening. Yet a two minute walk to the walking markets and street food stalls for dinner time :) Perfect. Again. 

The staff were amazingly kind. I finally got my courage together after a couple of days of staying there, and asked them (with encouragement from facebook friends - thanks) to ask if they minded me teaching yoga by their swimming pool. They were as excited as me, and said that if I can find customers then they fully support me and will also mention me to their new customers. They held true to their word and mentioned they had a 'resident yoga teacher' staying with them and to make use of me ;) I wish I could have stayed longer and taught a while here, such good energy and happy times. I managed to get speaking to 4 girls who were in the pool and talking about trying to attend yoga classes. I introduced myself and offered to teach them the next morning if they were keen. Sure enough they all showed up to class the next morning by the pool :) It was a great class, lots of positive energy and a shared collaboration.... I came prepared with a class plan and they would ask to throw certain poses into it as we went along. It was wonderful to be teaching again, and once again I realized just how much I love being a yoga teacher <3 The hotel asked me to post a photo of the class onto their facebook page too which is very nice, and also said they would be happy to have me come back and teach there again as they like to be able to tell their guests they have a visiting yoga teacher <3 

Pai cracks me up. There is a crazy routine that appears when you live in Pai. The mornings are amazing, clear blue skies and sunshine and happiness all around. Then every day at 3.30pm the heavens open and it thunders and rain clouds appear from absolutely nowhere and that is your sign that your sunbathing time is over. I flash packed in Pai, I chose the one hotel with a swimming pool and I was so happy with my choice. It was super hot while I was there, and I spent nearly every spare second either by the pool or in it cooling down! 

I kind of love it as I quickly established a routine - breakfast and coffee at one of the many funky cafes, a fruit smoothie on the way back to my pool (yes I flashpacked in Pai...) for a $1, then sit by the pool and sunbathe and read, then chill on the balcony until the rain changed to sideways and then I hide inside on the sofa (yes I finally had a sofa - how amazingly wonderful did I feel during that stay!) in my room or the hotel bar and do my blog entries and read. When it would calm down for 5 minutes I would run to a cafe and chill out with a coffee until dinner and chat to random people passing through, or not depending on my mood. Such beautiful chilled days. 

To some of you that must sound super lazy and boring. But for someone like me who cannot let a day go by without feeling as though I should be doing something or have a plan of things to see and get done, this was just what I needed. It was perfect in fact :) 

So by day I lazed, and visited my favorite cafes :) I just adored the Witching Well and Boomalicious! The staff and the atmosphere in both places was just amazing.  In the Witching Well I tried their home made muesli and coffee, it was easily the best, most natural muesli I have had the whole of my trip. The coffee was as normal in the north of Thailand wonderful. They have a water haze sprinkling water across the entrance to keep you cool inside the cafe, such a nice idea! Boomalicious which is just next door has the most amazingly creative menu with all of their produce being organic and home made. I ate here often, and my favorite meal was an avocado and bacon salad with sweet potatoes, fresh mint and basil and so many other yummy ingredients. It was my first taste of avocado since leaving home in January! The small things in life hey ;) I also ate amazing poached eggs on home made bruschetta with pesto and fresh tomatoes and basil. Wow!

I became addicted to everything Pai. The logo for Pai is "Pai is Love" and I totally get where that comes from. Love is everywhere in Pai, real love, happy love, shopping love, smiling love. It's everywhere! You can't help but feel the energy all around you :) 

I spent afternoons in various coffee shops along the main strip, and in particular fell in love with All About Coffee which was just a fabulous set up. The women who runs it has local artwork all over the walls, and so many paintings that her young son has painted also! She has a beaming smile from the moment you walk into her coffee shop and she quickly tells you what the cake of the day is, and which one is freshest and which one is her personal favorite. I tried apple crumble with ice cream on my last day because she had just made it, and because since Nepal I had been (for some reason) dreaming of this very desert! It was, as she predicted, mouth wateringly good! I also had the banana espresso iced coffee which was out of this world fabulous!! I chilled out in another coffee shop called Coffee Canyon, where the coffee was amazing and I loved again the artwork everywhere that you looked. Everyone in Pai appreciates the simple things in life, and makes the most of everything beautiful around them. It is like each store or cafe knew exactly what would make me happiest to see and had put it up just for me. I have never been to a town where there are so many things all together in one place that I adore. The fresh juice stalls I visited each day as well, love love love :)

By day I hit the streets of Pai and walked the whole length several times of their walking markets, where local artists presented the most lovely artwork and jewelry for tourists to explore. It was such a chilled out vibe walking up and down the streets, and there was a no drinking alcohol or eating rule amongst the stalls which was a nice idea. I bought several leather bracelets and postcards. I bought the most gorgeous lime green leather handbag on my last evening in Pai. Several people joined in on the decision between sensible brown and the bag that had initially caught my eye - remotely through facebook chat haha! Lindsay and Anne - you were both awesome and what good taste we all have ;) I struggled with being a backpacker and not really "needing" a lime green leather bag, but really really wanting it because it was such a fun colour and just because it reminded of a fun place and time in my life. I didn't struggle for too long in the end, and after consuming a cold beer to help lessen the guilt, I quickly went back to the store and collected my new awesome handbag and wore it proudly everywhere I went afterwards!!

There were bicycles and scooters everywhere you looked in Pai. Vespas, especially some very, very cool old school designs!! Brilliant! I even found an exact replica of my beautiful Bermuda white old school Vespa. Ah homesick for my little island briefly :(  In reality if ever there was a time and place to rent a scooter it was in Pai, the roads were in great condition, and nice and wide and everyone so laid back. None of the normal Asia road rage. For some reason I didn't rent the scooter though, maybe I was scared at how many people I saw with road rash! Maybe I just wanted to chill out 100%, who knows. Next time I will rent one though as I do look back and wish just one day I had taken to the roads on two wheels again, just like my Bermuda days ;)

The street food hawkers were the best I have seen as well. Every single evening I walked to the streets and bought pad thai or my favorite thai dishes such as fried basil leaf with chicken, corn on the cob and tried so many new things I hadn't seen before. Just wonderful on my taste buds (or taste bums as Per Bear used to say in Lanta!).

72 hours in Pai. Amazing place. I think I loved it even more than I loved Hoi An in Vietnam. The only thing missing from this picture is the ocean. The calmness and happiness of this town is immense, you feel it from the moment that you arrive. A calm sense of contentment kicks in immediately and never leaves you. I hope that I manage to take this feeling with me everywhere that I go. Must. Stay. Strong. For. Bangkok. Lol!! Pai is love. It is everywhere. Written everywhere. The cafe culture, the amazing coffee, the stores, the artwork, the funky postcards, bicycles everywhere, old school Vespas, scooters everywhere. The main streets become alive at night time with their artwork, and food stalls with the most deliciously yummy food ever. Everyone smiles here. Awesome hotel. The lovely owner encouraging me to teach yoga, giving me the confidence to know that I CAN travel and make a living teaching yoga as I go. Such a big step for me removing all self doubt and having faith that the universe knows exactly where I am supposed to be!! I absolutely adored this little town and was so sad to leave. I am so grateful to the friends who encouraged me to come and visit. I will be back and bringing my yoga mat with me. Bye bye Pai and your beautiful aura <3 

Yin & Yang of Chiang Rai Temples :)

Chilling in Chiang Rai :)

I felt such a buzz being back on the road again, full of all of the possibilities of what we could see over the next few days instead of just Lahu Village, and smoke filled bungalows. It felt great to be free. 

I had decided that I was going to spend a few days in Chiang Rai with Kirstie and then make my way south again to Chiang Mai as she moved north towards Cambodia. I was looking forward to some chill out time in some fresh organic style cafes that I had researched and just enjoying some peace and quiet and good coffee in a good vibe kind of place. I was still torn on what to do after Chiang Mai as suddenly all of these new places and ideas appealed to me - I wanted to see Pai, I hoped to get to Sukothai as well and see some of the ruins and temples there on my way through to Bangkok. The more I read about that part of Thailand, the more I discovered things that I wanted to see and do! As always on this adventure, the bucket list grows ;)

After a very lazy start to the day Kirstie and I took a local bus to the White Palace. Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary unconventional Buddhist temple just 5km south of Chiang Rai. It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat in 1997. Wat Rong Khun is different from any other temple in Thailand, as it is designed entirely in white with some use of white class. Like a gleaming white vision of heaven. It is like something out of a disney movie, it is just unbelievably amazing! I could have spent hours there walking around and examining the detail in which has delivered throughout the whole temple. The white colour stands for Lord Buddha's purity, and the white glass stands for Lord Buddha's wisdom that shines brightly all over the Earth and the Universe. In 2013 the temple was still being constructed and isn't due to be completed for quite some years yet. I have added lots of amazing photos below so you can see for yourselves just how spectacular this one of a kind temple really is :) Enjoy <3 

You will notice that although the palace looks all white and pure and angelic, that some of the imagery is both peaceful and the stuff that nightmares are made of!!

And the less angelic stuff ;)

Later the same day we took another local bus to visit the hell side of this equation - The Black House (Baan Dam). It was a little spooky to be honest but an amazing concept and brilliant design by local artist Thawan Duchanee. In complete contrast to the White Palace this is to the north of Chiang Rai, it is completely black and eerie and filled with animal skeletons, and darkness. The house itself is incredible, but the artist has also filled the ground with equally unique artifacts everywhere. We arrived quite late so didn't get to see its full glory, or grounds, but what we did see was pretty amazing! There is a mysteriousness about the property, it is not as well known as the White Temple, and virtually impossible to find. There are no signs to direct you to it, it is hidden away down little side streets and there are no signs around the House itself to tell you anything about the house. Everything is very much left to your imagination. You can see from the photos yourself below :)

We had real trouble trying to find the Black House. We took a local bus out of Chiang Rai and were dropped in the middle of nowhere. There are no signs or indicators of the house being anywhere at all. I managed to piece together enough small Thai words to ask some locals for help. This gorgeously kind boy told me "not noi" which means a little bit (as in we are close by), and he very kindly walked in front of us the whole way to the temple. So kind of him.

Both properties were created by Chiang Rai natives, both artists with ambitious visions. Both projects are ongoing, and will take decades of work before either artist is happy that they are completed.

Later that day we found a gorgeous cafe called rather originally "Chiang Rai Cafe" which was the kind of beautiful cafe setting where you could sit for hours and people watch. In the evening we discovered the night market, which was just the perfect way to end our time together. We walked through the market stalls for what felt like forever, then slowly found our way to the night bazaar food area and ate a delicious green curry with lemon juice. There was nightly local thai entertainment of amazing music and dancing on the stage. We laughed, and joked about our experiences since we had met that first day in Chiang Mai. All the things we had learned. The smiles, the tears, our gratitude for the friendship we had come to have as a result of it. We are the same person Kirstie and I, and I know I will see her again somewhere equally unique and amazing :) 

Peace and love :)