Chiang Mai, Thailand

Here is a video recap of our whole Thailand trip!

http://youtu.be/mTtGkzMMpJ0

We unfortunately spent all of December 28^th, 2011 traveling from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Our first full day in Chiang Mai we woke up and took a ‘red car’ to the Buddhist temple, Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, on the mountain top of Doi Suthep.

riding in a 'red car'

There are about 300 steps up to the temple where people try and sell you everything. We then took our shoes off to enter this temple covered in gold. From the top you can see the view of Chiang Mai city. Before going back down we took a few pictures with some of the adorable Thai children.

That night we checked out the amazing night market where you can buy anything and everything.

The next day we took a trip to the Elephant camp just outside of Chiang Mai. Here we got to ride elephants and feed them bananas.

We then went on a short hike through the jungle up to Mae sa waterfall where we took a quick dip and then headed back. We then went white water rafting down the Mae rim and then took a short ’bamboo submarine’ ride. It was supposed to be a bamboo raft but we spent the entire time half submerged in the water. We then made the trek back to Chiang Mai.

The next day was new years eve and we took a tuk tuk ride to Tiger Kingdom.

Here we got to sit and play with tigers from 2-3 months old all the way up to adults. It was an amazing experience and so much fun.

  

Later that night we went out in the old city of Chiang Mai where we spent the night meeting new people, lighting off paper lanterns and watching the fireworks to bring in the new year!

Again, below is my video recapping our amazing experience in Thailand!

http://youtu.be/mTtGkzMMpJ0

Koh Samui, Thailand

We took a short flight from Bangkok airport to Surat Thani where we then took a bus to the ferry station. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad when we got on the ferry over to Koh Samui. About half of the passengers on this huge ferry were getting sick, myself included. Luckily we all survived and once on the island we checked into our guest house and then right to the beach for dinner.

The next morning was Christmas so Cortney and I, along with our new friends, went out for a beachside breakfast before getting Thai massages, exploring the island and getting ready for our Christmas dinner. We ate at a nice restaurant with a live band playing before we road motorbikes to look for the perfect location to light off some paper lanterns.

The next day we took it easy and lay by the beach and the pool. We spent most of our beach portion of our vacation enjoying the nice weather, getting manicures and pedicures and massages.

lighting lanterns 

Dr. Fish 

Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui, Thailand

Lanterns and fireworks 

 Here is a video recap of our trip! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTtGkzMMpJ0&feature=youtu.be

Bangkok, Thailand

Winter vacation had arrived and Cortney and I took our first trip to Thailand. I say first because we loved Thailand so much it most certainly won’t be our last! After our flight from Seoul we landed in Bangkok airport and went to Khaosan Road in the heart of Bangkok. We found a hostel called Khaosan Palace where we put our things for the night and then went out to explore shoppers paradise along Khaosan Road.

We started off with Pad Thai and spring rolls on the street along with some Thai beer. We took in the sites and sounds (my video will follow) as we enjoyed haggling for cheap items and getting foot massages. We only spent one night in Bangkok, which proved to be enough to still love the city.

Thai Baht 

The next morning we packed up, got some fruit smoothies and headed back to Bangkok airport.

In the shuttle to the airport we met some Canadian friends who would become our Koh Samui island buddies for the next four days.

Here is a video recap of our trip! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTtGkzMMpJ0&feature=youtu.be

November in Korea

I seem to have completely missed any updates in November, but I blame it on being so busy. The weather was apparently unseasonable warm, but I’m not complaining. We got to enjoy many days outside in just t-shirts so Andi, Cortney and I made a trip to Seoul Grand Park. This is the same location as the zoo, but we just took the ski lift up to the top to see the changing leaves.

I also celebrated my 27^th birthday Korean style. I invited some friends out for dinner and reserved a table for 20 at a local dak galbi restaurant in Bucheon. We then went back to my apartment for a few snacks, a cake and some drinks before heading out in an area populated with many foreigners called, Bupyeong.

Judy, Sophie and Cortney

Andi, Aaron, Jeff, Jenn and Cortney

my Korean friend from my yoga class, Sophie and Cortney

With the holidays coming up, I’m getting my first taste of being away from home during typical family events. Luckily I have some great friends here in Korea so we planned to spend Thanksgiving all together. On Thanksgiving day we went to margarita night at an ‘On The Border’ restaurant in Seoul. It was all you can eat tacos, burritos and margaritas so we stuffed our faces until we could barely walk out of the restaurant.

Bucheon friends in Seoul

Then, that weekend we took a trip into Seoul to spend the night eating a delicious Thanksgiving meal with a When in Korea tour group. Cortney and I took a bus to a beautiful log pension where we met up with Aaron, Andi, Andrew and his girlfriend, Gem, along with about 80 other people. We had a great meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and various other great Thanksgiving foods.

In the morning, Andi, Cortney and I took a trip to myeongdong, which is yet another superb shopping area in Seoul. This area has a lot of western stores, like Forever 21, H&M, GAP, Zara, among many others, as well as typical Korean shops and stands set up. We spent the afternoon shopping until we thought we couldn’t shop anymore…and then we went to Insadong for some more shopping. Talk about a dream come true for a bunch of shop-o-holics! We then got dinner and went home when we were so exhausted we could barely stand up anymore.

Also, November is kimchi making month. Apparently, Koreans like to eat more kimchi during the winter. I know, I know how can they possibly eat anymore of this disgusting fermented cabbage than they already eat? But apparently it is possible, so they make a ton of it during November that will last them through the winter until they make some more come winter’s end. Therefore, we took a trip to good ‘ol Yeawon farm so the kids could each get a giant head of cabbage!