Bangkok cooking & Khao Sok National Park

The morning after our first night out in Bangkok we had a (thankfully) late morning and rested around the hotel until we headed off for Thai cooking class. We also had to check out of our hotel that morning so commence hauling the 50 lb suitcase back down allllll the stairs. Our cooking class was so much fun! On our walk there we witnessed a motorbike crash. Luckily no one was hurt too bad. I'm incredibly shocked that this was the only one we saw on our trip. We heard somewhere that 90% of tourists who die in Thailand die on motorbikes so we decided to forgo those for the rest of our trip (or did we....). In cooking class we learned how to cook Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai, and Massman curry. Pad Thai was the only one of the three that I had every had before and I absolutely loved the other two. They became some of my favorite things to eat after that. Probably the best part about cooking class was that they measured everything out for you and have all the ingredients in little bowls so literally all you had to do was cook it. I wish someone would always do the food prep for me. I'd cook way more often!

After cooking class we headed back to our hotel, got our suitcases, and headed to the train station to head south! The 12 hour overnight train is something I can only describe as "an experience". While we were waiting to leave Chelsey, Elly, and I decided we'd buy our tickets to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai later in the trip. And after the our first experience we decided to just forget about the money we spent on train tickets (it wasn't much) and book a flight instead (which also was less than $100). I can't say that the trains was a bad experience but it just wasn't something I really wanted to experience again.  The main issue was that there were bugs EVERYWHERE. And when I say everywhere I mean everywhere all over mine and Camille's beds... while they didn't seem to bother anyone else. I could handle sleeping in the small train but I was just a little uneasy about the bugs crawling around me. Camille saved my life by letting me sleep on the top bunk where there were a few less bugs. She even found one in her pillowcase! Another issue was the bathrooms. They were Eastern style which is definitely not my favorite, but add in the moving and shaking of a train and I just decided not to use the bathroom for 12 hours. I actually think I would have slept ok except for the fact that the fan closest to me (definitely no AC) decided to stop working half way through the night. And I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining too much because I'm definitely glad we did it and ended up actually having fun but I just don't need to do it again :) Also, don't judge the roughness in this picture. Never underestimate what a few days in Bangkok can do to you.

Before they turned our seats into beds

my view in my bed

After we got off the train we drove a few hours more until we ended up at Khao Sok National Park. This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was just unbelievably beautiful and uninhabited. We took long tail boats to the floating bungalows where we were staying for the night. We stopped and swam in the rain on the way and it was pretty much a surreal experience. 

The floating bungalows were so cool! We spent the afternoon just swimming and hanging out, and more swimming and more hanging out. It was great! None of us could stop looking around and just being completely in awe of where we were. Unfortunately it was a little cold and at times a little rainy while we were there but we didn't let that stop us and still had a great time. There is no actual electricity at the bungalows. There is a generator that turns on from dark until 10 or 11 pm which is pretty cool. Our group hung out and played games together after dinner until the power went off. I was actually a little nervous about this because our bungalows are all connected by tiny little walkways and the bathroom is at the verrrry end of all the walkways. I was just a little paranoid I would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and not be able to see anything and would just walk into the water. Luckily that didn't happen to me or anyone else but the thought definitely crossed my mind! We were all soooo sad when we woke up in the morning and had to leave our little paradise. It's definitely one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring places I've ever been.

I think we all would have spent the rest of the week at this place if they would have let us. Luckily they didn't and we had some more adventures coming up...

Bangkok

Ok I've been putting off blogging while I've been in Thailand for basically the entire time (we only have 3 days left at this point) and I seriously considered not even doing it at all but I really do want to remember all these times and the small details about what happened. I'm already starting to forget some thing so I figure I really should do it.

We left Knoxville at 6am on Saturday morning and arrived in Bangkok around 1am Monday morning. We were pretty exhausted but mainly too excited to notice. We paid extra to upgrade our seats to have more leg room and we all agree it was probably the best money we've ever spent (we said this many times on this trip). I read one entire book on my iPad and then just slept the rest of the time. Something about airplanes just makes me fall asleep, although the sleeping meds probably helped too :) Sooo much leg room!!

We were picked up from the airport by one of our Thai Intro group leaders, Sara, and taken to our first hotel. We were so thankful to not have to deal with navigating our own way. Of course we arrived at our hotel, The Wild Orchid, and were not tired at all. The 12 hour time difference took a bit of getting used to for sure. Elly and I shared a room and we were really happy with our accommodations. Since all of this was done through our tour group, we had no idea where we were staying until we got there. The only unfortunate part was dragging our 50 lb suitcases up five flights of stairs since there was no elevator. The hotel is considered a backpackers place to stay but we thought it was nicer than that. The one thing we are still not used to is that most places in Thailand have the shower completely connected to the rest of the bathroom- no shower curtain or anything, there's just a shower head in the middle of the wall. So every time you shower the whole bathroom basically gets wet. It's not a big deal, just an interesting difference. 

 Our first morning in Bangkok introduced me to one of my favorite things to eat throughout the entire trips... Mango shakes/smoothie!

I can't even tell you how many of these I've had throughout the trip. We all have our orders down now... Chelsey gets pineapple, Elly gets coconut, and I'm mango :) This first day we did a river boat tour throughout the city and then visited some temples. Here we are ready to go. Girls have to cover their shoulders and knees to go into the temple. Boys have no rules, which is really not fair but I guess girls just can't help that our knees are so sexy.

The river tour was really awesome. To be honest I can't even remember what the name of the river is that runs through Bangkok, but it's actually pretty big! It is kind of sad though because the water is disgusting.  It's filled with trash and human waste. There are also these crazy lizard monster things living in the water. You wouldn't catch me in that water if my life depended on it! It was really fun cruising around and getting to know the people on our tour better. Our group had the only American people so we were quickly dubbed "Team America". We had a lot of Australians in our group as well as quite a few people from different countries in South America. Little did we know how much we would fall in love with these people by the end of the week!

Next we took our boat to some temples. Most of Thailand is Buddhist so these were all Buddhist temples. It was all SO interesting. We have learned so much about Buddhism since we've been here. I did not know much about it at all before we came so I'm really glad to have learned as much as we have. We've also visited countless temples in our time here. They are all so different and very beautiful. 2 things Thailand is not short on: temples and 7-11s.

After learning soo much at the temples we headed back to our hotel on tuk tuks. We heard they were a must do in Thailand and they didn't disappoint. They can basically be described as a couch on the back of a motorcycle. And as if the driving in Thailand isn't crazy enough already, these things make them crazier. SIDENOTE: one thing we constantly joke about is that there are no rules in Thailand. I mean there really aren't. Any time you ask yourself... are we allowed to do this? The answer is always yes. Seriously. So, there are really no rules in driving in Thailand either. It's sort of suggested that people stay on the proper side of the road but that typically doesn't happen. Lanes are also just a mere suggestion too. So while I never want to drive any kind of vehicle in Thailand we certainly had fun speeding through Bangkok on our tuk tuk and being fairly certain we were about to die every 10 seconds. Chelsey and I were convinced every time we screamed the driver just went faster. SO MUCH FUN!

When we got back we went and had a little street food for the first time. It certainly did not disappoint but it did make my stomach a little upset later. We then went back to the room to catch up on some sleep since we didn't sleep much the night before. I think we got in about a 30 minute nap before we went downstairs again to our hotel restaurant to hang out with other people in our group before dinner. We loved the food and drinks at the Wild Orchid and have definitely missed it since we left. We headed to an Indian place for dinner that night. I know, we were all very confused why our guides picked an indian place for our first official night in Thailand but we all ended up LOVING it. And we actually went back at another point in our trip too. It had a great atmosphere for getting to know everyone in our group and also their butter chicken is basically to die for. I've seriously been having dreams about it, I want to taste it again so bad. Anyway though, we then proceeded to Khoa San Road for the rest of the night. It's kind of like the big party road in Bangkok and probably mainly for tourists but it's still awesome and we love it! I like to equate it to Beale St in Memphis except for it's Thai it's like 100X crazier. We had our first Thai liquor buckets and also ate some questionable fried insects... well some people did, not me! Not for the insect part being disgusting but I was not so convinced about the cleanliness of the people selling them. We then all headed to a club for the rest of the night and had a blast dancing. Not too many pictures from this night. Oh yeah and it was "hippie night" which may or may not explain the way we're dressed...

Annnd I think that's enough for now about our first few hours in Thailand. We spent a little more time in Bangkok but that will have to wait for another time to be told. If you made it to the end of this I'm impressed you're not asleep yet!