so:
20/03-27/03 - Koh Lanta - Thailand island in Andaman Sea. Beach running, yoga, smoothies, and relaxation for 7 glorious days.
27/03-31/03 - Bangkok - My last weekend with my girlfriends before they scattered around the world to go back to reality. Lots of laughter, pool, and sunburns happened. Cried when I had to leave them :'(
31/03 - Flew to Chiang Mai and checked into my hostel with a pool and made some friends with a group from England. Showed them around the city and just had a good night back in Northern Thailand.
01/04 - checked into Eco Resort (where I first stayed in Chiang Mai and where Sierra/Travis/Marin will be arriving). Met up with them around noon and we stayed poolside for a couple hours and then I showed them around Chiang Mai and the night markets, smoothies, northern Thai food, and tuk tuk rides. We were asleep by 9PM haha.
02/04 - Sierra/Travis/Marin did the elephant trek for the day and I went to the immigration office to make sure I got all the stamps I need to leave the country and to "check in"(they require a 3 month check in with the work permit). I bought us all bus tickets to Chiang Rai and went for a run on the treadmill for 40 minutes and then took a much needed nap. Once they got back we got ready for dinner and a night out.
03/04 - lazy morning and caught our bus to Chiang Rai in the afternoon. We book our tickets for the 2 days slow boat to Luang Prabang and check into our hotel ($12/night/person HOLLA) and prepare for a 5am wakeup call to catch our van ride to the border so we can cross into Laos and head on down the Mekong River.
04/04-05/04m - the longest slowboat of our lives (who knew the slowboat could be so slow?) the north is still pretty smokey with all the burning still going no so it wasn't the best of views, but we made the best of the situation. we stayed in a hostel that we witnessed a dog fight that resulted in a death and serious injuries in the morning. it was at like 2am so it wasn't a planned fight, just dogs in a border town + Laos = bad news. really sad in the morning. Marin and I were ready to get out of there. However we had the best Indian food to date in that little town. So we arrived in Luang Prabang on 05/04. Checked into our beautiful guesthouse with the BEST BEDS IN TOWN - name of the guesthouse? Matata and the owner's dogs' name is Hakuna. Need I say more? So we explore this adorable French town. Laos has huge French influence so HELLO BREAD AND DELICIOUS SANDWICHES OMG I WAS IN HEAVEN. We book a hiking trek to move our bodies to these beautiful waterfalls. we have a delicious BBQ fondue dinner and roll ourselves to bed.
06/04 - wake up early for the hiking trek. beautiful scenery and the waterfalls were breathtaking. attached a photo of the girls.
07/04 - Marin and I explore a bit and we all catch a bus to Vang Vieng for 2 nights there (2.5 hours south of Luang Prabang). Check into our guesthouse and explore the town. Meet some fun new people and plan on tubing on the river with them the next day. Bed by midnight.
08/04 - We get up early to rent innertubes to float down the river. that's what people do in that town. met a girl friend santa cruz! small world. had a bunch of fun, but was happy to leave.
09/04 - hop on a bus to Vientiane (capitol) and we check into the guesthouse and head to the river to get a delicious dinner I had been here before for my visa run back in October so it was fun to show them around a little bit. Laos language is a bit similar to Thai so could order some things, but my thai is still terrible.
10/04 - wake up at 3:45am for our 6am flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we had a 7 hour layover in Pakse, Laos. So we explore the town a bit and got 60 minute massages and a delicious breakfast all for $60 ($15/each and included the taxi fare to and from the airport). Landed in Siem Reap and already in love with this country! Our taxi driver spoke perfect English so we hired him to be our guide tomorrow to see Angkor Wat at sunrise and the rest of the ruins for the day. Our hotel has a rooftop pool so relaxing tomorrow after the all day exploration of the ruins, one last night together and then Marin heads back to California on the 12th. Sierra, Travis, and I are heading to the floating markets on the 12th and I'm HOPING to catch an overnight bus to (http://www.sihanoukville-cambodia.com/) where I'll meet Sierra and Travis later that day (they're flying). Sihanoukville is on the beach! We plan on one night there and then take the ferry to Koh Rong (Cambodian island) on the 14th where we will be there 4 nights and then they head to Vietnam to catch their flight back to the states and I might stay another night or start to head to the capitol because I have a flight to Bali on the 20th with a layover in Malaysia (KL) and hope to see my friend for lunch before going to Bali in the evening. Will be there 10 days and then fly to Chiang Mai on 30/04 for a teaching orientation with some friends to meet the new teachers and then either home to rest before the new terms, or maybe visit with some friends in Chiang Mai.
That is my attempt of a recent update! I have been writing in my journal and once I get to a normal keyboard where I don't have to hammer each key to make it work, then I'll attempt to translate it to my blog.
But until then, this is my update. Love and miss you guys!
Cailin
