andblahandblahblah: 2011

(Double click photos to make them larger)

The last time I posted Cassian and I had just arrived back to Bangkok from Myanmar. I remember once we disembarked the plane I casually told Cassian this might be the last time I use this airport for a long while, as I wasn't planning on leaving the country again until after my contract with the school expired. I ended up going back the Lub D Silom, which was the hostel I had stayed at during all of my previous visits to Bangkok. Cassian decided he would come and stay at the same place while he debated where to go next on his travels.

When I got back to the hostel I was pretty tired, but I decided I would call Devon on skype as she was hanging out in Bangkok. We arranged to hang out later that day so I decided to take a long nap. After a while Cassian and I went to one of my favorite places in Bangkok, the MBK food court, where you can get awesome local food for cheap. It was the first time he had ever been there and he came to the conclusion that he liked it quite a bit, throughout the next few days he would go and eat there a few different times. Once we were on our way back to the hostel waiting for our BTS (Skyrail) train Devon came up from behind and said hey! Surprised I turned around and once I realized it was her quickly gave her a hug. Devon ended up staying at Lub D with us as well.

Later that night Devon and I decided to go get some food. By this point in time Bangkok was beginning to prepare for the floods. This was the first time I had been in Bangkok where I didn't get an overall pleasant vibe from the people and the city. There was an air of caution and anticipation due to them not knowing if the flooding was coming or when it was coming. The city felt like it was anticipating war, as huge walls were built in front of every building with either sand bags or concrete walls. While this was happening water was nearly impossible to find in stores. Everywhere you went water was sold out due to people stocking up on it just in case the flooding hit. It was the strangest thing because it was the most peaceful panic I have ever witnessed in my life. While walking around the streets coming to these realizations Devon and I decided to sit down at this small restaurant and have some dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hostel, hung out with Cassian for a bit, and I went to bed.

The next day Devon and I had a proper Westerner day. Since I had been in Burma for a while roughing it I wanted to have a day of relaxation. Devon and I ended up going to MBK to have some lunch, after we went to Svenson's for some ice cream, and then after that headed to the MBK movie theater to watch a movie, Dream House. The movie wasn't a great movie, but it felt amazing to sit in a movie theater and just completely relax. After the movie we went and walked around a few of the different air-conditioned malls for the rest of the day. After that we headed back to the hostel and hung out with Cassian again.

The next few days are relaxing as nothing significant happens and the days blend into my mind making it difficult to differentiate the days. It is funny because when you are comfortable it is difficult to remember the exact things that happen, it is only when you are not in comfort that one seems to be able to recall exact moments on specific days. The next few days are relaxing as Devon and I spend some time at local used bookstores, coffee shops, and getting lost walking through Bangkok looking for immigration and a post office (Devon had to extend her visa in order to stay in the country, so we wandered around the city looking for immigration. We also went to the post office in order to allow her to mail a postcard to her grandma who had been in the hospital and so I could mail a present to Kate.) One significant event halfway through our stay in Bangkok was when we were kicked out of Lub D as they were closing due to the flooding that may come. This forced us to find another hostel, and we ended up staying at a more local styled hostel and stayed there for the following two nights. The next day Devon decided she would head up to Chiang Mai, as her school area was completely flooded and she had no idea when it would begin again, so we both headed down to the train station and tried to figure out the best possible way for her to get there. Since the trains were all cancelled due to some of the tracks still being under water, the only way for her to get there was by bus, and she decided to book a bus that would depart two days later. That night we ended up going out and getting some really good Indian food.

The night before she left, we ended up going out and having a few drinks. We talked about everything from politics, philosophy, past love interests, to this being her first trip alone in a foreign country and her slight trepidation, but also excitement about her shortly to come adventure. We left the little bar pretty late, and ended up going to McDonalds to get food as no where else in the area was still open. The next day we went and got smoothies, and had some good street food before saying our goodbyes and heading our different ways. I ended up staying at the hostel another night before moving into my new apartment to prepare for my teaching assignment. That night Tom was back in Bangkok with two of his friends he knew from England who were now living in Indian. I ended up hanging out with them for the night and then at around midnight heading back to my hostel.

The next day I got an email telling me where I have to go to meet my landlord. It was in central Bangkok right across the street from the American embassy. This made me think for a moment that I was working and living in downtown Bangkok which I got really excited about. I thought this because my job placement told me I was 18 kilometers from downtown Bangkok, which is a very vague statement as I don't know what constitutes as "downtown." Once I got to the Tops Market where I was supposed to meet my landlord I find out that they were just picking me up to show me my apartment outside of the city. We ended up driving there and since I didn't have all my bags with me, as I didn't know what to expect, I was a bit stressed about how I would get back into Bangkok. We arrived at my apartment about 20 minutes later and it was in a very industrial blue collar part of Bangkok. The river is right in front of my apartment complex, and you can see large ships harbored along the banks. The school is literally right next door as well. When we first got to my apartment they showed me the school, as the wife of the landlord works there, and she had to turn some papers in. The husband showed me around a bit and picked some fruit from the surroundings trees and had me try it, which was surprisingly tasty.

After this they showed me to my apartment. The apartment building was somewhat run down, but it was/is adequate enough for me. They showed me to the 13th floor, which they made sure to tell me was a very lucky number in Thailand--whether or not this is the case I don't know. What I can say is my room has a beautiful view, as Devon would later state that "It has a very Brooklyn vibe to it." Outside on my balcony you can see a huge bridge spanning the river, and the bridge seems to pass right by my window. You can also see the great ships in the harbor either docked, slowly working their way up and down the river, or being ferried in and out of the port. After viewing this I told them the room was fine and I would take it-- I'll write more about my room in my next blog. They were happy to hear that and they called Pook, my job finder and lady who is meant to help me throughout the semester, to confirm I'm taking the room. Everything went well, but during the phone call Pook informed me that due to the flooding my school would be delayed one week even though there was no flooding in my area. This was a safeguard measure and I said okay I understood. After the old couple, to my surprise and delight, taxied me back to downtown Bangkok. Even though I had my own place I decided I would stay in Bangkok one last night in order to buy sheets and essentials for my apartment the next day since there were no pillows, sheets, or other supplies in the room.

The next morning I went shopping at MBK and bought some pillows, and sheets for my apartment, silk pillow cases and a bead cover to be exact. After that I went back to the hostel one last time, bought a smoothie at the nearby smoothie vendor, sent Devon an email saying guess what my school got canceled for a week, and then headed to find a taxi to take me to my apartment. The first few taxi drivers I met had no idea where I was asking them to take me, and I was beginning to get worried none of them would. After a while I remembered passing a large Big C, kind of like a Wal-Mart, on the way and asked the taxi driver to take me to the Big C in Phra Pradaeng. The taxi driver I asked to do this finally understood and off we were to my new apartment. Once I arrived at my apartment I unpacked all my new sheets and set up my bed. I realized that the package that I bought didn't have a sheet for the bed, but only had pillow cases and a cover. I decided to go for a walk and walked down to the Big C to buy some sheets. The Big C is about a half an hour walk and being my first day here it was interesting being quite literally the only Westerner in the area. That was pretty much the extent of my day and trying to find food to eat.

The next day I received an email from Pook stating I didn't have the correct type of Visa and would need to leave the country to get another. This upset me quite a bit for a number of reasons, the first being that I made sure to double even triple check with another woman, named Pak, that a 30 day visa would be adequate to convert into a non-immigrant b visa once I returned from Burma. She guaranteed me it would, and told me to not worry that I did not need to get a 60 day visa while in Burma. So once I found out that I would need a 60 day visa I was pretty upset, even though Pook works for a different company and had nothing to do with it. I was also upset because she told me this on Tuesday when my school started the following Monday. Non-immigrant b visas also take two days to process, normally, and because of the flooding a lot of buses and trains weren't running and the ones that were, were completely booked. I sent Pook an email that I will admit was quite heated stating my dissatisfaction with the situation. After that I rushed to figure out what I was going to do and decided I would book a flight to Malaysia the following day in Bangkok for Thursday, arrive in Malaysia Thursday evening, and hopefully be able to talk the embassy into giving me same day service for Friday-- embassies are closed over the weekend.

The next morning I hurried into Bangkok and booked an airline flight on Air Asia through a travel agent. I stayed in the city for the day, and that night decided I would once again stay in a hostel so I could get to the airport first thing in the morning. The next morning I woke up first thing and hurried to the airport to get on my flight. Once arriving at the airport I looked back on the words I told Cassian a little more than a week earlier how I doubted I would be back here anytime soon. While on the flight I met this young guy, maybe in his late twenties, who had gotten in a lot of trouble in his youth. While he was on probation he decided to go visit a friend in Thailand and absolutely fell in love with the place. Once his probation ended he sold everything he owned in the states and moved out here. He was currently married to a Thai women, but just like me and every other seeming Westerner in the country was having visa problems, and was going on a visa run to Malaysia. He only needed a 30 day visa so he was going to get off the plane and hop right back on another one headed back to Bangkok to renew his visa. We wondered if it would save him the hassle by checking out of immigration in Thailand and then instead of getting on his purchased flight just walking back through immigration like he had just arrived. Would they ever know and what would be the consequences if they found out? Who knows, but that is more or less what we talked about on the flight, and he showed me his passport which was full of Thailand stamps. Once we descended my ears never properly popped which would become a problem later in the day. We said our goodbyes after landing and I headed towards the exit.

At the exit I asked how much a taxi would be to the main city on Penang (George Town) and they told me 40 Ringgit, 3 Ringgit equal about a dollar. Although for Western standards this isn't a lot for a taxi, after spending the amount of time I have in Southeast Asia I was completely flabbergasted and said no thank you. I went to information grabbed a bus map and decided I would find my own way to the city. About 2.5 hours later I finally arrived in George Town having spent a total of 2.75 ringgit, which was much more to my liking. In order to get to Love Street, which is where a lot of the hostels are, I had to take one more bus that cost 0 ringgit. While on the bus this old man sat down next to me and asked where I was from (you have to remember at this point my ears still have not popped properly.) I told him I was from the states, and then he starts off ranting about how the US is no longer a great country. He talks about how it is in too much debt, people are fighting too much, and says Malaysia is now a better country. I had a really hard to hearing him and kept asking him what? or can you repeat that? He got really offended by that and said HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF SOMEONE KEPT SAYING WHAT WHAT TO YOU? He then also said that must be why I was sitting alone and no one was talking to me (It couldn't have been because there was a total of four people on the bus including him, myself, and the bus driver.) After a moment another lady got on the bus and they talked for a while after which she got to her stop and got off. Once this happened he friendly gestures that I should come sit next to him. I give him a weird look and say no thanks, after which I return to studying my map. After a moment I get off of the bus and walk to Love Street where I find my hostel. It was definitely one of the nicest hostels I have ever stayed at and the front desk was very helpful. It was pretty late at this point so I decided to go to bed.

The next day I woke up first thing in the morning, luckily as I had forgotten my watch and alarm at home in Bangkok. I took a taxi to the embassy as I wanted to guarantee that I got there on time as they only allow you 2.5 hours 9:30-12:00 to drop off passports. I got there an hour early and read my book until it opened. Once it opened I filled out my application and handed it in. To my great relief Penang unlike other embassies does same day delivery since they have so few applicants arriving at the embassy. I was told to come back in the afternoon so I took a bus back to my hostel and took a nap since I didn't sleep too well the previous night as I was worried I would sleep past the passport collection time. It was really quite fortunate that they did same day delivery as this means I would be able to make it back before Monday, since if it wasn't same day delivery I would of had to pick it up the following working day which would have been Monday. It was also fortunate because I booked my plane ticket back for Sunday gambling I would be able to get same day delivery. After a few hours I went back to the embassy, got my visa, and left with my head held high knowing I had done the nearly impossible. Finding out I needed to leave the country Tuesday evening, flying out Thursday morning, and getting same day visa delivery Friday. After that I relaxed a bit and headed into George Town.

I have to admit that Malaysia was not at all what I expected. It was by far the most up kept and Western country I have visited in Southeast Asia, and maybe on this whole trip altogether. It is also cool because it is a melting pot for different cultures. This means you see a ton of different cultures walking down the streets. Indians, Southeast Asians, Chinese, Pacific Islanders, Westerners, and all the above. It was also quite cool because you'll be walking down the street and see a temple, across the street from a church with a mosque just up ahead. All of the buildings in Kings Town are British colonial, and since Penang is an island there are really pretty views of the bay. After exploring for a bit I decided to go get some really good Tandoori chicken and garlic naan, there is amazing Indian food on Penang. Following that it was pretty late so I decided to go back, email Pook telling her I would be back in time for school on Monday, and went to bed.

The next day, Saturday, I decided I would be touristy and go look around the city. I decided to have some more Tandoori from a stand on the street, and it was once again amazing. I wandered down the streets for a bit and decided with the pace I had set this week it had made me really not want to be touristy and go from monument to monument. I sat down by the bay and read The Hobbit instead for a good few hours. At that point it was mid day so I decided to go to this old British for called Fort Cornwallis and look around. While the history was slightly interesting I was really not in the mood for this so I found a nice big tree and sat under it for the rest of the day reading. That night I had a little more Indian food before calling it a night and going to bed.

The following morning Pook had finally responded to me and told me congratulations about getting the visa so quickly, and then she went on to tell me that my school had been canceled for another week because of a problem with the tap water from seepage due to the flooding. At first I was a little peeved thinking how I had just rushed all the way down to Malaysia and now at the last moment had another week to kill. After cooling off for a moment I decided this was a blessing and that I would go up to Chiang Mai for the week as I had been looking for a week to go there during my semester, but couldn't find a period long enough justifying the full night bus ride to Chiang Mai. I packed my bag and headed to the airport.

Once I got to the airport the security staff didn't believe I was the person on my passport, as my hair is quite a bit longer now than it was in the photo. They ran my fingerprints and were actually really friendly explaining to me why they take fingerprints when you enter the country. They say it is so if when you are exiting the country and the immigration officer can't tell if you are who you say you are then they can run your fingerprints and see if this is the passport you entered the country with. Everything ended up checking out fine and I went through to wait for my plane. While waiting for my plane I watched a few episodes of South Park and after a couple of hours boarded my plane back to Bangkok. After landing in Bangkok I hurried onto the sky rail and then the MRT (subway) to the train station to book my bus ticket to Chiang Mai for the following evening. I decided since it cost the same amount to stay in a hostel as it did to take a taxi to and from my apartment I would sleep in my apartment for the night.

The next day I woke up, and began packing my bag to go to Chiang Mai. I realized pretty quickly I couldn't find my camera and for a moment panicked I might have left it in Malaysia. This made me hurry over to my Canon which I broke in Cambodia, and attempt in vain to turn it on. I was pretty bummed out, but then realized I had taken the battery out of my Cannon a while ago just in case my camera ever began to work again--taking the battery out helps the cameras chances of working after water damage. Once I put the battery back in my camera worked again!! The camera I had broken months before finally decided to turn back on and I was exponentially happier. To top it off I found my other cheaper point and shoot, as it was in a hidden pocket in my bag. I packed my newly working camera into my bag and headed back to Bangkok. I ran a few quick errands and then headed to my bus. That night on the bus while leaving Bangkok through the North I saw flooding for the first time. Whole sections of city were underwater with people driving boats down the streets. Cars lined the freeway parked as it was slightly higher than the water so people hoped this would keep their cars safe. On a 4 lane freeway only one lane was open to traffic as the other three were full of parked cars. The freeway had also become a makeshift market as all the street vendors and food sellers were lined up on the freeway with people shopping.

The next morning I arrived in Chiang Mai and had sent Devon a message the previous night telling her to expect me. When I arrived at 7:00 AM I woke Devon up in her room and was pretty hyper and full of energy as the bus had given us free coffee. Devon wondered how I found her room and I told her the dude at the front desk showed it to me. She laughed and joked how comforting it was that the front desk would show people where her room was. After we hung out for a bit we moved to a new room and Devon showed me around Chang Mai. We went to a bunch of the old temples that are still in use and had some really good lunch at this local restaurant. I have to admit that Northern Thailand is absolutely amazing and I loved Chiang Mai. While sitting at lunch we were deciding what we would do for the rest of the week as it was Tuesday and we would be leaving to go back to Bangkok on Saturday--since her job was still flooded she decided to bunk with me for a week in my apartment after we returned from Chiang Mai. I told her I really wanted to go to Pai and she told me it was really nice, but took a while to get there as it is four hours each way.

I told her I really wanted to go but to also be back for Thursday as there was a full moon festival in Chiang Mai that day. We decided to make a day trip out of it and also decided we would rent a motobike to get there instead of taking a taxi. The rest of the day we spent walking around the city and Devon showed me some of the used bookstores as I was still looking for a cheap copy of The Alchemist. In one of the bookstores we found it for a 100 baht, about 3 dollars, and I decided I would think about buying it there. After that we rented a motobike for our journey the next day. We rode the motobike around Chang Mai for a bit, and found it really difficult to get back because everyone was getting ready for the festival on Thursday so the police had closed off a lot of the roads we had used to get to where we were. It took us a while to get back, we drove down some random streets, and were stuck in some heavy traffic, but we ended up getting back just fine. It was a nice ride and once we got back to the hostel we had a beer, and went to bed.

The next morning we disembarked for our journey to Pie, and although it was quite cold in the morning on a motobike the journey quickly became worth it. A good 75% of the journey was through the mountains and jungle of Northern Thailand, and on our journey we passed military checkpoints, buses on the inside, and beautiful jungle passes. On the way up Devon asked me to stop if I saw a cute coffee shop, and about half an hour later I saw perhaps the most beautiful coffee shop in the world. It is called Coffee in Love, and is built on the side of a steep hill overlooking the whole valley below. There are no windows so it is all opened air and fresh, really amazing. After that we headed into Pai, parked the bike, and decided to walk around. After walking through the small town for a while we decided to stop and have some food. At the place we ate their was a small free book exchange counter, and I have to admit I took a book but didn't put a new one back. I did this with the sole intention of trading it at the bookstore in Chiang Mai when I got back for The Alchemist.

After we ate we decided to drive the motobike around and look for some waterfalls. While looking for waterfalls we ended up driving up this really small beautiful road, and to the left it said that there was a nice lookout up the way. So we continued to drive up the road, and first the road began to turn from concrete to gravel. After that it got extremely steep and halfway up the road the motobike couldn't take the weight so we began to role backwards. Devon jumped off the bike, and I ended up rolling violently backwards with it down the hill into a ditch. Everyone, Devon, the Bike, and myself were surprisingly fine besides a few small cuts and bruises. Once we got to the top we found out you had to pay to see the view and found that ridiculous so we left. Next we went back to the main pretty road and continued driving to the waterfall. While passing some fields, this lady with a baby said wait!! So Devon told me to stop and the lady got closer and askws if we wanted to buy opium or drugs and we said no and left. A little bit farther up the road the air became moist and we could hear water running. We had finally made it to the waterfall!! These waterfalls were cool because they were steep enough to be a waterfall, but not too steep which allowed you to ride down them like a water slide albeit a dangerous water slide. After watching some of the kids do it for a while I decided to try it and asked the kids to teach me how to do it. It was quite a bit of fun so I decided to do it one more time. After this I talked Devon into doing it and she enjoyed it as well. The young boys also enjoyed watching Devon go down the waterfall and all wanted to rush to help her out of the pool of water. Although the picture of her riding down the waterfall looks like she is just sitting on it. After that we walked around and looked at the river for a bit. Once we finished looking we decided to head back as it would be dark in a few hours and we had a long journey ahead of us. On our way back I made Devon stop for a moment so I could take a picture of a part of the road, which was absolutely beautiful. After which we headed back to Chiang Mai.

We quickly discovered that we had left too late as it was getting dark rapidly--we also noticed about half an hour into our trip that there was a storm on the horizon. About half an hour later it began to rain on us and it got cold very quickly. Despite that we saw the most absolutely gorgeous sunset where the whole sky was red, covering a canopy of green--it was beautiful! We stopped to take a few photos of it, which of course didn't do it any justice. Once we started going again we were both freezing and darkness was approaching. We were both joking about how cold it was, but at the same time how amazing it was that we were riding on a motobike in the jungle of Northern Thailand in a rainstorm. After another half an hour it was completely dark out meaning the last three hours of our journey through the jungle was in complete darkness with the rain coming down. It was so cold all we could do to keep our mind off of the coldness was to sing, so sing we did until our throats hurt. I also kept joking with Devon about how good of a horror movie this would make. This finally all came to a conclusion and we made it back to Chiang Mai in one piece, albeit one very cold piece. We were going to go nourish ourselves, but after our warm showers ended we passed out, until quite a bit later and then we went to eat. After that we went straight back to bed.

The next day was Loy Krathong, The Festival of Light, where everyone releases lanterns after dark in order to release their negative energy and thoughts. During the day Devon and I walked around Chiang Mai again. We went to the used bookstore and I asked how much I could get for the book I got from the free book exchange and the man told me 100 baht, which was quite symbolic as that copy of The Alchemist cost 100 baht-- a symbolic moment before reading a book about omans. Finally after 4 months of looking I had finally gotten my copy of The Alchemist. After that I was trying to decide if I wanted to go on a jungle trek. My dilemma was that everyone who comes to Chang Mai does it but at the same time it isn't very local and instead ends up being quite touristy. After quite a bit of tug of war in my head I decided I didn't want to do it as I don't ever enjoy the really touristy things and instead would rent a motobike again and Devon and I would ride around with it. This was fine with Devon because she had already been on a trek and wasn't planning on going on another. After this Devon and I went to the park and laid around until it got darker--- reading our books.

Once it was darker we decided to head to the river and on the way bought some lanterns and candles so we could light them and set them free. As we got closer to the river we began seeing more and more lanterns being released until the whole sky seemed full of them. It honestly seemed as though the sky was full of bright moving stars, it was absolutely gorgeous. Once we got the the river we saw people releasing the lanterns everywhere, and also saw small boats with candles floating down the river, as this is also to release your bad thoughts. Devon and I had 3 lanterns so we decided to release the first one together on the bridge. After releasing it it almost hit the top of the bridge, but ended up making it and joined the rest of the lanterns filling the sky with makeshift stars. Once we watched it for a while we went down to the riverbank where a lot of people were releasing them. From there Devon took photos of me releasing mine, which almost hit a tree before barely missing it and flying off into the sky and I took pictures of her releasing hers, which almost crashed into the river before it got a little help and flew off--we took both of these events to have symbolic meaning. After that we decided to buy one more giant one and release it together. This time we wouldn't take any photos and would only be there in the moment. We went down to another bridge, lit it, and watched it drift away. After that we began to walk back towards the old part of Chiang Mai and slowly enjoyed the happenings around us. On our way back we passed a parade, and stopped and watched it for a moment. We also looked at a small market and went to a carnival where I played a game of popping balloons with darts--which I obviously lost quite badly. Once we finished that we went to this rooftop bar and sat to have a beer where we watched the lanterns filling the night sky all around us--- it was beyond words. By this point it was pretty late so we ended up buying some street pancakes and heading back to the hostel for bed.

The next day in Chiang Mai was our last full day there. We started the day by going and renting another motobike. We also got 20 baht banana smoothies, which we had been munching on all week. After we got our motobike we went to the train station to book our tickets to Bangkok. We found out most of the trains were still not running so we decided to go to the bus station instead and bought bus tickets back. After that we decided to go on a motobike ride and drove through Chiang Mai up to a famous mountain right outside the city. We drove up the side of the mountain, which was very foresty, to this famous temple in Chiang Mai that has nice views of the whole city. Before we got there we were almost ran out of gas so we had to stop at a local vendor who gave us our gas out of an old beer bottle. After we toured around it for a bit, we decided to take off. Devon drove up the rest of the mountain to the royal families summer palace that is open to the public when the royal family is not there. It cost quite a bit to get in and since we were both still out of work we decided to pass. Devon drove us back down the side of the hill, and we stopped at a waterfall that also cost money to get into. We once again decided to pass and I took over the driving. Once we got down the side of the mountain we went to Chiang Mai University, which has a beautiful campus. We drove around it for a bit, and then parked by this huge lake and took our books out. We stopped at a little college coffee shop to have some coffee, and it is funny because not matter where in the world you are, universities and colleges have the same feeling everywhere. After we had our coffees we decided to go sit by the lake and read our books. We read by the lake until it got dark and then headed back to the city. We had dinner at the hostel, and also for the first time since the Middle East had a couple of glasses of wine. While we were drinking the glasses of wine all these little kittens were playing with us, and for a while Devon had three of them laying on her. It was a very relaxing last full day in Chiang Mai.

The next day Devon woke up early to go and explore a bit and I slept in. Once I woke up Devon was back and we checked out. I took the motobike to the rental shop and then went back to the hostel. After this we went to get lunch and then once again headed back to the hostel to prepare to leave. We grabbed our bags, went to find a tuk tuk, and departed for the bus station. Once we got to the bus station we found our bus, and boarded. Fortunately for us we had front row seats meaning extra leg room! Our journey back was pretty uneventful, the only eventful thing was I finished The Alchemist in entirety while on the bus that night. At this point in time I began enjoying Devon's company to a copious level, and she had become quite a good friend. The next we arrived in Bangkok and that is where I will leave off for now.

(Some photos courtesy of Devon)