Bangkok, again

Back in my home base of Bangkok, but leaving tonight for Chiang Mai to celebrate the Thai New Year! It'll be an experience, I think....the Thai New Year, Songkran, is basically a festival that centers around dumping huge buckets of water on everyone. In particular, farangs (foreigners, in Thai). Oh well, at least the water will keep me cool. have to remember NOT to take camera or cell phone out during the festival.

I am now officially a certified scuba diver! I took a dive course in Koh Tao and it was scary and amazing! aaaand....I SWAM WITH SHARKS! black tip reef sharks, generally harmless to humans, but still how cool is that?

just got my hair cut for five bucks. it was suffering terribly after being in the sun and salt water for a week. the sun here is pretty ridiculous. on the beach i sat in the shade, reapplied spf 50 (50! i didn't even know they made it that high), and wore a t shirt and i'm a dark, dark brown color. i have to go eat lunch now and buy a plane ticket to laos. sawadeeka!

p.s. thanks to people for their emails, particularly aunt mary!! sorry i am really bad at not returning emails or sending post cards! i'm trying to get better.

Koh samui, thailand

imagine the most beautiful beach you have ever seen in your life: soft white sand, clear blue water, swaying palm trees, a few small fishing boats out in the distance. now imagine that that beach is saturated with built up bungalows and hotels. disappointing eh? ahhh tourism. hopefully my next island location, koh tao, will be a tad more remote. off for a massage now!

Bangkok, Thailand

Less than 24 hours in Bangkok and I feel like everything I own is covered in a layer of sweat. Imagine New York City in August, only much more humid and smelly. But this makes it sound like I don't like Bangkok....I kinda do. I think. I know I like the food. My first meal in Bangkok was pad thai from a street vendor. It was very good and cost 20 baht, or about 50 cents. I'm staying in the traveler's ghetto of Khao San Road right now and it's really fun to walk through the street -I've heard people hate it here but I'm weird in that I think it's funny when tuk tuk drivers call out "Hey nice lady, where you go? where you want to go? i take you there!" So I should love the rest of southeast asia right? I stayed in the Novotel airport hotel the first night because my flight got in late and it was probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at...huge comfy bed, enormous bath tub, a phone in the bathroom?! Okay this internet cafe connection sucks so I have to go now. i miss my family and friends a lot right now, i think people should meet me at the beach in thailand pronto.

Whirinaki Rain Forest New Zealand

I'm actually in Christchurch awaiting my flight to Bangkok, not Whirinaki, but I liked this photo. Taken in the middle of a five hour hike through the rainforest, I look pretty happy here but I was really sick with that sinus infection at the time.

Happy Easter! It's Easter Monday in New Zealand and hardly any shops are open. I went to Christchurch Cathedral last night for Easter Mass and listened to some gorgeous music. I also celebrated by eating five Cadbury creme eggs. Except they don't just have regular creme eggs here...they have caramel, peppermint, and regular creme. mmm. on a related note, I have gained 4 kilos in 2 months!! that's a lot! i'm just going to say it's all muscle because I have been shouldering a 10 kilo pack and hiking quite a bit for the last few weeks.

Tomorrow I fly to Bangkok and I'm staying in a *gasp* hotel! I can't say how thrilled I am to know that I'll actually be able to afford hotels in Asia, rather than 6 person dorm beds. I enjoy hanging out in hostels but as the world's lightest sleeper, I've been having trouble sleeping at night when at least one person out of six in the room snores. I'm looking forward to the food in Bangkok too, but I am quite anxious about the culture shock. We'll see how it goes....xoxo.

Mt. Cook National Park, New Zealand

things i have been doing for the past four weeks in new zealand:

-eating enough peanut butter, hummus, cheese, and bread to last me a lifetime. seriously this has been my daily diet for weeks now. no complaining though, because i love all of those things.
-zipping through the north and south islands and totally falling in love with the country
-hiking and camping through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world
-climbing mountains
-being really tired every night from climbing said mountains

i'm in mt cook national park and tomorrow i will hike to a hut and sleep there for the night. so i'm off to pack now. buenas noches!

wellington, new zealand

if you were biting your nails about my escape from agnes water, fear not! i escaped and made it back to sydney in time for my flight to new zealand. exactly how i escaped is a story for another time, possibly with a few bottles of wine to pass the time....long story short, i got back to sydney via ferry, van, car, walking, train, and plane. not joking. it was an adventure though.

and i haven't been updating at all because i just finished ten days hiking in the wilderness of New Zealand's North Island. absolutely stunning! i just loved it. i was sick as a dog for part of it, and had some nasty blisters but i climbed 3 mountains, walked for 8 hours at a time, and camped under the stars. i am still in awe of the magnificence of the wilderness here. i'll upload photos when i get a decent computer, but if you are curious to see which mountains i climbed, you can watch"Lord of the Rings" or "The Last Samurai" (i climbed "Mt. Doom" aka Mt. Ngaruhoe, and Mt. Taranaki from Samurai). ok time on computer is up, love you all.

Agnes Water, Australia

Help, I am trapped in the most boring town on Australia's East Coast! Severe flooding has closed the roads in and out of the town, and there's NOTHING to do. I really shouldn't complain because things could be a lot worse, aka I could be one of the poor passengers on a stranded yacht out on the Whitsunday Islands! I just bought a ticket out of town tomorrow and I'm praying soooo hard that the roads are passable in the morning! Pretty much the rest of my trip in Australia and NZ depends on me getting out of here tomorrow so um, just cross your fingers for me. I'm going to go check out the ridiculous waves on the beach right now and maybe eat some lollies (Aussie for candy) to make myself feel better. cheers!