Rain Rain Go Away..... Koh Samui... SERIOUSLY RAIN GO AWAY!!!

My sad face that alyssa was leaving :(

Bovy and I out for dinner

Mond and I dancing to Auntie Barb's favourite Tina Turner!

Sitting at the fancy 9Gems for my delicious and budget friendly soda water!!!

9 Gems!

Hi Friends,

Things in Thailand are going really well minus the rain!  But to be honest it really hasn't stopped me from having a fabulous time here! So, instead of sitting on the beach and tanning and reading and pondering life I found other ways to enjoy my day!  I am not going to lie I was a little sad when Alyssa left, it was nice to have her around but I am really happy that Bovy has literally taken me under her wing and showing me around "her neck of the woods."  Literally though her family runs this town (her uncle is the mayor) and her family owns multiple resorts on the island!  However, the best part of hanging out with Bovy is her love of food! It is wonderful - we are constantly eating wonderful food and she knows the places to go! So after a sunny day on Koh Phagnan we were off to go to Koh Samui for a couple of days.  Bovy and her auntie are opening up a designer boutique there so she had to go on business and I was going to go to check out the sights. Also, her family has so many shops and resorts on Samui - we stayed at her uncles resort which was GREAT and because she is Bovy we got an incredible deal! 

When we first arrived the first thing we did was meet up with her Auntie Cinnee.  She is a chic little lady who took us to breakfast! It was delicious - I had these thai doughnut things YUMMY!  Then next thing we did was go and get our hair done.  Now I am not going to lie usually this is not something that I would do, but my hair was looking awful and I really wanted to have nice hair if only for a day so I did it! We both looked and felt beautiful which was a real treat... and the best part it was her auntie's salon so we didn't pay a thing :).  After we went to the pier to go and pick up Mun (a friend of Tup and Bovy's) who is the designer of the shop!  Then headed out to see the shop (however, not without stopping for some roasted duck on rice- which turns out to be really delicious).  Their shop is on the trendy street of Chewang Beach which is a really popular resort community! I hung out at a coffee shop while they were talking business!  After that we went to check into our hotel at Lamai Beach!  It is probably the second most popular beach next to chewang.  We had a little rest and then got ready for a night on the town.  We went to dinner with her aunt  - a delicious seafood restaurant north of Lamai beach and then went to 2 bars.  The first was this classy joint where I could not afford a drink it was 200 baht for one drink ... I just had soda water :) It was seriously intense there were flowers everywhere apparently the man put 2000000 baht into building and decorating this place.  Very impressive, but almost over done! Next we went to an Irish Pub (definitely more my style) it was great!  We had a couple of beers while listening to this crazy live band! It was fun they seriously sang everything and let people request songs! We didn't get home until 3:00 am.  The next day Bovy treated us to breakfast at her uncles restaurant "the pier." It was unbelievable food and a great location!  You were literally eating in this beautiful restaurant just on the edge of a pier! We decided to leave early that day because it because to rain really hard.  We headed back to Koh Phagnan where I am now.  I am not here for long though - I am leaving tomorrow for Bangkok and then Cambodia on Monday!!!

Let the travels continue!

Missing you all!

Love Chantelle 

PS Check out my koh Phi Phi Photos I uploaded some to the blog!

xoxo

From Rock Climbing Railey to dancing the night away at the full moon party on Koh Phangnan!

OKAY OKAY!!! I know it has been a long while but I have had limited internet access and have been on the move for the last couple of days so here comes a LOOOOONNNNGGG ONE!

I am not even sure where I left off but I will start with our trip to Railey!  So, after a great time in Koh Lanta, Alyssa and I packed up our bags and headed out to Sea on the "Ao Nang Princess" to Railey! From the moment the long tail boat picked us up and brought us into the bay I fell in love with this place! It was so lush and green - something I truly envisioned when I thought of Thailand.  The limestone coming up from the Andaman Sea with a beautiful white sandy beach with cascading mountains right behind - All I can say is GORGEOUS! While in Koh Lanta we asked a Swiss girl where she had stayed and she recommended the "View Point" hotel which was cheap and had air conditioned.  It was on the ugly side of bay but we didn't care much all we had to do is wal 5 minutes through a path filled with wild monkeys to get to the beautiful beach.  So after we unpacked our stuff and cooled off with something to drink we headed out to walking street to get signed up for rock climbing! We decided to go with a good company with really friendly people we were really excited and decided that night to celebrate our first night there with drinks at a local bar called "The Last Bar."  This place was awesome! Super fun and it came with a serenading "fire boy" and a creepy Filipino bar mate!  So while Alyssa was getting hit on by young and really stupid Tattoo boy (I will explain in a sec) Connor I was getting hit on by Filipino bar mate - GREAT!  Eventually the bar mate left and we sat and talked with Connor.  He was studying in Bangkok for the semester and decided to do it "Kendall Style" and travel during his time off! HE told us that he was getting a tattoo that night, which of course I questioned because it was now midnight and he seemed to be on some sort of drugs - well either that or he was a really stupid guy! We retired for the night right after he left to get his tattoo.


The next morning funnily enough Connor, with his new and to be honest nice tattoo, was in our rock climbing group! We also had another Alyssa in our group and by the end all of the girls were called Alyssa - normally I would correct but in Thailand the only thing my name sounds like is "white carrot" and I just don't like that considering how pale I was to start the trip. Rock Climbing was thrilling and a really REALLY good work out.  We climbed four walls and by the end I could not climb anymore.  The last wall was 30 meters high I was really impressed with Alyssa and I, but at the end of it all I could not even write because my muscles were sooo sore! We went to Phrangnan beach which was GREAT - you had to walk along a stone path through caves to get there, but once there it was beautiful.  We relaxed there until dusk and decided to get an early dinner and head off to bed.  I am not going to lie both of us could barely move our arms at this point and my eyes were literally closing! The next morning we decided to head back to the beach and then went for a tiger balm massage which was AMAZING and REALLY cheap! We booked our tickets to head out to Koh Phangnan but as we are crazy girls we decided to take the "shortest" trip that made us wake up at 5:00 am. This would not be a problem if we did not decide to celebrate St. Patty's Day in Style and get drunk stumble home at 3:30 am and get maybe an hour of sleep!  I am pretty sure I was still drunk when I awoke - Good thing I was all packed the night before!


The Longboat ride to Krabi was good and we got to see the most amazing Sunrise... the first and last of the trip! haha lol  Then we took a bus from Krabi to Don Sak where we caught a ferry to Koh Phangnan! It was on the bus that I started to feel awful! My stomach was spinning and I was feeling pretty horrible from all of the alcohol - I just kept thinking what my mom always says "if you are going to play you gotta pay the price" and let me tell you I was! This wasn't the worst part though! As the weather in the gulf of Thailand was bad the water was horribly wavy! We packed on this little rickety boat and began our 2 1/2 hour journey to Koh Phangnan.  We thought we were smart by getting a seat in the cabin inside but within 15 minutes both of us were looking queezy and had to go outside.  It probably was the worst boat experience of my life and the 2 1/2 hours have never felt so long! I was literally curled up in a ball on the deck as the waves took us up and down and the rain poured down on us... yep if you are picturing a poor little girl that pretty much sums up what I looked like. Alyssa looked white as a ghost and I just kept laughing because if I didnt laugh I was going to be sick!  Hitting ground was the best feeling ever- we called Bovy who had her cousin meet us at the 7-11 and we headed to the Beauitful bungalows at Ocean View Resort!

 Ocean View resort was nothing short of amazing! I absolutely love it - Talk about peace and serenity.  We literally have the entire beach to ourselves and our bungalow was the closest one to the water with huge glass windows so we can wake up to the sound of the ocean!  When we arrived we slept for a couple of hours to cure our hangover both from the alochol and the sea sickness! When we woke up we met up with Bovy at the restaurant where we dinned on an amazing meal... actually it was one of the best meals we have had in Thailand! Then we went to bed where we slept the day away!  We woke up the next morning to the pitter patter of the rain... not so much fun! But we made the best of it and decided to gt "organized" for the Full Moon Party later that night! We all bought our outfits.  I went with a bright pink Singha tank and yellow skirt!  Alyssa went for the "lifeguard" look with neon green shorts and bovy wore a pink dress. We also went the spa to get our nails and feet done! It was a fun afternoon very stress free and relaxing and we were ready to PARTY PARTY PARTY!!!


All I can say is CRAZINESS! Honestly, I thought I knew what I was expecting from the full moon party but it was even more.  There was a "fire" slide, 6 different stages for dancing, people unconscious from falling of stages, people passed out in the water, stories of "lady boys grabbing a guy's junk while he was peeing, body paint, neon neon neon and buckets! The Full moon party was fun and amazing, I stuck with beer as buckets just make me feel ill but I had a great time and there are tons of funny stories that I am sure if you ask in person I will share with you!!! After, the party we headed to chicken corner while we dined on the best sandwhiches in Thailand as Bovy says - I will have to agree they were amazing... I ate 1 1/2 ha! We got home at 5:00am and slept! The next day we took it easy and lounged on the beach and relaxed and since the sun came up for us it was a good day for it!  The next day was Alyssa's final day with me :( We decided to take a cooking course where we learned how to make spring rolls, pad thai and massaman curry  YUMMMMMYYY!!!!!! Then we went to the spa for a thai massage and body scrub (for alyssa)! We ate a great dinner and then went to bed. We woke up at 6:00 am to drive her to the boat, I am really sad to see her go, but I am excited to be on the journey by myself! I am definitely starting more like "chantelle" which is awesome!


I am really missing everyone, but not enough to come home! I hope everyone is doing well. I hope to be more frequent with my posts and post pictures when I get back to Tups because I can download pics on these computers for whatever reason!!!


Missing you all!


Love you tons and tons!!!


xoxo


Chantelle

Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta

Well it has been a while since my last blog - well actually not that long but to me it seems like it has been age, so this one is going to be a long one!


When Alyssa and I arrived at Koh Phi Phi we were amazed - We both could not stop saying "Wow, this is SOOOOO beautiful!"  However, after we got off the ferry and looked for accommodation we both wanted to rip our hairs out, we were literally hounded by people to get their accommodation.  We met one guy who seemed to be reasonable who took us to a place - we were going to take it but then I spotted them (yup little creepy crawlers crawling up the walls behind the bed.  Now, I don't know if they were bed bugs or what but I was not staying there.  After that we decided it would be better for us to go around and actually inspect all of the properties ourselves before committing to a place.  We also decided to go and buy a can of "raid" so we could spray at the door and literally every corner of the room - now that is probably not the healthiest thing to do but I would rather have that than bugs climbing over top of me while I slept.  That night we decided to head out to a restaurant - we ate at 6:30 which we thought was late but people on phi phi are definitely on thai tie and ate around 9:00 so the restaurant was empty!  That night we retired early so that we could have a good start to the next day!  We relaxed on the beach ate some delicious food - but not before the rain set in!  It was a warm rain but really hampered our sun tanning plans but what can ya do!  That night we decided to go out on the town or the beach.  We danced in the sand to great music while drinking our first bucket!  We also got to see a fire show which was really cool!  Good thing we decided to share a bucket because A) they are really potent B) they are not conducive for dancing C) there are so many creepy guys around!!!  Alyssa went home to eat pizza around 1:00 am but I decided to stay out and sit under the stars listening to music for a little longer.  I chatted with a couple of guys from Britain for a while and then around 3:00 decided to head back to the hotel.  We slept in that day and decided to have yet another go at a beach day!  It was a success - the sun decided to greet us with it's presence.  We bought a volleyball to play with  and decided to rent a kayak and kayak to "Monkey Beach."  This was the first real white perfect sand beach and really our first time to go snorkeling.  Alyssa was really scared, so swam beside her while she looked - I think this was the moment that she decided that diving was not going to be "her" thing!  That night we decided to treat ourselves to a delicious meal - and let me tell you it was AMAZING! I had some chicken in port sauce and Alyssa had King Prawns flambeyed in something delicious! It was at this restaurant that we met Claudie, she was a lady in her late fifties from France.  She had been to Thailand for the past ten years.  When we told her we were thinking of heading to Koh Lanta she gave us the name of a place that she always stays there "Fruit Tree Lodge."  The next morning we decided to go on a boat trip over to the where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.  On our way over to  Maya Bay we had the craziest bopat trip ever.  I honestly thought that our boat was going to tip over.  Alyssa and I were screaming and the guide was just laughing at us - I am sure that he thought he was quite hilarious but it was a bit scary!  Maya Bay was beautiful but definitely a touristy place.  The beach was packed with all foreigners but I would still recommend people to go!  The ride back was a little calmer and from there we literally rushed to catch the ferry to take us to Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta is a larger Island then Phi Phi.  I definitely prefer it here over Phi Phi which is absolutely beautiful but just too busy!  The place where we are staying is great and I knew we could trust Claudie's opinion!  She seemed like a classy woman.  We met the owners of the bungalows: Bamon (who is Thai) and Kava (Who is Australian).  They run the bungalows and also work as dive instructors!  They told us about the Lanta Lanta festival which was happening the next day.  So, the next morning we woke up late and decided to head down to the festival!  It was really cool to see how they made certain things work.  The had rides for the kids - Literally floating boats in an inflatable swimming pool.  A trampoline for the kids to jump on and games that only cost 10 cents!  There was a lot of food we ate: Potato on a stick, Corn on the cob, a thai banana pancake, spring rolls and rice!  The food (for the most part) was delicious!  We called our taxi drive Kun to come and pick us up and headed home after being at the fair for 10 hours!  It was a really long day and we were exhausted!  We did come home with some good buys though :).  Today we went the beach - it was such a beautiful day and really hot! I finished reading eat pray love (Thanks Jess) and sat in the sun all day!  I watched the sunset which was gorgeous and when I get a computer that will allow me to uplaod my photos I will put them up!!  I am really missing all of you soooo much and hope I get a chance to talk to you over skype.

Lots of Love,

Chantelle xo

Koh Phi Phi = My gorgeous place I have EVER seen!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that I have arrived at the beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi and let me tell you I hope that everyone has a chance to come here in their lifetime! There is really something so special about this place.  Talk about rest and relaxation!  Anyways I am thinking of you all... the internet here is really expensive so I will probably wait a couple of days to update you all on my adventures but don't worry I will make sure to make it a good one the next time I write!

With a huge and warm hug from Sunny Koh Phi Phi,

Chantelle xo

Elephants Elephants and More Elephants!!!

So it has been a couple of days since my last post but after reading this I am sure you will like you are reading a week's worth of information. So without further ado here it goes....


After our busy night at Muay Thai and a good breakfast we headed out to the day market in a tuk tuk! As we were getting off the Tuk Tuk a gentleman approached us and told us about the factories we should go to which were a little ways out of town.  These were the factories that had actual gems, silk, gold, silver, real Thai cotton etc.  It was amazing and it I was rich I would have bought so many things, but sadly I am not!  I did buy myself a pearl necklace - it was something that I really wanted and it was beautiful.  I decided to treat myself to something beautiful (granted being here is treating myself but still).  We spent a couple of hours out there looking around at everything and then headed back to the city to meet Nok for our final Thai massage lesson.   It was great and very relaxing she even allowed us to video her so that we could see how it was done rather than seeing pictures in the booklet she gave us.  After that my friend from TRU, Kwan, met up with us and took us to a traditional Northern Thai buffet and performance.  It was really fun and of course I went up and danced with them at the end! Our night didn't end there, we then got Kwan to drop us off at the Night Bizarre - it was here that we perfected our bartering technique.  Alyssa, played the girl who was really interested and I played the tough "no we are getting ripped off" girl!  It was great and we managed to get some great deals.   We went home around midnight and then packed our bags for our trek the next day.

7:45 am - we got up late because our alarm did not go off but we still had enough time to get ready for our big day! We packed our bathing suits, running shoes, towel, sunscreen and Bug spray and were ready for our adventure filled day!  We were picked up around 8:45 by another Kwan - she was our guide. On our tour we met two guys from Singapore ( Lionel and Tay) and Three people from France (Etinne, Elsa and Veronique).  They were all really nice and friendly.  We first headed to a butterfly and Orchid farm.  The butterflies were not really that beautiful - to me they looked like moths (there were no beautifully coloured ones) but the orchids were absolutely gorgeous.  There were flowers of every colour and every size :)  After that we went and visit the karen Hill tribe.  The Karen Hill tribe fled Burma around 20 years ago and settled in the mountains of chiang mai.  They wear coils around their neck so the Thais call them long neck.  It was really interesting to see how they lived their life (although it seems a bit touristy it was still really interesting).   After that we headed up to one of the many waterfalls in chiang mai.  It was beautiful and a great way to cool off after an hour long hike.  We headed back down the mountain to go rafting and bamboo rafting.  It was a really beautiful setting and so incredibly peaceful!  Then it was time for the GRAND FINALE!!! The ELEPHANTS.  Patricia told me that the Indian God of the elephant represents letting go of obstacles inner and outter.  Well that is exactly what I did! I let go of all of the stress and worry that I have in my body and was just HAPPY! It was an amazing experience and to top it off I ended up riding the elephant bare back and then having the elephant pick me up in its trunk and lift me off the ground.  Then on our ride we passed this tree - now normally this would be like any other tree, but before I left and when I had just gotten back from Australia I started to paint and I painted a tree just like this one.  It was twisted and tangled and dark - but somehow perfect to me and beautiful.  The sunlight was shinning from behind it just as I had painted it!  It made me realize and think a lot and since this trip supposed to be for that it made me feel so peaceful and happy!


Well that is all for now! I am back in bangkok and heading to Koah San Road (Forgive me if I cant spell)


I love and miss you all.

xo Chantelle

Max and the Gang!

So, after doing a little research on the computer about some treks that we may want to do, Alyssa and I headed out in a tuk tuk to meet Max (Nok's husband) who was going to take us up to the temple on the mountain.  When we arrived we loaded up in the back of a pickup truck where 2 grandma's and a grandpa were sitting there as well.  Nok's sister, brother in law and Nephew Chin were sitting in the front!  It was really nice to chat well kind of chat with them they were so kind and I have to say I have never been called beautiful so much in my life!  The road up to the temple was steep and had so many s -curves but Max drove slow so I felt safe.  When we arrived we began our hike up the steep steps to reach the temple.  On the way a couple stopped and took pictures with Alyssa and I .... It is really funny I ended up taking photos with a couple of other people that day!  We toured around the temple and did some Buddhist prayers.  It was definitely a unique experience.  Little Chin - Nok and Max's nephew was absolutely adorable and was probably the most easy going baby ever. We then left the temple and picked up Nok.  They took us to this Royal Thai gardens we could see in from the outside but could not go back in because it was closed.

Then they dropped us back off in the city centre where we decided to book our elephant trekking adventure and headed out to eat before the big muay thai fight.  Dinner was amazing to say the least.  We ordered: Peanut Chicken, spring rolls, pad Thai, green curry, papaya salad and rice.  I think the girl thought we were disgusting but we were sooooo hungry and besides the last little drags we ate it all! We then went to the Muay Thai. This was definitely not my scene but it was interesting to go and watch a real thai fight.  There were 7 fights in total, one that was between 7 year old boys... both alyssa and I didnt like that very much.  Alyssa kept saying " where are their mothers!"  One  of the guys kept doing "praying mantis" type kicks it was intense and people kept looking at me because I was squealing at the thought of being kicked and punched int he face! We took a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel and relaxed and fell asleep.

Today we will let the adventures continue!!  We will complete our class in Thai massage and then head to the night markets!!!

Love you C. xo

Hello Chiang Mai and Nok!

After a VERY early wake up call (4:10 am) to be exact Alyssa and I were off to the airport for our new adventure in Chiang Mai.  I am not going to lie, I thought I was going to be an "oscar the grouch" but instead I think I was past the point of grumpy and just funny - You will have to ask Alyssa on this one though.  I am glad we got up when we did because when we arrived at the airport there was a huge line up to check in. We didn't even have any bags to check in (amazing I know especially for Alyssa and I) but the airport was not like in Vancouver where you can check in online and receive your bording pass from the computers. Our flight was only an hour long and was pretty easy and then we had arrived in beautiful Chiang Mai.  I can definitely see why Sean and Jess loved it up here.  It is so much cleaner and "fresh" than Bangkok!   Don't get me wrong I love the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, but Chaing Mai had a much slower pace and easy going vibe!  We called the hotel (The Grand Napat) and asked them if we were able to check in early.  They agreed, when we got there we ate breakfast and lounged around the pool.  We are paying $25 a night for this place it is unbelievably cheap.


We then met a couple from Edmonton who gave some details of some things that they had done in Chiang Mai.  One of the things was learning how to give Thai Massage.  That is where we met NOK!  She is the loveliest Thai woman.  She is probably the size of Hailey (well maybe not that short but small).  She taught both Alyssa and I on our own and was about 1/2 the price of other classes.  She was wonderful and hands on.  She would give us thai massage by showing us how to do the "moves" and then would make each of have a turn on each other.  On our litter break she gave us banana's to eat it was at this point that I started asking her some questions about what to do and where to go in Chiang Mai.  Sean and Jess had told me that they had gone and rented scooters and travel up into the mountains to see the temples. Alyssa and I were a little scared to do this and I asked Nok what she thought of the idea.  She said it would be safer if we didnt do that so she offered for her husband and other members of her family to take us there for no charge :)   So, her husband Max and her family will be taking us up there today to see it - talk about a cultural experience! After our thai massage class Alyssa and I were hungry so we decided to get Mexican food - haha lol not exactly what most people would do in Thailand but to be honest we aren't most people! The food tasted delicious but after - I think because we were so dehydrated from our class we both had really bad crampy stomaches and headed home!  Luckily the pain didnt last long and we both slept around 12 hours last night.  Today we are going to lounge by the pool and then head off to meet max at 1:30 then back to see Nok for our Thai massage instruction!


Well that is all for now - I will have to let you know how our "journey" with max goes tonight!


Cheers C. xo