Full Moon #2 and Koh Phangan

Hi there folks,

I know I have not really been up to date with this thing but honestly can you blame me?  When you are in an incredible place the last thing you want to do is sit on a computer and brag to others abot its beauty when you can just be outside enjoying it yourself... ok, that was kind of rubbing it in so I will just continue!

Full Moon Party #2 was not as eventful as the first one for me - only beacuse I could literally not breath because of my cold... I probably should not have attended at all.. but when in Thailand... you must attend the Full Moon Party! Well I paid the ultimate price and was sick in bed for days and had a high fever and had to have Bovy and Saah give me Thai massage while putting cold compresses all over my body (Okay I will say it I am SPOILED)!!!  During this time I met a wonderful German Family.  Gabi, Thomas, Nova, Vita and Yeisha!  The three girls were absolutely adorable - every morning when I came for breakfast they would jump up from the table and yell chantelle mama chantelle  and then run and give me a huge hug! So, I know I am softy but who would love them - I offered to babysit them so that Gabi and Thomas could go out and enjoy the day - I think only me would do that on their vacation/journey but then again it is my journey so I can do as I please!!! Gabi also took me to Yoga with here which was such a beautiful experience!!  I am really sad to have left Bovy, she has been an incredible friend to me and if I am ever in Thailand I will definitely come and visit her!!!

So, After a boat 2 mini buses and a public bus (YES a PUBLIC BUS) I made it to SATUN where I will take a ferry to Langkawi tomorrow. I am so happy to have met my Doctor Friend May!  She seriously saved the day for me - No one down here speaks english she got us a hotel room to share, diagnosed my cough as bonchitis and got us a cheap taxi to the pier tomorrow! Man I love this girl!!!

I am seriously starting to miss home but I think once I am better I will be living life again!!!

Miss you all,

Love,

Chantelle xo

Amzing Temples in Angkor Wat, Thai New Year in Chiang Mai, and Wonderful Waterfalls in Koh Samui.... Life is GOOD (Stratch that... GREAT)!

Hi Everyone, 

Sorry that it has been so long since I have last updated my blog, but I have literally gone none stop for the last couple of weeks!!!  I will try to recap as much as possible about my trip but it will be hard given that I have done so much in such a short amount of time it is easy to forget all that I have done! 

So, my trip up to Siem reap was awful.  It was a 6 hour bus ride that took 8 hours because I swear Cambodian people have to pee all of the time - it is nuts! When I finally arrived to Siem reap I hopped in a taxi back to the guesthouse I was staying at.  When I arrived it was definitely a different scene than what I had in Phnom Pehn.  I seriously think that I was the only one staying there.  It was in a nice location but not that much action given that there was no one to have a beer with or no one to even go to Agkor wat with but I was going to make the most of it!  I went to the market that evening and did some shopping - Cambodia is the place to buy everything.  It is even cheaper than Thailand, and if you dont mind being hounded by people saying "Hey Lady"  then it is GREAT! I managed to pick up a few gifts and then headed out for dinner on "Pub" street!  I knew that the next day was going to be a long one so I headed home early so that I was at least somewhat rested for my 4:30 am wake up call!  

Yup you heard it correctly, I had to wake up at 4:30 so that I was able to be ready to see the sunrise.  When I got up I headed down to the lobby to find my Tuk Tuk driver ready but there was pouring rain so he suggested that I head back to bed because there was no point to go out in this weather.  I agreed - and we decided to meet back in the lobby at 8:30 so that I was still able to have a full day at the temples! The temples were incredible! They were unlike anything I had ever seen - There was one that was built with faces in it and there was another that had trees wrapped around the stone! There were so many more that I saw but it is much better if you see the pictures than me tell you about them!  When I finished for the day I had a little sleep and then headed out for dinner and drinks on the town. Yup, I did it alone - and it was amazing.  I decided to go and ask a group of girls if they minded if I sat next to them - they were awesome!  We drank and eventually I met up with the group of British "frat" boys and we all headed out to the bars! It was a great night - probably too late of a night considering that I was volunteering at the orphanage the next day but I think that is what travelling is all about! 

The day before I went out and bought all of the kids at the orphanage stickers, pencils, crayons, colouring books, and note pads - it was the best $20 I have spent this whole trip! The kids were so cute and so excited to see me there! One of the girls just wanted me to talk with her in English and teach her things.  Most of the kids wanted to just sit with me. Of course in Chantelle style, I played daycamp games with them, sang and helped the kids colour write stories and draw.  I am not kidding the kids coloured for 4 hours - how could you not love them.  One of the little boys Srom made me a picture that said  "I love you Chantelle." I honestly cried it was so amazing and if I had more time I would have loved the opportunity to work with the kids for a couple of weeks! 

The next day I was headed for Chiang Mai! I had no idea what the week was going to entail other than there was going to be a massive water fight on the street!  When I arrived I went straight to the hotel to have a shower then I grabbed a quick dinner on the street (which is the best way to eat in Thailand) and we were headed for the night clubs! Tup's friends and I - once again the only girl - all went out to a local bar where we danced most of the night.  The next morning was waterfight time! Adam and I headed out on the streets - it was probably one of the best experiences of my travels so far.  It was unbelieveable! We were having the time of our lives literally soaking anyone or anything that walked past us.  

... I will have to continue with the rest of my update later... I am off to a party in Koh Samui.

Love you all Chantelle xox

Crazy Cambodia!!!!

After loading on the plane I was ready for new adventure in Cambodia! I knew it was going to be an entirely different experience than Thailand,not only because I am now literally travelling on my own but also from others I had heard that the culture was very different. When I walked off the plane I could tell this was a new country! People hounded you for a tuk tuk and followed you! I was lucky to have my hotel provide that service for me so I didn't have to worry about it:) the streets were crowded with thousands of motorbikes waaaayyyy more than in Thailand and my driver warned me to keep my purse close or someone might grab my bag from their motorbike! I was a little scared at that point but as soon as I checked into my hostel life was a breeze! First off I met my friend jelly, a 28 yearold guy from the Netherlands. He had been travelling for a couple of months so he was an old pro!! I went out for dinner and then headed back to the hostel where jelly and the " boys" were hanging out chatting andlistening to some good tunes! For whatever reason this hostel was filled with boys and a couple of "ichy" girls- so I stuck with the boys who were crazy!!!! I retired pretty early because that morning I was up at 4 am going to see tup's little bro in monk training camp!

The next Sam ( a guy from Britain, jelly and I all went to the killing fields. It was pretty horrible seeing a place where so many innocent lives were taken, it definitely makes me grateful for living in Canada. After that we went to see the national museum, the silver pagoda, and the royal palace! Then jelly and I went shopping for watches for him! We ate some street food which was delicious and then I retired to bed where I fell asleep while reading.

Today was a full travel day! I finally arrived a siem reap and now am sitting at an Internet cafe eating!! Hope all is well with everyone! Love you all xo chantelle

HOT NEWS..... CHANTELLE STRANDED ON AN ISLAND well not anymore but still I was!!!!!!

Flooding in Koh Phangan

Flooding in Surat Thani on the bus ride home you could not even see the road it was covered by water (I was a little scared I am not going to lie)

Bovy and I with our beautiful Poncho's

Yup, you read it correctly - Literally there is no way on or off the island! It all started a couple of days ago when we were out and on our way back the bridge that connects Ocean View (Bovy's resort) and the rest of the island was closed because it looked like the bridge was going to collapse!  So we quickly (like 2 minutes) packed up an overnight bag and headed across the river into town to her aunts place.  So for the last couple of days I have been wearing the same outfit and my beautiful pink poncho!! It was so intense on the island There were naval boats that had to come and rescue stranded people on the island of Koh Tao because they had no more food or water.  People were lining up at the pier for 150 spots on that boat - but there were thousands of people there!  Instead of freaking out, which to be honest is what I would normally do, I sat in the cafe and drank tea and ate banana bread.  I ended up laughing hysterically about people yelling at each other over the spots. I knew that if things got really bad on the island the boat would come and take us all to the mainland! So the next day I ended up getting on a ferry the next day and after a 13 hour bus ride I was in bangkok!  I arrived at 5am and had no hotel/hostel booked but to be honest I wasnt sure that I was going to be staying there until about 30 minutes before the ferry left so my disorganization was unintentional!  I wandered around for a good hour because every place I looked at was full (probably because everyone had or was leaving the islands).  I managed to get a bed to sleep in, but it sure had a price tag but at 6am I was tired of wandering and kind of scared considering there were tons of drunk people around so I was fine to splurge.  I slept until 11 am and then went out to Khao San road to buy some gifts for people!  After that I decided to lay by the pool until dinner time where I went out to a restaurant close to the hotel.  I sat down by myself and enjoyed a singha!  Now, I know people say you are an alocoholic when you drink alone, but frankly when you are travelling and you dont have a travel partner and you are sitting alone at a cafe with live music why not right!!!  My aloneness didn't last long two cousins - one from the Czech Republic and one from Oregon came and joined me at my table!  They were an awesome pair to sit with - they had plenty of hilarious stories and were not bad to look at either! We sat and drank at the bar, then proceeded to dance until 5am on Khao San Road (dancing in the bar and out front of the bar), then sang and listened to some songs in the middle of the road with some hippies from literally all of the world - France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Canada, Etc Etc!  When I finallly got to sleep at 7am the sun was already up - needless to say I called reception and asked for a late check out so that I could sleep in!  I went for lunch, grabbed some gatoraide and hang out in the city for a day with my two new friends (they were lucky enough to let me store my bag at their hostel) and then headed back to Tup's house in the evening!  I passed out as soon as I got to his place and woke up early because we were going to the ancient city that day! Tup, Big, Adam, Cheese and I all crowded in a beautiful air conditioned Van to take us there! On the way we stopped at the floating market which was really fun - we kept eating delicous food after delicous food!  Then we packed into a car and headed to Ayutaya. The pictures say it all....

Tomorrow I am heading out with Adam and Tup for fishing and then Wednesday I head to Cambodia where I will be flying into Phenom Pehn, then heading north to Siem Reap where I will be touring Angkor Wat and volunteering in Savong Orphanage!


Well until next time missing you all,


Love C. xox