Party Time in Kuta

My trip has been fairly low key until now, but when I arrived in Kuta, Bali, all that changed. The Kuta region is known for being very touristy, but it also has the longest white sand beach in Bali, great surfing, and the best sunsets, so I decided to give it a try. The sunsets there were indeed gorgeous, and I made it down to the beach twice to watch them.

I tried to go to the beach in Kuta but it is so hot here and there's no shade, plus since it's a surfing beach and the waves are huge you're not really supposed to swim there. Luckily the place I stayed had a nice big pool, and I could lay under a tree or go to the a/c in my room if I needed to.

So my second night in Kuta I met another girl traveling on her own named Miriam from the Netherlands. She had been in Bali for a month and had recently made some friends, so we went out every night the rest of the time I was there.

Kuta is a very popular destination spot for Australians especially, cause it's only a 2 or 3 hour flight, so many people come just for weekends or a week to party and surf. There are massive clubs that are open all night. Usually we would start our nights at this tiny bar stop on her street and have a few beers. Yes, I drank beer, lots of it. I'm just as shocked as anyone but the fact is beer here is $2 or $3, and vodka drinks are poured weak and cost $10. Then we would go to the clubs, there is one called the Sky Garden that is literally 5 or 6 floors, each with a different DJ and type of music. The first night we went we were there til almost 6 am, and ended up walking home in the daylight.

After that night I switched hotels up to one in Legian, which is still in walking distance of Kuta but nicer and not as crazy. Although my new place did have a pool, I spent most of my time at the beach because for $3 a day you could rent a cushy beach chair and umbrella. I would switch of laying in the sun and under the umbrella. I had brought my ipod but didn't even use it because the sound of the waves was so loud, but I actually found it really peaceful to only be able to hear that.

As fun as my nights have been and as relaxing as my days have been, I am ready to move on. My next stop is Ubud, which is kind of the cultural center of Bali. I'm ready to do some sightseeing and get to experience more of Bali. Rice patties and temples here I come!

Phuket = Boo-ket?? and Ko Phi Phi Magic

To be honest I was less than impressed with Phuket. I think it was a combination of bad weather, a cold/sinus infection, and sunburn than the island itself but yeah... let down. Also, going from Bangkok where everything was so cheap to going somewhere that taxis charge you $10 to go 2 miles just because they can really sucks. The worst part is that my two most expensive cab rides were to these places overlooking Phuket that are supposed to have the most amazing sunsets, but since it rained late afternoon/early evening every day it was too cloudy to see anything. Here are the views from the After Beach Bar in Kata and down on the beach in Rawai:

The good news is that I stayed in a really cute place, run by a very sweet Italian couple. Besides a great bed there was also a real shower with great pressure, a treat and big step up from my last place.

I ended up extended my time there cause I was tired of changing hotels every few days so I just stayed there and took day trips. Also, I didn't really go out at night. I wasn't in Patong, which is the touristy party place on the island, and even if I had I don't know if I would have gone. Sometimes traveling alone can be very exhausting. You have to make an effort to meet people, start conversations with people, and be willing to talk about yourself a lot to many different people. I guess cause I've been so sick and was feeling crappy I didn't really feel like putting out that much effort.

Enough complaining, there are a few things I did that were fabulous. The best was a day trip to Ko Phi Phi, which is actually 2 islands, plus we stopped at another one on the way. Since I was too sick to snorkel I just laid out and enjoyed the beaches, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I would be a very happy girl if I could see these amazing shades of blue water every day.

Another great place I discovered on Phuket is Old Town. I'm guessing most tourists don't make it there but I really liked it. The old buildings and architecture were so cute, I just walked around kind of aimlessly for a couple of hours. There are also tons of art galleries there so I checked those out as well.

Last but certainly not least, I did move hotels for my last night to be closer to the airport cause I had to leave for the airport at 4:30am, and I'm so glad I did. I was in an area called Hat Nai Yang, which is at the Northern end of the island. The beaches there are long and beautiful and much less crowded than in Kata where I had been. In fact, on my last day in Thailand I found my first secluded beach! Besides the fact that this beach was gorgeous and empty, it was also at the mouth of a national park.

I ended the day at a tiny beach bar with my favorite new Thai food, Som Tam, which is a spicy papaya salad, along with a mojito or two :)

Cheers Thailand, it's been an amazing time!

The Three Best Things About Railay

I just spent two amazing days on Railay in the Krabi province of Thailand. It is the most peaceful and remote beach, privy to all of nature's elements, which I learned quickly to accept and just go with the flow.The difference between high and low tide was so extreme that at any given time of day you could find yourself walking through 2 feet of water to get to your hotel or the nearest bar or restaurant on a path that is usually several yards from the shore line.

High Tide

Low Tide

Each day around 2pm the skies opened and the rain came down in droves, at times the thunder was deafening and the lightning right above. The beach is accessible only by boat, and there are no roads so everyone walks. Many people go there for rock climbing, as most of the island is either cliffs or jungle. There are also some of the most gorgeous beaches and colors of the ocean water that I have ever seen. I was tempted to stay there until it was time to leave for Bali but I decided to go on in my journey, knowing that everywhere I go will be beautiful and special, and I don't know when I will return to this part of the world so I want to see as much as I can see. I would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind to move here one day. I could have a very simple and natural life living in a place like this. For now though, I have fond memories of my short time in Railay.

The three things I love most about Railay are:

1) The Views

Seriously this was the view 20 feet in front of my door

at 8am Sunday morning. Feels like I'm in a dream world.

Viewpoint overlooking Hat Phra Nang

Sunset wasn't that impressive cause of the afternoon

thunderstorms but still pretty beautiful.

The famed Hat Phra Nang

2) The Adventure

I woke up early one morning to do what my guide book described as a "strenuous hike" to a hilltop ocean viewpoint and a hidden lagoon. Thankfully there were a couple of other people starting at the same time because when I finally found the "crude path" mentioned by the book, it looked like this:

Basically just a massive muddy cliff side with strategically placed ropes. There were many of these on the way to the hidden lagoon, some uphill like this, others basically vertical drops down that you had to pull yourself up or let yourself down on ropes. After watching a few people in my group go down one of them and seeing how long it took and how dangerous it was, I made the decision to turn back. At this point we had already been climbing well over an hour and even if I had made it down, I didn't know how I'd make it back up and we heard from other people on the cliff that there were 3 of these vertical drops down to the lagoon. This was as close as I got:

As I forged ahead on my own back up to the viewpoint I kept wondering if I had chickened out or if I should have kept going. I knew deep down it wasn't worth risking injury, especially since this was only the 2nd day of my six week vacation, but I was still kind of bummed I was the only one who backed out. Luckily I ran into one of the couples later in the day (I was already at the beach and they had just finished the hike) and they said it wasn't worth it. I felt better about myself and what I accomplished, getting to the other viewpoint a sweaty and dirty mess was actually incredibly rewarding.

Later in the day I embarked on an adventure of a different kind. In Bangkok I shied away from street food cause I was scared of getting sick, plus I don't always know what's being made and most things have meat in them. But when I got to the beach and saw that the beach version of street food was a line of boats instead of food stalls I had to go for it. One of my favorite dishes here in spicy glass noodles with vegetables, and one of the boats had it. I figured since it was all cooked I was safe from most illness-inducing germs. It was delicious and I'm happy to say consequence free.

3) Fire dancing
I've seen this before but for some reason this was different and much better. The fireworks setting on my camera made the actions shots come out really cool.

Maybe it could have had something to do with the lead fire dancer who I momentarily fell in love with :) He was also an amazing singer/guitar player (which I'm always impressed by) and a DJ. Plus he had a great smile and a nice body.

The entire fire dancing show was incredible. I have no idea how they do that but it's truly impressive and beautiful to watch. Luckily I think maybe he had a moment with me too cause he cleared the table in front of me out and moved it to the side and came and performed right in front of me.

He's seriously swinging the fire sticks from his mouth!!

I took it as a sign though that maybe it should be a love from a distance since my shoes were taken and I had to go back to the hotel with these two Australian girls I met. One of them was sweet enough to offer me a spare pair of her flip flops (which totally saved me). Even though I have never felt unsafe anywhere I've been in Thailand even at night, I was too scared to walk back to the bar by myself after getting the shoes so I went back to my room. Plus, going back to the bar by myself in the hopes of engaging with him further probably wouldn't have led to anything good.  

All in all it was a great way to start my beach vacation and I'm looking forward to my next adventure.

Goodbye Pitaksa

Thursday was my last day at Pitaksa Day Care and I found myself very sad to say goodbye. Also, because of the language barrier I did not understand that my 5th week was actually the last day of the official school year and that many of my students would not be there for my last week. I also got several new students, which made teaching a little more difficult because of the distractions and because they were not at the same level as my kids. All in all though everything worked out fine and we had fun working on basic conversational stuff and reviewing everything we'd learned the past six weeks. Since the next two months are technically summer school, not all kids attend and those who do don't have to wear their uniforms.

On Thursday the kids that were left gave me a wonderful parting ceremony, singing me songs, giving me flowers, and all lining up to give me goodbye hugs. It was so sweet and heartwarming. The staff also gave me a beautiful pashmina, which came in very handy because my last few days in Bangkok were cold and rainy.

These are the staff members who I worked with to teach them English while the students were napping. This was actually much harder than teaching the children but these women were so great and so appreciative. We got through it together with lots of laughter and good humor.

Aor, Sue, Ann, Eung, me, Muay, Bom, Riaw

This picture is from the Democratic Party event a few weeks ago that my kids performed at. These are the teachers in my class, Maew (teacher's aid) and Arom (head teacher). They have been so wonderful to me and despite the fact that they speak very little English, we were usually able to communicate and work together fairly well using a mix of charades and basic words here and there.

Two weeks ago when another volunteer Rhonda was still here we put on an English Camp for the oldest kids at the school. Every 20 minutes we would get a group of 10 kids each to teach English to. Rhonda is a nurse back home in Oregon so she taught about cleanliness, like washing your hands, covering your cough, etc. I taught animals. I had pictures of a frog, cat, fish, and elephant. First they learned each animal, then I taught the spelling of frog, and then I had a page with each animal on there that they could color. I found out very quickly that my students were definitely the most advanced and best behaved kids in school. It was quite an adjustment trying to capture the attention of the younger kids and keep them engaged the whole 10 minutes. With some groups we definitely spent more time drawing rather than spelling.

We did this for two very long, challenging, non-stop days, and then the third day was a big celebration. There was singing, dancing, drawing, and finally a big feast.

While I had my doubts about doing English Camp with kids who were so young, the staff and teachers thought it was a huge success and would like to do it again in the future. The school is actually looking into finding a native English speaker to come teach full time there. Hopefully they'll be able to get the funding that they need because I feel like that would benefit them so much more than to have volunteers come in a few times a year and work with different classes. I'll be keeping in touch with the principal and I'll keep my fingers crossed for good news.

Although I was at Pitaksa to teach, looking back I see this was just as much or more so a learning experience for me. I am so grateful that the students, staff, and teachers were as kind, supportive, and appreciative as they were having me there. I definitely had my moments of doubt about how much my being there was actually helping them. But if I made a portion of the students excited about English, want to learn English, or at least gave them a foundation and helped them to be one step ahead when they start formal English education, then I will be happy. For the others I'm glad that for six weeks they got a little extra attention, affection, and encouragement. Sometimes a smile, or a hug, or a big "gang maak" (good job) goes a long way. I will certainly miss these beautiful smiling faces.