Koh Samet Weekend Getaway

Koh Samet was without a doubt the best weekend of my entire life thus far. It all started on Thursday night when Sarah, Hilary, Jeff, Zach and I decided to backpack our way to Khao San Road and frolick around there until roughly 4am before we decided to make our way to the bus station to catch the early morning bus that was headed for the coast! It was eventful, but it gets much better..

We arrived at Koh Samet by about 10am and immediately found a bungalow for 1,500 baht a night (roughly $30 U.S. dollars) and we crammed 5 people into the room - $6 per person each night, not too bad! It was actually a really nice room with 2 beds, AC, bathroom with a normal toilet and a nice shower! It had a flat screen TV although i'm not really sure why because watching TV was the furthest thing from anyone's mind. We hit the beach immediately after throwing all our stuff into the bungalow, it was roughly a 15-20 second walk away - yes, I'm serious. Now let me just say that this island contained the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my life! We explored a little, ate lunch, soaked up some sun and got ready to rage!

Naga Bar proved to be our favorite hang out spot for the weekend - It was awesome! The bartenders at this place must love there life, they all seem like they are just a wolf pack of best friends who frolick during the day and make drinks by night. Sweet life! They loved the Americans let me tell you, free shots and drinks all night long! There was a game at Naga where the bartender would flip a coin and you would have to guess heads or tails, if you guessed right you got a free drink. Of course knowing my luck I guessed wrong every single time and had to end up paying for a few of my drinks - even after they gave me like 2 or 3 tries. I deserved to pay after that humiliation I think. Regardless we loved the guys behind the bar, they let us come back there and hang out with them, and they obviously let us dance on the bar!

The next day was filled with sun and exploring. I went on an adventure with my friends that consisted of hiking over to a less populated beach, it was so cool! The bungalows that people on the island actually live in are so cute and so close to the crystal clear water! It seems like the coolest way of life. Everywhere I went, I was constantly looking around and gluing my eyes to different things - there was so much to see!

The sunset was a gorgeous sight to witness! Absolutely breathtaking, but the food I have to say was even better! I ate burgers like they were going out of style (which is actually half true because they are nowhere to be found in Bangkok!) and had delicious spring rolls which I have grown to become quite fond of. We also were lucky enough to have met my new favorite gay man in the world: Khacha. Always wanted a gay BFF!

I have been exhausted this week from the epic weekend I had on Koh Samet, and I am about to do it all over again but this time at Ko Samui and Ko Phangan this weekend! Thursday night me and Sarah are hopping on the 10:50pm overnight train headed for Surat Thuni, and we are island bound! I'll be back next wednesday morning with many entertaining stories I'm sure! These islands are known to be some of the most beautiful in all the world... even prettier than Koh Samet. Although this seems impossible, I am ready and eager to find out!

Week: 3

Adventures never end. I am constantly having a better day than the previous one, and I have no complaints! It is Monday night, July 5th and the past week has been eventful. I have been out 4 out of the past five nights, Khao San Road = Best. Place. Ever. It is full of international students, and the fun never stops, people are constantly out until roughly 7am. The street vendors included! Clothes are still being sold, shopping is still possible (and dangerous after one has a few drinks, a girl tends to want everything that she sees because it is all adorable!). Yes, I have officially seen Eclipse and it was amazing! The movie theaters and malls here are insanely gorgeous - at least 8 floors.

Fun fact about Thailand: "Ladyboys" everywhere. There are so many transvestites lurking around the streets, its kind of creepy actually. Most of them you cannot even tell that they are not the gender that they are pretending to be.. hence the creepiness.

I have officially begun the planning of my first ten day vacation! July 30th I will be full speed ahead to Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh, Ha Long Bay, beaches, motorcycles, craziness. I cannot wait! It was $40 for a 3 month multiple entry visa to Vietnam, so I will most assuredly be back in that country a few times before I venture back home to America.

As far as money goes, I have not spent that much - under $400. This is quite impressive for a shopping/partying girl. Everything is so cheap its wonderful!

Classes are VERY easy here. I think I have done homework once since I have been here. Can't complain in that arena. American food has become much easier to come by as the days progress - french fries, burgers and bagels have been reintroduced into my diet slowly but surely.

I'm loving everything about this place, there is just too much to write down! Will blog again soon, love you all!

Loving This Way of Life.. 2 Weeks Down!

My second week here in Bangkok was awesome! I finally feel settled in with everything - the classes, the people, the food (well, sort of) and the city! My days have been jam packed with exciting stuff! As a group, we all went to Pattaya on Friday. I got to see a cultural event, the botanical gardens, and one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen! At the cultural event, all of us Americans got to sit in the front row, and there were elephants & other crazy things going on. The Thai women in the show looked like goddesses with outfits covered in gems and porcelain faces, it was really interesting. Funny story - me and Julia had to go to the bathroom right before the show started, and while we were on our way we got stopped by a huge group of little Thai students who bombarded us, taking pictures of us and begging us for autographs... It was quite strange actually. Apparently this happens a lot to Americans over here, but I did not know that. So we started signing our autographs, but it was strange because we didn't know if these kids actually thought we were famous or what.. it was bizarre. A lady who was in charge of the group of students had all the kids get in a picture with me and Julia, and they were SO excited it was really cute.

Anyway, after the cultural event we had some time to walk around the botanical gardens which were absolutely gorgeous. After that, we were off to the beach where we had rented out a private beach through a hotel.. it was beautiful. We stayed there until about 8pm and hung around the beach and pool (which had a swim up bar! so cool!). We ate dinner on an outside patio overlooking the ocean which had awesome little island mountain things in the background - so so so pretty!

Saturday, a few of us went to JJ Market, which is a weekend market with all sorts of cool stuff being sold - clothes, purses, sunglasses, home decor and everything like that. Everything was really cheap, and you can bargain to get the prices even lower! I got an awesome elephant purse for 50 baht.. 1 U.S. dollar = 32 baht, so it was really cheap! We took the sky train to get to the market, and we saw victory monument in downtown Bangkok! Some of the protesting was held here, so it was really interesting to see this place.. very very interesting. Saturday night was one of the girl's birthdays, so we went to this place called Coyote - ladies night from 10-12pm, free margaritas! I didn't stay long though because I was pretty sure I was getting a fever - I had goosebumps the entire time I was out, I was freezing! When you are in a country that is roughly 95 degrees everyday, I think goosebumps may indicate that a fever is coming on. I was right, I have been in bed for the past 16 hours or so :( not cool! Luckily this happened on a Sunday rather than during the week when I have class though!

I have begun planning my first 10 day vacation which is at the end of July. A bunch of us want to go to Northern Vietnam and China! Sooo excited to do this! One thing I am looking forward to the most, renting a motorcycle for the day in Vietnam! Sorry mom, but it's happening!!

I miss everyone from home ridiculous amounts! Amanda, hope you had an awesome time in Croatia! You must be so excited to be home with everyone again. Dan, I love you and miss you a lot! Mom, Dad & lil Kev, you guys are the best! And to everyone else: Baker, Aimee, Karl, Sean and the whole bridgewater gang, love you lots and can't wait to see you in November!!

<3

First Weekend in Bangkok!

Friday was the first day with no classes! The whole group took these boat taxis called khlong boats down the canal to downtown Bangkok - there were AWESOME shopping markets and stuff outside :) We went to a really cool restaurant for lunch and then shopped around a little before coming back.. Traffic in Bangkok is AWFUL by the way. It took us over an hour in the taxi to get back to our apartments.. but good thing is the taxi only cost us about $1.75 per person because everything is SO cheap! Friday night we went out to this place called Route 66 for one of the girl's birthdays. It was so much fun, coolest club ever with laser lights everywhere and a big screen that was playing music videos - all american music! - and let's not forget DJ Buddha! :) By the way.. Sangha = awesome thai beer!

Saturday we went to an amusement/water park for the day which was cool and then we went to dinner at this outdoorsy place and had a bunch of food that was pretty good for the most part.. I am still not a fan of this Thai food i miss my american style burgers & fries a lot! I was so exhausted on Saturday that I didn't even bother going out so a bunch of us stayed in and got some rest.

Today (Sunday) I went to mass with everyone in the morning, then breakfast at Grandma's (the little restaurant we always go to that I have mentioned before) and then we got our Thai cell phones! Then about 8 of us girls went on a walk down by all these cool little outdoor markets and shopped a little.. dripping sweat the whole time because it is literally 9328453945 degrees here everyday! Not used to the heat at all yet.

Grossest thing ever.. last night on my balcony (mom you will appreciate this one) I saw the biggest cockroach on earth.. probably at least three to four inches long. Terrifying

A Whole New World...

Hi everyone! I am enjoying my time in Bangkok very much! I arrived in Hong Kong on Monday night at 7pm (which is 7am Monday in America) and we stayed at the Regal Hotel right at the airport (which by the way was voted #1 hotel airport in the world 2 years in a row!). I was incredibly tired and jetlagged so I had dinner and went to sleep, got up at the crack of dawn and was on a plane to Bangkok by 8:30am. First off let me tell you how incredibly WARM it is here! As soon as I stepped off the plane I was overwhelmed with heat. FUNNY STORY: When I was at JFK airport with Kevin's military bag which had all my clothes in it, I was informed that the padlock that was holding the bag together was going to be broken as soon as it tried to get through security... excellent. Luckily I have a wonderful boyfriend who gave me his lucky keychain (thanks DLO) to hold the bag together. The airport lady was very helpful and taped my bag in 238573845 different ways so that nothing would fall out and luckily it was successful! Okay back to Bangkok stuff..

When I first got here, I was shocked at how much poverty I saw. It reminded me of those commercials or infomercials that you see on tv that show pictures of mothers and their starving children. I was a little shocked because, although where I am living is very nice, right outside of my gated campus is poverty. There is a restaurant that we all go to every night called Grandma's, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a restaurant.. it is more like an outside tent surrounded by weird little houses/buildings. Grandma (the lady who serves us our food everynight) is hands down the cutest little Thai woman I have ever seen. We LOVE her, and her food is so good! (By the way, I am not a huge Thai food lover, so I think I have already lost some weight!) I usually get a grilled cheese/ham sandwich or this other dish called a "sexy egg" - how could I not try that? Anyway, it is not your typical restaurant.. you sit at picnic table type benches outside (EVERYTHING WE DO IS OUTSIDE) and she brings you your food as it is ready. Her grandchildren are there helping her, and I am pretty sure she lives upstairs from where the restaurant is.. no doors to her house at all. Very strange, but that is how most of the places over here are. It's a totally different world. On the walk to Grandma's, we walk by several beds tucked away under tent-like things, it's kind of sad to see how much poverty there is, but the people seem to be incredibly happy.

Classes are interesting, the professors are sometimes very difficult to understand because of their accents. All of us Americans constantly are getting stared at because we are the only foreigners around - it's so strange but cool! My room is on the fifteenth floor of my apartment building and I have a balcony that overlooks the city. It's AWESOME. The bathrooms are just one big room with no curtain/bathtub.. just a showerhead coming out of the wall.. in other words, when I shower so does my entire bathroom! It's bizarre, but I don't mind it.

Last night was by far the coolest experience that I have had so far. All 35 of us went out to a Thai bar right near our building, and as soon as we walked in the DJ's started blasting American music and all of the Thai people started dancing! I saw one Thai girl busting a move and I was laughing and clapping and she motioned for me and my friend Hilary to get up and dance with her so we did for a little. They played Tik Tok, California Girls (I flipped out with excitement when this song came on!) and some Justin Beiber. It was a BLAST. They have humungous towers of Heineken beer that cost 400 baht (about 12 American dollars) which kept us pretty happy for the night. We went to another bar down the street after that called BaBa which is apparently where all the international students hang out.. so we saw some Europeans there which was cool! Right now I am at the "new campus" called Wau Mak which is where I have two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all of my other classes are at the old campus in Bangkok (about an hour away) which is where I am living.

Tomorrow we are going on a canal ride through Bangkok, and Saturday we are going to an amusement park! So far I love Bangkok, but I miss everyone from home a lot too!

I will blog again soon :)

<3 Bri