Trouble in Paradise

This weekend was my first trip away from my new home in Bangkok. It was a well anticipated trip as about 30-40 exchange students all decided to go for the weekend. I left Friday morning with four other friends at 10am. The bus ride itself was a little over three hours, and the ferry boa ride was about 40 minutes. The ferry there was so much fun, even though we stepped aboard a creaky old wooden boat that didn't look like it might pass any safety regulations as a mode of public transportation in Canada. Regardless, we all arrived safely on the island of Koh Samet. So far, everything looked like paradise and we couldn't wait to have a few relaxing days on white sandy beaches and swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf of Thailand.

Our first day at the beach was great. I do believe the water was warmer than the air outside, and the beach itself looked like we were on some desktop computer background. This couldn't be real is all I kept thinking. But it was. I was on one of the prettiest little islands I've ever seen. We quickly ran into all the other exchange students at this beach bar called Naga. I went back into the water with a few and this is where my luck started to change, just ever so slightly. I swam out farther than maybe I should have and got stung by a jellyfish on my upper arm. And it hurt. Very bad. Good news, however, the pain did cease by that night, but still, it was slightly traumatising for a few moments. That first night was absolutely amazing though. My roommates and I went for massages in the early evening, and it was the best massage I have had to date. We opted for oil massages instead of Thai ones, and it was the most relaxing and gentle massage I have ever had. We then went to this beautiful restuarant right on the beach. There is something so soothing about being just mere feet away from the sea. Listening to the waves roll in just might be my favourite sound. And the food was amazing too, just to make the whole experience even better than it already was. After supper was party time! We headed back down the beach to Naga again where we found all the exchange students and many other tourists. At night time, Naga turns into a neon paint party. They have cans of paint all over the place so you can paint your body and face, and even the walls. Between dancing, being painted, and sitting on the beach watching the waves come, it was one of my favourite nights since being in Thailand.

Saturday was very fun as well, but my luck continued to decline. I fell early on in the day and scraped up my leg pretty bad, so the salt water made it too painful to be in the water for long. It didn't bother me much, as I had an incredible beach to relax on all day, and I even got a nice tan. (For anyone who thought I would remain Casper the ghost while here, I'm happy to announce that I'm finally tan!) Saturday night was much like our first, but we had more friends who joined us on the island! We started the night back at Naga, but it was a little slow. So we wandered down to the beach to another bar called Ploy. It was just as fun, and it had paint too! It's a fair assumption to say that I love paint parties, although I would recommend buying cheap clothes to wear to them, because the paint will not come out of your clothes unfortunately. After god knows how long, we moved back to Naga and had another great night there. I even managed to win myself two free buckets of drinks, so we all know that means I had a great time. Until of course I lost my phone... After that happened I was a sad allycat. There was no cheering me up. Even though everybody tried to, and I thank everyone deeply for caring so much about me, even though a lot of us only just met. But not worry, my phone was located the next morning, so everything is good again!!

Sunday was our last day in paradise, at least for this weekend. We had a great brunch at this little cafe and then browsed cute shops along the streets. We went to the beach for one last time until it was time to go back to reality. The ferryboat ride on the was home was not near as enjoyable as getting there. Most likely because everyone was still feeling the effects of the weekend. I swear to you though, the ride home felt like the never-ending carnival ride from hell. It was horrible. And so slow. When we finally stepped onto the mainland, we went to get on the bus, which we already had tickets for, only to find out all busses for that day were full. Our only option was to rent a minibus to take us back to Bangkok. It only cost 60 Baht extra, so we had no problem with that option. We loaded up, and took off. We thought it would be better actually, we would get home faster this way. But no.... Our driver was the worst ever. He kept making random stops on the sides of roads to pick up more passengers, until eventually we had more people than seats. And we had absolutely no room for any of our backpacks. And he was super rude to us the entire ride. Safe to say, if tipping was customary in Thailand, he would not having been getting a tip from me. At one point he pulled over and left us on the bus so he could go smoke and talk with friends for more than 20 minutes!! So unprofessional. And it didn't help that we were all exhausted, and cramped up, and just wanted to go home. We did eventually make it back though, so I'll cease my complaining here. Overall, my weekend was so much fun. The locals on Koh Samet are some of the nicest people I've ever met, and I truly cannot wait to go back for more fun in paradise.

~Ally

Week One: Temples, Thai Massages, School, and Parties

So I've now had just over a week in Thailand, and it has been amazing! I already feel like I've known some of these people for much longer than I actually have, and I continue to meet dozens more each day. Every day I say that it's been the best day of my life, and every day continues to get better and better. It really feels like I'm doing freshman year over again, or at least frosh week, because there's tons of people to meet, events to go to, and things to do! It's been an incredible week to say the least. Every night I've been meaning to do a little update about my day but by the time I get home I'm always just too tired. So I'll give a quick recap of my first ten days in Thailand.

I've been to several temples now, yet only one in Bangkok. My first day three of us went to Wat Pho Temple to do some sightseeing and to get Thai massages. Then last weekend I planned on going to Chatuchak Market with some people but instead spontaneously hoped aboard a train to Ayutthaya. It's a small city located two hours north of Bangkok, and it was beautiful. A group of seven of us went so it was a great opportunity to really get to know each other and see some amazing temples. That day might actually be one of my favourite days so far. 

I've also done lots of partying during my first week, which made it feel very much like frosh week again. I love that the majority of exchange students live in the same building. I actually miss living in residence and this is exactly that. It's great being able to run to someones room, or easily meet up in the garage for supper. And the pool is probably the best part! There's always a crowd of people at the pool, either after classes during the week, or all day long when we have days off. I absolutely love it. And the water feels great after wearing a tight and uncomfortable uniform all day.

School has officially started now, but so far it's good. I actually haven't had all my classes yet because we had a holiday on our second day. But by the end of this week I will have attended all my first lectures and will need to finalize my course schedule. I'm not super happy about some of the courses I had to take, but at least it's a pass/fail so if I really truly hate my two finance courses, then I probably won't spend hours a day trying to learn it just to get an A. But so far I love both my Entrepreneurship class and International Marketing. The way the courses seem to be constructed, and also the professors, just make me want to learn everything I can about the topics. I'm sure this enthusiasm will pass when I actually have to get down to it and do some homework/projects, but for now it seems great.

I still can't believe that I'm in Thailand, and that this is my life. But somehow I got fortunate enough to have this experience. I can't wait to see what the next five months have in store for me, and I already know that I will have to come back here. There's something so magical about this place to me. The city is such chaos, but it's almost like an instrumented chaos. Like I thought driving in cities like Toronto was hard with all the traffic, but TO has nothing on Bangkok traffic. But people don't honk, they don't get road rage. They accept it, and they respect all the other drivers on the road. And seeing people selling everything imaginable on the streets at 3 or 4am after all the clubs have closed makes me have so much respect for them. A lot of people here definitely live off tourists, but they don't seem to mind. Thai people may be the most kind-hearted people I've ever met. They are all so willing to help a lost foreigner out whenever. Everything here just amazes me.

OMG I'M HERE!

So after like 30 hours I finally made it to Bangkok at 7 last night. My flights were all pretty good, and I slept the majority on all of them. I was still exhausted by the time I got here though. Going through four different time changes in one day is hard and confusing. I seriously never knew what time it was. I almost missed my flight from Doha to Bangkok because of it too, but I made it, that's all that matters.

It surprisingly took no time to go through customs and get my luggage at the airport. We touched down at like 7:05, were off the plane by 7:20, and I was in a taxi leaving the airport by 7:55. Driving through Bangkok last night was amazing. We stayed on the highway for about 20 minutes and the city was just full of lights and billboards every 10 meters pretty much. I don't know why, but it kind of reminded me of driving down the Strip in Las Vegas. Probably because of all the billboards and like 10 lane roads.

I made it to my hotel by 8:30 and at that time I was dead. I just wanted to shower and sleep in a bed, and not an upright position. Both my roommates moved in yesterday too, so they were both here when I arrived. I haven't spent much time with them yet because they went out right after I got here but they seem so nice! And I somehow managed to get the master suite of our place. We have a three bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a little kitchen and living room. It is absolutely beautiful. We have so much space, and four balconies! There's one in the living room plus we all have a private balcony in our rooms. The view is great too. This place so far is just awesome. This morning I want to explore and find the pool and gym and see what else there is around here. I also need to go shopping today. There's a few necessities that didn't come with the room. And hopefully I can get my phone hooked up today or tomorrow.

Ah it's just so crazy to think that I'm actually in Bangkok. This is gonna be a great five months!

~ Ally

Airport Time!!!

I'm currently at the Halifax Airport watching the sunrise. I don't know how I haven't passed out yet. I must be full of adrenaline or something haha. I didn't sleep at all last night. I just stayed up to make sure we wouldn't sleep in and be late to the airport. I was told to arrive 3 hours early for international flights, so I was here at 3:30 this morning. Turns out the ticket counter and customs doesn't even open until 4:30 and 5. So I just had to sit and wait for over an hour. Once they did open I made it through security and customs in about 20 minutes, probably because there's only about 20 other people in the airport right now. Even at the gate, I'm the only one sitting in my area. I don't know if that means there will be hardly any people on my flight, or if they are all just hiding somewheres else.

I'm excited to get on the plane, mostly because I just want to sleep but didn't trust myself to sleep right now in case I missed this flight. I also just want to get there! This will possibly be the longest day of my life, and I wouldn't mind just getting it over with. I still don't know how I'm gonna do with a 13 hour flight, but let's pray I sleep for most of it. I also pray that I get someone good beside me. I can't stand when people try and steal all the armrests, so my own sake I hope we don't have any issues. I also wouldn't mind if they were a good conversationalists. I don't think I could go 13 hours without talking, unless of course I slept the whole 13 hours, which is possible, but unlikely. Whatever, I'll survive, and then I'll be in Thailand!!!!

~ Ally

Last Day Home

Today was my last day in Canada. It's so bittersweet to think that tomorrow morning I'll be out of here for five months. I seriously don't know where the summer went. It feels like last week when I found out that I'd get to go to Thailand, when in reality I've known since February. I know my time away will go by fast too, but I'm really wishing it doesn't. This could possibly be the only time I ever make to that side of world, so I want it to last for as long as possible.

Today was a great last day though. I had to repack my suitcases this morning basically on the front lawn to make sure that they weren't overweight. Thankfully I weighed them before I got to the airport otherwise I would've had to unpack everything on the airport floor. But once everything was situated and ready we took off for Halifax. We went downtown to the waterfront for supper with my brother and his girlfriend and got to see lots of street performers. We even came across a midway carnival. The fair used to be my favourite part of summer but we haven't had one at home in years so it was really sweet to go to one right before leaving Canada.

The waterfront is absolutely stunning and we got to sit right on the boardwalk to eat. The food was also amazing. I'm kind of nervous for the food in Thailand, so it was nice to get one last really good Canadian meal. It was definitely a good last day in Canada. Crazy to think that the next waterfronts I'll be seeing won't be the Atlantic Ocean, but rather the Gulf of Thailand.

~ Ally