Chiang Mai and ELEPHANTS!

After much debate, I decided to do a weekend trip to Chiang Mai for a second time. I really should have stayed home to work on two final projects, but whatever. I’m on exchange and I only have so many trips left to take before I return to dreaded Canada and cold temperatures.

We arrived Saturday morning and had a chill first day. We took a cooking class Saturday afternoon and I learned to make chicken satay with curry dipping sauce, traditional Chiang Mai noodles with red curry paste, and Pad Thai. It was actually really fun and our teachers were so nice. We got Thai cookbooks to bring home so hopefully I can actually make some of this when I get home. After that we went for massages and beer, and then headed to the Saturday Night Market. It was extremely crowded but I got super cute elephant shorts and tank top. And I love markets regardless of how crowded they are. We thought a Muay Thai fight would be a fun activity for that night. And it was pretty fun, until we realized most of the fights were fake. We were betting on them before we realized that, however, and I won a solid 20 Baht (about 85 cents lol).

Sunday morning was a slow start, and we basically wasted the whole morning. That afternoon, two of the guys went off for a river boat tour that I did on my last trip here. So me and one other guy found an insect museum we wanted to check out. It was very interested, as they had bugs from all over the world along with several other types of artifacts. We had the entire place to ourselves to explore which was an added bonus. We then met up with the others at the Royal Park Gardens where we rented bicycles and drove around the gardens to a few hours. We got there in the late afternoon so it wasn’t crowded at all and we were free to ride wherever we wanted. They had different garden areas for certain countries, and I found the Canadian Gardens, which consisted of Totem Poles and a giant Inuksuk, but unfortunately no maple trees. The whole garden is absolutely beautiful and huge. I would highly recommend going for an afternoon. It was relaxing and great to see. I also enjoy riding bikes whenever I can, so it was so much fun for me.

Sunday night we headed for Chiang Mai’s famous Sunday Night Market, where I got a shirt that I had originally wanted from my last trip here but never actually bought. Everybody came home with a few souvenirs that night. We then went back to the same bar we hung out from our last trip here for a beer and to watch some of UFC 193. We watched Canada fight Poland in the women’s division, and ironically, one of the guys I was with is from Poland. We also noticed that the fighters’ last names ended in the same suffixes as both of our surnames! So of course we had to out money on the fight and cheer on our home countries. Canada unfortunately lost, and I lost 100 Baht (~$4). But it was a fun night regardless.

Monday was undoubtedly my favourite day of this trip and probably my favourite day of my entire 4 months in Asia. I finally got to see the elephants! We went to Dumbo Elephant Spa about an hour outside of Chiang Mai where we, along with 4 other people, got to spend the day interacting and playing with 4 elephants, one of which was 3 months old. In the morning we learnt a little about their history and lifestyle, and then we fed them and led them through the jungle. After lunch, however, is when the real fun began. We had a mud fight with elephants! We brought them to this huge mud pit to cool them down, and we were covered head to toe in mud. The only area of our bodies that wasn’t covered was our eyes. I’ve never been dirty like that before but it was so much fun. Our guides loved every minute of it too, as they kept pushing us in so that we were fully covered. Even after the elephants were cooled down, we stayed in and had our own little mud fight. After the dirtiness, we headed to the river to bathe the elephants. We were all given a bucket and were simply instructed to throw as much water as possible on the elephants. They loved it. They were lying right down in that river with us as we scrubbed them clean. Of course, the mature adults that we all are, we couldn’t resist our own water fight as we tried to clean the mud off ourselves. I fully felt like a child again in those moments, and it was some of the most fun I’ve truly ever had.

We then fed them some more after bath time, and of course played with the baby (his name is Dumbo). He is adorable, and so playful. He likes to charge at you, and loves to get on his belly so you can rub him tummy and legs. Even though he’s 3 months old, he still weighs 250 Kg and can easily take you down. The guys particularly enjoyed trying to hold him back as he charged at them. He’s a tough guy for sure. But he would never hurt a fly. None of them would. They were happy as clams all day. I was actually so sad to say goodbye to them. It was truly one of the happiest days of my life. I highly recommend Dumbo Elephant Spa to anyone looking to do an elephant trip in Chiang Mai. They don’t allow riding there, and they use no hooks whatsoever. They understand that elephants aren’t meant to do tricks and shows and provide entertainment for humans. They are so humane with the elephants here; it was magical to see how they interact with them and how the elephants interact with complete strangers. They are truly loving creatures.

Our guides for the day were also so amazing and helpful. We were supposed to go back to Chiang Mai in the tuk tuk with the other 4 people, but one guide was driving his truck back into the city and asked if we wanted to join him. So we sat in the bed of his truck for half the ride, and enjoyed the wind blowing through our hair as we raced down the mountain. Halfway through he stopped and invited us to eat with him at this small local restaurant. I’ve never experienced such hospitality in Thailand before, it was incredible and he was so kind to us.

Tuesday we awoke early at 5:30 to try and catch a 7am bus to Chiang Rai. The bus was already full when we arrived so we waited around and took the bus at 8:30am instead. As soon as we arrived in Chiang Rai, we caught a mininvan to head to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar all meet in the river. It wasn’t as cool as I originally thought it would be, but still cool to see all three countries, especially since I’ve visited all three of them already. The coolest part was definitely where you can clearly see the rivers mix in front of you. You see the brown water from the Mekong River run into the blue water of the Kok River. We didn’t have much time to stay as we had to catch the minivan back to Chiang Rai and head straight for the airport to get back to Bangkok.

All in all, it was another great weekend and another great trip I’ve had whilst here in SE Asia. It’s finally starting to hit me that my time is almost up as I get back to Bangkok to finish final projects and start studying for final exams. It’s a sad thought, as I might never be ready to leave my life here in Thailand behind. 

~Ally 

Myanmar

Yesterday I got back from six days in Myanmar. It was an incredible trip and beautiful country. I originally didn't plan on going to Myanmar, mostly because I did no research on the country so I didn't know what to do or see or what to expect from it. When a few friends invited me to go with them and their dates fit perfectly into my travel schedule, I decided to book tickets and join them. I am so glad I made that decisions. Myanmar might even be my favourite country that I have visited here so far also.

We flew into Yangon last Wednesday night after class. My very first impression of the city was that it was a bit dirty. There were also bugs everywhere, and I mean everywhere. In our dorm rooms, in the showers, on the food, etc. We wandered the streets that night looking for food and met these three older Burmese men who invited us to sit and have a beer with them. They then proceeded to order dishes upon dishes of food just for us! And they refused to let us pay for any of it. They were so kind, and it was really great to talk with them about their country and especially their upcoming election for over an hour. This was the first time we would notice just how kind Burmese people are, especially towards farangs.

Thursday was spent exploring the streets of Yangon, which was very cool. There are shops everywhere, and you can purchase almost anything imaginable on the streets. That night we took an overnight bus to Inle Lake, where we spent the following two days. Our first day there, Friday, we took a boat tour around the lake and through many villages on the lake. We got to see jewellery being made from silver; cotton, silk, and lotus tree weaving; traditional umbrellas being made; how longboats are made; homemade cigars being made; and many others. It was a very cool experience to see how these people live. The scenery on the water was also unbelievable. There are mountains all around and the waters are so calm. Watching the sun go down over the mountains was beautiful.

Our second day in Inle Lake we went to a local market called Heyo about an hour drive away in another small town. This is a traditional local market where people buy vegetables, meat, clothing, toiletries, etc. They don't sell the stuff we are used to seeing at markets because they rarely see farangs in these types of markets. We very easily stuck out like sore thumbs, but again, people welcomed us so kindly and offered us to try lots of foods for free even. It was a real look into their lives, and I'm so happy we had the opportunity to see that. That night, we went to a vineyard in the mountains for a wine tasting and to again watch the sunset. It was beautiful too. It was so calm and relaxing. We then took another night bus to Bagan on Friday night.

Sunday we did a tour of Bagan and visited several of the 2200+ Pagodas that the city has to offer. We visited mostly just the big touristy ones, and they were all very different and all very cool. Most of them were built in the 11th century, and a lot have done well to remain standing today. Although we did learn that quite a few of the smaller ones have been mostly rebuilt after they were damaged in storms in 1975. But the original architecture is still there, and they are so magnificent. They are so detailed, I can't imagine how long it took to build them all. We also watched our third sunset sitting atop one of the pagodas with the mountains and the sunset on one side of us, and hundreds more pagodas in our view on all other sides. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen myself.

While the sunset was amazing in Bagan, we couldn't skip the sunrise, as it was even better. So we got up at 5am on Monday morning to drive to a different pagoda and again climbed atop it to watch the sun come up from behind the mountains. It was breathtaking, and 150% worth it to get up at that ungodly hour. Even more stunning than the sunrise itself, were when the hot air balloons went up over the pagodas. I wish that I could have been in one of those balloons, it would have been the most amazing experience with the best views of Bagan. Maybe on my next trip to Myanmar...

Monday was our last official day so after the sunrise (and after a late morning nap), we rented bicycles and drove around to visit the smaller, less-known pagodas of Old Bagan. This was my favourite part of the entire trip, because everywhere we went we were the only tourists, so we got to really explore whatever we wanted. We also got to see lots of areas that most people don't take the time to visit. I also just love riding bikes, mostly because it reminds me of my childhood.

Overall, this was an incredible trip and an even more incredible country. I highly recommend it to anyone. I'm almost ashamed that I had no interest in visiting it beforehand, but so grateful that my friends changed my mind.

P.S. If you are in Inle Lake, you have to eat at the Sun Flower. It had the best food, and the best service ever. You also should get the fried chicken and fried mashed potatoes. Seriously, that was easily one of the best meals I've eaten in SE Asia.

~Ally

Koh Phi Phi

This past weekend was no doubt the craziest and most spontaneous weekend of my life. I had just got back to Bangkok after 13 days of travelling Laos and Cambodia and decided to leave for the island just three days later. I originally planned to stay home for the weekend to catch up on school work and start some final projects, but I'm only here for two more months and there's only so many chances I'll get to travel to all these awesome places, so I went for it.

We took an overnight bus on Thursday to Krabi and then took the 2 hour ferry to the island Friday afternoon. Friday was a relatively chill day. We tried to go to the beach but couldn't find a really nice one. Instead we opted to find food and make plans for the following day. So we went ahead and booked tickets for snorkeling! Friday night was fun though. We started the night at Dojo Bar and Stockholm Syndrome which are the best party bars off the beach. We soon headed to Slinky on the beach where we enjoyed some limbo and fire shows. However, after a day of travelling and a few drinks on the beach, I was ready for bed. So it was an early night for me.

Saturday morning we were up and ready for a day of snorkeling and cruising all around the island on a long tail boat. Initially I was a bit timid of swimming literally in schools of fish, but it was such an awesome experience that I soon forgot that I was ever scared. In between the snorkeling, our driver took us to several beaches and good swimming spots. At one point he took us to go cliff jumping, and I'm so upset that i didn't try it. I'm completely terrified to do it, but I might never have the opportunity to cliff jump in Thailand again. My favourite beach we went to would easily be Maya Beach, where they filmed the movie The Beach about 15 years ago. Unfortunately the day we went it was very foggy out from all the forest fires in Indonesia, so we didn't have very good visibility of the cliffs in the distance. Either way it was a beautiful beach and the whole day was so much fun. I definitely want to do snorkeling again before I leave Asia.

Saturday night was a crazy one. We spent most of the night on the beach going between Slinky and 4Play. There were amazing fire shows at every bar for several hours. We got some drinks and enjoyed the shows before going back into town to find some parties there. The beach was the more popular option that night so we headed back to Slinky. They have a mechanical bull there and if you can stay on long enough you get free drinks, so I volunteered to try. Surprisingly, I lasted the whole time and walked away with free drinks for everyone I was with. The tide was super low that night so there was a sand bar where we could walk out into the ocean for quite a ways. We followed the crowd and enjoyed the sand and water in our toes. I also met these two Australian professional rugby players which was super cool. Especially because we had been watching the Rugby Semi-Finals earlier in the night.

Sunday was a chill beach day. We wanted to find a different other than the party beach near our hostel. We walked off in the other direction of the island and eventually found our way to Long Beach. We found a nice shaded area in the sand, laid our towels out, and spent the day going between the crystal teal waters and the white, soft sand. It was such a relaxing day. By the time we packed up to leave, it was almost dark. Sunday was mostly the same as the other nights. We got supper, got some drinks, and had fun. We stayed in our hostel for a while playing cards until we knew the beach would be full. On our way home from the beach we walked by a tattoo shop so I went to see what this guy was getting tattooed on his back. I started to talking to him and turns out he's from Gatineau, and his friend is starting law school at uOttawa in January! Such a small world. I ended up staying with them for an hour as they both got tattoos and we talked about Ottawa. The guy from Gatineau is currently on exchange in Hong Kong. I love meeting other backpackers on my travels, but it's even more exciting when they are from the same area as me!

Finally on Monday we had to leave paradise. And of course it was the hottest and clearest day yet. Our boat didn't leave until 3:30 so we spent the morning and early afternoon exploring more of the island and doing a little shopping. The clothes on Phi Phi were a little more western than what you normally find in markets in Thailand. So it was a nice change. After our 2 hour ferry, and a delayed 13 hour bus ride, we arrived back in Bangkok at 6am this morning. I have yet to sleep, as I'm now in crunch mode to get assignments and final projects started and finished. I won't be able to travel this weekend, but I wish I could go back to Phi Phi for another few days. It was honestly paradise there, and one of the most fun weekends I've had in my three months in Thailand so far.

Exams= No Fun

So I haven't been writing at all over the last three weeks, and I blame it all on school. I've actually been pretty boring the last three weekends, as I haven't left Bangkok, and I haven't even done much in Bangkok. We just finished midterm week, which wasn't even all that stressful. I only had two written midterms, and several projects. But it was enough to make travelling a no-go for a few weekends. But not to worry, that ends tonight!

Tonight I'm leaving for 10-12 days in Laos. I'm so excited. This is my first time leaving Thailand and this will be my first actual backpack trip. So far, I've only done weekend trips. I'm travelling with three other friends. If you ask me right now what we're going to do I would not have a single answer for you. All we know at this point is that we have a 13 hour overnight bus trip to get to the country. We'll be arriving in Vientiane and will probably spend at least a day or two. We do hope to make it to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang which are both more northern than Vientiane. I'm excited to be spontaneous and to not have a strict plan that we have to follow. If we love one city we can spend as much time as we want there. And if we hate it, we only have to spend one night.

For anyone who knows me, they know that I always over pack for any trip (I don't like to be unprepared). So packing enough clothes and toiletries for 12 days in one 60L backpack wasn't the easiest task for me. But this shall be good practice if I ever do do a 2-3 month backpacking trip somewheres.

Volunteering at an Orphanage

Yesterday was Friday, which usually means that I'm off travelling to another exciting adventure. This weekend is a little different. With midterms coming up in a week, and several group projects to complete, I'm taking this weekend and next off to actually study. And also to just explore Bangkok more, because lets me honest, this city is huge and exciting and has so much to offer. So long-story short, I'm home all weekend with no definitive plans other than catching up on sleep and homework. When I woke up yesterday I was in a bit of a sour mood, and decided to spend the entire day in my room in solitude. That plan lasted a whole ten minutes. 

Two friends of mine have to volunteer somewhere as part a project for one of their courses, and they chose to help at an orphanage. They mentioned it to me a few days earlier and I told them how I thought it was great idea and would be such an awesome experience, so they invited me to tag along. I'm so happy that I agreed to go. While we didn't specifically help with anything, it was great to just sit and play with the children for a few hours and to see how excited they were when we walked in to room. I've seen videos of people being attacked by puppies, but we were attacked (in a positive way) by toddlers! They just ran up to us and jumped on all of us for two hours! The orphanage itself is very nicely kept and large, but it's obvious that each child doesn't get the attention they deserve, solely because there are too many kids and not near enough staff. I also spoke with a director and he informed us that many of the children are not actually up for adoption, but rather that their parents are either in jail, rehab, etc., and the kids just remain there until it is safe for them to be with the parents again. There are, however, lots of children that remain in these facilities for years. This orphanage in particular usually only keeps children until age six, and then they are separated and moved to boys/girls homes. I was also informed that many Canadian families adopt from this facility, and it's something I would love to do in ten years time. 

Again, we didn't do much except play with the children, we fell so much in love with them that we would like to make a few more trips to the orphanage before we leave Thailand. One of the guys I went with had the great idea that we should try to do a mini-fundraiser at Nonsi (the building we live in with 100+ other exchange students). We also agreed to bring the children some treats next time we visit. We know we won't be able to do much, but we're hoping that anything will help in a positive way. 

I'll leave you with this note: if you want to see genuine happiness, look into the eyes of a child who finally gets his turn to play with a broken dinky car.

~Ally

BBA Trip- Hua Hin

***Just realized this didn't get posted. This was the weekend of September 4-6.***

Ah this weekend was so much fun. And I know I say that about almost all my weekends, but this was one definitely one for the books. It wasn't anything super fancy, but it was a weekend where I really got to know some of the local Thai students, and that was absolutely amazing!

So some of the awesome Thai students in BBA planned a weekend getaway to the city of Hua Hin, which is about three hours outside Bangkok. We left Friday afternoon, and after some delays in traffic and stopping for some amazing seafood on the way, we arrived at our hotel (which was so beautiful, situated directly across from the beach) at 5pm. We all took a few hours to rest up before we headed out to a night market for some more amazing seafood and a little bit of shopping. I also experienced my first rotee, which is basically a streetfood version of a crepe. They are utterly delicious, and I think I ate about four of them just this weekend. After the market came the real excitement though! We headed back to our hotel to have a party and truly get to know one another. We had lots of leftover money from what we each paid for the trip so the Thai students surprised us with tons of whiskey! This led to a very eventful night to say the least. But it was so much fun, and I am now close friends with some local students, which is great! They seriously have the answers to all our problems, so I highly recommend making friends with the locals wherever you go!

We also had the perfect place to hang out at night! All of our rooms were in the same hallway, so it was super easy to get to one another. And the Thai students all had a big family suite at the end of the hall, so we could all hang out in there. But outside their room led to a children's pool and playground, and lots of lounge chairs. And since the area was technically closed at night, it meant we had lots more room to enjoy ourselves. The whole night was actually so great. We had a guitar going and lots of singing happening outside by the pool, card games happening in every corner, people just sitting around getting to know one another, and of course, lots of whiskey being poured into cups.

Saturday was a super eventful day, once we finally got everyone up and out of bed. We first headed off to a temple about 35 minutes away. The area itself was small and the only main attraction was this giant statue of a Buddha, but regardless it was very cool to see. We then headed for a Thai Boxing Class, and I think I fell in love with a new sport. It was fun and such a good and hard workout. I'm currently looking into finding some classes in Bangkok that I can attend to learn a little bit more about the sport. Before supper that night we went to this little Vintage Market that is designed to look like old Thailand. It was small and the stores weren't super great, but the food was amazing! They also had live music being played and a dog show taking place. It made me miss my own little pet squirrels (I mean dogs). We went to a different night market on Saturday that was more touristy with everything there being handmade. So it was really more of a craftshow. There were buskers all around the area singing, breakdancing, doing magic shows, etc. It was neat to see but it was more like the markets I've been to in Canada, so we actually decided to leave early. Once again, Saturday was very fun with even more whiskey. Except this time, I was determined to stay up all night so that I could watch the sunrise over the beach in the morning. I just barely managed to stay awake long enough, but was it ever worth it! I can't even describe in words how beautiful it was! Only six of us were awake to watch it, but it was perfect. I've never experience serenity like that before. I'm sure I'll see lots more sunrises and sunsets during my time here, but that was a perfect first one to see.

As you can imagine, I was dead come Sunday. After a busy two days and two very long nights, I was running on no energy, and I really just wanted to head back to Bangkok. But as a last minute decision, 12 of us decided to take on of the vans and head to a waterpark for the day. Normally I'm not a big fan of waterparks, just because I usually find them dirty and crowded, but this one was amazing. It's call Vana Nava and they definitely had some good rides. Everyone's favourite was definitely one of the two big ones where six people go in one tube. I don't know how many times we climbed those stairs that day to ride it. My favourite thing about being at the park, however, was the view from standing at the top of the slides waiting to go down. It was breathtaking, and I only wish I had've had my camera with me to take pictures. If you looked in one direction, you could mountains covered with brush and greenery, and in the other direction you looked out into the sea. It was like two worlds colliding into one in that exact location, and I'm so lucky that I got to stand there and admire the views, all while riding exhilarating water slides for six hours straight with some of my best friends here. To say the least, it was a great day, and a great weekend, and I can't wait until the Thai students plan another trip for us all to go on.

~Ally

Weekend in Northern Thailand

Another amazing weekend has come and gone. This weekend I very much felt like a true backpacker. We started the weekend by taking a 14 hour night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. We were a group of seven so we stayed entertained for hours playing cards. I managed to meet a Canadian who was three bunks over from us who also joined us for the activities for quite some time. My only complaint with the train was that it was way too cold to sleep comfortably. But I would definitely travel by train again, just for the fact that you truly do meet some really cool people on there!

We arrived in Chiang Mai Friday morning and met up with my neighbours from Nonsi, who were also in the city for the weekend. Two of us spent the day visiting temples and walking around the Old City while the guys rented scooters and headed straight for Pai, a small town about four hour north of Chiang Mai. We took the bus and met them there later Friday night. Overall Friday was fun, but we were very tired from the train ride and then the bus. So Friday night I passed out as soon as we made it to our rooms. Speaking of rooms, our guesthouse was not the nicest place I've ever stayed. But it was right off the main walking street which becomes a food and shopping market at night. I actually loved Pai, the atmosphere there is so chill and relaxed. And we met some amazing people throughout the day who we would run into on the streets at night. We made really good friends with an English guy who now has plans to visit us when he makes it to Bangkok. I even met a girl from Ottawa at this tiny little strawberry farm on the outskirts of town. This is definitely my favourite thing about travelling, meeting people from all over the world and becoming instant friends.

Saturday was such a jam packed day. We headed out on scooters and first visited a Chinese village on a mountain that overlooked Pai. As we were climbing the mountain to reach some viewpoints we got stuck in a rainstorm and took cover under this little hut. We then sat in this restaurant atop the mountain and took in the view while we made more plans for the day. We next headed about 10km away to a canyon. We read that it is the supposed Thailand version of the Grand Canyon. While it wasn't near as big and exciting as the Grand Canyon, it was still very cool and my favourite thing of the day. We hiked up to the top and had again a wonderful view of the mountains in Pai. I just loved seeing all the greenery and breathing in clean, fresh air. The canyon was fairly large, but to see the best parts of it you had to do some tandem climbing, which of course we did! At one point we climbed up part of and realized we might not be able to get back down. Moving extremely slowly, we somehow managed to climb up and down some steep hills with not much traction. I've never used so much upper-body strength before, but it was so worth it. The adrenaline and the views made it all worth it.

Our next stop on our jam-packed adventure-sight-seeing day was a waterfall. We drove up some winding dirt roads and came across a small waterfall. Two of us jumped in to cool off for a few minutes and it was so refreshing. We were starting to get on a time crunch so we didn't have long to enjoy it. Getting back on the bikes and going back along the dirt road, we found our next destination: a land crack. Hiking up a hill on the mountain again, we were able to see two natural land cracks, one from 2008, and one from 2011. It wasn't as cool as we thought, but the guy who owns the property made up for the lack of excitement from the land. He provides all guests with fresh fruits and vegetables and juice, all for a donation. He was so nice to us and sent us home with a bag of fresh bananas, but not before he insisted we try his homemade wine, which was delicious. I actually wish he had bottles for sale.

Finally, to end our day, we drove to a large temple in the hills and climbed what felt like 30 flights of stairs to watch the sun set over the horizon. I'm sure you can imagine how beautiful it was. We finally made it back to our hostel to quickly clean up before hitting the walking streets and bar once again.

Sunday was a relatively chill day as we spent a better part of it travelling back to Chiang Mai. Once we all arrived, we did another night market until we got rained out and had to take cover in a bar. There, we found some of the backpackers that we met two days before in Pai, so we spent the evening drinking beer and playing pool with them. Monday was our final day, so we visited one last temple on the outskirts of town that overlooked Chiang Mai. We then took a river boat tour of the city where we learnt lots of the history of the city and were then treated with fresh fruits and the best mango sticky rice any of us have ever tasted. Our tour guide was so energetic and enthusiastic that he automatically put us all in a good mood and made the tour so much fun. If anyone ever goes to Chiang Mai, I would highly recommend taking the river tour with Scorpion Tail cruises.

After a long weekend away, and sleeping in less than ideal beds,  it was definitely nice to return back to my home away from home in Bangkok. Until next time Chiang Mai!

~Ally