Canadian eh?

I can't believe we're back. It feels so foreign. Both of us are experiencing a bit of culture shock, but I think I'm feeling it more then Paul. The worst Paul has had was remembering to drive on the right side of the road yesterday! I'm having trouble adjusting to the weather, the food, the people... everything it seems.

We arrived at 2pm in the afternoon on Friday after a very smooth, but very long group of flights. As we landed in Toronto I started to cry. It was a good cry, the kind you laugh with. It was in that moment that our trip came to its official end. It was such an amazing experience - like nothing either of us has done before - that it's end was harder then I expected.

We visited with both families on Sunday. The Findlays and my grandparents came over to my parents house and we finally satisfied our craving for pizza (although both of us could only eat 2 slices). It was great to see everyone and even more fun to give everyone the gifts we got in Thailand. It looks like everyone was really happy with what they got. Sweet!

Paul and I have decided that our next adventure will be teaching English overseas. We are thinking Korea, but we are not ruling out Japan at this point. We still have research to do and money to save before we can apply. Luckily a friend of ours (that's you John) knows someone who is teaching in Korea right now and we have been able to pick his brain via e-mail. The next big decision is whether or not we should both take our TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) certificate. It is not a requirement, but an asset so we'll let you know.

So as for work, all we really need is to find some work that will help with the bills and a bit of savings before we leave. I applied to my first job yesterday - an admin position with an optical company in Ajax. He must be desperate to find someone because I also had my first interview yesterday. Although I must admit it wasn't really much of an interview. He wasn't very prepared and he didn't have too many questions for me really. He said that he really just wanted to meet me. We'll see how it turns out. I should know by the end of the week, but I'm not holding my breath. It was my first resume and my first interview :)

Paul and I are just about to hit the job search now. We're going to keep updating our blog to let you all know what we're up to. Later.

Same Same But Different

Well this is our last blog from Thailand. Even writing those words makes me sad. Neither of us are ready to leave yet. We seem to have recieved our second wind so to speak. I know when we talked to some of you at Christmas we were tired but it appears we have gotten a burst of energy just in time for the flight home. Even without our new found energy it still wouldn't feel right leaving. We're both sad today - you should see us moping around beautiful Thailand - quite pathetic really. We're planning on doing one last touristy thing before we leave and having a nice dinner at Shanti. Twelve hours and counting.

So final words on our trip. After meeting lots of people, both local and fellow travelers, you come to realise that Thailand isn't so different from home. I guess that's why the people here always say "same same but different". They all work and play just like we do, they have familes and friends, and problems just like us... but it's different. I don't know how else to explain it.

I just have one thing to say before we say bye bye from this end of the world...


If you get a chance to go... go.


Peace Out

Correne and Paul

Monkey Business

Hua Hin

We spent our last days in Hua Hin doing nothing (which seems to be the theme of the tail end of our trip). We went to Sports Villa and had a great time. We sat in the sun and when we got too hot we went for a dip in the cool, refreshing pool. We got a bit too much sun that day so we spent our last day in Hua Hin wandering around the city and trying to stay out of the sun. We hit the night market one last time and said bye bye to Hua Hin.

Phetchaburi

We wanted to take the 11:30 a.m. train on Sunday to make our way to Phetchaburi. It was late an hour and what was supposed to take one hour ended up being closer to 1-1/2. We have become used to this since arriving in Thailand (nothing is ever on time) so we just shrugged it off.

Once arriving in town we walked to our first choice of guesthouse, which doesn't mean much because Phetchaburi doesn't have a lot of options. We settled for one in town and decided to stay two nights. The place wasn't the greatest but we decided to suck it up!! :)

We spent most of that night trying to find a phone (with no luck) and continued our search the next morning. Let's just say our search ended with us using some random guy's cellphone and a phone card (long story so I'll tell you later). It appears our phone call was not in vain because we now have plans for Sunday!! Woo Hoo.

Our only planned destination in Phetchaburi was Khao Wang - a series of buildings spread out over three mountain tops. The walk there proved to be a bit scary (well for me at least). We were chased by dogs (dogs here love to bark at farang), braved monkeys and highway traffic. After arriving at the bottom of Khao Wang safe and sound we decided to take the cablecar up to the top of the first hill because we had heard many stories of the crazy monkeys who call this hill their home. I'm glad we did because we saw many signs warning us about the "wild nature" of these monkeys. The palace on the first hill, which is now a museum, was built by King Rama IV. The museum wasn't the greatest, but the views from the tops of the mountains were really something. See for yourself by checking out the photo album :) We wandered around and between the hills for about three hours (until the heat got the best of us) checking out the wide array of buildings and temples the King had built while he lived there. We took the cablecar back down and made our way back to the guesthouse.

That night we met a gentleman from Vancouver named Paul (go figure). He was a great guy and we ended up having dinner with him as well. He was on his first vacation in three years and Phetchaburi was one of his last stops before heading home on the 15th.

Side Note: Paul told us that when he was on Khao Wang he saw a woman from Korea who was attacked by one of the CRAZY monkeys. I guess the cable car was a good choice!

Back to Bangkok (for the last time)

This morning we took our last bus ride of this trip and found our way back to Bangkok. We got a room for the next three days at Shanti Lodge (the first place we stayed when we got here). We're planning on going to Khaosan Road to do some last minute shopping before we board a plane on Thursday night. Hopefully we'll write one more blog before we leave. Until then...

ta ta for now

The Land of Westerners

Hua Hin

Day One

We arrived in Hua Hin after the worst train ride imaginable. Since Paul and I are both cheap we decided to take the 3rd class train from Bangkok to Hua Hin. It was supposed to take four hours and it ended up taking almost five. Most of the time the fans weren't work and even when they were on they didn't help. The train was crammed full of people and it was as hot as heck. The seats were made to fit Thai people who are significantly smaller then us Westerners. Most of the time I was practically in Paul's lap so we could make room for the small Thai person who sat beside us. It was the most uncomfortable experience of this trip so far. We vowed to never be cheap when it comes to transportation again.

We found our way to our guesthouse of choice and checked in. For the first time on this trip we decided to pay for a little luxury and we got ourselves a air-con room. It is a welcome addition in the south's steamy heat. We decided to walk down to the beach and explore a little. As soon as we saw the beach you could see the disappointment in our faces. It was crowded and dirty, the water wasn't clear at all and it was crawling with people from Europe who have decided that walking around topless was the "thing" to do. We went back to our guesthouse to discuss our options. We talked about going back to Ko Samet or maybe Kanchanaburi. In the end we decided to give the beach one more try the next day.

That night we explored Hua Hin's night market which was more impressive then the beach. The entire city itself is overpriced and very Westernized because it caters to resort travelers and not backpackers. Thanks to our two months of experience we were still able to sniff out a good bargain! We bought some DVD's and ate pad thai with the locals.

Day Two

We dragged ourselves out of our air-con room and headed down to the beach. It costs 100 baht to rent two beach chairs so we decided to buy breakfast from the 7-eleven to save some money. Once we walked about a kilometer down from the crowded section of the beach we found a fairly decent place to spend the day. It didn't nearly have as many people, I guess because you had to walk to get there. We spent the day on our chairs reading and not much time in the water. Two factors contributed to this - one: the water wasn't clear and you couldn't see anything and two: the number of jellyfish washed up on shore. Based on the jellyfish and the fact that you couldn't see any coming your way we stayed out of the water. I didn't mind because I hate swimming in the ocean - give me a pool anyday! - but Paul was a little upset.

Day Three

I could pretty much cut and paste the description from the day before. We sat in the same beach chairs, had the same topless people around us (a little redder then the day before) and read the same books!! We both got a bit too much sun though and decided to spend today (day 4) just wandering around the city and doing Internet. Tomorrow we're planning on heading to Sport Villa which is just outside town. For 50 baht per person you can swim and lounge around by a pool for the day. We will probably hit the beach on Saturday since it will be our last day in Hua Hin before we head to Phetchaburi.

Third Time is the Charm

I would like to start this post by saying that this is now the 3rd attempt to write it and needless to say I am losing my paitence. But I must remember to be calm - woo saa.

Okay I'm better now. I will do my best to write this verbatium, but if I'm not as funny as usual I'm sorry (since we all know you cry from laughter every time you read this).

Kanchanaburi

I know all of you have been waiting on the edge of your seats in anticpation of the outcome, so here it is...

I got a one hour massage :)

We spent our last days in Kanchanburi sitting on our veranda reading. Paul finished up his 6th book of the trip and I finished eight. We both have really gotten into reading murder mysteries. We don't even hold conversations anymore, we just say "who done it?" (this is where you laugh... why aren't you laughing??)

Bangkok Again (I'm getting really tired of writing that)

Our sole purpose in this trip to Bangkok was to visit the famed weekend market to do the last of our shopping - Chatuchak Market. We stayed at a guesthouse right by the subway to make transporation there easier and more cost efficient (there is no other reason to stay in Chinatown otherwise). We dropped off our bags and headed to the train/subway station to take our first trip to the market (this was on Dec. 31). Much to our delight it turned out they were having special fares in honour of New Year's - 10 baht each one way instead of 38. Speaking of that...

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

I totally forgot about that. My apologies. Where was I??

A common phrase out of our mouths since arriving here is "how in the world do they cram so many people in such a small space?" Every time these words leave our mouth we expect it to be the last time. Let's just say that this market did not disappoint. It was CROWDED with locals and farang all looking for a bargain. We spent about three hours shopping and went back to the guesthouse exhausted.

As I mentioned earlier there isn't much in Chinatown so we spent New Year's in our room drinking beer/wine coolers, playing cards and listening to very bad karaoke. We had a blast. We actually managed to stay up until midnight (which is unheard of for us since arriving here) and promptly went to bed at 12:01 a.m despite the singers outside. We got up early the next morning and went back to the market to finish up all of our shopping - a mission we accomplished. Yay us. We left Bangkok heading to the beach city of Hua Hin.