Pai

The bus to Pai picked me up at 11 am (in front of the Hug hostel) and I sat with a bunch of Chinese people on the backseat which was quite funny; they got all excited and kept on asking questions and taking selfies with me. We had to change bus at a point and when I took a seat in the new car, a yellow paper on the cars wall hit my eye 'Please vomit in a bag, do not vomit in the car, 500 baht fine'. We were all laughing and sort of anxious at the same time because we had no idea what was expecting us. But in the end the drive was not too bad, I have to admit the drive from Kuala Lumpur to the Cameron Highlands was way worse! We arrived 2 hours late, even though there was no traffic, in the beautiful small town Pai. It was hippier than expected and I found more people with dreads and barefeet than in Byron Bay (Australia...). I stay in the Huan Saran Guesthouse leaded by a Swiss guy from Luzern! My room has the lowest standard I ever had since I'm travelling, but I obviously don't mind. We have no matresses, just a sheet on a piece of wood :'D but we have towels provided which is nice. It feels like sleeping outside because we don't have proper doors and in my dorm room there is a bar, seats and tables. When I arrived there (in my 'dorm') was a bunch of drunken British playing drinking games at 5pm. They suddenly invited me to their circle amd I got a beer put in my had from a guy but I just put it on the table because there  was no way I would drink before it gets dark. The other thing was I've just been drunk in Chiang Mai, so I didn't feel like drinking again and I honestly prefer it when it just happens and not trying to force it to get drunk. 

I started talking to a Chinese girl, she grew up close to Shanghai, named Lee but calling herself rather Michelle, with a perfect English. I found out that she got married with 24 and now she was 26 but travelling a few days on her own. We got along quite well so we ended up spending the next day with eachother. She left at 4pm today so I had to find new friends, which is a very easy thing as you know

Karaoke in Chiang Mai

I had good fun last night. I had to change my room as I extended for one more night, where I met Yurit (not sure about the spelling) from Holland (so random, he has the most difficult name but I only remember his) and five other people from the UK. Funny, I'm staying in a room with all English. They invited me to have dinner with them so we went downstairs together and were talking a few hours before we actually left to eat something. We ended up eating Noodles across the street from a streetfood stand. It was really good and we were a bunch of ten people and our group grew even more. We were joking and stuff and it was good fun. Craig from Scotland (his accent was just amazing) wanted to go to a Karaoke bar so badly; so we went there. While walking to the bar I talked to a German guy living in Switzerland, we had a good talk. The bar was really cool, before Karaoke night started there was this rock band with all Thai members (obviously) playing awesome live music. They all wanted me to drink but I refused because we've been drinking just the night before. Aaaand I ended up singing with the band but it was terrible!!! For the fact that I was sober this was really courageous of me I reckon. I was having fun but I felt very uncomfortable because I didn't know what to do with my body... You guys know my voice but I had no chance to hear myself so I was just hoping that I'm not out of tune. I know I should have danced or something to it  but it felt so unnatural. When singing in school the teachers just cared about your voice and often they closed their eyes just to hear you sing and not get distracted from something else. 

I went home by myself because they were all getting really drunk... back in the Hug hostel I talked to a Danish, who travelled Nepal for 2 months, for almost two hours maybe were we talking and than I finally went to bed!

Chiang Mai

I'm sitting on a computer in my hostel because I thought it might be more convenient but I was wrong. Typing with those meter long nails on a hundred year old computer is harder than texting on my phone.
However, I arrived Chiang Mai late in the evening and drove by cab to the hostel, which was maybe a ten minute drive.
The next day I didn't do much as I had an awful bellyache. I just remembered: my Mum's having an operation today, so Mum if you are reading this: I was in pain the day before yesterday but today I feel great. I hope you are not too nervous though, everyone who reads this now is thinking about you, too. Don't worry about it, you'll be fine.
Alright, so I met this girl Kathy (24) from the States and she had some really interesting stories to tell. She has already finished her studies and everything and was living in France and the UK for a while and her last place she's been living for a while was Korea. I was really impressed and she told me interesting stuff about the Korean culture and language (writing and speaking). I would love to repeat it all but I rather just keep it in my heart and let the feeling and impression she gave me about Korea flow. Just kidding I'm just too lazy to type it all on that pain-in-the-a** keyboard.
Okay, so. We went out to have dinner together, we ate delicious Pad Thai across the street for calculated CHF 1.50 and after we went to have a look at the old town from Chiang Mai (our hostel is just at the north) with beautiful temples. On a whim we decided to get a massage for calculated CHF 5.40 for an hour, I got my feet massaged while she was having more like a body stretch. Outside of the place there was a sign saying that it was leaded by ex-prisoners. We were really confused about it and tried figuring out why they would mention something like that and we tried not to pay too much attention to that fact. The next day me and Kathy were having breakfast together and we went to explore the city a bit more aaand... we had another foot massage. After a relaxing day I decided to have tea in a nice place with aircon (because eating hot food in the heat is awful I reckon...), it was still very cheap though. So I was sitting in that restaurant all by myself when a guy entered the restaurant. It was really weird but he did the right thing! It would have been so awkward if he just sat at another table by himself and both him and me pretending the other one is not there. So he sat in front of me and we acted like we knew each other and that I was waiting for him. For him it might was something he does everyday but for me that was awesome. There should be more people in the world doing this. It was so cool. So we were talking and than we decided to get some drinks at the hostel together. I haven't been as drunk as yesterday for a while... Not sure if this is an appropriate thing to write in the internet but I don't want to act like I was not drinking on my trip and: I'm just having fun, eh... You're only young once! I was talking to so many people last night. So there was Mckenzie? (not sure about the spelling) she was from Canada, Zoe from the UK, another guy from the States, three engineers working in London but originally from France. Aaaaand more people from the UK. The guy who came up to me in the restaurant is Alex by the way, he's Canadian.
I went to bed early, though. I hit my pillow at midnight I think? When I went downstairs to have breakfast I noticed that my elbow hurts and than I just remembered that I hit it when I tried to climb down the stairs from the rooftop, where we had an awesome view over Chiang Mai. I got many many compliments for my English, they say my accent is great. YAY!!!

My fear of flight

At the moment I find myself in the Thai Airline plane to Chiang Mai. First I have to tell you the story why I'm in the plane: A day ago I knew I had to book something to somewhere after Bangkok. By the way I enjoyed Bangkok a lot! Once again I met so many awesome big hearted people making me feel all warm and loved. 

I plucked up my courage and I booked a flight to Krabi at 1 pm for today. But this morning I sort of felt insecure about my decision, I was not excited to go there and then I was like 'Why should I go there then? I should only do what excites me'. So I booked another flight: Chiang Mai at 5.40 pm with AirAsia. I went up to the young Asian girl at the reception from my hostel (she scarcely spoke English) and asked her for the way to the airport by public transport. Before I continue telling the story: The daughter from the receptionist, approximately 6 years old, was soooo cute!!! She always said Hi very polite and looked you in the eyes. I was impressed for such a young girl. The receptionist explained me the way with the skytrain to the Airport in Bangkok which turned out to be very easy. Anyway, I was already quite late because I was stuck in the city looking at stuff, thats why I hurried up to the train. In the train I spoke to a woman (she started talking with me actually, again positive surprise) from Thailand, in the age of my mother. She was being really nice asking questions and wishing me all the best for my future travels. I thanked her and jumped off the train at the airport. I had to walk miles to get to the Check-in area seriously... I was following a German family. Anyway. When I arrived (30mins before take off, which is too late but I knew I could still make it) I was looking for AirAsia but I had no chance to find it! So I went to the information desk (still all relaxed) and asked. They told me that I'm at the wrong airport... Damned. But it looked so similar to the one I arrived ith AirAsia from Phuket? How is that even possible? I was annoyed because I thought I maybe had to walk a lot to get to the other airport but the lady at the desk told me that I am too late and won't make it anyway, I need to book a new flight. I didn't even need to calm down, I was being really cool still. After lot of struggle I got this ticket to fly to Chiang Mai with Thai airline.

Now to my fear of... I can't say flight. My fear of taking off? I have no problems booking a flight and to image me sitting in a plane flying somewhere. That doesn't scare me at all. The fear starts when the plane leaves ground. Terrible! I'm all excited and I even sit next to the window to enjoy a view. But then... 

The plane starts rolling; Linda still relaxed.

The plane goes faster; me still being cool.

The plane leaves ground; I almost shit in my pants! 

Its terrible guys... I can literally feel my blood floating down in my legs and my hands start sweating. Honestly, I'm too shy to admit that I'm scared so I put on my pokerface. But today I felt like my heart was going to stand still so I tried to breathe slowly through my nose and concentrate on that. After 15 minutes I was able to calm down. Finally. 

And now, after almost an hour in the plane I'm not scared anymore. It won't stop me from taking planes but it is still there and feels awful... 

Next post is following. 

Still Bangkok

I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that I'm paying everything by myself. Well, I could be like 'I don't care what you think how I'm paying everything' but this is part of the whole thing, too.  Some people started saying my parents are giving me money for that. Well, they didn't want me to pay them money while I was earning it (for rent or food) and they still continued paying my health insurance monthly but I was paying almost everything by myself for almost two years now. Stuff like public transport, ballett lessons, clothes, food while not eating home, trip to Scotland with Tim last winter, all my flights... and so on. I saved heaps and spending now the most.

So, further in context. The other day I was sad because Jowelle and Carl left... Vut I suddenly got involved in a conversation with Perikles (in his late twenties) from Germany but originally Greek. He looks like one of those beardy hipsters, so really nice. His hair is black like the night and has smooth pale skin. Anyway, he works in a bank in Berlin and decided to go on holiday by himself for 17 days in Thailand, because of personal reasons back home. We shared a taxi to Chinatown and went in a creepy tight street to see all the streetfood. There we tried duck and while buying it the family was killing some more ducks in the back and somehow they were laughing in their fists I can't tell why. But we didn't get sick, the opposite; it was really good meat! We enjoyed it a lot. We went further to Siam Center with a Tuktuk (by the way it was my first time in a Tuktuk) where Perikles bought a Selfiestick for 250 Baht! Back home we talked to some of our roommates, Kilian from Germany,  Chinese guy and a Thai. That was good fun! We shared some experiences and had a blast in our dorm. 

The next day Fred (38) from Belgium joined us in going to the Riverfront to have dinner and we discovered that they have a lot in common and I could see two found eachother. 

Today I'm going to Krabi (close to Phuket... I know I'm doing a stupid route but it was kind of the cheapest thing I could find. Not looking forward to Krabi... sometimes you have to face stuff you don't like. Well, not on my trip!!!

Bangkok // some more GoPro photos

 

 

Floating Market & Food // Pictures

Floating Market and Street Food with Carl and Jowelle

Today I woke up early as I couldn't sleep... Don't really know why, sometimes I'm excited and that keeps me awake. There I met bubbly Jowelle and Carl (32), Philippino by the way but he grew up in Canada, in the lobby. We waited a long time for the guy to pick us up at the hostel 'in the box' and got confused with many people... First we thought it was the guy on the motorbike because he looked lost and looked around. Than a van stopped with many people in it and we talked to a lady with a purple shirt in the car, it was so confusing! In the end we found out we have nothing to do with eachother. Such a coincidence that she looked like a tourguide and stopped in front of us looking for people... 

Than the guy finally turned up... He said we can join... yay! The drive was long... 1,5 hours. We all fell asleep for a while. The floating market was unique! All those little stands along the creek, mostly selling souvenirs. 

These two made me try so much Street Food, I think without them I wouldn't have been brave. A tripadvisor said: If you don't get sick you don't get the spirit, right? It was a very warm day and for CHF 4.50 we sat in one of those boats and floated through the market for about an hour. We were laughing so hard because we had 'traffic jam'. Honestly, there were so many boats on this creek. We tried streetfood like rice, coconut icecream with corn & some meatstuff. It was good and we didn't get sick. I feel well today! When we had time to walk around we saw a guy holding a snake and he was like 'Hey do you want abohoto?' and kissed his snake. I bursted out laughing and walked a big bow around him. 

In the afternoon we decided to try some more streetfood in the city center, after almost 3h cardrive (traffic jam...). We had sausages, prawns on a stick, tofu and more. In a shopping center we had Pad Thai with tiny prawns from which you could still their eyes... Ewwww. Jowelle sadly had to leave at some point because she had to catch her flight back home to Macau. Me and Carl decided to drink a coffee and eat some more and we had soooo coool conversations about god and the world, too. It's amazing how many smart, unique, confident and nice people I meet. I always make so many friends, the best part about travelling! 

By the way!!! Asians (but local Asians...) take selfies. a lot. Hahahahaha... It happened to me a few times that I walked in in a quiet shop and the shop assistance ignored me and kept on taking hilarious selfies...

I made few friends in Bangkok

The day before yesterday I sat by myself in the lobby and I started talking to Jowelle (29), a Chinese girl who grew up in Malaysia but currently working in Macau (Hong Kong). We talked for a few minutes when she suggested to go to the riverfront to have dinner. Ahh before that we bumped into Carl from Kanada, he said that tomorrow he joins a tour to a floating market and they pick him up at 7 am. We said we try to join the tour without signign up. We took a cab and paid 3 CHF each... Anyway we walked around in a shopping, restaurants and nightlife area... Very modern and kind of nostalgic. I ate Pad Thai had an iced watermelon shake, while she drank a honey melon shake. Later we took a cab for a breathtaking view on the Lebua Tower. Funny that they even let us in because we both weren't dressed very nice... Thats where they filmed the movie Hangover. I went to the restroom and was a bit disappointed compared to the bar and the prices for drinks... We didn't drink anything. When we drove back we took a cab for 50 Baht (CHF 1.50). Amazing... I paid for it because first thing I was not sure what she thinks of those prices and I wanted to be nice. However... we had a fun night!!! & really nice conversations about her name, language and culture...