Everyone who has been travelling has the obligatory list of highlights. Here is mine:

When I arrived into Bangkok airport on 15th August 2010 I was scared, confused and excited about entering a new stage in my life as well as a new continent. The girl walking down Kho San Road for the first time looking for her hotel seems a very long way away now. My first couple of days in Bangkok were completely exhausting and I spent a lot of time getting ripped off by taxi drivers because I didn’t know how the transport systems worked. I was walking around in a bit of a blur and little things like booking a bus ticket, or getting to a temple seemed monumental and would wipe me out for the day. I was also completely unused to the heat so after an hour or two I would retreat into anywhere with air-conditioning, hence I also spent quite a bit of time in Western monstrosities such as Starbucks or (shock horror!!) McDonalds, reading my book and nursing an over-priced soft drink just because it was cold. However I also met some great people (Zoe, David, Nat and Scott – that’s you) who made me realise that its OK to go up and speak to people even if they are in a group and I’m on my own, it’s not like England where people would generally think you were a desperate weirdo with no friends 🙂

However the real defining moment came after Bangkok, when I travelled to the Isan province in the remote North East to meet Noelani (hope you’re reading this – Thank You!). We didn’t know each other and had been introduced by my friend Jenny from work. Knowing that I was visiting someone who lived in Thailand and knew who I was made everything infinitely easier and it was the best decision I made to make sure I got to Khon Kaen as soon as possible. As soon as I arrived she immediately made me feel welcome and completely put me at ease. I was in awe of her braveness; she had moved to this remote town, far away from  the tourist trail, completely on her own where no-one spoke English and to see a Western face was a novelty. We had an amazing time together, I was delighted to learn she shared my passion for the important things in life such as sparkly toe-nails and pretty shoes ;-). We had a lot in common as she was working on a development project (WeSD – see previous blog) and we spoke a lot about our career goals and passion for travel and international development. 

Messing around in Khon Kaen park

We spent a blissful few days in the sleepy town of Nong Khai, cycling along the mighty Mekong river, lazing at the guest house and playing backgammon. It was a far cry from the madness of Bangkok and gave me a taste of how varied my experiences were going to be from one day to the next. Most importantly Noelani taught me almost everything she knew about travelling in Thailand and our bus and train rides were filled with Thai lessons. When it was time for us to part ways I was sad to leave her, but I felt a million times more confident and able to deal with travelling on my own again . In the next few days I travelled to Sukothai, Phitsanulok and arrived in Chaing Mai, all with hardly any difficulties at all, thanks to my amazing Thai teacher! 

I absolutely LOVED Chaing Mai. It is still one of the best places I have ever visited but I think this has a lot more to do with the people I met there than the place itself. ‘Travelling is not measured by the miles you make, but by the people you meet’ (I stole this from my friend Leah’s recent status but it is very appropriate for this part of my story). 

I was looking through Lonely Planet on the way there trying to work out where I should stay and with an amazing stroke of luck I ended up choosing Malak Guest House. The first thing I did when I arrived was to book my trek for the next few days. I sat downstairs as the guide talked us through what to expect and ended up sitting with a group of people talking French. At first I was a bit worried  as thought it would be hard to communicate with them, but luckily they all spoke great English and Helene was half English, half French. We all bonded while trekking through the tropical rainforest and when we got back three days later it felt as if we’d known each other for months rather than days.  I felt as if I had been adopted by another family and everything they were doing they included me from that moment onwards. That evening we celebrated Charle’s birthday on the amazing roof top terrace and I met Chris and Leeroy who were helping out by bringing some BBQ food up to the roof and had been ensconced by the hospitality of Caroline and family. We all just clicked and spent the next few days together, visiting temples in the day (apart from the boys who were too lazy) and cooking together in the evening, before drinking buckets at the Reggae bar all night. The day Helene and Caroline and family left a lot of tears were shed but we all promised to keep in touch and I still hope I will see them all again somewhere in the world. Luckily the goodbye’s were made easier by the fact that Chris and Leeroy had decided to come back to Chaing Mai and all three of us set off together for pastures new.  We ended up travelling together on and off for the next couple of months and shared plenty of laughs, alcohol and tigerbalm. 

Our time together can be summed up by a few choice (stolen) photos:

Samsung, cards, tigerbalm. Standard night in Chaing Rai

My first attempt at riding a scooter – total hilarity

Guru Mike on the Slow Boat to Laos

Crashing posh swimming pools in Chiang Rai

TUBING!!!

In search of elusive waterfalls in Chaing Rai To be continued………………………..