Sed Laao

With only a few days left of my travels, I knew I had to end it in my favorite place, Chiang Mai. I had bought my plane ticket home based around Loy Krathong and the YeePeng Festival. To celebrate the full moon, thousands of lanterns are sent into the sky, while krathongs are placed in the water to push away any negative feelings and actions from the past year. My hostel was awesome enough to provide supplies so I was able to make my own krathong. At night, I put a few baht and some of my hair (apparently the norm) and sent along my well wishes. The release of the lanterns was honestly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Thousands of people grinning and excitedly releasing them into the sky, while candlelit krathongs slowly drifted down the river as fireworks blasted all around us was a sight I will never forget. And good thing- because it is pretty impossible to capture on camera. Womp womp. But it was such a perfect way to thank and say goodbye to Thailand, and I'm not going to lie, I got a little emotional. Just let it happen. 


Beyond celebrating Loy Krathong, I had myself an amazing time in Chiang Mai. I luckily met an insanely great group of people and highly enjoyed getting to know them. I spent most of my time with 4 other solo girl travelers, which I thought was pretty, pretty awesome. I ate an obscene amount of Khao Soy, took a really great cooking course, and basically just soaked up my last days of Thai living. I probably looked a little creepy, wandering around town, smiling at everyone in sight, but I couldn't contain my happiness as I reminisced over the past year. I guess it was okay because one man stopped me and said "Thank you for your smile." Maybe I'm not creepy after all. 

It was sad to say goodbye to Chiang Mai, but I was also looking forward to one last night in Suphan. After driving 4 hours through heartbreaking floods from Bangkok, I made it back. I had a really fun night with some of my favorite people in the world and I was just so happy to be around them. Suphan is really a special place and I will cherish it forever and ever and ever. I'm in complete denial that I'm boarding a plane in a few hours, and I know in my heart that I will be back here again. It will take a lot of will power to not come back within the next few weeks, but maybe in a few years I will come back. This year has just been the absolute best and I am so grateful to have had such a welcoming, happy experience here in Thailand. The people I have met - the students, my fellow teachers, my Suphan friends, Baanya, Wat, 25 Hours, Pad Thai lady and so on- will stay forever in my heart. Thank you all for making Suphan my home for the past year :)

But now, it's time to go back to Boston...to see my family and my adorable little nephew. I'm sure it will be a tough transition, and my heart will still be in Thailand, but at the same time, I'm excited to start anew in the good ole U S of A. So watch out, America....here I come....

Thailand- I will miss you! CHAN RAK KHUN MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK MAAK!!!!!!

Chill Chill

With a short stopover in Phnom Penh, I made it back to Bangkok to spend Sarah's final weekend in Thailand with her and her brother, Chris. We checked out Wat Arun on the very swollen river, saw a Thai movie, ate lots of street food and enjoyed some Thai nightlife. It was definitely weird to say goodbye to Sarah. It didn't feel real at all. We made this amazing journey together and I was so lucky to have my BFF with me during the best year of my life.

With way too much baggage, I headed to Suphan for a quick visit to see my favorite people, eat my favorite food and to organize my stuff for my next adventure. And dang, I love Suphan. Let's just leave it at that. The usual hour and a half journey back to BKK took way longer because of the flooding, but I'm not going to complain about a long van ride when a huge portion of the country has been devastated by water. The flooding situation has definitely added some stress and anxiety to my final weeks in Thailand, and I hope and pray things don't get worse here for the sake of the country.

When I got to BKK, I went to the bus station with no definite destination in mind. I had three islands in mind and a little game of Eenie-meenie-miney-moe decided my fate. Within 2 hours, I was on a bus to Turtle Island, or Koh Tao, which is known as the diving hot spot in Thailand. Koh Tao was the perfect spot to chill out for a few days and basically mentally prepare myself for home. I ate a lot of beach BBQ, I read a whole lot, I swam, I mingled with the locals, I got one of the best massages of the year ( top 2 for sure), and I did the best snorkeling I've done in Thailand. I went on a one day boat trip around the island and to the small surrounding islands to snorkel, swim and enjoy the scenery. The snorkeling was unreal. There were so many beautiful fish and colorful coral (yeah alliteration!). Besides that, I did a lot of lounging on the beach. But, being Thai, I escaped the sun by sitting in the shade, slathering on sunscreen and hiding under my sarong. So I'm more sun-high-fived, or sun-awkward hugged, than I am sun-kissed. I'll fit right into the cold days of Boston. For now, it's off to the last leg of my trip, my beloved Chiang Mai, to celebrate Loy Krathong.

No big deal

Beautiful view from Nangyan Island

I'm really cool

Santepheap

When I decided to spend a fair bit of time in Siem Reap, I knew right away that I wanted to spend some time at an orphanage or a children's home to volunteer. It was extremely evident in my past visit to Cambodia that street children are of abundance here. It's really hard to see because, at one moment you are captivated by the beauty and culture of Cambodia, and then in the next moment, a child in tattered clothing, with a newborn slung across her shoulder, is quite aggressively tugging at your arm, following you around and begging for food or money. It's extremely hard to ignore, but all tourists are forewarned not to give in to this behavior, or else you are condoning a life of begging rather than education. Luckily, Cambodia has numerous NGO's and schools for these children to better their lives. So the second part of my Siem Reap tour was less about touristy fun, and more about children. And let's be real, kids can be a whole lot more fun than any tourist site.

A couple months back I had heard about one particular children's home, The Cambodian Children's House of Peace (Santepheap), and so I applied to volunteer there for a week. When I arrived, I was immediately, within seconds, told to teach English class. Fortunately I have experience here, so I wasn't completely thrown off. The kids were so incredibly welcoming and so smart. They are aged 10-19 years old, and they are either orphaned or else their families cannot afford to raise them. So, they come to Santepheap to form one large family. There are a little over 30 kids and they truly act like one big family, teasing each other, eating all of their meals together, playing games together and doing chores together. They are continuously looking out for one another. Their English skills were really impressive and they didn't hesitate to joke around with me and hassle me. I loved it. Some of the younger ones couldn't quite master my name, and decided calling me 'NearOppositeFar' was much easier. Riiight.  I was so blown away with not only their openness to me, but also to their constant positive attitudes. Their home is not very big....15 boys share two small rooms, with only a few mats to share. Some sleep in hammocks out the rear of the rooms. With the recent flooding, their outdoor areas were ruined, and instead of playing football in their spare time, they created traps to catch fish in their new "lake." They eat a variation of the same meal everyday. They learn English through one photo-copied book. But none of this bothers them. Rather, they were filled with happiness. Some of them couldn't even contain themselves and would spend the hours singing and dancing around. It was such a great experience working with them and getting to know some of these children. They seemed to enjoy my presence as well, getting really into the games we played and spending time with me in their free time. I really wish I could have spent more time there because it's really obvious that they are a special group of kids.

My favorite part, however, was seeing these kids perform in the weekly Sunday night dance show. Many of the orphanages in the area put these on, and I attended a few, but seeing the kids from Santepheap dancing, singing, and all dressed in traditional attire was definitely the highlight of my week. They just looked so happy to be up on stage and it was so sweet to watch. I wish I could stress how little these kids live with, but you would never know with their optimistic attitudes. The home could really use any help available, so I highly suggest you check out their website, and if you're feeling a little charitable, donate a few dollars.

The Cambodian Children's House of Peace