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!!!!!!