Farewell SE Asia...Hello Shocking India!

My final days in southeast Asia were absolutely perfect. We were spoiled with our complimentary accommodation at the beautiful Viengtai Hotel thanks to our honorary Thai family. Additionally, I managed to see some sites I missed along the way! To make it brief, my three days in Bangkok were spent attempting to relax and brace myself for India! I saw the Grand Palace, which I missed the first time around due to food poisoning and it was definitely a must see for Bangkok! Additionally, I saw the reclining Buddha, which is basically the most massive Buddha to hit this earth, stretching roughly 46 meters long! Despite being completely "templed out", these were some essential sites for Bangkok! And, tomake it more interesting, I saw these Buddhist temples on the Chinese New Year so the places were a complete zoo!

But, for the most part, I found myself wanting to stay in our hotel as much as possible, indulging in the luxuries of bathtubs, AC, and satellite tv that I had been missing out on throughout my travels in SE Asia! As all good things must end, so did my time in SE Asia, but it was such an amazing experience! Although you probably won't be able to see the details, I pride myself on my route map that I drew along the way, which includes the 22 spots that we spent at least a day in throughout the journey:

So, many of our friends that we met along the way warned us to be prepared for the chaos and madness of India. Let me just put it out there that nothing can prepare you for India! Especially being plunged straight into New Dehli! We arrived late at night and I thought I was going to die on the way to our hotel...the taxi driver was completely manic, swerving out of control between the traffic! Although getting to bed late, we woke up early, eager to explore the city. To say the least, we got many "welcome to India's!" our first morning. Our morning was spent among all locals, getting the full on experience of dodging scammers, cow shit, and cheeky young men (one teenager nearly gave me a heart attack when he came out of nowhere and pinched me on the cheek). At first we were enjoying the chaos of New Dehli but then it got so exhausting. It seemed as though everyone was trying to scam us...it is a hard feeling to not be able to trust anyone!

I needed a mental rest after a few hours of being in the city!  Once I recovered, we went to one of the city's main sights, Humayuns Tomb, which was very beautiful. Overall, my first day in India was great, especially because of the delicious street naan, samosas, and chai!

Day 2 in India was spent seeing the National Museum in the morning and then heading back to New Dehli train station to catch a train to Agra, for the famous Taj Mahal! To our luck, the trainwas delayed six hours and the last thing I wanted to do was be endlessly hassled by everyone, so I escaped to the rooftop of our guesthouse, turned on my ipod, and just took a deep breath! There ended up being a beautiful flock of birds flying above the guesthouse, which was very soothing!

In India, I have learned that daily mental rest times are an essential! Eventually, we made it onto our very first train in India. Not as exciting as I imagined...I was freezing cold and we were dumped into Agra at 1am! Eventually, we found a guesthouse that actually had rooms available, settled in, and got about four hours of sleep before waking up to venture towards the Taj Mahal for sunrise.
We were under the impression that the Taj Mahal opened at 6am, but ended up standing in the freezing cold until 7 when we were let in. Despite all of the photos I have seen of the Taj, nothing can compare to that feeling I got upon stepping onto the grounds of this magnificent site. Additionally, since we got there way too early, we didn't have to share the palace with a zoo of tourists! Everything about the Taj Mahal is so majestic...from the perfect pool reflection to the intricate details on every inch of the temples. It was such a stunning site.

A token Taj Mahal photo

Afterwards, I enjoyed some hot chai and porridge on the rooftop of a guesthouse with a great view of the Taj from the distance. We had a much needed nap after breakfast and then continued on our day by going to the famous fort in Agra. This was another wonderful sight. Once again, the immaculate detail involved in every aspect of this fort made it so cool. To top off our day, we went to a spot across the (empty) river and watched the sunset while enjoying one final view of the Taj Mahal.

Entrance to Agra Fort

   

After one full on day in Agra we were Pushkar- bound. Now, Pushkar was a much needed stop.  Our guesthouse, Hotel Everest, was beautiful, with a wonderful rooftop view, clean rooms, and vibrant colors.

Pushkar was such a mellow, laid back Brahma village with a famous holy ghat (which we found out was bone dry!).  I found it particularly hilarious to watch Julie suffer in this strictly vegetarian town!  My two days in Pushkar were wonderful, filled with yoga, an astrology life report from a famous Naturopath, and a hassle free environmnet! The people in the town were very friendly and the kids were adorable! The alleyways were probably my favorite part of this town, as each building was painted with its own unique colors. If it hadn't been for Pushkar, I may have lost my sanity in India!



Next, we continued westward to Jaisalmer in a prison-like sleeper cell bus!

We arrived to Jaisalmer early, found lovely accommodation (Hotel Renuka), and booked a camel safari through the hotel.  Later in the day we went to Jaisalmer's famous fort, where people actually live.  It was a remarkable site, with really cool fort walls and interesting people! At the fort though, there is the ongoing issue of deterioration, so hopefully it will be preserved for the future! Otherwise, I enjoyed just walking around this desert town, eating some local cuisine, and getting all geared up for my camel safari!

The next morning, I was desert bound, ready to get a taste of desert life. I definitely got all hippied out and I know my mom will be proud of our "hippy" photo to the left. After making a couple of sight seeing stops, we saw our camels, patiently waiting for us! I was introduced to my camel , Raj, and then we were off! After the novelty of riding a bumpy camel wore off, I realized how particularly uncomfortable it is! Nonetheless, it was a beautiful 2.5 hour journey before we stopped in the middle of the desert for a lunch prepared by our camel drivers. After refueling, I was back on Raj, cruising through the desert , enjoying the tranquility and endless landscape ahead of me. We made it to the dunes, where we would be sleeping, before sunset and enjoyed playing around in the dunes and relaxing.

Sunset in the dunes was breathtaking, not only because of the vibrant colors, but also becauseof the pure simplicity of our surroundings!

             

After sunset, we had another delicious meal prepared for us by our camel drivers and soon after made our "beds". Our guides pushed the sand to make a pillow, and we had a couple of blankets laid on the sand for us! At first it was comfortable, but then it became a bit painful! But, the plus side of me waking up every hour was that I got to see the incredible sky, full of stars and the shining moon. Everyone was up bright and early and I was more than thankfulfor a hot cup of chai that was delivered to me upon waking up! Bright and early, Raj and I were off again! It was a bit more painful riding today as I was shockingly sore from the five hours of camel riding the previous day! Eventually, we were back at our pickup site, with the jeep waiting for us! All of the girls in our group took a classic tourist shot before leaving the desert! So, all in all, my little camel safari was awesome, and I highly recommend anyone to do only a 1-2 camel safari, as it can get a bit painful!

Our final day in Jaisalmer was pretty laid back. We visited a famous haveli, which is basically just an extravagant mansion and took it easy! From Jaisalmer, we took our very first night train to Jodphur, known to be the "blue city". As this blog is quite lengthy, I am going to stop here and continue talking about my crazy Indian adventure soon! I am approaching five months away from home and still going strong, but I miss you all!

From one tropical paradise to the next: Southern Thailand

It has been less than a day since I left southern Thailand and I am already looking back on my time there and how quickly it went by! After the intensity of Vietnam, it was so wonderful to

have a place to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the gorgeous weather! Our journey through southern Thailand began in Phuket, which is where we flew into from Vietnam. We decided to stay in Phuket Town, both for its central location to all of the beaches and the cheaper accommodation! I found it to be a nice town, especially because it didn't feel too touristy. We went to Patong Beach the following day, which I heard was the main beach to go to in Phuket, and to be honest, I hated everything about it! The beach itself was ruined by the infinite amount of beach chairs that you had to pay for, along with the vendors who kept hassling me as I tried to relax.  The town itself is just lined with Western food and souvenir shops, and it looked as though any bit of Thai authenticity had diminished a long time ago. We were ready to escape the tourist trap within hours and felt immediately relieved upon returning to Phuket Town!

The next day we went to a beach in southern Phuket, meant to be less manic, and loved it! It completely redeemed Phuket's image in my mind...although it was still touristy, the beach felt more authentic and still preserved some Thai culture within it. We enjoyed sipping on coconuts all day and lounging around at the beautiful beach and lagoon-like area!

As we were trekking up a curved road in search of the next beach, I fell, and there was blood falling down my leg.  Luckily, some really nice guys came to the rescue and offered to give us a lift on their motorcycles, so we were fortunate enough to get a free tour of the beaches! By the end of the day, Phuket redeemed itself, but with that said, it is necessary to really search to find that tiny bit of authenticity left in the town!

                     

After two days in Phuket, we caught a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, known to be the most beautiful island in southern Thailand. Despite the mass tourism on the island, it is indeed so stunning, and there is definitely a reason why everyone flocks here. Once we maneuvered through the chaotic main street near the pier, we ended up finding a lovely room in a more remote area. Although Ko Phi Phi may have been just as touristy as Patong Beach, I was amazed at how much I loved it. First off, the views and scenery are so incredible that it makes up for the fact that you are sharing it with tens of thousands of others. The othermain difference was that the aesthetics of the resorts and bungalows blended well with the island. There were no tacky high rises or Holiday Inns to ruin the beauty of it all. Within two hours of arriving, we immediately knew that we would be extending our intended one night in Ko Phi Phi to two nights, as we fell so in love with its beauty!

    

During our stay in Ko Phi Phi we did a lot of sun bathing, hiking up to viewpoints, afternoon naps, cold showers, and some scuba diving! We hiked up to the viewpoint on our second night there to watch an amazing sunset:

Our day dive trip was a lot of fun and we managed to see tons of marine life, including a leopard shark, sting ray, as well as massive schools of fish.

By our third day in Ko Phi Phi, we were sad to say goodbye and headed to Krabi, which was the closest mainland point to the island.  Despite our efforts to go straight to Koh Phangan, it ended up being a blessing in disguise that we missed the last night bus there. Instead, we stayed in Krabi Town and did an awesome daytrip the following day to three islands and a cave at nearby Railey Beach. We took a longtail boat out and went to some beautiful spots and were able to do some snorkeling as well. It was simply the perfect way to spend our day! The 3 islands we went to were so pristine, clean, and laid back.

Additionally, we got an incredible deal for the trip because the hotel owner loved us and was trying to get us to come back to work for him so he made us a nice little package that included transportation to Koh Phangan, in the hopes that we would return in a couple weeks to come work for him! While it was a tempting offer, we politely told him that we probably couldn't!

So after the day trip, we quickly got ready and were Koh Phangan bound, via Surathani. Sincewe were taking a night ferry to Koh Phangan, we hung out in Surathani for dinner with some people we met, where I enjoyed a delicious papaya salad and coconut shake! Afterwards, we got on our night ferry, which was quite a sight! It was essentially a boat full of backpackers, lined up right next to each other on these tiny floor beds. The funniest sight were these tough looking Aussie boys who looked like they were all spooning each other! Definitely an experience! We arrived in Koh Phangan around 6am to a zoo of vendors attacking us with their taxi and hotel services! We decided to sit down and have a nice breakfast before facing the day! After breakfast, we wanted to head to the east coast of the island called Thong Nai Pan Yai, which I had heard was a beautiful isolated beach. Especially since the Full Moon Party was in four days, we both agreed that we didn't want to be anywhere near the madness, but rather have the option toget to the Full Moon Party town, Haad Rin, whenever we wanted to. Upon arriving, we were sad to see that the cheap accommodation was full, but were fine settling for a fancy resort with an infinity pool where we each were still only paying roughly $8/night!

It was a similar case as with Ko Phi Phi where we instantly knew that we would be staying here for longer than we intended to! We decided to enjoy our nice resort accomodation for two nights, then switch over to the cheaper place ($3 each/per night) for the following three nights so that we could stay for the famous Full Moon Party.

It is hard to sum up the island in words, as there are so many incredible qualities about wherewe stayed. I think that especially on the east coast, where it is much more inaccessible, it isn't as developed as the other parts ofthe island and it has more of a rustic feel to it. It seems as though the east coast of Koh Phangan is what most of southern Thailand was like 10-15 years ago: beautiful, preserved, uncrowded beaches with plenty of locals who haven't been scared away by tourism.

We did lots of exploring on the island, trekking through the jungle from one beach to another, and wandering through the local villages. But, to be honest, most of my time was spent lounging by the pool or the beach, enjoying the scenery.

 

Once we left our fancy resort, it was a nice change of pace going to this funky, backpacker hub, called White Winds, full of cliffside bungalows overlooking the ocean. Although the bungalow consisted of the bare minimum, a bed with a mosquito net in a tiny room, it was probably my favorite accommodation thus far. Nothing beats going to sleep and waking up to the sound of the ocean, and having a beautiful view of the beach (view from our bungalow to the right). Additionally, the people that we met there made the place that much more amazing. The owners and employees were awesome, as well as the people who were staying there. I had a great time hanging out with everyone and hearing their stories and travel experiences

We even managed to go diving with people that we became friends with from a new divecompany on the beach. It was another fun dive site that was a bit more challenging, but definitely helped to improve my diving skills!
       

On our last night, after going back and forth about it, we decided to go to the Full Moon Party, which is basically a massive beach party that tens of thousands of people flock to for every full moon. It was quite a sight to see and in the end I am glad that I went! We got all decked out in some neon paint and danced the night away.  There was endless music along the beach and tons of ridiculously out of control people to provide endless entertainment!

So, to sum up my five days in Koh Phangan is difficult to do but i loved it so much! If I didn't have somewhere to be, it definitely could have sucked me in for at least a couple more weeks! It is weird to think how different the island will be in five years, as I noticed a lot of development in the works. But for now, I will hold on to the memories of the awesome, rustic island that I saw it as! Next up: Cambodia so stay tuned....and I am taking advantage of my day in Bangkok by posting some photos of Laos and Vietnam on Facebook so check them out!