Vang Vieng (again)

Back in Laos for the week, mostly because (a) I missed Nick, and (b) we need to do some planning / prep for Nepal. 

Which meant we got to spend the weekend in my 2nd favorite Lao town (after Pakse), Vang Vieng! And finally went to the fancy hotel, the Riverside Boutique Resort :) It was beautiful

Rice paddies and mountains

View from hotel

Riverside Boutique 

Relaxing at a Friends cafe (one of the many cafés in VV that just plays episodes of Friends all day)

Bungy-jumping from 50m

One of the things on my "backpacking bucket list" was to bungy-jump, which I did in Chiang Mai with my friend Tara.

At the "Jungle Bungy" (X Centre, just north of town) you pay 2,000 baht (about $60) for a jumping "package", which includes a jump from 50 m (165 feet, optional dunk in the nasty pond water at the bottom), 40 photos on a CD, a bungy-jump T-shirt and a "Certificate of Courage" stating where you jumped.

The Thai guys responsible for setting us up were incredibly professional and nice, and were very supportive (they even pushed Tara off the bungy platform from the top, per her request)

At the top of 50 m, super nervous

The jump...

... and the fall

I asked to be dunked in the water. In hindsight that was a bad decision- the water was really dirty and instead of enjoying the bouncing up and down at the end, I was too busy clearing the pond water from my nose!

Certificate of courage! (plus nasty wet clothes and hair)

Tara and I (after she got over her shock...)

Durian

Durian is a spiky little fruit whose meat smells like a rotting corpse and tasted like a moldy yellow onion

This is why I do NOT understand the appeal in Asia

Coldstone

Coffeeshop

Chiang Mai days 1-2

Got to Chiang Mai on Sunday ! 

Tara and I were originally staying at B2 resort- good rooms but bad staff and awful location.

So we moved to Chana Place in the city center. Our room is a private but it has BUNK BEDS! 

(So much room for activities)

Bungy jumping at the X Centre 

50 m of terrifying free fall

(We got photos with our jump but they are on a CD and I have no way of reading it right now)

Scootering- Tara drives and has no helmet. I ride 'bitch seat' with helmet on because I'm a wuss (and a 'danger to others' when I'm driving...)

Visiting Doi Sutthep on the mountain

Huai Keao waterfall- no swimming

But senior portrait pictures are ok

Koh Tao scenery

Hot damn this place is incredible

Shark Island (there were no sharks)

Chalok bay on Friday night

Mojito

Looking to the west 

Heat lightening

Fire dancer at Babaloo bar

Last morning - sunrise from Taraporn bungalow (you're paying for the view...)

PADI Open Water

We've been doing exercises underwater and I already took my PADI Open Water Final exam. 

Just two more dives still I complete the course !

Koh Tao- diving

Off the east coast of Thailand, north of Koh Samui and Koh Panang (famous for full moon parties), there's Koh Tao, where dive schools are cheap and plentiful. As part of my month in Thailand I aimed to get PADI Open Water certified, and for 10,400 baht ($335?) I could do a three day certification course at Alvaro Dive School, including 3 nights at Taraporn Bungalows.

The dive school is nice- good equipment and really friendly dive instructors. A bit disorganized- I still have no idea what the schedule is. I showed up this morning with my PADI manual, expecting to have a class on 'scuba 101', and the instructor just directed me onto the boat which took us to a site for our first confined dive. Jump on in, newbie- now remove your face mask underwater and put it back on. Same with your regulator. And your vest. There are only two other people in my class- a German couple- so it's nice to have a very personal class. Not to mention a beautiful confined location:

The bungalows are not as great: the design of the hotel is a pain in the ass (have to walk along a dangerous and rocky stretch of beach, which sucks after the sun sets at 6:30pm), the staff are pretty rude, and I had a lizard in my bungalow bathroom for the first day: 

But also a private beach and a hammock:

To get to the dive school/ bungalow> 

Muay Thai week: day 7 (recovery)

No classes today

We went to Kata beach and had pizza instead

And I are a roti roll which is like a crepe made by angels (condensed milk inside)

Great ending to a great week :) 

Muay Thai Week : day 6

Last day is bittersweet- these guys and gals are pretty cool

And then we went out- 'Saturday night's alright for fighting, get a little action in'

Muay Thai week : Day 5

With my hand wraps 

It's Friday, and the rain had been non stop since late last night. About halfway through my morning training session, between the 3rd and 4th round of pad work with my Thai trainer Oun (spelling?), I felt my body just shut down in the middle of trying a new punching combo. The life just got sucked from me.

'Training until failure' has only happened a couple times in my life- in high school, my basketball coach liked to have us run 'sweet sixteen suicides drills' (a LOT of mini sprints) until at least one of the girls threw up, and then in October of 2012, during the certificate course to be a Body Pump (cardio weightlifting), one of the 12 hour sessions is oriented to work you out to your maximum. 

Today in the Muay Thai session it was different though- partly because I was alone in my exhaustion / weakness, and partly because I still have so much I want to do. I'm only here for a week, and missing out on a whole afternoon is a big percentage of that time !

Alas, my body quit. The trainers could tell that I was done, but it didn't stop them from cajoling me as I packed my bag to go, with still an hour to go in the class. 'Kaly!' (how they say my name) 'Why you go?' 

'Im tired!' I shouted back. 

Some of the trainers give me an understanding 'ahhhh' sound but a lot of them yell back 'why you not train?', etc

Instead, I showered, went for a long breakfast with my Kindle, and spent the rest of my day lounging in my budget room, eating delicious chocolate that I've been avoiding all week, and going on a 2 hour long walk. (Technically the walk was only supposed to be 45 min, but I've discovered that Phuket Google Maps, like Laos Google Maps, is horribly inaccurate in their distance/ time calculations.)

Beach / pier that my walk took me to

Random cows in the fields every couple of miles

Dinner was healthy, but offset by some crazy deliciousness (split with a friend)

Deep fried bananas with ice cream

Since tomorrow is my last day here I'm aiming for both sessions. Want to get my kicks as strong as possible before I leave this camp :) 

New tan offsets the bruising but not the newly scuffed knees

Also, something to note: I don't want to sound uper hypochondriac or OCD but gyms seem like a really unhealthy place to be... Not only was staph going around, but I'm pretty sure pink eye is starting to spread. I'm particularly worried because this one trainer, if you get too tired, will come over and give you a mini- massage, which includes a quick shoulder rub, then pressing your eyelids shut, and then folding in your ears to block out the noise. Already I don't like being touched by people I don't know well (esp on the ears) but the entire time I was pressing my eyes closed a small part of me started panicking, 'oh my god, oh my god, this is how you get pink eye!' (Hygiene practices in Thailand are not what they are in the states!) And sure enough the next day the trainer's eyes were pink and puffy... And the. Today while picking up the energy drink mix at the pharmacy, the guy in front of me - who I've seen at the gym- was picking up some medicine for his eyes. 

Gross gross gross