My trip back to Krabi was pretty simple – my hostel owner booked a shared taxi for me, which cost 300 baht ($13AUD). Once I arrived, it was about 5:30pm. The hostel I stayed at was called Pak-Up hostel, and it used to be a primary school before it became a hostel so they stuck to the school theme, which was kind of neat.
I stayed in a 10-person female dorm for 300 baht per night ($13.58), and the hostel offered a 
free barbecue every night of your stay (which was just two skewers with chicken and vegetables, so I only took advantage of it once cause we ended up having to stand in line for over a half hour to get them). I showered and got all of my stuff organised, and then I was starving since I didn’t really eat a proper lunch. I went to a restaurant nearby called Chalita, which served both Thai and western food. My stomach still felt a bit off so I decided to just get a spicy chicken burger with fries. After dinner, I walked around one of the night markets before heading back to the hostel and going to bed.
In my last blog, I forgot to mention that when I went for lunch with Karin in Koh Lanta, she had found a news article about a tropical storm heading towards southern Thailand. She was worried that she should leave Koh Lanta because it was supposed to get worse by Friday and Saturday. On Thursday morning in Krabi, I got up earlier because I wanted to catch the ferry to Railay Beach, which is one of the really nice beaches in the Krabi area. The hostel said that as long as I show up a half hour early to book, I’d be okay. The ferry I wanted to catch would be at 10 so I went down at about 8:30, booked my ticket, and went to a cafe nearby for breakfast. I decided to just get chicken fried rice with a latte at a place called Coconuts Cafe, and then I went back to the hostel at 9:30 to catch my ferry.
However, once I got there, the hostel workers said that the government wasn’t letting any boats leave the pier so I wouldn’t be able to go to Railay Beach. All of the other tours that I would have wanted to take would have already done their pick-ups between 9 and 9:20, so I couldn’t even choose one of those as another option. Krabi Town doesn’t really have much to do for tourists – most of the stuff to see is outside of the city so you either need to pay for public transportation, or rent a motorbike. I decided I might as well check out the Tiger Cave Temple, so I asked the hostel workers how I could get there. They said I’d have to take a taxi for 500 baht, which seemed a bit steep. After doing some research online, I realised I could just catch a songthaew, which is basically just a truck.
For me to get to Tiger Cave Temple, it would only cost 50 baht each way ($2.18)!! I don’t know why the hostel workers didn’t bother telling me this information because it was a much cheaper alternative, at 10% of the price. However, now I think it’s because they have a taxi that belongs to the hostel so they’re able to make more money this way. I walked about five minutes to where all of the songthaews were parked, found a red one that specifically said Tiger Cave on it, paid the driver 50 baht, and got in the back of the truck with two other locals. It was a pretty cool way of being able to see the city, as the entire back is open. I got to the entrance at about 10:30am and by that time, it was already so hot!
In order to get up to the temple, you had to climb 1260 stairs while passing multiple hungry and agressive monkeys. I had brought some snacks cause I figured I would get hungry, but I could fit them into my day bag, so my only other option was to tie the plastic bag of snacks onto the back of my backpack. I started the trek up to the temple and I’m not even kidding that after 100 steps, my legs were already hurting. These steps all had different sizes, so some would only be a few inches high, while others would be over a foot. It definitely tired me out a lot faster, and the heat didn’t help!
After about 250-300 steps, I finally ran into my first group of monkeys. There were plastic bottles and food wrappers everywhere, and I was trying to face the monkeys at all times in hopes that they wouldn’t 
notice the plastic bag on my back. I suddenly felt a tug on the water bottle under my arm, and pulled it back from the greedy monkey trying to take it. It was then that a smaller monkey noticed the plastic bag on my back so it jumped on my bag and was hanging off of it. Luckily, it couldn’t figure out how to open the bag so eventually it jumped off and I quickly ran up the stairs to escape the rest of the group.
I continued slowly making my way up the stairs while taking multiple breaks along the way. I kept getting “Good lucks” from the people coming back down, and they’d point to my bag of treats.
I’d reply that I’ve already been jumped on and it was fine. However, I definitely wasn’t prepared for what was to come… I’ve found that on many stair climbs that I’ve done, the monkeys get more and more aggressive as you make your way to the top. And these ones got much larger. A few hundred steps later, I ran into my second group of monkeys. They noticed my plastic bag within a matter of seconds, and before I knew it, two large monkeys jumped on my back, ripped open the plastic bag and all of the snacks inside it, and had a feast of food at my feet. Everyone around me was shocked, including myself. I should have taken a picture but I think I was more stunned than anything, and wanted to get myself as far away from those monkeys as possible. I FINALLY made it to the top after about 45 minutes and I looked and felt like a hot, sweaty mess. When I did the CN Tower climb a few years ago, it was 500 steps higher, I did it almost ten minutes faster, and I felt like I was going to die THEN. However at least during that time, the steps were all the same height and I was in a cool stairwell. This time felt way worse! I sat down for quite awhile to try to cool myself down and then I finally got up to enjoy the views. It was a pretty overcast day, so I’m assuming it would have been even more spectacular with a blue sky, but at least it wasn’t foggy so I was still able to see everything around. At the top, I had to make sure my knees and shoulders were covered, so I covered up with a sarong and a cardigan (which was the last thing I wanted to do in the state that I was in). However, the climb was definitely worth it and the views were still pretty nice!
I stayed at the top for quite awhile and then made my way back down. The way back was obviously a lot easier, so I just kept it at a steady pace, but I also had to be careful with each step as it was still a pretty sharp decline. With about 100 steps to go, my shoe got untied so I stopped to lift up my foot and it suddenly started shaking uncontrollably – I couldn’t stop it! My calves were killing me and my thighs felt like jelly so when I got to the bottom, I got a cool taro drink and sat down for as long as I possibly could. My calves didn’t stop hurting for nearly three days! My shirt looked like I had went under a shower with it on, and my hair was also soaking wet. It was then that I realised how thankful I was that I decided to do the trek alone, as I’m sure I didn’t look like the most attractive person on the planet. Apparently the songthaews don’t pick people up from the temple gates so I decided to walk towards the main road in hopes that one would eventually pass me.
I read that they would honk and then you could wave them down, but when I saw one just pass me without honking (and I didn’t notice that they were there until it was too late), I started to panic. Multiple taxis and motorbikes would stop and ask if I wanted a ride, but I didn’t want to risk it because I knew they’d end up charging me too much. All of a sudden, I heard a honk, looked over, and saw a songthaew heading in the opposite direction (back towards the temple). I somehow crossed the extremely busy freeway and hopped in the back. The songthaew dropped off some people at the temple and then he started driving even FURTHER away from Krabi town. He was determined to get as many passengers as he could so even when we thought we couldn’t fit any more people in the back of the truck, he still continued to honk. He then stopped at what seemed like a house, said he would be back in about five minutes, and walked away. Me and the other foreign passengers looked at each other, unsure of what was going on. The driver eventually came back and seemed to take as much time possible in getting us back to town. I went back to the hostel to have a cold shower and change and by that time, I was starving since it was 2:30. I walked
around, got lost in a really cool street market, but eventually decided to eat at an Italian restaurant, as I think my
stomach was still having difficulty with eating non-western food. I think the Italian restaurant (called Uno) was pretty authentic, as the owner definitely didn’t look like he was Thai. I decided on penne arrabbiata, which was so good! I got that with a coke for 175 baht ($7.64). After my late lunch/early dinner, I walked around for a bit and then went back to the hostel to decide what to do the next day. The rain had started from the storm and would be continuing for the next couple of days, so my options were pretty limited. The ferry to Railay beach still wouldn’t be working, so I decided that I should just take a tour to see the hot springs and the emerald pool. It was a half-day tour so I’d get back to the hostel by 2:30, and the hostel worker said that the storm wasn’t supposed to start until about 4. I went to the free bbq at about 8:30, visited with some of the other people for awhile, and then went to bed.
On Friday morning, I woke up to a bunch of rain. I double-checked to make sure my tour would still be happening and then I went back to Coconuts Cafe to have a quick breakfast. This time, I had a yogurt and fruit bowl, which was also very good. The presentation on their food and drinks are so nice!
I then went to 7-11 to pick up some snacks for 
the trip since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to buy a lunch anywhere. My tour was booked through Cattery Tours and they were very organised! It cost 800 baht for the tour ($34.90), which was a bit pricey but was still a good way to spend the day. They had 16 different groups going, so they gave each of us a coloured bracelet in order to keep track of our vehicles. We drove for about an hour to get to the hot springs and when we got there, they were absolutely packed! I’m glad that I was just one person cause it was easy for me to be able to squeeze in between random families, but it seemed to be more difficult for people who came in groups.
We were given just under an hour at the hot springs, but they say that you should only stay for a maximum of 15-20 minutes, as the temperatures get too high. It was pretty relaxing though, and I may have extended my time by at least 5-10 minutes 🙂 After the hot springs, we drove another 15 minutes to emerald pool and blue pool. There, we had the option to walk 800 metres through the wet path, or 1400 metres on a heightened path. I opted for the longer option, covering my backpack with my rain jacket, and trekked through the rain to the pools.
I saw emerald pool but decided to keep walking another 600 metres to blue pool, hoping to beat most of the people behind me. The path started heightened but about halfway there, it dropped back down to ground level, where there were puddles of mud everywhere – with a lot of it being unavoidable to walk through. I had to slow down quite a bit, being careful not to lose my footing and slip into the mud. I finally got to blue pool, which is exactly as its name suggests : a blue pool. You’re not allowed to swim in this pool, as it’s protected, so most people just got a picture in front of the pool and then left (including myself).
I made my way back to emerald pool and had about a half hour to enjoy myself before having to walk back to the van.
I took the 800 metre walk back and I was completely worn out. I think the hot springs actually made my already-sore calf muscles even more sore! However, I made it back with five minutes to spare and then we drove back to the hostel. I showered, changed, and went to Arun Restaurant for dinner, where I had some more Tom Yum soup (since it was cold, rainy, and my last dinner in Thailand) with a coconut
shake (to go with the heat of the soup) for 140 baht ($6.11). After dinner, I asked my hostel the best way to get to the airport for my 7:30 flight the next morning and they said I should leave at 5:30 in a taxi for 400 baht ($17.45). However, considering they said the same thing for me to get to Tiger Cave Temple, I wasn’t convinced. I walked to where the songthaews were to ask, but the driver didn’t
understand what I was asking and just kept telling me to “get in, get in!” Luckily, there was a travel stand next to me so I asked him when the songthaews started running and he said 6am. When I asked him how much a taxi would be and he said 400 baht, I realised it would be my only option so I went back to the hostel, booked the taxi, got my bags packed up, and called it an early night. To be perfectly honest, Krabi Town wasn’t my favourite place – it’s extremely touristy and there wasn’t a lot to do. However, the weather and constant rain probably contributed to my impressions of it. I think Krabi province would probably be more worthwhile to explore so maybe I’ll have to check it out next time! Love always
Thankfully, I had asked the Smiley owner about taking the bus to Koh Lanta before I went to bed the night before. I assumed that I could just show up at the bus stop at 8:30am, but now I’m not too sure I would have gotten a spot had I done that. I had to go to the local travel agent next to a pharmacy in Khao Sok to buy a ticket ahead of time. She gave me three options to leave: 6:30am, 8:30am, or 9:30am. I went with 8:30am, she called to make sure that there was space available, and then wrote me a ticket. It cost me 650 baht total ($28.36AUD) – 250 back to Krabi and 400 with the ferry to Koh Lanta. This service was great in that it picked me up from my accommodation and also dropped me off at my hostel in Koh Lanta,
so I didn’t have to worry about paying extra from the ferry. From the time I left Khao Sok until the time I arrived in Koh Lanta, it took about 7.5 hours. On Sunday morning, I got up and ready, picked up the best “breakfast” I could find at a nearby shop (a pack of donuts and some bananas), and waited for my taxi. The ticket said that the taxi would arrive between 8:30 and 8:50, and it came shortly after 9. We then started the 4-hour trip to Krabi. This time, the 13-passenger van was full for the majority of the trip, and the driver had to turn down some passengers on the way (so I’m very happy I ended up buying the ticket beforehand). I actually didn’t end up arriving at the bus station in Krabi until just after 1:30 pm, as the driver had to make some stops along the way. Then, I waited for about a half hour until the next taxi came. I thought it was going to be just me but then we stopped at the airport and filled up the van again. We arrived at the ferry terminal around 3:30 and were on the next ferry within a half hour. A little boat had to push the ferry in the right direction, as I guess the ferry couldn’t turn on it’s own.
As soon as I got there, I was starving since I hadn’t eaten a proper breakfast or lunch, so I went for dinner with Joe, the guy living in Mongolia. We ate at a restaurant called Three Sisters, where I had green curry with rice, and a shake for 170 baht ($7.42). I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture! We then walked to the beach to catch the last of the sunset, and then got some drinks at one of the bars on the beach, Freedom Bar.
back room so if anyone wanted to make some late-night drunken decisions, they could get a permanent tattoo. There was a guy getting a half-arm tattoo of a pineapple when we were there, and the girl that he was with didn’t look too happy about it. It was definitely a good place to do some people watching!
sick or injured, gets them back to good health, and tries to find a home for them. Some of the stories were quite sad, especially about one of the dogs (called Tomato) who had been shot so was very scared around humans. They got her better again and got her used to humans and found a new home for her at a local’s house. Unfortunately, Tomato was too slow to feel comfortable at her new home and the new owner lost patience so the owner tied the leash to the back of a motorbike and pulled Tomato behind. When Tomato came back to the Welfare centre, she was completely skinned 🙁 Now, they are working to get Tomato to feel comfortable around humans again.
maximum of 50), so they are desperately trying to find new homes for as many animals as they can. It’s neat cause they have pictures of all of the animals, and you can see if they’ve been adopted and where they’re going, so there were a few going to Denmark and Canada as well. The centre relies on volunteers (mainly tourists) to come and walk the dogs, in the morning or late afternoon – they don’t allow the dogs to be walked in the middle of the day. Every night, one of the workers (who is also a volunteer) has to sleep in the dog area to make sure they stay calm. They also have a cat cafe, so people can go and cuddle with the cats. After my tour, I stayed in the cat cafe and it started pouring rain, which meant that all of the cats were forced to sit around the edge since the middle part didn’t have a roof over it. Therefore, I had more cats to sit with!
a nearby restaurant called 
the hostel at 8:15 to go on the Four Islands tour. I read about this tour before coming to Koh Lanta, but I also read reviews about it being too crowded. Maybe going on New Year’s Day was a smart thing for me to do because there only ended up being 10 people on my longtail boat (I think normally, there’s about 25 people), and we ended up getting a lot of the areas to ourselves. There are tons of companies that do the Four Islands tour and the cheapest I could find online was for 1300 baht. Luckily, I asked my hostel owner and he booked my tour through a company called Lanta Longtail, and it only cost me 800 baht. I also gave a 100 baht tip so overall, it was $39.27.
surprisingly, I didn’t have that problem here! The tour guide was great and pointed out where to go, and even dove down into the water to point out some clownfish for me to see. Apparently the boat belonged to the main guide, the driver was his dad, and his mom had cooked the lunch.
through the cave at low tide. However, when we got to the lagoon we had the place to ourselves for a few minutes. It was such a nice area to go to, and seemed like a little piece of paradise.
completely exhausted! It started pouring so we decided to skip watching the sunset. However, the rain stopped 6 minutes before sunset so Joe decided to run to the beach. Karin and I were just going to watch from our patio but we couldn’t get a good view, so we decided to hurry to the beach as well but on the way, it started to pour! Her and I were trapped at a bar on the beach, we missed the sun setting, and we didn’t have any money to buy anything.
having breakfast, and packing up my things. Karin and I were going to go to the beach but we stopped for lunch at a place called Nong Pheat kitchen. I got a glass noodle spicy salad with shrimp but by the time we got our food, I think the heat started getting to me and I felt too sick to eat.
up at 2:20pm. I was seriously contemplating skipping my time in Krabi because I didn’t want to leave Koh Lanta, but I decided I should continue with my plans. I hope to make it back there again someday!
My trip to Khao Sok wasn’t horrible… I had been nervous about making the bus on time, as I read that there would only be one bus per day from Krabi to Khao Sok, which was at 11:30am. My original plan was to fly to Krabi from Bangkok the night of December 26, spend the night in Krabi, and take the bus to Khao Sok on the 27th. I found my flight on Skyscanner (as I always do) but I booked the tickets through an agency called Travelgenio, which is a TERRIBLE agency – I would avoid it at all costs (you can see that it has 
many negative reviews). Anyway, the airline had cancelled my flight on the 26th so the agency changed my flight to 5:30am on the 27th. I hate morning flights and I also knew that I’d be cutting it close to catch the bus at 11:30, plus I had already booked my accommodation in Krabi the night of the 26th. Therefore, I emailed and asked if I could still get a flight on the 26th (this was back at the beginning of November). They wrote back two weeks later and gave me two options on the 26th. I immediately wrote back and chose one option, but said I could do the other option as well (I just wanted to get a flight on the 26th). 
They wrote back a week later and said that they’ve seen my confirmation and would send me the new itinerary shortly. Then the next day, they wrote and said the airline would only allow 5:30am on the 26th or 5:30am on the 27th. I immediately wrote back and said I’d prefer the option on the 26th. Another week later, they wrote back and said that they’ve seen my confirmation and would send me a new itinerary. Then a week after that, they said that the airline would only allow December 27th at 5:30am, which was the original flight! It took nearly a month and a half to arrive to this conclusion, so I wasn’t too impressed. I finally agreed with the flight change and the next day (December 12), they said they’ve seen my confirmation and would send me a new itinerary shortly. However, five days before my flight, I still hadn’t received confirmation so I emailed them. No reply… The day before my flight, I STILL hadn’t received anything so I emailed them again. I was so angry that I wrote a review on Trustpilot about how horrible the company was, and I got a reply within a few hours. They told me to send an email to their advanced support department about my booking, so I did, and they FINALLY sent me my itinerary. The person who I had been emailing since November wrote me TEN HOURS AFTER my flight with a reservation confirmation and electronic ticket… absolutely terrible service. Again, avoid at all costs! Anyway, I wanted to be sure I had a spot on the plane since I wasn’t able to check-in online so I got to the Bangkok airport at 10pm, kept myself occupied until 3:30am, and went to check-in. I gave the travel agent my passport and she kept asking me questions and then was taking an awfully long time to check me in. She asked if I could wait a minute, took a screenshot of her computer, and got up to show her phone to someone at the back. That’s when panic started to set in – I wasn’t sure if I’d be getting onto that plane. After about 5-10 minutes, she came back and thankfully printed out my boarding pass. I went through security, didn’t even bother trying to sleep, and boarded the plane.
desk to ask about getting to Khao Sok, but he basically only suggested taking a taxi, which I’m sure would have cost at least 2000 baht. His only other suggestion was to go to the Krabi bus station and see if there was a bus there. My ticket to the bus station was 80 baht ($3.49) and when I got on the bus, the bus driver asked where I was going so I told him. Then when we arrived at the bus station and I was about to get off, he asked “Khao Sok?” I nodded and he yelled over to someone at the station who walked me to the 
correct till to buy my ticket. It was 7:30 when I got to the station and she said the bus wouldn’t be until 10am. I paid 250 baht for my ticket ($10.91) and went to the only restaurant there to get some food. I got fried rice with chicken but upon taking a bite of a big chunk of chicken, I noticed it was still raw on the inside so I quickly spat it out and pushed all the chicken to the side. I went to the bathroom right before having to leave, had to pay 3 baht to use the toilet, and then realised I’d be forced to use my first squat toilet on this trip (also, there’s never any toilet paper so luckily I came prepared when I bought a 6-pack of 
tissues!). Finally at 10, I got on the bus, which was actually a 13-passenger van. It was just me and another girl until she got off after about two hours. Khao Sok is only 100km away from Krabi and the schedule makes it look like you arrive an hour later but the driver went along the length of the coast so it ended up taking four hours total. After the girl got off, I got the van to myself for an hour, and then we picked up a mom with her two boys and all got off at Khao Sok. The taxi driver asked where I was staying and dropped me off right at Smiley Bungalows, so I gave him a tip. The place was completely deserted when I arrived but eventually the daughter showed up and showed me to my room. The bungalows were like treehouses, and I got a room with a queen-sized bed and my own bathroom; it was so nice! I had a much-needed shower and even though I was exhausted, I walked around town until 5 and then had dinner at a place called Lab Roi-Et, where I had Pad Thai and a Thai coffee. My night at Smiley Bungalow was only 300 baht ($13), which was amazing!
ready for breakfast at 8am the next morning. I had breakfast with a couple from the Netherlands (both teachers) and a girl from Hawaii (also a teacher). Everyone who I’ve met up until this point and on this tour is only in Asia for 2 or 3 weeks for the Christmas holidays, and many were couples (one was on their honeymoon!). There were about 25 people on our tour, so it was a good amount of people. We left Smiley Bungalows in two 13-passenger vans and drove towards the pier at about 9:30am. After an hour, we stopped in a small town to pick up food for 20 minutes and then drove another 20 minutes to the pier. We then got on two longtail boats and drove for another hour across Chiao Lan lake to Smiley Lakehouse. The boat ride there was absolutely gorgeous, and the scenery was like nothing I’ve seen before.
fee ($122.16) per person no matter what – they didn’t charge a single supplement fee to make up for the fact that there was only one person in a 2+ person room (which solo travellers like myself often get cheated with). The tour also included five meals – two breakfasts, two lunches, and one supper. After lunch, we were given free time until 5pm. There was only one other solo traveller on this trip, so her and I took a kayak out for a couple hours. However, with neither of us having much experience with kayaks, we continued just spinning around in circles. Once we got far enough, we gave up and just sat on the kayak in the middle of the lake.
decided to go for a swim. The company said that we had to wear life jackets if we went swimming or kayaking because there was a 20-35 metre drop from our deck but since I had enough experience swimming, and other people weren’t wearing life jackets, I decided not to either. However, AFTER our free time was finished, the tour guide said that there were cobras in the lake and one time, someone was swimming and was either bitten or pulled down by a cobra and drowned. I likely wouldn’t have went into the lake knowing this information so I’m glad they told us this after the fact. At 5pm, we went on a night safari, but only saw one monkey in the far distance. However, we got a nice view of the sunset!
were also teachers (one is teaching in Thailand, which started giving me ideas of moving to Thailand to teach). We had to be ready for 6:40am the next morning, so we didn’t stay up too late.
our stuff before our cave trek. We got in the boat to make our way to the Nam Taloo hiking trail and were warned that we’d be going through water up to our shoulders, so I decided to rent some shoes (for 50 baht – $2), as I didn’t want to ruin my new ones.
centipedes that were poisonous, so that was comforting… After about 45 minutes, we made it to the bat cave, where we just saw a couple of bats. Then, we had to turn around and make our way back. I had never done anything like it before and it was such a fun experience; I had a great time!
Again, we had to take a one-hour boat ride, and then drove back to the bungalows. We got back
just before 5pm so I showered, went out for dinner, and bought 
my bus ticket for the next day, and went to bed. Khao Sok is one of those places that still hasn’t caught on in popularity, which adds to its charm. It’s an absolute gem of a place –
I was so sad to leave! Until next time…
After my 4-hour flight from Shanghai to Bangkok, I took my time going through border control, waiting for my bag, changing clothes, and then standing in line for at least half an hour to get a SIM card. Normally, I just live off of wifi while I travel but since I had some appointments the next day, I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly. Also, SIM plans were so cheap that it was hard to turn down. My SIM card with the dtac provider cost me 179 Baht ($7.45AUD) for 9GB during 7 days, so essentially a dollar per day. I got a coffee from 7-11 and then figured out how to get to my hostel. It actually wasn’t too difficult once I was led in the direction of the bus. I had to take the A1 bus to Mo Chit Station, which cost me 30 baht ($1.25AUD) and then I had to get a ticket to my station (Chong Nonsi), which included a transfer at Siam Station and cost me 44 baht (1.83AUD). I probably got to the Lub D Silom hostel a bit before 2pm but they let me check in anyway. The hostel was nice in that it had air conditioning in the room,
which is very necessary in 33+ degree weather! I had a much-needed shower after my all-nighter in the Shanghai airport, and then another girl arrived. She was meeting up with friends so I joined them for lunch. I soon remembered why it’s so difficult for me to travel with other people. They chose a nicer, more expensive restaurant so my meal came up to 360 baht ($15AUD), which is still a steal of a deal if I was having dinner in Australia, but it’s the most expensive meal that I’ve had here so far. I do everything as cheap as I possibly can and for this trip, I’m trying to stick to a $30/day budget (although I’ve failed miserably up until this point). My hostel was relatively pricier to begin with (just over $17AUD/night) so that really limited the amount of money that I could work with. I already came into the trip knowing that I’d be spending more money than normal during Christmas and New Year’s, so it didn’t come as a surprise. Anyway, I decided to take it easy that evening and plan out the following day before getting some sleep.
made my way to my appointment. All that I had to get done was a check-up and a cleaning (no cavities, yay!). However, the dentist told me that if I needed him to stop during the cleaning, to raise my hand, which I thought was weird because normally cleanings are the easy part when going to the dentist. That cleaning was like no cleaning I’ve ever had before – it was so extremely painful (and I have a high pain threshold!). There were a couple of times when I almost stopped him, but I made it through. When he was finished, he told me to rinse out my mouth and spit, and when I did, it was completely red! “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded, as I think I was just shocked. He definitely did a deep cleanse! However, my teeth did (and still do!) feel so smooth and clean. At this dentist, if you pay with cash, you get 10% off so my bill came to 1080 baht ($47) – cheaper than the vaccines. After my appointment, since I was in the Siam area, I continued walking to the Siam shopping centres, which are huge!
zigzagged my way through streets, often getting lost, but that’s one of my favourite things to do in a new city – you see so much more when walking randomly. I walked by many markets and street food vendors, which was cool to see. Then I started to get hungry for lunch, so using my trusty ‘cheap eats near me’ search, I walked to Chinatown and ate at Nai Ek Roll Noodles. It was so popular that there was a line-up outside the door! I didn’t have to wait too long to get in and was seated between two people, right in front of the ‘kitchen.’ The specialty is obviously roll noodle soup, so I decided to get it with minced beef, and it was delicious! The broth had a peppery taste, the rolled noodles were just the right consistency, and the meatballs had good flavour to them. I got my soup with a Pepsi for 100 baht ($4.36). I continued walking through random streets, stumbled upon the flower market, and made my way up to the Grand Palace.
time I got there since the heat had reached its peak. I found the nearest 7-11, found some stairs in the shade, and tried to cool myself down. I then walked to Khao San Road, which seems to be a street specifically made for tourists. It’s full of restaurants and vendors selling clothes, but I was still so hot so I just got a sundae at McDonald’s and waited for the sun to start setting. I walked back towards my hostel and stopped for dinner at an Indian/Thai restaurant called Home Cuisine. I got Tom kha soup, which is made with coconut milk, which wasn’t too bad although I still prefer Tom yum. My soup along with an apple soda was 145 baht ($6.33). That was another huge day of walking, with 31,000 steps, so I slept well again that night.
decided to check out the temples. I walked towards the Sathorn Pier, and got something to eat on my way there. I went to another Chinese restaurant called Prachak and it was another full restaurant. Thanks to the recommendations of some people sitting next to me, I got noodles with roast duck and shrimp dumplings, as well as a red pork bun. Those along with a juice cost me 105 baht ($4.58) – the meal prices here are insane! I continued to the pier and went on the hop on hop off boat. For an unlimited pass, it costs 150 baht, but I decided to just get a one-way pass for 50 baht. I stopped at Wat Arun and went in for 50 baht ($2.18). They check to make sure you’re dressed correctly (I knew this beforehand) so you have to make sure your shoulders are covered and your knees are covered. This is why almost everyone ends up buying a pair of elephant pants when in Thailand, as there are numerous shops there to sell them to you. Wat Arun is absolutely stunning; it’s another one of those buildings that take your breath away.
ferry across the river for 4 baht to go to Wat Pho. Wat Pho costs 100 baht ($4.36) and you get a free bottle of water with your ticket! At that point, the water was necessary cause it was another hot day with no air-conditioning. I started by going to the reclining Buddha, which is a massive Buddha lying down, and takes up the length of the entire building.
many pictures as you can along with all of the other tourists. This place was busy! It was so hard to squeeze in to get a picture, plus it was really hot in the building, so I didn’t spend too much time in there. Then I went to the actual temple of Wat Pho. The line-up was quite long so I took my shoes off, waited for about 15 minutes to spend ten seconds at the entrance to take a picture and leave (you’re not allowed to go inside).
until 5:30 in the morning, but that meant I’d have to check in at 2:30 and since there were some complications about my booking (which I’ll write about in the next post), I wanted to make sure I had enough time just in case anything went wrong. I got to the airport at about 10pm and killed the time as best I could until check-in. And that’s Bangkok! Love always.
Well let me catch you up on my time in Shanghai! I woke up on Saturday, December 15th at about 6am, got ready, packed up all of my bed sheets, said goodbye to my flatmate, and left my flat at 7am. I had to go to Southern Cross station in order to catch the airport bus by 7:45 and decided to show up early so I could get some food. I was going to Avalon airport this time, which seems a lot further than the Tullamarine airport but it’s actually faster to get to. I arrived around 8:40, got my documents checked, and went through security. Lucky for me, contact solution counts as a medicinal liquid in Australia so I was somehow able to fit all of the liquids I needed into one bag (I even took a picture so I’d be able to do it again for my next flights!). There aren’t many shops past security in Avalon so I just got a coffee and waited to board. I was SO paranoid that the airline would end up weighing my bag before getting on the plane, so I stuffed all of my heavy items in my pockets (my phone, charging pod, and camera). However, after looking around and seeing the numerous amounts of bags everyone else had around me, I realised I was being silly as my bag was only a few hundred grams over. We finally boarded the plane to leave at 10:30am and I was disappointed to find out that there wasn’t any (free) entertainment for my 8-hour AirAsia flight. It may have been a good thing that I didn’t get much sleep the night before because it forced me to relax and attempt to sleep. I don’t know if I actually got any sleep during the flight but after a few hours, I was starving! The flight attendants were serving all of the pre-ordered meals and the smells of food were making me even more hungry. I was somewhat shocked that I wasn’t offered any free food or drink during the 8-hour flight and decided to cave in and buy a meal since I knew I wouldn’t be able to survive until landing. I finally landed in Kuala Lumpur at about 4pm and had a 3-hour layover, which gave me enough time to have dinner. The flight to Bangkok was quite short – less than an hour and a half, and I arrived at about 9:30pm. I tried to go to the connecting flights but the lady checked my ticket and said that since my Shanghai flight wasn’t a connecting flight, I’d have to go through customs, get my passport stamped to enter Thailand, go through security, and get it re-stamped to exit Thailand. Not what I want to hear when the space on my passport is limited! However, I was delighted to see a Dairy Queen after I made it through security. I treated myself to my first Blizzard in a year, and had a hot dog to go with it. My layover was nearly 4 hours but it went by quickly with everything I had to do. The flight was supposed to leave at 12:15am, which was 4:15am Melbourne time so I passed out as soon as I boarded the plane. However, after an hour and a half, I woke up and realised we hadn’t left the tarmac yet. We saw the flight attendants go down the aisle with their bags and then an announcement was made that “due to technical difficulties, we were all required to disembark and we’d be notified when a new plane would be available.” As we got off the plane, we were asked for our boarding passes and were each given a number, which they wrote on our boarding pass (and kept). This number was the only proof that we had to show that we were on the flight. None of the restaurants were open anymore so I went and lied down for awhile but at 2:15, I realised that no one from my flight was around… I walked to the main flight screen only to see that my flight would be departing at 2:30 at a different gate!! I ran to the gate and it was complete mayhem when I got there. All of the boarding passes were scattered along a desk and all of the passengers were surrounding the desk in a mob, shoving their passports and numbers to the flight attendants. Some passengers even tried to go behind the desk to find their own boarding passes! I snuck in through the exit and got my boarding pass within five minutes, but I knew we wouldn’t be leaving by 2:30. Even so, I went and found my seat on the plane so I could try to get some more sleep in. The flight was four hours and I was meant to arrive in Shanghai at 5:30 but didn’t arrive until 8am. I went through customs, got some money exchanged, bought a muffin (I was so hungry since the last time I had eaten was just the hot dog and blizzard), and made my way to the metro station. The trip to Yang and Ron’s took about an hour and 20 minutes, and I had to make a couple of transfers to get there, but I figured it all out! Ron was waiting at the station for me and we walked to a cafe, where Yang and the boys were waiting. It was so nice to see them again! I hadn’t seen Yang and Evan in over three years (Evan’s in grade 3 now), and I got to meet Max for the first time, and he’s nearly two. I had some breakfast and some much-needed coffee, and then we went back to the house. Ron actually had to leave town that day for work and wouldn’t be back until Wednesday so I was able to stay at their place until he came back. Yang had made all of my favourite Christmas treats, so it was nice to have some familiar, delicious food! That day was a struggle for me and it felt like the longest day ever, as I didn’t get much sleep during the past two days. I forced myself to stay up until 9pm (the last hour was a struggle and I was literally counting down the minutes) and then I slept a good 10.5 hours.
On Tuesday, we went went to get coffee (at the London chain, Costa!) and then walked around for a bit so Max could let out some energy. She showed me one of the main tourist destinations in the area, called Tianzifang, which is a bunch of little shops along small alley-ways. We decided to get lunch at a cool Japanese restaurant, which was jam-packed with people. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to some (very expensive) cupcakes next door. Our evenings basically always included having dinner and watching at least two movies, as that had been 
Yang and my way of bonding back when she knew little English. Unfortunately, Evan would come home after his 7:45-3:45 school day and would usually end up doing homework from the time he got home until after dinner. They work the kids way too hard in China! The parents are responsible for checking and signing off all of the homework (and aren’t given an answer key for it). I checked his math homework one night and it was questions such as 3+4×6-2, as well as long division… for grade 3!!! I didn’t even learn multiplication tables until grade 4 and I don’t think we learnt about BEDMAS until high school. The poor kid never gets a break!
Village. We had dumplings, wonton soup, some deep-fried bread, and soft tofu soup. It was delicious! Afterwards, we desperately needed coffee (as Yang and I have both found out that we get headaches if we don’t get caffeinated fast enough) so Yang suggested we go to the cat cafe that we had seen in Tianzifang the day before (Tono’s Palace). It’s so easy to get lost in the alleys so it took awhile until we finally found it. There were at least 15-20 cats in there and they would hop up on the tables next to you – Max was ecstatic! He was a bit nervous around the cats, but he was still so happy to be around them. These cats were definitely the most active out of the cat cafes that I’ve been to. That night, Ron came back home so they ended up moving me into a hotel room that was three floors above their apartment! It made it extremely easy to meet up with them each morning and to go to bed at night.
Finally at about 11am, I landed in Bangkok! And I guess I’ll leave the rest for another blog post… Love always
Quite a few months later, I really started thinking that I should visit my sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews in Shanghai. I had pondered it before, but the price of the flights made me decide not to buy a ticket. However, I realized that I hadn’t seen my brother-in-law since he visited me in London over a year and a half ago, I hadn’t seen my sister and nephew since my 25th birthday, which was almost four years ago, and I haven’t even MET my other nephew, who turns two years old in January. I figured I should leave Melbourne a week earlier so that I could spend a week with the family in Shanghai before Christmas. So adding that (more expensive) flight into the equation:
bag. After doing a trip to Tasmania and a trip to Byron Bay/Brisbane in September, I realized that it would be a huge challenge to try to do a 4-month trip with only 7 kg. I decided that I’d probably have to check in a bag but upon looking at the prices and finding out that it would cost me 78 dollars EACH WAY for my flight from Melbourne to Bangkok alone, I knew I wasn’t going to pay over 300 dollars just to carry a heavier bag around. Therefore, the 7kg challenge was a challenge that I was going to have to accept. Since most bags weigh about 2-3kg on their own, my first 
step was to find the lightest bag that I could. After tons of research, I ordered a Cabin Zero bag from the UK, which cost me $110 AUD. This 44L bag is awesome because it only weighs 0.76kg, which leaves me a lot of weight to add. It has a ten year warranty, and it has a unique lost-and-found tag so I can trace my bag if it gets lost. It opens like a suitcase would, which makes finding items a lot easier.
some cheap packing cubes for my Africa trip but the zippers already broke after opening them a few times, so this time I paid $20 for a 7-piece Waterproof set. Everything is the perfect size to fit in my backpack, and there’s even some space leftover!
camera. I got my previous camera (Canon PowerShot S95) in 2012 for my Europe trip but a few months ago, I ended up dropping it and the lens stopped opening. I wanted to find another DSLR that would take amazing pictures so after doing a ton of research (as usual), I finally decided to go with a Canon PowerShot SX730. This camera is awesome because it connects to both Wi-fi and Bluetooth, so I can control the camera using my phone if I’m using a tripod. I can also instantly transfer all of the photos to my phone, which will then automatically upload all of my pictures to iCloud AND Google Photos so that if my camera ever gets stolen (knock on wood), I won’t have to worry about my biggest fear happening when travelling, which is losing all of my pictures (I ALWAYS 
try to back up my pictures at least three times). This camera also has a flip screen for easy-to-take selfies, and it also has an AMAZING zoom!! I’ll attach pictures of the Bon Jovi concert that I went to – one picture uses no zoom at all and one picture is using full zoom. The results are unbelievable! This camera set me back by $399 AUD, which is definitely worth it!
get a selfie-stick. I’ve never had one before and find them quite annoying when in high-tourist areas, but I also realized that they come in handy when doing solo travel. The selfie-stick that I got is also a tripod, and it comes with a remote for easy picture-taking. It has a two different attachments – one 1/4 screw head for my camera and one phone holder, so I can use it with both my camera and my phone. The BlitzWolf Selfie Stick cost me $27.99AUD.
adapter a couple of years ago when I was living in London and I take it on all of my trips (and now use it everyday for all of my Canadian items in Australia). While it’s a bit bulky, it has every outlet option to plug into, plus it has 2 USB ports and 1 plug-in, so I can charge three items at one time (whether it be my camera, phone, pedometer, selfie stick, charging pod, etc.) – so handy!
The last electronic device that’s not necessarily an essential, but is nice to have is my new Mi Band3, which is like a FitBit but a different brand. It has the time, the weather, counts my steps, tracks my light and deep sleep, and will update me of any messages I get on Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, etc (obviously only if I’m on data or Wifi).
last week! I was on the search for hiking shoes and a waterproof jacket, and stopped at the DFO (designer fashion outlet) to find the best deals. I made all of my purchases at Adventure Megastore, which is the only store (that I know of) in Australia that sells Columbia products. I found some waterproof hiking shoes, which out of all of the shoes I tried on at DFO, I liked the best because they were less bulky than all of the other waterproof shoes (as in they just felt like regular running shoes). I got the Columbia Peakfreak XCRSN II Xcel shoe for $149 (originally $250). I then found a waterproof Columbia Arcadia II rain jacket for $99 (originally $180).
entire body so you have to put it over your head or your legs in order to take it off – no one will be able to clip or cut it off. It fits tightly against your skin so if you’re wearing a shirt overtop, you can’t even tell that it’s there (and you usually forget that you have it on). I bought one from a company called Stashbandz for my Africa trip and loved it – I’d always put it on when we went through border control. I tried to get the same one for this trip but after having to wait over a month for it to come from the US (it still hasn’t arrived), I found a similar one from an Australia-based company called FlipBelt.
Prairie Girl Abroad 