Heartstrings 38.0: Poda & Luk Yim lovin', not-so-much massage

After a nice short flight from Bangkok to Krabi, we hired a taxi to take us to our hotel in Ao Nang. We asked the lady who checked us in for a recommendation to eat around the hotel... her response, "I would not eat near here." So needless to say, we got in a tuk-tuk and headed into town. Unsure of what to eat, we ended up at TJ's Bar for some nachos and a burger for me. Met a nice Swedish bar tender who helped us figure out where to eat from that night on. Talked to a Brazilian couple who were on holiday from their masters studies in Chicago. We enjoyed our first night (some a LOT more then others as an impromptu karaoke moment happened and I was given the task of providing lyrics to Journey's Don't Stop Believing. We left the bar and headed out into the streets of Ao Nang... I chatted up a lovely Aussie couple while Sonia danced the night away in the streets. The husband just so happened to celebrate his birthday a day after mine... and they gave us a suggestion of where to head on our first full day in the island region. We finally got Sonia to stop dancing and eventually made our way back to the hotel.

The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and hopped in a tuk-tuk to head to the pier. We took the Aussie's advice and booked a ticket on a longboat out to Poda Island. It was a 25 minute ride and when we got there the captain told us that we'd leave at 3pm. We had the whole day in paradise! The island was so quite and stunning. We swam with the fish (the girls got nibbled on) and I took a stroll around the island. I learned that I could definitely be classified now as someone who "enjoys long walks on the beach..." While walking along and listening to music, a local boy ran by me... as he passed he yelled out, "I miss you!" I literally laughed out loud... couldn't keep it in. I enjoyed my serene moments on the beach to myself before heading back to eat lunch. We were definitely spoiled with such a lovely place to spend our first island adventure. I would definitely recommend this quiet area to people who are visiting. Take a longboat out... there are tours that stop on and off throughout the day, but this place is definitely a keeper. Not much tourism (only one bathroom on the island) and there's hiking trails along the inside of the island.

When we left the island, we decided we would eat dinner at one of the spots the Swedish lady recommended. We headed to Luk Yim (which we returned to quite frequently because it was that good.) I had my hand at Beef Panang this time, while the others tried the Chicken Panang and Green Curry.

After leaving dinner, we decided to give a massage a go. Keep in mind, I was already horribly sunburned from my day at Poda. When the lady looked at my back, she asked me if I was sure that I wanted the massage. I told her we'd try it... so I did. All in all, I didn't care too much for the whole experience. About the only part I really enjoyed was the oil massage. They did a lot of popping of the back, massaged with a towel over your body, the lady climbed on top of me and did some more weird popping stuff, she continued with a yoga/pilates move holding your arms behind you and pulling your torso up, and what I can only describe as a round-about popping of the back. Every moment of the experience, I was left wondering, "what's she gonna do to me next?" which can make your body tense up a little - not the most relaxing of experiences for me personally. I finally had to ask her to stop the massage when she brought the towel back out and then proceeded to massage my scalp. That hurt like nobody's business... she was understanding and that was the end of my only Thai massage experience. The other girls enjoyed their experience and went back for several more... so maybe it was just me. I prefer Swedish style myself...

Heartstrings 37.0: city exploring

Bangkok, cont... Day Three with the gals...

Sonia and I

 

Kathy and I

On the river, we saw a lot of different types of structures, some grand and some dilapidated shacks. This is China town from the boat and one of the temples we did not get to see.

When we stepped off the boat, we didn't really have a clue where to go. I wasn't up for being the human GPS at the moment so we wondered to the bathroom, which is always a safe stop. Everywhere in Thailand, you have to pay to use the toilet.. and if you can find a toilet that has toilet paper, score! It's a hot commodity in this country!

Sonia and Alison had an unspoken vow of having a coconut a day while in Thailand. This lady took that knife to the coconut and it didn't stand a chance. It was a fast opening...

Lost in a market that smelled heavily of fish and fruit, I found this... now, you may laugh because you think it's quite funny looking; but I can speak from experience... this is an accurate interpretation of a Thai massage (more on that in the island posts!)

Whilst on the streets trying to figure out which way to go, a local Thai man started up a conversation with me. I greeted him with the standard Thai, "saw-wah-de-kah," which basically means hello. He worked across the street at the temple we were looking at and he told us about the upcoming festival around the country and helped us figure out where to site see for the day. During the conversation, he told me to find a tuk-tuk driver and tell him where we wanted to go, for 40 baht, in Thai. He then asked me if I spoke Thai (in which I politely laughed and said no, cause really?) He hailed down a driver and off we went!

Our first stop was the Smiling Buddha. Our driver was well excited about teaching us about his culture. He couldn't stop smiling as he talked about the city and especially when we came to the temple.

While there, he was teaching me about the different Buddha's... did you know there was one for every day? Yeah, shouldn't be hard to believe. He shared with us a local custom when you come to the Smiling Buddha. Basically, you pay 10 baht for a small jar of oil. You pour the oil into the Buddah that the day of your birthday falls upon that year (lucky for me, mine was the next week... otherwise, I would not have know my birthday fell on a Thursday!)

After you pour the oil, you walk over to the bell, and with your right hand, you gong the bell three times... once on the right, once on the left, and again on the right. Then you walk over to the other bell to the right and do the same thing, in reverse order.

After we all finished our birthday Buddah custom, we took our shoes off and headed inside the temple to see the Smiling Buddah. Inside, we met another friendly Thai man. We spoke to him for a good 20 minutes (poor tuk-tuk driver waiting outside in the blistering 38 degree weather - about 100 degrees F!) He owned a rubber tree farm and a friend told him to come to this Buddha for a successful business year. His son was also getting married in a few weeks (hope it went well!) After talking some more, he wanted to teach us how to ask Buddha for something. Of course, I felt a little conflicted with the whole not worshiping other idols thing and then not wanting to disrespect the Buddhist culture by praying to God in a temple. So I just said a few words wishing the man a successful business year and for his son to have a lovely wedding. We said our goodbyes after finishing up and were off again...

Wat Pho... beautiful. It was the only other temple Kathy and I went inside. Although, I've heard that if you've been in one, you've seen 'em all. And I believe that!

We walked in the entrance and paid a 100 baht (about $3) to see the temple of the reclining Buddha...

When you get your ticket scanned, the first place you see to the left has this inside. If you actually hit it (we did it once and very soft,) you will hear the low gong sound. It's pretty cool. 

The first temple we visited inside Wat Pho was the Reclining Buddha. Inside there were quite a few people, so getting pictures was a bit tricky. Lucky for me, everyone was snapping away at the gigantic Buddha and marveling at it's size and didn't see the 4 monks meditating.

Was a little grossed out when I saw this... biggest feet ever! Yuck!

When we left the Reclining Buddha, it was hotter than Hades outside. Pretty sure it was pushing 105 or so... but that's what ya get when you travel in the hottest month of the year in Thailand.

It was after one by now and I was hungry, but we pressed on through the grounds to see the other temples in hopes that we would finish in time to head across the street to see The Grand Palace. 

Beautiful landscaping and architecture

Walking around Wat Pho was quite relaxing... although I will say that it's all the same going in and out of each temple. They all had different Buddha's in them though. Kathy and I started playing around while waiting for Sonia, and I made a new friend. He's quite small, but very happy! I even attempted to be like Buddha... I wouldn't recommend doing that on the smallest step know to man. Kathy was "yelling" at me to fix my feet and snapped a picture of my scared Buddha. It was quite funny in the moment.

In the end, we didn't get to see all of Wat Pho as it was nearing 3:00 and I hadn't eaten lunch yet. Kathy was very understanding (Sonia got lost in the midst of all the Buddhas and we ended up leaving without her). We headed back to the hotel after waiting for a good 45 minutes for the ferry - which was extremely packed! We ate dinner and said goodbye to Bangkok for the time being. 

Heartstrings 36.0: food, markets, and more food in BANGKOK!

Slacker here... I wrote this awhile back and just saved it instead of posting... so here's a look back at my thoughts on Thailand. More to come later... 

Two days back into the groove of things and I'm beep-boppin' up the stairs at work and feel a lot more refreshed then I did before I left Abu Dhabi two weeks ago. It's a nice feeling that I'd love to maintain until summer begins... I was so against letting this place change me for the worse that I didn't realize that I had lost a little bit of myself in the process of not turning into a spoiled brat. I lost my energy, bounce, carefree attitude, laughter, and bubbly-ness - not to say it wasn't still there... just not to the extent that it was back in the States. It took leaving this place to see how much thought you actually put into maintaining the status-quo here from what you wear to how you act in public. It had really taken it's toll and it took me getting on a plane for 7 hours and chatting up the locals to understand what had actually happened to my heart here.

I've decided to post my Thailand experiences by city instead of by doing it all in one post... too many wonderful things to say about this place for one post - it just wouldn't do it justice.

So without further ado - Bangkok, Thailand (Day One and Two) 

We arrived in Bangkok and immediately found our hotel taxi; which shuttled us to the Panthewam Princess hotel in the heart of the city. It was a good ways out and we didn't end up checking into the hotel until around 2:30 that morning, so needless to say--we were tired. Alison ended up getting sick on the plane over and you couldn't help but feel badly for her. Immediately, it was evident that this would be a warm and friendly place to be - I kept the bellhop in my room with a map on the table asking all sorts of questions about where to go and what to experience. He was hospitable and didn't mind staying and answering my bazillion questions.

The next day was a bit of a struggle for me to get up (complete opposite problem here in Abu Dhabi). I think I finally rolled out of bed around 9:00 and got ready for breakfast. Shortly after I ate my completely English-style breakfast (beans and all!) we hit the ground running to the Chatuchak Market - a name in which I never completely learned how to say correctly, but didn't really have to as all the locals referred to it as JJ's Weekend Market.

The girls and I had a rather humbling experience in an elevator on our trek to the SkyTrain station (we got on with a security guard and some ladies and all assumed that the security guard's job was to push the buttons of the elevator... when he got off on the 6th floor, we were left a little dumbfounded that it wasn't his job to stand in an elevator all day and push buttons... that's when I realized that I just might live in a country that has too much money.)

We hopped on the SkyTrain to the Mo Chit station for what I assumed would be a large market but was completely amazed at how insanely big it actually was! Kathy, Sonia, and I ended up going back the next day as well to take Alison (she was sick the first day we went)... we figured she needed to be exposed to this place and we realized it would be our last day to hit this place up and there were still areas we wanted to explore.

Asian countries are so organized... even getting off the SkyTrain is a cinch!

Traffic was chaotic considering it was ONLY 10:00!

Alison and I about to head into the shopping madness!

Inside one of the million isles this market has.

We had a man warn us that people will slash your bags on the outside to grab what falls out.

I'm not huge into shopping but let me tell you how amazingly cheap this place is (which in turn, causes you to spend more money then you realize!) I bought several dresses for 100 baht (a little over 3 USD... yes, you read that right... 3... flippin'.... DOLLARS!) got a couple of sarongs for our island adventure, some sandals, and about 6 t-shirts for $10 (and I'm talking a Longhorn shirt, Cowboys shirt, and several others). People from Texas really get out and travel more than other states - either that or they just like to dump random HEB and sports teams and old high school shirts off in Thailand.

little bit 'o lunch before heading back to the hotel - don't even ASK how they do the dishes in this joint!

friend rice and chicken at JJ's Market w/ Kathy

My first "authentic" Thai food experience was the second night in Bangkok. I was told to try some Panang Curry and seeing as the menus in this place can be quite overwhelming when you don't know what the heck to eat, I decided tonight would be the night to try it. The first few bites were pretty enjoyable as far as curry goes but by the fourth bite my mouth was on fi-yah! Holy geeze, it was spicy. I thought it might just be because it was curry and I'd only every eaten it one other time, but my co-worker, Kathy, tried it as well and agreed that it was hot as all get out. She commended me for finishing it (well, I didn't eat too many more of the green veggies due to weird textures). I washed it down with a yummy glass of pineapple juice. All things considered, I was pretty happy that I'd survived my first real Thai experience and didn't chicken out because of the spices. Huge step for me on the eating front! 

Panang Chicken and Pineapple Juice

Heartstrings 35.0: first world problems... and movies!

This is going to be one of those stupid "first world problems" posts to start off... I have spent this entire weekend trying to figure out summer plans. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to figure out 3 weeks back in the states between Texas, Nebraska, and Ohio and then trying to figure out your summer in the UK on top of that. Lots of planning and ideas-a-spinnin'-around!

So far though, I have some important things planned:

• Oxford for 3 days - gonna go see where C.S. Lewis and Tolkein roamed about doing brilliant things; see the church Lewis attended and where he is also buried; have a go at Lewis and Tolkein's homes where they wrote so many amazing things; and then spend a day at Warwick Castle and/or Costwolds. Happiness!
• Downton Abbey tour booked... yes, that's right. My inner nerd will be let out on August 13th. I got one of the last two spots for the YEAR to go see where Downton is filmed. Score!
• Harry Potter Studios... releasing the inner nerd again. Gonna go play with some wizards and stuff! 
• Bath: will be spending 2 days in the Roman Baths and Jane Austen-ville! Love!
• Oh, and can't forget! Shows!!! Gonna go see Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables (possibly the Lion King?!?) So many choices!

Eventually, I'd like to make my way up to Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo Festival, and possibly see some of the Scottish Highlands if time allows. I'd love to head over to Chester (Wales) for a day or so and see that, maybe see Liverpool, and the Lake District; but all of that is up in the air. Time is not a good friend when planning a vacation!

.........Rant over.........

There is (hopefully) one more week of school with the boys left. We're really hoping they stop coming after the end of this week, but officially the last day is the 13th of June. Last day for teachers is July 4th... yep, July, friggin, fourth! What the hey are we supposed to do at school during that time you ask?!? Watch movies, socialize, appear to be "professionally developing" ourselves.

I just survived a week of tonsillitis... went to Dubai last weekend for a wine tasting event (in which I learned that I am not the biggest fan of wine). I kept getting light-headed during the event, but figured it was due to wine/lack of food. Had the same feeling the next night though at the Irish Village (in which I had no alcohol). Had a few headaches and just attributed it to dust kicking around. On my way back from Dubai (where I was left stranded in the middle of the night and had to catch a shared cab back to A.D. thanks, Cathy, lol!) it all caught up to me. I spent the next 4 days on my couch sleeping and in lots of pain. Tonsillitis sucks... that's for sure. Fever, achy-ness, can't swallow, lack of energy... ugh. But I got 3 days off of work. Went back on Wednesday (still felt like crud the next two days) but my boys were good. We watched lots of movies and Ben 10. They were happy :)

Speaking of movies... went and saw a few before/after I felt bad. Here's my attempt at being a movie critic:

• Iron Man 3: Robert Downey, Jr. can do no wrong. Piper in an Iron Man suit... love. I don't want to give away too much of the movie but I did think it was a good movie. Not as great as I was expecting (or as the other 2), but it didn't disappoint. Can't leave it there though... you just can't. 
• Star Trek: Into Darkness: my first movie in Dubai... I liked it a lot. Wasn't as funny as the first one; but it was still enjoyable. I liked Cumberbatch (oh, Sherlock!) as the evil dude, Khan. He played it well. And I just love this new Spok. He is just hilarious. And Kirk, well, he's just a good looking man so :)
• Fast & Furious 6: yep, went and saw that this weekend. Again, I liked it. It was cheesy and there was horrible acting. Don't even get me started on the plane/car scene and how unrealistic it all is. And yes, there are 500 million of them; but for some reason, I can't get enough. I'm ready for 7 and 8... 
• Great Gatsby is next on my list.

Heartstrings 34.0: Happy burfday!

Today is Monday... and it's GONZO's birthday all the way back in Texas! Happy birthday, Katie-did! I miss you and hope you're having a wonderfully spoiled day. Been thinking about you all day today!

Aside from being Monday and a birthday, this day was also the last Monday I will have to work until April 15th!!! It's getting so close to being my turn to go on vacation... 'bout dang time! I have decided that Thailand is going to be my do-my-research-but-don't-book-anything vacation. As in, I just want to veg on a beach, do lots of water activities, hike a little, and just be. I'm really looking forward to wondering aimlessly around the islands and not have a care in the world for the time being. We've decided that we're going to spend the first 3 days in Bangkok and then head down to Krabi and the islands after that for a little over a week.

This week so far has been a breeze at school. I have only had 9-10 boys in each class for the two school days... had to take some kids from my co-workers class as she was at a wedding back in Ireland. That put me a little up there, but nothing to complain too much about. We've done lots of math and watching movies... trying to bore them to death so that they don't show up for the rest of the week--lol.

It rained here in Abu Dhabi Doo again... for a desert, it sure has rained more then I assumed it would here in this country. It's nice and refreshing... although it can leave you fatigued and wanting to nap on the couch all afternoon.

Welp, it's getting close to that thing called bed-time, so I should go make preparations for that... have a wonderful Monday and enjoy wherever this day may lead you! 

Heartstrings 33.0: just a normal, average weekend... Except not.

Welp, it's Saturday here folks; which means tomorrow is the start to another work week. I will have to say, I am reallly hoping that these next two weeks go by as fast as this past week went. I have had my share of ups and downs here lately, so I'm hoping that the roller coaster ride of emotions and life in general will subside.

This weekend was a good start for an upswing... I had a friend come over from Al Ain and we had a nice and relaxing weekend. Andrea had never been to a beach here in the UAE, so that was our first goal to check off for the weekend. After finding out that they had opened a new public beach on Saadiyat Island, we ventured that way. The island isn't built up very well and the signs are for crap; so we drove around for a little bit attempting to find the road the beach was off of. After stopping and talking to a guy who was at the gate of some beach villas and getting some non-helpful advice, we finally circled back around and found the road. The beach was quite full, yet surprisingly quiet, for opening weekend and we weren't able to secure a chair/table for this "soft opening" as they called it. Didn't bother us any, we just plopped our towels down on the nice cool sand which was a few hundred feet away from a protected area for some sea turtles that lay their eggs in the dunes. It was 22° outside (72° F) and the water was the same temperature... So needless to say, it was a perfect afternoon to wade in the rolling waves and get a little sandy.

this is what it would look like if it were empty...

the turtles lay their eggs in the dunes up off the shore to hatch

After finishing up our beaching experience, we headed for one of my favorite western places to eat here in Abu Dhabi called Jones the Grocer. It's an Australian restaurant... I had a burger last time, so I decided to go for a chicken burger with guacamole. It was delish... Andrea got some salmon and baba ghanoush which she really enjoyed as well. 

A few hours later, we ventured to Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi's only 7 star hotel) for a compilation from a world famous Russian ballet company. It was quite a nice show... more intermission periods then we cared for (one 20 minute break and another 25 minute break). This was only my second ballet experience (my first show being in Prague) but I did enjoy most of it... It ended pretty late and we'd driven, so we decided to let the crowd disperse a little. We settled down and had some dessert... in the chocolate lava cake topped with gold flakes form. Best.... dessert.... ever! It was ah-mazing! I wish I could describe how rich the flavor of the cake was and how as soon as your golden fork hits the cake, it breaks apart due to its moistness... but words just don't do it justice. 

heaven!

We wondered around the hotel and you've never seen so much gold in one place at one time... I don't think they know that other colors exist in this place: 

After having my first Emirates Palace experience, I was quite impressed. It was a lovely experience... one I wouldn't do over and over, but a nice place to go to feel a little luxury in life. 

We came back to my place, attempted to sleep in, but ended up leaving the flat early this morning to head to breakfast at the mall (all the restaurants/fast food places/grocery stores are in a mall). We ate a nice hearty breakfast, and Andrea did some shopping... I had previously had my girl moment the week before, so I didn't need to purchase anything. Friends back home, you would be proud... bought 2 dresses, a purse, and some shiny silver dress sandles.

Back to reality today though... and work. I think I've put off doing eSIS (student grades) for awhile now today, so I should probably get back to that for a bit. Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are!

heartstrings 32.0: tiiiiii-eeeerrrrddd!

To all my friends back home spring breaking it up now... please know that you have an extremely jealous friend half-way across the world. I've been facebook stalking people and really wish I could say I was enjoying some time off of work right about now... I'm in desperate need of a break. Doesn't help that we changed our schedule up three weeks ago and I don't really get too many breaks anymore. Just today I was told that during my break, I would have to go to another school for an observation, bring back what I learned, and present it as a professional development for the rest of the english teachers. Then had to immediately go to a meeting room to sit and wait for parents to show to talk about their son's progress--to which none showed... then got a call right as our time was up that I had a parent in the office waiting for me. So I had about 20 minutes of a break today to eat. Good times. My body is so not used to working this long without at least a day off and it has caught up with me.

In the past two and half weeks, I have:

• parked in another person's parking spot and wondered why someone put their bike in my spot
• left the gym, got off on my floor; heard lots of noises from my flat, wondered why my door was open, who the people were, and where my welcome mat had gone--only to realize I had gotten off on the wrong floor. 
• attempted to make copies one morning at work, and put in my copy code from the states
• put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cabinet
• almost fallen asleep when my boys are playing during their classroom break time
• purchased 100 dirhams of phone credit for data and accidentally put it in as phone credit.
• gone to bed at 8:00, thinking it was 9:00... Then when I realized it was only 8:00, I didn't care to get up out of bed, so I just called it a night. 

I have never... ever... ever felt as tired in my life as I have lately. And I've done some pretty silly stuff, but I not so much of it in such a short span. Maybe it's a mixture of work, no break since January, and a reading everyone's spring break plans that has made me feel like this... all I know is that it is still 2 weeks and 1 day until I get to say that I am on spring break myself.

Hope everyone back home is enjoying their time off--you've definitely earned it! Don't be jealous of my working whilst you're playing away in your everyday life!