Bangkok is fun too!

So... just to prove that there are good times to be had in Bangkok, as well as in lovely beach towns around Thailand... I thought I would fill you all in on a regular Bangkok weekend.

Friday: 1. enjoy a lovely massage to take all of the week's worries away.

2. go out for dinner at a place called "The Witch's Tavern" and drown out our

sorrows from the week behind over some lovely Sangria.

3. on the way home, stop by a Japanese karaoke bar and sing Celine Dion (to honour Canada) and Spice Girls (to honour Britain) before being kicked out for not buying enough drinks.

4. play with a giant bouncy ball with the new security guard, who doesn't speak a word of English, who now clearly thinks the crowd in 7B are crazy.

Saturday: sleep in AT LAST!!!!! seems like that never happens. Go out for a traditional English breakfast at a local pub (no beer, no beef...) pick up a coffee from Starbucks and wander through a lovely Thai park. Take a nap, just because I can.... then go out for a manicure at the place next door. Get ready and go out for dinner among a row of vegetarian restaurants... so rarely do I have so many choices of what to eat. It was Australia Day and somehow we were named honourary Australians... so we joined in with them on the party.

Sunday: sleep in AGAIN (yay) and decide, for a reason I still don't understand, that going for a run would be a great idea. Then wander through the mall, do some food shopping and come home for an afternoon of movies and doing some minimal prep for school. All in all - a lovely weekend. Good times were had by all and minimal money was spent in order to save up for the next weekend away.

3 Weeks Back

So... it has been three weeks of school - three LONG weeks of school... but much to my enjoyment - I have already had one beach vacation, and another one planned for next weekend.

Last weekend, for my birthday, myself and three girlfriends flew to the south of Thailand, to a place called Krabi, for some lovely sunshine, beautiful water and whitesand beaches... and Krabi delivered.

Our hotel, not five star, but not too shabby, was a bit of a walk from the beach, but that was okay. We flew into Krabi right after school on Friday - and spent Friday night going to different bars around the beach. We played many rounds of Jenga... who knew Jenga was so much fun!

For the day of my birthday we went on a boat cruise of the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced pee pee). That is where the above picture was taken from. It was absolutely gorgeous. The boat cruise wasn't so much of a cruise - some rough waters, but we had fun.

I've got a new mission - and that is to learn to dive. We had an opportunity to go snorkelling... something I don't remember ever doing before, and it was a amazing.

We were swimming in this crystal clear water, you could see right down to the bottom, and there were fish swimming all around us. Truly amazing... so now I want to learn to dive to experience these things even more.

Anyway... the weekend was lovely - it came to an end much to quickly and I will definitely be returning to Krabi.

It's great living right in the city now. It was so mind-numbing having to take long taxi rides to get anywhere exciting. Even though the pollution is bad - I'm dealing.

That's it for now - until the next adventure. (trying very hard not to even THINK about school until Monday morning)

Back in Action

Well... I have been slacking on this blog business... but I'm back at it and hope to keep you all up to date in the future.

It was so nice to be home in Canada for Christmas... I believe the opening line to "Little Women" is "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," but I made the decision that Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a little snow, cold temperatures, homemade food, friends, and most of all - my family. I mean - it had been 4 months since a brother had sat on me, or tapped me numerous times on the forhead. You get to miss that stuff.

Anyway, I'm back... in a much more agreeable temperature... renewed and refreshed. I have a new apartment which is just lovely - and two great flatmates to go with it. I'm living right in the city now, which means a bit of a commute to work, but it all seems worth it. The new place is wonderful and I have even, for the first time since moving here, cooked for myself. It's a luxury I hadn't realized I missed so much.

I'm not one for making New Years Resolutions, but I have decided to destress myself this term. Not take on so much. Relax... enjoy life a little bit more. As much as the school would like to push me and push me - I am learning to say no. So many more important things than getting up and going to work. It's bizarre, but this more relaxed approach has made me much more organized and calm at school - go figure. Remind me of these words when I am pulling my hair out in the next few weeks.

This weekend - in honour of my 26th birthday - and just because we can... we're heading to the beach. I can taste the salt water already. This time we are going to the south of Thailand to a place called Krabi, and hopefully a day trip to Koh Phi Phi. Should be exciting... and my tan is fading. We can't have that.

Stay tuned... there is never a dull moment in this wonderful place... and I will keep you up to date.