Phuket, a beachy town filled with tourists, bars, and ladyboys, lots of ladyboys, no seriously tons of ladyboys. There may be more ladyboys than real boys. This is where I celebrated my 25th birthday.

After a grueling bus ride from Bangkok, we arrived to a so called bus station, that wasn’t anywhere near Patong (where the beach is). Every worker their told us we needed to be at another bus terminal to get there and our best option was to take a taxi. “Take taxi, take taxi” this seems to be their mantra to tourists they think are naive. The taxi drivers charge 200% more than the bus and claims there is no bus. Hold on, let’s think for a moment, I see native thai people here traveling, how do they get to the other bus terminal? I doubt they pay taxi drivers and if they do it’s not going to be the rate they’d like to charge us…. Daniel and I bump into two English girls who are also traveling and who have fallen in the same predicament. We look around and spot a bus that looks more like a truck but instead of a bed it had a metal frame with wooden floor beams and wooden rails painted pink. I asked where it was going and was told it was going to Phuket town and from there we can catch another bus to Patong. The fare was better than the taxi, and we were dropped off at the beach.
Our hotel however, was not at the beach, it was another 30 minute walk in the grueling sun with our bags, uphill, to our hotel. This seems to be a common theme with the both of us. We’ve walked so much on our journey that a 30 minute walk doesn’t seem to phase us anymore. I miss Europe and their trains.

Our hotel was The Wave Hotel and seemed to be a popular destination for Russians. I think we were the only non Russian people there apart from the staff. But the room was clean and cold, perfect for the hot Thai weather.
Our first venture after a nice cold shower was the beach. The beach was filled with tourists and people relentlessly trying to sell the odd knickknack, along with sunglasses, beer, henna tattoos, swimsuits, hats, threading, and a very strange wooden elephant bowl that morphed into a statue. The sellers do not take no for an answer the first time, it’s only after saying no five plus times that they understand you don’t want to buy anything. And after one leaves another person comes selling something else.

The water was clear and warm, the best we’ve felt so far on our travels.
And the Asian games were being hosted in Phuket, so after our swim, just a few meters away we walked to watch the competitions.

During the evening hours Phuket changed. Restaurants that were empty during the day became packed at night. There were street vendors selling every kind of pancake and your usual street vendors selling the unidentifiable meat at a very low price. This was the hour that the lady boys came out to play, and a lot of them are very pretty. At almost every bar there was a ladyboy dancing on the bar top. As you walk the streets taking it all in your constantly bombarded by the pop sounds made followed by “ping pong show, come see ping pong show…” Something Thailand is known for.
This seemed to be the theme for the next few nights. During the day we booked excursions, we went white river rafting, zip lining, to the monkey caves and we got to ride elephants, my least favorite part, I felt so terribly bad for riding them, we also swam in a waterfall. And during the evening hours we hung out with Gabriel and Isaiah from Singapore, and the occasional Russian from our hotel.

We decided while in Phuket, that we should become certified scuba divers, so that we could prepare for the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, plus it was cheaper to do in Thailand. It was an amazing experience.

My birthday was about to roll around, and I had mentioned to Daniel that I didn’t want anything special, just a nice dinner. It’s the morning of and our hotel phone rings, Daniel picks up and says that he thinks there was a mistake in the dates for pickup to go scuba diving and says he’ll sort it out. He leaves the room and returns five minutes later with breakfast. Breakfast in bed was how my birthday started. We then got ready for the day and Daniel again surprises me with a fish bath. Where all the fish eat away at the dead skin cells on your feet. It was a very strange feeling but a great experience. I convinced Daniel to join me.
He then guided me to where he told me that I’m getting an hour long massage, and as I got my massage he left and told me to meet him back at the hotel. After my massage I met Daniel in the lobby of the hotel and he said that my pampering isn’t done and I then was surprised to a manicure and pedicure. But that wasn’t all, I return to the hotel room only to find hundreds of flowers all over the room! I absolutely love flowers! And I would be surprised with a bouquet from Daniel often in the states but I wasn’t expecting any on this trip. Dinner is rolling around and we go out to eat on the main strip. After dinner Daniel asks me to pick a number 10-25 I answered with 10. He then tells me that he has one more surprise and tells me to wait for a few minutes. He returns and we walk on the beach, and before I know it, there are ten lanterns that were to be released in the night sky! As we watched the lanterns float up into an abyss and become one with the moon I’m surprised again by videos of both of our families wishing me a happy birthday! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

Bangkok, where do I start, maybe I should start with the 40 minute walk through Bangkok to get to our hotel because there were literally five hotels with the same name and we got to the the wrong one. The lady at the Reception desk told us we couldn’t walk it. We’re frugal so we didn’t pay for a taxi or a tuk tuk. Maybe I should talk about the sweltering heat, or the many noxious scents that hit your nose in the morning, afternoon and night. Bangkok was overrated, and more expensive than the “OMG, it’s sooo cheap” everyone was talking about. Is it cheaper than the states…some things, but most things are priced at US standards. What I appreciated about Bangkok was the freshly squeezed juices and the markets to buy all your odd trinkets and knockoffs. Although all the Thai food I’ve had in the states has always satisfied my taste buds the smells pouring from some of the food was enough to deter me from honestly eating anything Thai that didn’t come from a package. Daniel on the other hand embraced and loved some of the worst food he’s ever had but it was all for the experience. However once you see the gigantic rats pillaging through the different huts of food you think twice before purchasing the chicken liver from the street vendors. And even some of the packaged junk you can buy from the supermarkets scares your taste buds off, but nothing like their fruit durian or the shrimp chips Daniel tried to eat before throwing them back up in the toilet. Daniel says to understand the durian fruit you must open up a babies pamper that has gone number two and take a bite and to understand the chips take a bite of the same babies diaper and you will understand. Buts in reality it’s more like rotten egg and when you eat it, even a small amount the taste lingers for at least ten minutes. It’s an acquired taste I guess but not one I wish to acquire.
Bangkok is chalked full of monasteries some of which house exotic animals in order to make money. We decided to check out a tiger monastery. There was a tour available that would provide transportation to and from the monasteries, lunch, etc but it was over $130 for two people. So what did we do naturally, we took local transportation. It took us five hours to get there. We woke up at 5 AM and caught the bus close to 6 AM. That bus went to the south terminal. From the south terminal we had to catch another bus to Kachunburi* and from there we had to catch a local bus to the monastery that drops you off a mile away on a somewhat deserted dirt road. We arrived a little after 11, they didn’t open until 1PM but offered Daniel and I free food while we waited us. There were bugs everywhere and skinny cows running past us.
As we waited more people showed up we purchased our ticket saw the impressive tigers and took a picture. This place was not worth the trip, and you wonder if what you’re doing is ethically right. These animals were not cared for, and by coming here we were supporting a business that caged free roaming animals for a few dollars…we left feeling guilty. But that thought quickly escaped us as we had to walk a mile in heat to get to the main road to get to the bus in time. The bus stops running at the south terminal at 6:00PM. When we got to the main road there were no bus stop markings. So afraid we weren’t going to make it to the south terminal in time, I stuck out my thumb and hoped for the best. We needed to hitchhike. After ten minutes a red truck pulls up with a family inside. He asked where we were going and then motioned for us to get in the back. Daniel and I had discussed possibly walking to the bus station if we could remember the route but it would have taken us a few days. It was a lot further than we thought. We were dropped off right in front of the station and made it in time.
Although transportation here isn’t bad everyone tries to rip you off. There’s a Thai price and a Western price and even established places will try and make you pay more. I’ve had one too many arguments with bus companies trying to make a quick buck off us. The best way to do it is watch how much money a Thai person pays and how much they inflate the ticket price for you. If it’s 10 thai baht it may not be worth arguing over but a few hundred more, you absolutely should.
Often times you’ll end up at a bus station that tells you the only way to get somewhere from there is by a taxi, which is 100% a lie.
This happened to us on our journey from Bangkok to Phuket ( 3 days was enough in Bangkok). There is always a bus that can get you where you need to go, even if it’s to another terminal to catch a connecting bus. The Thai people rarely take taxis.

I will say this though Bangkok has one of the nicest malls I have ever been inside. They had stores ranging from Levi’s to Prada from build a bear to Gucci and to top it off they had an ice skating rink inside the mall. We priced a few things because we knew Christmas was coming and we thought it would be a little cheaper since this is where a lot of the clothes are made, but our dollars were too short to even reach the top floor so we had to settle with buying things outside the mall on the corner.

After we left Ireland Daniel and I decided that we wanted some really good pasta. So we left Cologne Germany back to Florence Italy.
Along our way we encountered rain and snow.
Below are pictures from our small but long journey.

The day we left Ireland was very odd. It started with us sitting in the lounge of our hostel, waiting on 2 PM to catch our bus. There was a woman sitting there from California. She had long dark hair, tanned skin and bags under her eyes. She was wearing strappy sandals that exposed dry feet. She introduced herself, and I honestly didn’t catch her name nor did I care to have her repeat it ( I was very tired) she shook our hands in a very friendly fashion. She was a free spirit of sorts with a political interest. She preceded to tell us that she just arrived from an almost two month escapade with a secret group in Romania called Rainbow gathering (I’m not sure how secret it is if she tells people she meets within the first two minutes). She described it to us as a group of people living in a commune off the land, each other and maybe a few groceries they’ve previously purchased. It’s you and nature and other free spirited people. You use tents if you have them to sleep in and if not, you buddy up and find someone to share with. It’s a “true hippie time”. She then told us the next one is going to be in the Canary Islands and that we should go but we first need to be accepted into the group. I think somewhere between the middle of the conversation and the end, Daniel and I silently decided that we will not be doing it. Perhaps it had something to do with how a strange red spot on her face grew, and then melted down her face. Or maybe we just thought two months would be too long, I think a week would be too long. Let me explain. As she was talking I noticed a red dot at the corner where her lips meet on the left side. At first I thought it was a mole, or maybe something she drew on. Daniel thought it was a food crumb, since he leaves these often at the corner of his mouth :). As she continued her red spot became bigger. It then started to run, and by then we knew it was blood. She didn’t notice it until halfway between her mouth and chin. She took her fingers wiped it up and then rubbed it between them until it was dry and disappeared. She didn’t wash her hands she just continued to talk. I was internally freaking out. My mind started running, She shook our hands! I don’t know if she has anything, but she stayed in a hippie commune for almost two months! I don’t know if she got tested, or if she’s been sick. I had to worry about our health. I had gotten sick on this trip and was prescribed some antibiotics in Germany, and didn’t want to get sick again. I politely excused myself to wash my hands thoroughly with soap and hot water. Daniel excused himself to go take a shower. I joined him quickly upstairs to sanitize our electronics with hand sanitizer. We then agreed to keep our hands away from our face for a period of time hoping that if any bacteria was still on our hands it would die without a host.

2 PM was quickly approaching and by then they were clearing out the lounge to do a fire drill so we got ready and left. We walked about 5 minutes and waited on the bus to the airport. Once we got on we went to the second level towards the back where there were a number of seats available. Two stops in a man gets on the bus and sits all the way in the back. Daniel and I are sitting so that we’re facing each other. All of sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this man lean over and spit on the bus ground. I look at Daniel, and we continue to talk. While we’re talking we hear this loud sniffing, like a blood hound hunting. Daniel looks back and sees this very same guy leaning over in the back of the bus snorting two lines of what we can only assume is cocaine. Once he finished his lines he preceded to take a bottle of whiskey out of his bag and started taking swigs. He was bold, to say the least. Halfway on our way to the airport he introduces himself, as Mick. He’s going bold on the top of his head, he has a slight beard that exposes red hair, and his shoes were white, but scuffed a dirty black. He was wearing grey sweats and his hands appeared to be worn, perhaps by manual labor. Mick, obviously fancied an alternative lifestyle with drugs and alcohol but he was still one of the brighter people we’ve met on our trip thus far. We started talking about politics and his take on Ireland and our take on how America really is. He said there are a couple of news channels in Ireland that only show magazine America and not the ghettos that are common in every city. He was well informed on American politics and told us that there’s a show by Russians that talk about all of Americas problems and how supposedly we “hide” our ghettos and our problems from the rest of the world. And that we aren’t as pristine as the world sees us. To be honest, our trip has taught us that a lot of people aren’t fond of America which has sparked our curiosity about our foreign affairs/ relations. Daniel’s dad jokingly said before our trip started that we should claim we were Canadian. But there view tends to change when they meet two friendly Americans :). Mick was also on his way to the airport to meet his girlfriend who’s sister had died in India on her travels because of the way they drive there. She was in a fatal car accident. It was somber news to hear but the subject was quickly changed to how he missed his girlfriend. We arrived at the airport, we said our goodbyes as he wished us luck on our journey. We were on our way back to Cologne Germany.

The place where all the goblins and ghouls started, the tradition to celebrate the day where the veil is thin and you can see those that have passed on. Of course now it’s about the best costumes and candy for the young, and the old. Boo! We arrived in Ireland wearing shorts, and two pears of jeans, with at least three shirts, a sweater and our winter coats. We were really hot, but being frugal, we only wanted to check in one bag, it costs 30 euros ($37) for one bag weighing 20kg (~44lbs, and yes our backpacks are heavy). We flew Ryanair, and the total cost for the both of us to fly from Cologne Germany to Dublin Ireland cost us only 42 euros. It’s cheap, and basic. The moment we arrived we’re greeted by a ton of Halloween decorations in the airport, from black and orange balloons and blow up witches to skeletons in graveyards displayed by baggage claims. We left the airport to catch a bus to our hostel. Ireland so far is the only place we’ve been to that doesn’t have a train connection to the airport. On our bus ride we saw gremlins and ghouls, and some very realistic makeup on a guy that I though was in a terrible accident. Traditionally the Irish celebrate halloween two weeks in advance. They get so hyped, it’s like last minute Christmas shopping in the states haha.

Our hostel the Kinlay house wasn’t the best we’ve stayed in but it wasn’t the worst. It was styled like a large frat house internally with multiple winding floors. You could see down the center. And a disorganized kitchen but it was large.
Our first stop, get some halloween paint. Not wanting to spend much money, we just purchased liquid latex, fake blood and some really cheap kiddie face paint. With that Daniel became a zombie ( I used my personal makeup to contour his face and make his skin pale) and I attempted to be the queen of hearts. After getting ready we headed to the temple bar area, where we met some Germans on holiday, and some Irish guys. I honestly just remember this one guy saying he met his wife tonight, that he was in love with her because she was into marvel and DC comics. I was amused. The night was a lot of fun, and everyone was there, it was like franklin street times ten. Just a big party. I’ll admit that some of the costumes along with the makeup had me do a double take, I had to think twice about why a doctor was roaming the streets in their uniform or why their was an officer wearing sunglasses at night. But they really do like halloween. And I like them for it! I really enjoy halloween, I think purely because I get to test my more creative makeup skills, and people welcome the thought of my testing whether I can achieve what they envision.

The next day we got up for a free tour of Ireland. I did not know that trinity college is where they filmed the Harry Potter dining scene! And that the cliffs of Moher was another spot, really cool for a Harry Potter fan. But the Irish started as a predominantly Pagan culture that then became Protestant and had riff raft and at some point converted to Christianity. Trinity college was formed by Queen Elizabeth in 1592.
A really interesting fact is that trinity college had a headmaster, named George Salmon that was asked if he would allow women into the university after all it was started by a woman. His response “over my dead body”, three days later he died. He is now buried under the main archway of the school where women are indeed walking over his dead body. The school also has a scholars test that they call skulls (I’m sure I’m misspelling that but the pronunciation is the same). The top students that pass the exam have everything taken care of for them at the university. They even have their own dining hall that they can only order in. It is also said that during exam time they’re allowed to order a pint of Guinness during their tests, a pretty crazy perk, but okay.
Dublin was named after a black pool, literally. It is now covered with grass and the Celtic symbol.

Also while in dublin we visited the Guinness warehouse to learn a little about their history. We were excited to taste the beer because we met a fellow from Ireland in France who ventured to America. He said the taste of Guinness in America was terrible compared to the taste in his hometown. When we arrived at the warehouse we purchased our tickets for 13 euro which included a free beer at the end of the tour. This may have been the most expensive beer we’ve ever paid for. We strolled around the factory learning how Guinness was made. I think the thing we both found most intriguing was how they built a barrel back in the day. The process was rigorous and to make one barrel it could take up to 4 hours depending on how skilled you were. After we wandered around we were able to redeem our free tickets in which we could either pour our own beer and drink it or go up to the sky deck and drink overlooking dublin. We chose to pour our own beers for the experience. Daniel used to be a bartender but never poured Guinness which may be the toughest beer of all to pour. To pour it correctly all in all the process takes 119.5 seconds. While waiting in line the lady was punching tickets for those who wanted to redeem their free beer by way of pouring it themselves. I got my ticket punched while Daniel claimed he was merely a photographer snapping pictures to remember the moment but we all know Daniel too well and this was not the case. He noticed that once inside no one rechecks tickets so he was able to pour his own beer and redeem a second beer on the sky deck. While on the sky deck we met two amazing women from NC, Amber and Yvonne. It’s crazy, we sat next to fellow nc-ers. We sat there and had such a wonderful time talking to the both of them who were visiting England and decided to take a little trip to Ireland. They were incredibly nice! The both of them also explained their awful experience at an Irish hospital, where they witnessed two nurses fighting over an IV pole because they had so few. There were patients in the hallways who had been there for hours, old, young, sick, bloody. Doctors on call never showed, and some patients had to call home to have their children deliver cholesterol medication because the hospital didn’t have any, how insane! Such a poorly equipped hospital. After we said our goodbyes to Amber and Yvonne we headed to a Mongolian barbecue buffet for the early bird special. Delicious!

Ireland is a pretty cool place to visit. They have restaurants everywhere and a ton of buffets! There’s a little something for everyone here. It is small and I think one trip may be enough, but you never know.

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Our map tore into pieces the first day 😦

Finally, a home cooked meal. I’ve missed broccoli so much haha

Night night, finally a room to ourselves. Knocked out cold. Lol. Tired after a full day of walking around Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia, the most amazing church we’ve seen so far. Gaudi, you are impressive.

A night out in Barcelona left our feet filthy. There were bars that served shots only. Half of which they lit on fire. We got into a local club (we were the only native English speakers in the club) after befriending a few people on our quest for good sangria. We danced the night away until 6 AM and found a gentleman who was napping because he may have stayed out a little too late ;). All in all, a good night.

Date night at a mostly vegan restaurant. I had vegan ravioli with eggplant and cashew cream and Daniel had so,e really good swordfish. 🙂

Picasso museum, check. Picasso museum for free on Sunday, yes!!!

I hate giving money to taxi drivers as much as I hate putting money into an economy of rude people. The people in Paris, in my opinion, are as rude as they come for absolutely no reason. Their attitude mimics the surly attitude of the Greek but with more pride. It isn’t something to be proud of and there certainly is no need for the snooty behavior. Paris has some great sights but seeing them once is enough to never return thereafter. It is overly expensive and the eurail doesn’t really work in this country. They find ways to charge you for their overly complicated transportation system. That constantly goes on strike. This can be a city of romance, but there are plenty of places outside of France that are far more romantic. It’s a shame that they have so much land. Luckily, Daniel and I are quite savvy. We got into The Louvre for free, every Friday it’s free for students under 26. We found a way to outsmart the metro system and we managed to strike a bargain with our hostel. But two days in Paris was enough for us to want to leave and as we tried to go down south to Nice we were met with very unhelpful staff members of the train system. They wanted to charge us close to 200 euros, with our eurail pass! We pulled another ticket and waited to speak to another representative that told us she can reserve a ticket for us the night we wanted to leave for 9 euro each. And then some more magic happened, for whatever reason she couldn’t bill us, so we ended up getting the tickets for free!

But back to Paris: Paris was beautiful, a place that was saved from destruction by a nazi trying to save himself and his family. Hitler was really fond of Paris and said that if he cannot have Paris then no one else will and he gave orders to destroy the city and leave it in smokes. But Deidrich Von Choltitz in an attempt to save himself, saved Paris.
Paris has a lot to do, you’ve got lots of museums, lots of culture, lots of history. The louvre alone would take 3 months to see if you looked at every piece of art for only 10 seconds according to research. The catacombs of Paris very much resembles that of the bone church in Kunta Hora but more eerie, with a lot more bones, and Daniel popping out trying to scare you around every corner.
Daniel finally got to see the Mona Lisa, who became famous because she was stolen from the louvre by an Italian employee on his last day to pay homage to his country. It took the museum three days to realize the painting was gone. The painting remained under the guys bed for years in Italy until he decided to sell it and the person was aware that this was the missing painting from the louvre. Italy and France were in an uproar. The artist, Leonardo da Vinci was Italian therefore, the Italians thought the painting should belong in Italy but the French said it was a gift from da VInci to the king. But let’s forget about all the Italian art work that Napoleon stole that still sits it the louvre in Paris. Haha, people are mental. The painting itself is overrated, Daniel took one look at it and laughed because behind it is a painting that’s 10x better. The Mona Lisa in his opinion is a poor piece of artwork there are paintings in the louvre that in his words took a poop on Mona. He took out a pen scribbled on a sheet of paper for a moment and showed me a picture of a stick figure and said this looks better than the Mona Lisa. He tried to auction it off to the highest bidder in the crowd hoping to make his millions and retire unfortunately there were no takers.

Ah, oui, the Eiffel Tower, with its magnificent lights, and wonderful height is actually a radio tower. The French weren’t very fond of this “monstrosity”and wanted it torn down and used for scrap, but to keep it Mr. Eiffel made it functional into a radio tower that came in handy during WWII, very clever, but it is a must see and very beautiful. The view from the top is nice as well you are able to see all of Paris , but keep in mind, you cannot see the Eiffel Tower when you are on the Eiffel Tower.

Nice, is nice. It’s sunny, the weather is good and the beach is a welcome change from the norths weather. This however was where we experienced our bed bug problem(see previous two posts) but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

We went to Monaco while in Nice and it is beautiful. Every other car is a Bentley. There are lamborghinis, rolls Royce, Mercedes, BMW’s, Bentleys everywhere! They have the famous casino of Monaco with its own opera house. Where the majority of the visitors are the Italians! They used to have a formal dress requirement which they abolished about two years ago. And it’s the only place in the world where there is a dealer that has to think, and he bets against his players while dealing. He has a split second to perform mathematical equations in his head, there are 200 of them. His profit is a percentage of the casinos winnings from the very game he’s dealing, so the more money he wins for the casino, the more money he gets to walk away with. They have gorgeous gardens, and high end shops galore, including Hermes, Louis Vuitton , Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Lalique, Prada…and the list goes on. This place is definitely one of the worlds luxury capitals.

Tid bit for the day: you will fight when traveling together for long periods of time, it’s inevitable the best advice I can give you guys is don’t use all your excuses for your mess ups back in the states save the good ones for traveling its a lot harder to escape her when you don’t have a car.