Chang Mai, Thailand

After a really fun week exploring Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, my mom and I jetted off to Chang Mai, Thailand, for a week of relaxation during my holiday.  I choose to visit Chang Mai because of the famous Loy Krathong (Lantern) Festival that was happening during my time off work.  I had also heard great things about Chang Mai and the variety of activities to do outside (which is something I miss since moving to the dusty, concrete city of PP).  We arrived in Chang Mai on Sunday, November 1, a few days before the actual festival started.  However, there were still tons of things going on in the city, so we jumped right into the activities.  After arriving and settling into our hotel, we decided to head to the famous Sunday Night Market which is located in the center of the old city.  A few streets are closed down and vendors set up tables of amazing handicrafts and souvenirs.  My mom and I are avid shoppers, and these weren't just the run-of-the-mill junk souvenirs you find in the markets  There were some pretty incredible finds.  I found some amazing, hand embroidered tops for around $5 each, great beaded jewelry, and some ceramic, hand-made elephant tea cups and matching teapot.  We went crazy!  And only ended up spending about $60 collectively for about 4 bags of great, one-of-a-kind finds (Woot! I love SE Asia prices).  The city was also decorated for the lantern festival so we walked to a few temples and admired the colorful decorations.  

Here are some pictures from our first night. 

Lantern Festival decorations at one of the temples in the Old City. 

Pictures don't do the scene justice.  So beautiful and colorful. 

On our first full day, we went to the Elephant Nature Park which is an elephant sanctuary for domestic elephants that have been abused in the logging and tourist industries.  We got to feed them, bathe them, and interact with different herds throughout the whole day.  It was incredible to be this close to the elephants.  It was scary at times because these animals are huge and still somewhat wild, so if they got spooked, they would trumpet and move around really quickly which was a little unnerving.   We loved it though and had a great day.  It was definitely worth the money especially know it was going to keep these elephants safe and happy.

Cheesing with my new friend. 

Baby!

The elephant kitchen.  Most of the fees to come to the park go towards feeding the elephants.  The amount of food that is required to feed them daily is absurd!  There were tons and tons of fruit everywhere. 

This is bananas....B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Bath time.

Our elephant.  And no, I am not throwing water on my mother...it is actually going on the elephant. 

Hey there big guy :) 

Waiting at the "kitchen" door for a snack. 

Oh hi, you are close. 

Photobombed by an elephant. 

On Tuesday, November 3, we decided to explore the temple of Wat Prah That Doi Suthep which is a Buddist temple located on a mountain above Chang Mai.  It provides great views of the city below. In order to get to the temple, you've gotta climb a lot of stairs to get to the top, but it's well worth the climb. We wandered around the temples, looking at the beautiful, extravagant details, and enjoyed a great view of Chang Mai from above.  There was also some shopping and food vendors along the road on the way up so I got to enjoy some fresh strawberries (which don't exist in Cambodia most of the time or are sold for a ridiculous amount of money) and other tasty Thai treats. 

Here are some pictures from the temple.

stairs on stairs on stairs.

After the temple, we decided to go back into town to do some shopping and look for a place for dinner.  Now, I know we were in Thailand, but there are just some days where I can't eat other grain of rice or meal with noodles.  Sometimes I just need something else, so we decided we would look for a more "western" restaurant.  We found this great little cafe that looked straight out of Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn and decided to give it a try.  We had the most amazing passionfruit drink, pasta, and caesar salads.  It was delicious and a much welcomed change from Asian cuisine. I think even my mom was a little tired of rice and noodles.

Passionfruit drink in the biggest jar ever....so delicious. 

Refreshing and pretty. 

On Wednesday, November 4, we spent the day cooking at a Thai cooking school.  We started first thing in the morning and began with a fun trip to the market.  One of my favorite things about SE Asia is looking at all the crazy and unique food in the market.  There is so much variety, exotic fruits, 20 varieties of rice (who knew!?), fresh fish and meat, and lots of tofu (my favorite!).  After exploring the market and grabbing some fresh ingredients for the class, we went back to the cooking school to start cooking.  We made plate after plate of delicious Thai food, stopping after each item to sit and enjoy it.  I made Pad Thai, fried veggie spring rolls, Tom Yum soup, green curry paste, and a green curry stir-fry.  It was delicious.  I don't know how successful I will be cooking this stuff at home, but we did get a complimentary cookbook that included all kinds of traditional Thai recipes.

Fresh grilled fish...with the bones still intact.  Makes for interesting and complicated eating. 

Tofu for dayszzz

Barrels full of rice. 

Pad Thai...that I made!

Tom Yum soup (super spicy) and fried spring rolls. 

On Thursday, November 6, on our last full-day, we decided to get outside the city and explore the surrounding mountains.  We opted for a trip to one of the most incredible waterfalls I've ever seen. It's called Buo Tong Waterfall (better known as "Sticky Falls").  It is a waterfall that runs over limestone rock formations.  The limestone feels like sandpaper which makes it "sticky" and easy to climb.  When you first look at it, you think there is no way that you will be able to climb it since any other waterfall that steep would be incredibly slippery, but not so with this waterfall.  It was so easy to climb, absolutely no problems.  We climbed all the way to the top!

Thai Tuk Tuks

Stick Falls.  isn't it incredibly beautiful?!

Mom wouldn't stop taking pictures!

Close-up.

Second Tier.

Waterfall selfie.  I'm so Asian now, taking selfies.

Getting by with a little help from the rope.

As I said earlier, we were in Chang Mai during the Lantern Festival so there were lots of activities going on around the city.  On Thursday night, we holed up in Starbucks with some hot chocolate until the parade began which was beautiful and elaborate (as are all decorations in SE Asia).  The parade headed towards the river with all the people filling in the road behind the parade as it moved.  Once down by the river, people began releasing lanterns into both the sky and the river. There were literally thousands of lanterns floating in the sky.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life, pictures really could not do it justice.  We opted for the more traditional floating lanterns to release and walked down the river to send it off with a wish and prayer for the year. 

Pure beauty.

View from one of the temples in the Old City.

Lantern Prep.

There they go!

Crowds of tourist letting go of the lanterns.

Lighting our floating lantern.

Putting the lanterns into the water.  All the lights on the water in the background are all floating lanterns.

After walking around the city watching the lanterns for a few hours, we decided to head back to the hotel.  Our flight back to Cambodia left the next morning, so we needed to rest and pack.  All in all, it was a great trip.  I am so glad we were able to experience the incredible festival in-person.  It was such a beautiful city, and a true highlight thus far of my time in the region.  I loved sharing it with my Mom too :)

Tokyo, Japan

We arrived in Tokyo at 7 am on Tuesday, September 23, ready for another 4 days of exploring this huge city.  We fueled up on some Starbucks coffee (we have great coffee in Cambodia, but the fact that Starbucks tastes the same all across the world is comforting when you are living abroad for a year) and hit the pavement in search of our hostel.  After about 15 or so minutes of confusion in the non-English friendly train station, we finally figured out our route and heading towards our neighborhood for the week, Asakusa.  We were exhausted when we arrived, and decided to stay close to the hostel so when check-in time arrived, we'd be close and able to rest before dinner.  Luckily, we stayed in a great, touristy area that provided a full afternoon of exploration.  First up, we visited Tokyo's oldest and most significant temple, the Senso-ji Temple which is a Buddhist temple.  It was beautiful and bustling, tons and tons of visitors were snapping pictures, paying for offerings, and burning incense.  We walked around for about a half an hour, just taking in the sights, sounds, and people before heading out to find a place to eat.  



Senso-ji Temple



People burning incense.

After lunch, we headed toward the Tokyo Sky Tree which is the tallest structure in Japan as of 2010.  It's a broadcasting tower, restaurant and observatory.  We inquired about going to the top, but were told it would be a 2 hour wait.  As I'm not one for heights, I wasn't super disappointed we decided to forgo to the sights at the top in order to explore some more of the area.  It wasn't a complete waste to walk over the Sky Tree as we found an amazing park with a HUGE slide.  Rather than let the kids have all the fun, Victoria and I both climbed the tall stairs to the top of a big steamboat-look-alike structure and gave the slide a try.  It was pretty fun!  And we got to take some cool pictures in this reflective mirror that captures the Sky Tree right behind the park.  Such a cool, artistic space in the middle of Tokyo.  Just another example of those great treasures you find when exploring on foot!



Art Park Fun 



Tokyo Sky Tree.  It's huge!

We wrapped up day one of Tokyo with some incredible food...soba noodles.  Japanese food is incredible.  It is the best thing about Japan probably.  Literally everything we ate was delicious.  We spent most lunches at 7-11s or other types of grab-and-go places just picking things off the shelf that looked yummy.  Most of the time, we weren't exactly sure what we were buying, but 9 times out of 10, we were super happy with what we ended up with!  Okay, back to the soba noodles.  We ate at this amazing, traditional Japanese soba noodle place that's been around for about 50 years.  It's very traditional in the sense that you take your shoes off at the door then sit on the floor.  We went all out on our first night in the big city, eating huge bowls of noodles, split a giant beer and a large pitcher of sake between the two of us.  We may or may not have felt a little giggly when we left :) But when in Japan....right? It was such a fun experience; there was even a geisha eating a few tables away.  We chatted, stopping every few minutes to comment on how DELICIOUS the food was, and lingered and planned the rest of the week.  It was such a fun experience.  Definitely a great start to the Tokyo leg of the trip.  



Sake and delicious Japanese beer.



My dinner companion.

Cold soba noodles with fresh seaweed.  YUM.

Day two in Tokyo was spent at the sumo wrestling tournament.  The sumo experience might have been my favorite Tokyo experience; thus, it deserves a post of its own.  We spent the day off and on at the sumo tournament, so in between we took in a few sites around the city.  Primarily, we spent most of that free time wandering around the tree space at the Royal Palace and gardens.  Living in Phnom Penh, one can feel a little deprived of fresh air and green grass so we knew while we were in Japan, we wanted to take in a lot of natural places...gardens, parks, etc.  We walked around the park for a while then took our shoes off and walked barefoot through the giant lawn.  We even laid down in the grass for a bit.  After returning to the sumo tournament for the evening matches, we left and decided to explore the Akihabara district which is essentially the electronics district of Tokyo. It's bright lights and lots of stores with tvs, cameras, speakers, etc.  We walked around (not super impressed might I add), then ducked into a tiny sushi joint that was packed.  This was the best decision we made on the entire trip.  We ate at this place twice and made quite the impression on our cute, little Japanese sushi chefs.  Although there was an language barrier, the chefs made us all kinds of new things and gave us their recommendations.  We ate our WEIGHT in sushi and spent about $10 each.  It was the best sushi of my entire life.  They also served miso soup with fresh seaweed which was incredible.  It was rainy and chilly that night so holding that warm bowl of soup was perfect.  It was so cozy and intimate inside the restaurant, and it was definitely one of the best parts of the entire trip.




Some of the sushi we enjoyed.



The sushi was fresh from the Tsukiji fish market. Yummmm



Working on our sushi.



Egg sushi, avocado sushi, and squid sushi. 

On Thursday, we dedicated a day to explore DISNEY TOKYO!  We were pretty exhausted from hustling around cities on public transportation so we decided a full day in one place sounded kinda nice.  I'm so glad we dedicated a day to Disney Sea; experiencing Disney in an Asian culture is fascinating.  EVERYONE was decked out in Disney/Mickey.  People had to have spent hundreds of dollars on merchandise; people had the ears, t-shirts, hoodies, Mickey gloves, and giant plastic characters that were actually popcorn tubs.  It was hilarious.  We stuck out because of our LACK of Disney apparel.  It was also interesting that there were wayyyy more adults than kids at the park.  Disney Sea was pretty amazing.  I didn't do a good job of taking pictures that day, but we did manage to snag a picture with some Minnie ears.  We got there at around 10 am and left at around 9:30 pm.  It was a long day, but super fun, random, and hilarious.  A day well spent.

On our last day, we just walked and walked in some electric and fun neighborhoods.  We started in Harajuku which is where the young ins' in Japan go for their crazy, cartoonish fashion.  We walked and people watched and shopped.  We found a few things and enjoyed just looking in the stores.  Japanese fashion is really edgy and crazy. I absolutely love people watching and Tokyo is one of the best places to do that!  We then headed over to Shibuya crossing which is the business intersection in Tokyo.  We sat up in a Starbucks that overlooked the crossing and watched the lights changed for about 30 minutes.  Every time the lights change, a couple hundred people walk across the street in all directions.  It is incredible!  I know this sounds super lame, but it was so fun to watch.  There is no one there, then there are A MILLION PEOPLE, then they are all gone on their separate ways.  Finally, we ended back up at our favorite sushi restaurant to chow down on one last glorious meal of sushi.



Harajuku Fashion



Crazy clothes in Harajuku



Shibuya Crossing

Overall, Victoria and I loved Japan.  I felt like we did so much but only saw the tip of the iceberg.  I would love to return to Japan one day.  It's one of my favorite countries that I've visited!