In Thailand, we’re in the year 2558. I’m not just saying some ridiculous future year because we rang in the New Year a whopping 15 hours ahead of you all; the Thai calendar is actually in the year 2558 because they didn’t reset their clocks when Jesus was born.

I don’t even know where to start. SO much has happened; I’m probably going to have to take a few breaks while catching up.

For starters, I rang in 23, which is when nobody is supposed to like me, HOWEVER Blink-182 must have been severely misinformed because somehow my students knew it was my birthday and showered me with birthday cards, weird used stuffed animal key chains, and their leftover snacks all day long.And everyone at The Compound got together for dessert for December birthdays (Caitlyn, me, and Jesus) and gave us presents!

The BEST present though is that my meds finally kicked in and I was POOING solid by my birthday (WOO). *Edit: second best present, because the BEST present was that on my birthday I got on a 10-hour bus ride to Bangkok TO SEE MY MOM AND BROTHER. Weee! Ten hours is a long time, but the bus was really nice. Nicer than some planes I’ve been on in my travels here. Lots of space, a blanket, a pillow, reclining seats, AND snacks. A lot of long bus rides also have a flight attendant-like person to make sure you get off at the right stop. I slept most of the way and then stumbled into the Bangkok Hilton (WOW SO FANCY) at 6am. Luckily they didn’t question my being there—even though my very disheveled self clearly did not belong in such a nice place without a guardian—and let me check in really early. I walked into this BOUGIE room and promptly passed out on the nicest bed I’ve been on since… since I left for college.Yes, indeed those are the cloud-like beds that you can see through our shower room (…literally a glass room to shower in, separate from the bathroom). Traveling with my family was LUXURY compared to traveling on my own.

Less talking, more photos:

Bangkok

Terminal 21 – Giant mall with each floor themed as a famous travel city (Paris, Rome, Tokyo, San Francisco, London, etc.)
Tokyo floor…Pretty popsiclesReally complicated toilets. I JUST WANT TO FLUSH.

Grand Palace

Wat Pho – Temple of the Reclining Buddha

What is this?! A temple for ants??
It’s a GIANT reclining Buddha…
I tried to capture it in a pano, but then it just gets really unfortunate canklesDirty feet (jk beautiful artwork on the bottom of his feet)Idk what’s going on here, but suddenly I didn’t have to pee anymoreIt looks like Beyoncé is about to emerge from these cloudsAre we Buddha-ful yet?
Things not allowed in this cab hahah (2^nd is durian—a really smelly fruit—and I have no idea what the last one is)

REALLY YUMMY but unbelievably spicy duck salad (spicy in and spicy out)

Lopburi

SUNFLOWER FIELDS – Sorry in advance for the excessive number of photos. I already cut out a bunch but it was just too much to handle and I got trigger happy. Between the endless fields of my favorite flower and babies of my favorite animal that are all over this country, Thailand is quickly climbing my list of best places in the whole wide world. Flowers as tall as Jason! (who has grown a lot by the way for those of you who haven’t seen him in a while; we are no longer worried that he will be a midget) Lol This cutieI look photoshoppedHAHA WHAT WHY.
GIANT SUNFLOWER

Big flowers, little lady

Okokok I’m done. No more sunflowers.

Monkey Temple – Cool but also actually a very terrifying place because these monkeys are CRAZY and just running wild all over the place. It’s a normal thing; they hang out on street signs and stuff… they’re like the squirrels at UCLA. But more vicious.Hehe…Jason getting harassed

This monkey’s extremely uneven nipples really freaked me outWHAT?! Getting nostalgic for overpriced parking and lots of trafficHelpful menu

Ratchaburi

(lol no Jerry, not Ratchetburi)

Samut Sakhon – sea salt farmsMom harvesting coconut meatPalm sugar in the makingDamnoen Saduak Floating Market – Exactly what it sounds like; kind of like an Asian market version of Venice. You get in a boat, then shop from other boat vendors as well as storefronts that are right on the water.The boat pick up felt a lot like we were getting on a ride at Disneyland

It kind of seemed like what happened was the city just randomly flooded so they decided to go with boats instead of cars

Spent a lot of baht on an artsy elephant painting (not pictured, but I wish I could’ve bought this butt counterpart, too)
AHH.HAHA JASON.

Wat Prok Charoen – Local temple where Chompoo (our really cool driver/tour guide) showed and taught us how to do traditional Buddhist prayer and offerings

THIS DOG WHO DGAF ABOUT ALL DA H8ERS (his owner was the sweetest old lady who giggled the whole time about the eyebrows she drew on him)Got back and found this goober on the right for a COMPLETE CAPILI CREW!SnoopyCon 2014Isaaya Siamese Club – fancy belated bday and celebratory we’re-all-together-yay dinner!Aaand the award for best mocktail name goes to the Mother of God herself (so clever)11-hour bus ride to Chiang Mai × Christmas card photo

Chiang Mai

So much fun~**Wat PanTao – not your average shiny temple

Yes. Yes, I did take a photo of a random baby on a temple wallReally cool Chiang Mai art ATM etiquette seems a little different over hereStreet art

Baan Thai Cookery School – Ah! We took a cooking class and it was GREAT. I AM A CHEF. I was literally shocked at how delicious all the food I made was.
They took us to the local market to teach us about the ingredients of common Thai dishes

Yum?Probably the most nervous fish in the whole wide world swimming in this bucketA wet iPhone’s paradiseAVOCADOSPad Thai in the making
Tom kha (coconut milk soup with seafood)Som tam (green papaya salad)Khao soi (northern curry with noodles)Are you drooling yet? SO MUCH FOOD BUT ALL SO GOOD. And now I can add these dishes to my very developed cooking repertoire of quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and popcorn.

Elephant Retirement Camp – OOF. More elephants. I can’t even begin to describe what a happy day this was. A lot of places with elephants in Thailand have questionable practices and policies, but this place was perfect. They had 4 elephants that they are temporarily rescuing from other elephant camps and 1 baby elephant. NINE MONTHS OLD HOLY MOLY. I say “temporarily rescuing” because as the owner explained to us, it costs an absurd amount of money to actually buy an elephant from an elephant camp to rescue it for good. And in addition to that they spend 16 hours a day eating and need constant supervision to make sure they don’t get into trouble with this elephant camp’s neighbors (who are unfortunately banana farmers lol). Long story short, elephants aren’t expensive pets, but this camp does the best it can to provide a sanctuary for some of these seriously mistreated animals. You could tell immediately that these elephants love the people who take care of them. And we basically spent the whole day just hanging out with them.Nongchang has a warning because he is a baby and is really playful. Baby elephants are like giant puppies—they love playing around and rough-housing a little, which is soso sweet and cute. However, when you weight as much as that, “playing around” can get pretty painful for us tiny humans. He was like a naughty little giant monster… in the cutest way possible.Our names in ThaiElephant tongues feel weird Chang juup juups!! (ELEPHANT KISSES) I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY. NEVER.Linjy gettin’ handsy Makin’ elefriends (don’t miss the unbelievably cute snuggles between baby elephant and Yui in the background)BABY HUMAN RIDING A BABY ELEPHANT.I CAN’T. They were born the same month. How in the world can anything be so cute.

Mom & Dad being hip and matching
Elephant mud bath! (and then human mud fight)

And wash off!Hahah I SWEAR I’M HAVING FUN. Mama elephant about to poop in the water right in front of me. Bahaha yay.Such an elefun day of elefrolicking (okok I’m done). It was perfect.

Chiang Mai night market Random costumed Thai children at the bus station

Other fun bus terminal mall decorations PHEW. Comin’ in hot! I feel like I’ve said a lot but there’s still so much more! I haven’t even started talking about Christmas yet, which (spoiler alert) is really good so get excited.