Thailand!!

Going to Thailand was probably one of the best decisions I made since coming down to Australia. I do wish I got to see more Australia, maybe a trip to the Red Center or Uluru, would have loved to see New Zealand, but there is just no place like Thailand and the culture shock far exceeded what it felt like when I came to Australia. Australia has its differences from America, but being a developed nation it is a much easier transition. When we arrived in bangkok it literally felt like you came to a different world.

I was trying to catch how hectic the streets were with some of these photos but without seeing how these people drive and the chaos of scooters and Tuk-Tuk's weaving through traffic it's hard to show. They're supposed to drive on the left side of the road, but for the most part it felt like they just drive wherever they want or wherever seems the fastest. 

One of the infamous Tuk-Tuks... As soon as these guys caught a glimpse of my foreign curly locks they'd come running trying to get you in on a crazy ride through the streets of Bangkok. People weren't kidding when they say the Thai will constantly try to screw you too as they may say it'll be 10 baht/hour (about 30 cents), but they'll just drop you off at a suit shop and almost force you to buy something for about $60 at the end of your trip.

Big Buddha! This was one of the monasteries we went to. They're all over the place as you'll see in more of the pictures but they were a really neat place to see.

The Thai have a very strong belief in Buddhism and we actually got to see a prayer happening with one of the Monks. It was probably the most peaceful things I've ever seen and the amount of concentration the Monk had was indescribable (sorry no pictures aloud there, it would have been extremely disrespectful).

These are all kerns of what I believe are either people of the royal family or monks that were part of the monastery in the past. It was pretty remarkable, they were lining the walls of this place by the thousands, and this was only at one temple!

The gold work on everything here was outstanding

I figured I had to take a picture of one of the cats. There were stray cats and dogs all over Thailand, in the city or at the islands. The weird thing was though that Justin pointed out was that nearly every dog had a collar on it... Strange because I certainly don't think the large majority of them had an owner.

The stature of these places was incredible, and this one here is considered to be fairly average.

Our ride in the Tuk-Tuks. That's Mike and Justin up ahead and Dan and I are following. They gave us a mini tour of stuff we wanted to see around Bangkok. These guys would weave and dodge traffic like you wouldn't believe. No matter how chaotic it appeared, it somehow just works for them, like there's this mutual understanding of how to manage the hectic traffic...

Some beautiful decorations. This is just to give you a slight idea of how much rubbish was thrown about this place. There is literally no regard for keeping the place clean, and speaking of which the smell was horrendous. After being there for a few days we got used to it, but it is extremely polluted. Fresh Vermont air is going to be a wonderful thing!

Our boat ride to what was supposed to be the floating markets. This was one of the things I looked forward to the most in visiting Bangkok so it was a little disappointing when there was no floating market, but the ride was still a lot of fun and we got to see a lot.

Mike and Dan relaxing with some beers on our boat tour. The beer they're drinking is Chang (it was our go to) and they cost 55 baht at 7/11 which were located about every half block every where we went. There are absolutely zero rules with drinking in public, but if you went on one of the Tuk-Tuk rides you might understand why you need one to relax the nerves.

I thought this picture was kind of symbolic of what Thailand is like. The bridge is beautiful and pretty outstanding but it goes over the dirtiest water I may have ever seen in my life. A recurring theme as we spent our week there...

As we went on our river tour there were temples like this everywhere you looked

We were pretty certain this is a view of the Grand Palace from the river. It's the most historic temple in Bangkok and absolutely tremendous. (I've attached a few additional photos below of the Palace that I borrowed offline)

A pretty awesome picture of the river with some of the Bangkok skyline in the background

We rode down some side rivers that were lined with homes like these all throughout. You could clearly tell where some were much better off than others but for the most part it was all extremely poor as most of the Bangkok we saw was. Really makes you not want to complain when considering how much better off your life is than so many people in the world. For instance we drove by a man bathing in this river at one point because that was probably the only source of "running" water that he had... I don't know that I even know many people you could pay to have gotten in that water. 

One of the oldest Temples in Bangkok. You can see how much effort and detail is put into these temples in comparison to the rest of their homes and buildings in general. They have such a strong belief in Buddhism and it seems the whole country puts all their faith into the religion.

So this is the extent to which we saw for a floating market... Of course they have beer on ice available too. I guess I can't be mad.

Notice the beer in our Tuk-Tuk driver's hand... That's what he wanted as a tip and I think that may give you a pretty good understanding of how there are absolutely no rules in Thailand.

Some pretty cool cat sculptures in Siam Square. This section of Thailand was actually a little bit more developed and modern than where we usually were (we're pretty cheap) and Bangkok itself is so big I'm sure we could have spent the whole week there and always saw something new. 

This is where we actually stayed and spent most of our time while in Bangkok. It's called Kohsan Road (spelling?) and is the popular spot for tourists and backpackers. There were vendors lining the street that relentlessly tried to sell you anything from sunnies, to shirts, watches, shoes, souvenirs, suits, bags, you name it they'd be selling it. You'd also get approached by people trying to get you to a ping-pong show, ask me about that one when I get home. 

Our ferry ride to Koh Samui Island. It was wild going from somewhere like Bangkok to these islands that were absolutely gorgeous. It's hard to believe they're even the same country, although these islands were still relatively trashed, especially in certain places and they still paid little attention to the environment.

We rented scooters for a day when on Koh Samui. For about $8 it was a must. Too bad Justin had to dump this bike and make Dan spot him 1000 baht because he was broke... Why am I not surprised it was him who ended up ditching it though.

The scooters were heaps of fun and made me crave my bike even more. That weather better be clearing up by the time I get home. 

Just wanted to give an example of how they want you to pay for everything! This is less than a dollar but even though everything was extremely cheap it starts to add up when you're buying so much.

This Thai guy gave us a little guided tour to a waterfall through the forest. Dan's taking a swing on one of the vines right here. The costumer service by the Thai was awesome I have to say, they were extremely accommodating with everything and work incredibly hard for the little money that they make.

This waterfall was so refreshing in after our short hike in the heat

After the waterfall we continued to the top of the mountain where we were greeted with some outstanding views and an amazing place to have lunch and hang by the pool.

Mike living the life relaxing by the most beautiful pool any of us had seen

Great place for lunch that made some awesome smoothies

This is my final and once again favorite picture from our trip to Thailand. This pool was absolutely breathtaking and couldn't have been placed in a more beautiful spot. Again hard to believe we were in the same country that once had us running the frantic streets of Bangkok.

There was a lot more to Thailand and probably an endless amount of things I wish I photographed, but between worrying of losing it or getting jumped I chose to just get whatever I felt safe with and leave the rest for memory. There are a lot stories with people getting mugged or beaten up so we tried to be cautious (I've got a few funny stories myself you'll have to ask about next time you see me), I figured better safe than sorry... Overall though this was an outstanding trip that none of us will forget and I'm sure will reminisce over forever. I'm so grateful to be able to see these places and have these experiences and can't thank Momma and Papa Rus enough. 

I'll have one more farewell post to Australia later in the week so keep watching and I hope that everyone who's followed along has enjoyed and appreciated my time abroad even half as much as I have. 

Visiting Melbourne

Before taking off to Thailand we made a pitstop in Melbourne for the weekend to see how Myers was living and check out the city. We even ended up renting a car and going down the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 apostles. The city itself was really cool and I would consider it pretty "artsy".  Stace I think if you were ever to visit Australia you'd need to come here, it just seemed like your kind of city. I don't mean that in the wrong way because it's artsy, I just thought of you when I was there and it seemed like your kind of place.

Some pretty wild looking sculpture guy. There were different art sculptures and pieces of work like this spread all throughout the city.

A church that we take a look in a little later. All the architecture of the buildings throughout the city was a lot different than other places I've been in Australia. It had a bit more of an Old Town feel and not so modernized as Sydney that seems to have a more business and classy atmosphere to it.

Heading up to the History of film and movement museum

One of the first video cameras

The first TV (if you look in the little picture next to it, that's JFK using one). Pretty wild considering the entertainment set-ups we have in our homes today

Atari! I know you remember this one mum and dad.

Ryan getting owned by a 6 year old in virtual pong

This is Melbourne's Central Station. Like I said the architecture of the buildings was really neat and unlike a lot of places in Sydney. The people themselves also seem to be even more laid back, not so many suits and ties.

Inside the Church I photographed earlier

I know a lot of churches look amazing and most certainly blow this one out of the water, I still find all the artwork and shear size of the places unbelievable though.

Another shot of Central

The river that leads down from the city to Melbourne's harbour. Nothing like the harbour we've got in Sydney though, and I think this might be some of the dirtiest water I've seen in OZ Land.

There were a lot of museums and exhibitions throughout the city so we figured we should check at least one out. Most of them are actually free too. I think our policy museum or something of equal boringness is the only museum free in Sydney...

This section here was the Aboriginal art exhibit (Aussie equivalent to our Native Americans)

These are obviously genuine pieces of Aboriginal art and are not for sale, but I looked into buying something like this because they make a lot of really amazing stuff, and it literally all goes for upwards of $1,000.

One of Australia's War memorials. You can get some really amazing views of the city atop where you can see the couple of people standing that I'll show you in later pictures.

Medals earned by fallen Australian Soldiers. This was only one row of them and there was another of at least equal length in the next room. These memorials always amazed me and really make you stop and think about all people have done for their countries.

Dan trying to get a profile pic in front of the British flag

And here is the view I mentioned before from the top of the Memorial looking back at Melbourne's skyline. If it didn't get so cold down here (granted nothing like VT haha) it might be my city of choice in Australia, but it'll be hard for me to ever lose my biases towards Coogee.

Getting the rental for our trip down the Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles. Driving on the left side of the road was definitely a bit awkward at first and took some focus in the beginning. I almost think it was driving from the right side of the vehicle that threw me off more though. All the mirrors just seemed in the wrong spot haha. Honestly, after being used to traffic, using public transport and crossing the street for the past 4 or 5 months I think I'll need a couple days of adjusting when I get back to the states. 

House on a pole. They've got some crazy ideas for homes down here that's for sure.

The journey begins down the Great Ocean Road. I was driving a lot of the way there in the daylight so I'm limited with pictures but it's basically an extremely windy road along the edge of the Ocean. Made me miss my baby girl more than ever that day (that's my motorcycle for those of you that haven't heard to me refer to her like that).

Our arrival to the 12 Apostles. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves here. Another one of those many things I've experienced in Australia that pictures can barely do justice but are sadly the best way for me to show you how incredible they were. 

Although they're called the 12 Apostles, only 8 still stand today. You can see the remains of where a few have come down.

Being there around sunset was pretty amazing

I felt like I was in the Lion King at times

Looking into Loch Ard Gorge, just past the 12 Apostles and the site of years of erosion and a famous shipwreck in Australia.

This last shot was one of my favorites and actually isn't one of the Apostles. It's just outside the earlier Gorge I described and seeing it as the sun was setting was unbelievable. 

That's the end of our short visit to Melbourne and I'm sure there could've been much more to see if we had a longer stay. For instance there was a footy game we missed during our road trip in a stadium that seats 100,000 and filled to about 70,000 but we ran out of time as we had to head off to the country of Thailand! Check out my next blog post to read about it. Cheers Amurica! See you soon.