Thailand ~ Kho Phi Phi

Pale, tired and ready to leave KOREA

First stop- Shanghai, did it matter that it was only about 10am and we already cracked a beer as we waited in the airport? We had to try a Chinese beer...

Arrival meal when we first got to Thailand....Burger King - can't blame me for wanting a veggie burger? Atleast there was a Chang in the mix!

First full day - Susannah, Rachal and Meredith on the boat over to Phi Phi

View from the pier off the boat...Hellooooo paradise!!~

Susannah, Meredith, Caitlin and Rachal - travel buddies for the week!

Snorkle trip out to a small island (where the movie The Beach was filmed)

Other side of the small island that was private and amazingly beautiful!!~

We snorkled around here after hearing word there was a baby shark in the water, but no luck- didn't spot it

Monkey beach- minus the monkeys

One side of Phi Phi

There were tsunami evacuation signs everywhere

Kho Phi Phi shows Canada a little love! ~ The two Canadians on the trip!

One of the many monkeys that scared Susannah and I from not going up to the top of the lookout

Hot, tired, and sweaty~ The stairs to the look out were super steep and it was midday...not the smartest time for a hike

Tattoo time ~ Looks like he's really hurting me...not too bad

My bamboo tattoo

Took a stroll one day- pier side of the island

One of many delicious meals - some kind of curry, devine!

Thailand for Christmas couldn't have been a better idea! It was so nice to get away from the cold, and what would turn snowy, Korea. I'm used to cold weather coming from Ontario, but the cold in Korea is different. It's a dry, bone chilling bite like I've never experienced before...Thailand on the other hand- steamy!~

We started our journey in the early morning hours. Bus from Hwajung to the Incheon Airport. Flew to Shanghai for a brief layover and then onto Bangkok. Our flight situation wasn't ideal. First short flight was fine. It was the connecting flight from Shanghai to Bangkok. We were stuck, on the plane for close to two hours. It was ridiculous. They had to fix the plane. We flew China Eastern and it was anything but a pleasant experience. Christmas Day was spent travelling- from 6am to nearly midnight...made for a long day. After we arrived in Bangkok we flew to Phuket to stay in a hostel with our friends Meredith and Rachal. They had come from the Phillipines where they're teaching and had been travelling in north Thailand before heading down to meet up with us. We were exhausted when we finally reached the hostel- it was bed for us. The hostel was really nice- super clean, cute!

Next morning was an early one as we wanted to catch the ferry early as possible to make the most out of our time on Kho Phi Phi. We shuttled to the pier and boarded the boat. Approaching the island it was surreal! We had finally arrived!!! We were taken to our hotel where we'd spend the next couple of nights. We strapped on the bathing suits and hit the beach! It was a nice sunny day and our poor pale skin needed that vitamin D! It was so nice and relaxing...definitely how I could spend most of my days (and how it looked like some people did- holy leather skin!). We ate some, you'll never guess, PAD THAI and it was pretty decent. Along the way we had other, better pad thai....one of my favorites before even going to Thailand! Mmmm...

On the island we found it to be very touristy...at night you'd walk down the road and there were bar promoters everywhere handing out countless flyers to check out their bucket specials- buckets of booze. Things on the island were obviously more expensive than they were in Bangkok but that's to be expected.

One of our days was spent on a little boat touring the surrounding islands. Beautiful! We did some snorkling, saw some really crazy looking fish (my underwater camera died before we even finished snorkling- unfortunate). The pictures couldn't do the underwater beauty justice though. The sand was perfect- soo soft and white! I can't say enough about the beauty! I will say though, I felt that Bali - the Gili island I went to was more beautiful (just saying).

One night, the girls and I decided to check out the tattoo place. I had been wanting to get one for a long time and knew I wanted to get a series of feathers, so why not start here?! I over think everything, so I threw it out the window and went for it. The guy (I'm being generous with guy) looked about 10 who did my tattoo. He carved up a new bamboo needle and started away. It took about an hour - maybe not quite. The pain was nothing huge. Some parts were worse than others. It just felt like pinching, but as soon as he would stop, the pain went away immediately (I hear with a tattoo gun it's different?). I really like my tattoo and will forever remember the trip!

Our last day on the island was overcast and kind of rainy. We took advantage of the weather and hit up a massage place. For about $7 you get a full body, one hour oil massage. It was glorious! At the end they do these crazy, weird things where they whip your body around- which later in the trip I think contributed to my popping neck (read Bangkok post).

We headed out early morning on the 29th to head back into Bangkok where we'd spend the remainder of our trip!~

DR.FISH TIME!

Susannah & I @ a Dr. Fish Cafe

Susannah not loving the big fish nibblers!

These guys ranged from about 2-3 inches I'd say

These were the little nibblers!

Who would have thought a Saturday night could be enjoyably spent having your feet nibbled on by fish?! ~Since being in Korea, I've always wanted to check out the "Dr.Fish Cafes" they have around here. You can sip a beverage and get a pedicure- from the fish. They like to eat the dead skin cells off your feet! ~ Gross right? I'd say so....I am a person who has insanely sensitive feet so I thought this might be a bit challenging. Well, as we found out, we couldn't drink our beers as the fish had a buffet, we had to drink and then do it (I guess it makes sense- what if your beer fell into the fish tank?? Then again, it might make the fish hungrier~ Drunk snack time?)

After peeking into both tanks, after we already paid our $2 for 15-20 mins, I thought it would be good to start with the little fish...they weren't so intimidating being only about 1 inch long ...obviously it tickled- a lot. They would try and squirm their way into your toes. There was a guy sitting next to me and it was so weird- they were trying to navigate their way through his leg hair- gross. The sensation on your feet was pretty minimal so I decided to check out the bigger fish...

Well these were really intimidating~ like I said, 2-3 inches long, I felt like they could potentially bite off my baby toe, right? No...now that's exaggerating a little...I didn't want to shove my whole foot in, not really knowing what to expect, so I just rested my heels in....WOW~ they came feasting!! Haha....This was more intense, like someone was scratching your feet. It was too weird to dunk my whole foot in so I just kept it resting for a bit until other people came and joined so the fish could have other people's feet to deal with. After awhile I was able to rest my whole foot in but if they came near my toes, game over. I couldn't deal with that.

Overall~ an enjoyable experience!! Did it really work? Perhaps if I had sat there for a longer time, I felt that 15 mins wasn't really long enough~ another day...definitely something I'd suggest to people as a unique thing to do!

Randomness at it's best!

Making art in Hongdae

I grew my Christmas tree!!

Boys enjoying some bevies

Ms.Breanne and myself

Austin and the lovely Susannah

Austin et Moi

Another gathering of people and food at my place- I love it

Digging in!

Several bottles of wine later...

I decided to get off the beaten path one day and venture on a little solo exploration (which actually wasn't off the beaten path at all- just a place I had never been before alone, and for an extended period of time)....Hapjeong- as I've experienced it held some of the cutest cafes I've seen (and Korea isn't lacking cute cafes- they are everywhere!)...I did some walking, window shopping and ended up in Hongdae- a place that holds a bustling night life, but a place I'd never seen in the day. I must say...looks a lot different in the day light! It was busy, there were vendors all over, I didn't really enjoy it as much as I do at night (perhaps because night usually involves several cocktails of one kind or another). At night it looks/feels much more glamorous than in the day...I ended up venturing back through the Hapjeong area where I stopped for a Sangria and Veggie Sandwich at a quaint little cafe. I indulged myself in a Korean Magazine (for the pictures obviously) and just people watched, as the weather was perfect enough for the place to keep their big window open- twas perfect afternoon alone. Never would I have been brave enough to do that at home- eat alone?! SCARYYY....but here, now, it's liberating I feel!

With the holidays literally around the corner, I decided (with the help of a former teacher who left it here) to grow a Christmas tree! Haha...it took 6 hours to do and looked the nicest when it was first done (it's starting to look a little shabby now that I've had it for like 2 weeks...) I have no idea how it worked, but it was a cardboard tree you put a liquid in the bottom and as the cardboard soaked up the liquid, little crystal like branches formed- good enough for me. Fortunately I have a little Christmas tree here...although it certainly doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Around October in Canada is when Christmas decorations start popping up- here they have the SMALLEST amount of decorations- if any! It's so bizarre! Not to mention the still mild weather- I'm being thrown for a loop. This Christmas will definitely be interesting- my flight leaves for Thailand at like 830am Christmas morning....WOW! How pumped am I?!

For those of you who know me, I loveeee to cook, bake, and just take care of others (pretty much where the name Motha came from- few of you will understand this)....well living alone is horrible for any of the stuff I love. So I decided to invite a bunch of people over, again, for a little gathering of food, wine and company. It was definitely that- new teachers and old came over to my little place and we feasted on all the lovely randomness I whipped up from cabbage rolls to Kraft Dinner (classy I know but it's a luxury in Korea!)...I love being able to have friends over and take care of them (well their bellies atleast!).

Clearly the weekends continue to be a time to let loose and have fun. There's never a lack of social gatherings at different pubs, restaurants, bars, etc. I continue to meet great new people from all over- which I'm sure will be the case until I leave this beautiful place. Sure, like everywhere it has it's pros and cons- but the good definitely outweighs the bad. I knew this experience would be life changing, but I never imagined it could be this amazing!! xo

My life and Seoul in Korea- my kids!! xo

I can not get enough of these kids- I have watched them grow so much in the short time I've been here. I can't even imagine leaving them...when I first came in, some wouldn't even speak. Now they can read, spell, have conversations about what they did on the weekend- they are so smart! They are a beautiful bunch of children- a handful at times, yes, but nonetheless, I love them each differently. They are all so unique and different- obviously I have some I feel stronger connections to, but I still love them all the same. A couple are just so loveable, always telling me, "Miss Mandy you are a princess today" or "Miss Mandy I love that ______ you're wearing!". They are so cute- AND SMART! As stressful as some days can be, being a teacher is truly my passion and inspiration. At the end of the day when a child comes up to you, looks you in the eye and gives you the biggest hug they can while telling you that they love you, it erases all the other stuff that happened (nose picking, tattle tailing, whining, not sitting in their seats, not raising their hand, scribbling in their books...the usual)......xo

Fall is beautiful in Seoul....

Namsan Tower, formerly known as Seoul Tower (or vice versa...) Sweet view of the city. At the top couples "lock" their love there- there are thousands of locks on the fence!

I feel like there isn't much going on here lately- I'm living in Korea now- for 8 months? Everything feels normal to me now (I'm sure it's FAR from normal for friends/family in Canada- but I guess I'm used to it?)... I still feel like I just left yesterday yet my life has gone from homesick, to happy, back to homesick, to crazy party times, homesick, happy- what a rollercoaster ride! I can honestly say though, I'm pretty much the happiest I've been in as long as I can remember! I have some good people in my life right now and it's making things great! I know I can count on my friends/family back home, but it's nice to know that I also have people here in Korea I can count on- and for that, thank you.

Fall has been such a great season here. It went from being a RAINY, WET summer here- I felt like there was a time it rained for weeks (because it did- they call that "rainy season" for a reason)....Then one day, it stopped raining. The weather cooled, but not enough that it was cold- it was comfortable. It can get steamy here in the summer! I've really enjoyed the last couple of months- I've explored a few hidden jems, off the beaten path. I wish it wasn't so far from home- as much as I love it here, I need a little taste of Canadian soil before I continue my adventures.

I took a trip up to Seoul Tower recently with Jake- it was amazing (despite the efforts it took me to get there- with a population in Seoul millions upon millions, travelling can be HECTIC at times, not to mention the G20)...We were there at night, but you could still see the beautiful fall leaves- the weather was actually pretty mild still. It was so nice. We had dinner overlooking the city- such a great time! At the top of the tower there are fences with an observation deck and the fences are covered in locks with little love messages (clearly in Korean so I had no idea what they said..) It was still really cool to see!

Kids and their words....

Me: Where do pineapples grow?
Child: PINE TREE!! (


Me: What rhymes with dart?
Child: Part, start, shart
Me: What's a shart??
Child: Ohhh teachaaa, I dunno?

Me: Plain Jane is a girl who is "plain", nothing special...
Child: Ohhhh you mean like PlainBoy?
Me: What's PlainBoy?!
Child: Ohhh teacha, you know, he only wear panties!! (


Child: I have a tooth eating bug in my mouth!!
Me: A WHAT?!
Other child: Nooooo teacher- she means a cavity!!


Me: Americans are very patriotic, do you know what that means?
Child: That they are fat? (< perhaps that's how they view North Americans? haha)

Writing prompt: Think about the best teacher you have ever had. Why is he or she the best teacher?...

Child #1 partial response...:
My best teacher I ever had is Mandy teacher. Mandy teacher leads our group nicely. Our class usually be loud and noisy so she is little scary. But I think being scary in the bad attention of the class is a teacher work and she does it well.

If you visit....

It always intrigues me to see that people are checking out my blog- via the little news-feed-thingy-counter...it tells where they're from (most being from around home- sometimes an odd place will pop up!)....I just have this to say:
If you're checking out my blog- PLEASE comment or leave me a message of some sort. I'd love to know who it is taking the time to read my business, adventures, life trial and errors...
I really enjoy blogging and wish I'd take the time to do more. I'm glad that people are reading it- that's what it's there for!! So please...if you visit, let me know who "YOU" are!!