So this post will be covering a lot more than normal because yes, I fell back on updating my blog. I really tried not to do this on my trip, and I am trying to pinpoint why it has been so long since I have posted. I think a large part of it is that I have been with others for the entirety of my time in Thailand. Even though I am considered a solo traveler, I have somehow managed to have a month void of any alone time. I apologize to anyone who has checked this page over the last month to find no new post, but I will make it up to you with a mega-update here! I will try to pick up where I left off...

My parents and I took a train south after one night in Bangkok with our final destination being Koh Samui. We slept on and off from about 8pm to 4am when we were awoken with a gentle tap on the head to alert us that our stop was next. We packed up, and offloaded to sit at our bus pick-up stop for a few hours. They had a cafe with wifi, and a turf field down the street where my dad and I did some yoga to the sunrise!

My parents had time to explore a little local market where they reported seeing some interesting things like live frogs and pig heads and such.. the usual. Then we finally hopped on our bus that took us to a pier and our ferry to Koh Samui! As we cruised along we began to see islands emerging on the horizon in all directions and flying fish shooting out of the turquoise water. We split a few beers (Chang, of course) on the back of the boat, and before we knew it we were stepping onto our island home for the next week!

We took a cab to Poppies where we nearly collapsed with exhaustion and joy after our long journey.

They greeted us with big smiles, cold towels, and iced tea. We were already impressed, and then we saw the rest of the resort. WOW. 

Poppies is honestly the closest to heaven on earth we may have ever experienced, with adorable bungalows connected by winding paths through jungle plants and waterfall streams and koi ponds, leading out to a pool, spa, restaurant, and the most perfect beach I have ever seen. Crystal clear teal water, soft white sand, rolling waves, and palm tree covered hills down the beach in both directions.

We promptly changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed some fruity drinks on the beach. I had been dreaming of this exact moment for months, and it felt oh so amazing for it to finally happen. Over and over. :)

And then the jetlag finally set in for mom and dad... 

That night we had an amazing meal at the Poppies restaurant, enjoyed some more drinks, and my parents went off to bed to catch up on sleep while I had fun exploring the more wild north end of the beach.

The next few days blur into a happy haze of sunrise yoga on the beach, elaborate complimentary breakfasts, reading in the sun, playing in the waves, Thai massages on the daily, seafood for every meal, and enjoying the nightlife. It all sounds too good to be true, but it really was, and I could never thank the 'rents enough for making it happen.

When we were feeling adventurous, we rented motorbikes and went on a self-guided island tour, complete with viewpoints, waterfalls, elephants, Thai food, etc.

Koh Samui also included a pretty momentous event for me... I met my idol. Rachel Brathen is a famous yoga instructor, but she is so much more than that. She is a source of wisdom, inspiration, motivation, and love for millions of people. I started following her instagram (@yoga_girl) a couple years back, and her words and pictures have inspired me in both my yoga practice and in my life.

I saw on social media that she was going to be in Thailand, and I only dreamed that I would somehow be in the same place as her at the same time. But yep—she said she was coming to Koh Samui! And one night I ran into her!! I was a total nervous fangirl but she was one of the warmest, kindest, and most humble "famous" people I will ever meet. We talked about yoga and she invited me to the retreat and we took a picture and hugged and ahhh it just about may have been the highlight of my time there, as silly as that may sound. Check out her website to see more about all that she does! www.rachelbrathen.com

It was nice being somewhere so beautiful and with the two people who love me the most on Valentine's Day. The "holiday" is just not that great for us single folk, but I really couldn't complain! I got to focus on the love I have found for myself, and we got to celebrate my parent's love... pretty crucial to my existence ❤️

Poppies put on a whole V-Day event with live traditional Thai music and dancing during our unbelievable dinner extravaganza, complete with roses and chocolate. Not bad at all ☺️

Plus I found a boyfriend anyways... He's a little short and hairy for my taste but I can't be too picky 😉

Another momentous event for my parents and I was our undescribably perfect meal at the famous Cliff Restautant, this was our view...

We had the best sangria, caprese salad, calamari, seafood pasta, etc. etc. and honestly it was all we talked about for the rest of the day haha we're pretty much ruined for life after that meal!

Our final full day on Samui we actually spent on a boat island hopping through the national park to the west of the island which consists of over 40 stunningly beautiful uninhabited islands. 

We took a choppy ride on a speed boat up to an island with a coral reef and went snorkeling! I felt like a fish among the thousands, it was such a beautiful feeling.

Then we hopped back on our boat and headed into the heart of the islands... Seeing the layers of islands approaching in the distance was unbelievable and could hardly be captured by camera.

This one is said to represent King Kong with his hands together saying "sawadee" (hello)! ☺️

We stopped on an island for lunch and climbed around on an old fishing boat!

After that we went KAYAKING! This was a huge highlight for me because I fell in love with kayaking out in Oregon, so it was a blast to feel the paddle pulling on a completely different and beautiful body of water.

The next island we stopped at has a beautiful lake in the middle of it, appropriately named Emerald Lake 😍

We had time to stop at one more island, were we had the option to hike/SCRAMBLE up a cliff (mom is down in that picture somewhere)...

...but oh was the view worth it!!

Officially in love with Thailand, as if I wasn't already

Our last morning on Samui we were treated with an absolutely stunning sunrise 😍

She was making it hard to leave! But finally we packed up and headed to the cutest little airport we'd ever seen and caught a quick flight up to Chiang Mai.

This city in northern Thailand has beauty and happy faces and delicious food around every corner.

Our first full day we signed up for a cooking class that we were recommended and it was incredible! Our spunky instructor BENNY picked us up from the hotel and she showed us around a local market, pointing out various ingredients we'd be using. My dad bought some fried bugs at one stand, of course.

Then we headed for the farm where she gave us a tour of the plants and their many uses. I was so tempted to just stay here... forever... but I resisted the urge and just took some good notes instead.

We learned to cook a total of 5 traditional Thai dishes and each one was more delicious than the last.

Curry, seafood soup, pad thai, basil stir fry, mango sticky rice... HEAVEN

Needless to say we were too full to do much that night, so we rested up for our full day ahead—at the Baanchang Elephant Park! 

We spent the whole day with elephants!! First we got to feed them and pet them, this beauty was over 60 years old! We fed her right into her mouth whereas the others would sniff out the bananas/sugar cane and eat them with their trunks.

I loved getting to spend time with these beauties, they each kind of had their own personality that you could pick up on, and they are such magical creatures that I felt honored and energized to even be in their presence.

The trainers taught us how to ride them, which we got to do bareback... so so so so so cool

After we got the hang of getting on and off (and staying on) these giants, we got to ride them on a trail for an hour. My girl and I had a lot of fun... she liked to tickle my feet with her trunk 😜 It would be too hard to describe how it feels to ride an elephant... it is so surreal and I hope anyone who wants to will find the opportunity to do this because it was pure magic!

After the ride we got to give them a nice bath and scub and play with them in the water! This may have been the happiest moment of my life!! Her's too 😊

This day was more than I could have ever dreamed it to be... I am humbled and honored to have been able to spend a whole day connecting with these incredible beings! It was a perfect last day in Thailand for my parents as well. 

Even though they were leaving the following day, I knew I wasn't going to be alone because as fate would have it I knew multiple friends from college who were also in Chiang Mai!

I got dinner a couple times with the beautiful birthday girl, Audrey and we got to catch up on her life living and working at a school outside of the city. 

I also met up with my friends Rachel and Alex and ended up staying at the same hostel with them in Chiang Mai, then traveling with them up to Pai!

We had a fun couple of days and nights in the city before catching a bus up the incredibly curvey, winding road up to the little mountain town Pai. Apparently there are 762 curves on this road but it felt more like 7 million. It was all worth it when we got there though (as it always is!)

Rachel and Alex booked beds at a sweet hostel called SpicyPai and luckily they had room for me too. I originally booked two nights but ended up adding more and more... I absolutely loved it here. The dorms are wooden bunk beds in raised thatched huts essentially, where the roof and walls aren't even connected, so it kind of feels like camping!

There's one big communal loft with hammocks and lots of space to lounge out, so I spent a majority of my week right there. Plus we always got a beautiful sunset over the mountians.

Pai is a sweet little backpacker's oasis. I heard about it when I was in Eugene and in a way it reminded me a bit of a little Eugene, with health food and hippies and music and smiles everywhere you went. I rented a bicycle and quickly got to know the layout of the little town, but most of my time was spent at Spicy making friends with some of the coolest and most genuine travelers from all corners of the globe. At night we would hang out around the bonfire and would usally make it into town as one big happy drunk family. 

And then we could balance out the beers and buckets with delicious health food just down the road. You see why it was easy for me to extend my stay here?

This was a beautiful white Buddha just a short hike from the hostel with views of the entire valley.

We took a ride out to a pretty spectacular place for sunset one evening. It is called Pai Canyon and has incredible views and hiking trails along the spines of massive jungle cliffs. 

I was here with a heavy heart that evening... I had talked to my best friend Bridget back home and learned that one of our close friends, Peter, had passed away. It was an absolute shock, and absolutely heartbreaking. We cried and cried over the loss, and my heart broke again that I coudn't be there to hold her and support her in person. The two of them were especially close and I could feel every ounce of her pain even from halfway around the world.

 As I looked out at the sunset over the canyon, I could feel Peter's spirit, and how he would want to climb the tall cliffs and take epic pictures of the view. I held him in my mind and cried for him and his family and all of the thousands of lives that he brought light to. He may be gone in physical form, but his presence is still so alive in the world and in everyone he inspired in his life. 

I am still processing this loss and being so distant from home at this time has been especially difficult. I was happy to at least be settled in Pai, were I could consistently talk to Bridget and other friends, as well as receive support from some of my new friends. A group of us set out on the next day for an epic, and Peter's adventurous spirit was there pushing me the entire day.

We rented motorbikes and rode them through the curvy mountain roads, past unbelievably beautiful landscapes and hill farms, for over two hours to Thailand's largest cave. Here we hopped on bamboo rafts that guides pushed down the stream and used only lanterns for light. It was incredible... The cave was absoltely massive—probably 15 stories high at places—and had all these smaller connecting rooms that we were able to hike between.

We saw the most beautiful crystalized stalactites and stalagmites, heard screeching bats, and fed hundreds of massive fish as we floated down the channel.

I couldn't capture many good pictures in the dark of the cave, but again this was one of those experiences best witnessed in person.

We rode our motorbikes (my new favorite method of travel) back over the pass and made a detour over some sketchy roads to a beautiful secluded hot springs pool!

Northern Thailand is so magical... I found another home away from home. The next day my new friend and I saddled up on my motorbike and sought out another adventure... a waterfall hike that I only knew how to access based off word-of-mouth from a fellow traveler. We got slightly lost, but I trusted my gut and found the correct dirt road which led us through beautiful villages and farmland, what felt to be the 'real' Thailand.

We parked where we were told, where the creek instersects the road, and began to follow the trail for a couple hours up (and through) the creek.

This was one of the most beautiful hikes I think I will ever go on... everything from the warm wind in the trees to the winding trail to the occasional local farmer to the magical sound of the cow's bells making a harmonious song... It was all so surreal. Even where a fly flew INTO my ear, and beat its wings against my eardrum for a solid five minutes before escaping, I wasn't too phased because around the next turn was our elusive waterfall.

She was a beauty. I could hardly contain myself when we arrived and I threw my clothes off and waded into the falls, climbing behind them to sit in the cave. I wrote Peter's name in the mud there, just as I had done in the dirt at Pai Canyon, because his spirit was there with me as well. 

It felt amazing to cool off after our long hike, so we soaked it all in and snacked on some food before hiking back out.

My last couple days in Pai were spent mostly on the phone and on the internet researching my next steps. I decided on Laos, which I'll be exploring for the next 2—4 weeks! Some SpicyPai friends will even be there too, so maybe I won't be alone once again.

The last night in Pai I went to the annual Reggae Festival with some friends from the hostel where we enjoyed lots of Bob Marley songs and fire dancing and food and joints and beer and all around good vibes... I felt like I could have been at Oregon Country Fair, except the attendees were from all over the globe! It made for an awesome experience and brought some happy energy into my soul. 

I headed off the next day back down the crazy road to Chiang Mai (saw these beautiful flowers at the market we stopped at halfway) and got settled in back at the same hostel I stayed at with the girls.

This morning I took a bus to the border city, Chiang Rai, and tomorrow I get up and cross over into Laos! I really tried to get this blog post up before leaving Thailand!! Laos will definitely have one, or many, posts of its own. The next two days I will be posted up on a slow boat floating down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang! Lots of time to reflect and observe the country and myself as I go into this next chapter. Plenty more to write but this is enough for now, sending love all around this big beautiful globe ❤️❤️❤️