Beautiful Koh Phi Phi

Welcome to beautiful Koh Phi Phi! This is the place I thought was most beautiful when I travelled, even though it is packed with tourists. But how can I complain about this when I am a tourist myself? On the right thats me and Sieb snorkelling :) and on the left you can see Maya Bay, famous "The Beach" beach.
To get to our accomodation place we had to take a long-tail boat, as there was only one exhausting hiking track that would have taken us to Long Beach by foot.

isnt that a nice place to have dinner, everyday? Plus lunch? Plus breakfast? I think it was... and one highlight was definately the beautiful sunsets...

Teacher Cat and Teacher Dog

So everyone, let me introduce to you one special person I met when travelling, teacher Cat! In case you were wondering about the heading, yes, her real name is Cat, but I had the pleasure to be named teacher Dog as we were both at the same school together. Isnt that just so much easier for the kids, teacher Cat and teacher Dog? Dont I even look like a dog on the picture? Okay, I am going too far...

Cat is still travelling and at the moment she is teaching in Hanoi, Vietnam. To check out her blog: www.gatacat.blogspot.com (I told you Cat!)

Okay, to leave a better impression of teacher Cat and Dog, let me search for one normal pic of the two of us....

Okay...let me explain this. We had lived for 4 weeks without Mc Donalds! I mean, I dont want to praise it or anything on my blog, but sometimes you really get the need for mackes, and we needed it! Especially when you are travelling it is just something essential once in a while. Apart from that, did I mention that I still miss Thai streetfood?

I found out there is no normal pic. I think that is a good sign.

Thailand in pictures

this is in the temple teaching the monks. They were so funny and so different from what I expected.

leaving party in Nong Khai. We do not normally look like that!

well, this funny guy was a bus driver and absolutely wanted to be on a picture with me. And when the pic was done he ran to his friends giggling all the time. Great people the Thais!

this is one of my favourite pics. It is taken in Laos near Vang vieng.

This is me and my class in Nong Khai, Cheeky kids, but all lovable.

and finally a magnicifent sunset at Long Beach on Koh Phi Phi

culture shock

When I arrived in Thailand I read a book called "culture shock" teaching me about a culture shock and why you would get one arriving in Thailand. It was quite an interesting book, but, no, there was no culture shock, everything was new and exciting.
Now, being back in Germany since 2 days, I think I finally suffer from culture shock, here are my reasons:

1. I got totally annoyed by all the Geman people when I boarded the plane in Bangkok.

2. Once on the plane, my annoyance got more and more, listening to people complaining about
the cue for the toilet. Do they think other people do not have the need to be relieved from bladder pressure???

3. Once out of the plane back in Düsseldorf, ther was a long cue for passport control. Sure, that is what you expect if you dont fly inbetween Europe, and of course, it takes some time... but here's the complaining "hat kind of a service is that? I cant believe this! This is not Bangladesh is it?"
"Welcome back to Germany" the guy in the cue next to me murmured. How true!

4. Even though we finally hit spring and have 16 degrees, I keep freezing and wearing all my winter clothes

5. My stomach is not used to western food anymore. Everything is fat and lies heavy on ur stomach. I do not feel very well after eating.

6. Walking through the city today, I missed all the smiling and happy faces. Where am I?

7. Went out for dinner with my friends yesterday, but how expensive is this country? For one meal here you get 12 meals in Thailand? Weird...

8. Being in bed it feels weird to cover yourself with a thick blanket, and where is all the sweat???

9. While driving today it felt weird to be on the right side of the road and the traffic was so organised.

10. I miss the sun, the heat, the food, the lifestyle, the friendliness, the lazyness, I miss everything about Thailand!

Culture shock was defined as the craving for things known from home and the idolising of the home country. but Thailand is not my home country and I am sure, I hope, I will be alright in a few days. :)

updates

sorry guys, it has been ages since I last updated my blog and I have done so many things since then! Wow, where should I start??
After leaving Chiang Mai I got quite sick on the night trains down south and I had to get rid of a cold as I wanted to go diving on Koh Phi Phi. Thankfully my cold wasnt as bad anymore when I got there, I could equalize unterwater and I got my divers license within 4 days!!!! I love diving! At first I was so scared cos u really depend on your tank and regulator down there, but once you are down it is really relaxed. Well, after the first 2 dives, lets say:). The first day I was down there I was not amazed by the fish or corals, I was just thinking, "wow I can breath underwater!!! breath in - breath out".
So after Phi Phi we went to Railey BEach but I have to say that I did not really enjoy myself there. It was just way too touristy real and Thailand had disappeared. Plus, there was not much to do there. To be honest, the whole south is not the same Thailand as up north and I am so glad I experienced the real Thailand in Nong Khai. So after 3 nighs on Railey we left for Koh Pha ngan, which is quite touristy as well, but I love it so much more here! Might be because of our bungalow right at the beach with sunrise views! it is really amazing! I went diving here yesterday and the other days I just relaxed at the beach - reading and swimming. Lovely. So tomorrow I am leaving for Bangkok to spend 3 more days there, to get rid of the Thai Baht that I have left :). And Saturday I am going home!!! I cant believe this! On the one hand I am really looking forward to be back home, but on the other hand I know that I will miss Thailand, especially Nong Khai, as that is where I spent most of the time and was involed on Thai everyday life. Plus, I met a bunch of lovely people over there.
So I will update again from Germany, hopefully with a lot of photos to make my blog more interesting again :)))
bye

in Chiang Mai

After a 12 hours bus trip over night we finally arrived in Chiang Mai this morning :) I am so happy to be here and we stay in such a nice hotel! I am here with my Dutch travel mate Sieb and Cat from America. And lucky hat has a lot of hotel points so we invites us to stay for free with her in the hotel. and we have a real suite!!!! it is amazing! tomorrow Sieb and me go on a trekking tour, including bamboo rafting and elephant trekking. I am excited about that!
I am so looking forward to my last 3 weeks here and the travelling, but it was also so sad to leave Nong Khai yesterday. Saying goodbye to my class was hard, the girls were crying, I so did not expect that! At night we had a bad tase party inbetween all the volunteers from Travel 2 Teach and it was good fun :) I dressed up as the pink girl and all my clothes, make-up and jewellery was pink, I looked disgusting! On the way to a club later that night I fell off my bike and now I have a bad bruce (? is that the word) on my shoulder and my hand. So studpid bit I can be lucky nothing worse had happened.
tonight we are visiting the night bazaar which is dangerous cos I am in a shopping mood. monday night we leave for Bankok and from there for Krabi to spend a few days on the islands and to learn diving! And in no time it will be time for me to fly home again :(, but hey, at least I can go back to see Alemannia Aachen play then!
So far the news from Chiang Mai!