A surprise trip to a boutique hotel for Christmas.....Yes please! So I was staying at my friend Elinor's apartment when I arrived in Bangkok and had planned to spend Christmas with some travel buddies in the city. But it turned out that Elinor's friend who she was going to be spending Christmas with at Hua Hin, a posh beach resort, had just cancelled at the last minute in order to fly home to europe instead. So she was left with a free spot in her booking and as...

I was strangely sad leaving Chiang Mai after living there for the past almost 2 months, even if I am going back right after Christmas! After saying bye and happy Christmas to some friends, I waited at Jai Dii House for my night bus to Bangkok. Luckily I was able to leave my big backpack there until I come back so all I had was a small backpack for the weekend. The overnight buses in Thailand are notorious for theft so if you've a bag in the storage compartment y...

I feel like I've been in the ring with Mike Tyson! I went for a blind massage today after it being recommended by several friends here including the owner of the guesthouse I stayed at and people at my gym, CrossFit. So seeing as I didn't have work today, and felt like relaxing I decided to give it a go. So I found the place pretty easily, it's a no frills massage salon and all the masseuses are blind except for the cashier who is partially sighted. I was sitti...

Unknowingly we arrived in Chiang Mai just in time for a big festival called Loy Krathong! Loi Krathong coincides with the Lanna (northern Thai) festival known as "Yi Peng" (Thai: ยี่เป็ง). Due to a difference between the old Lanna calendar and the Thai calendar, Yi Peng is held on a full moon of the 2nd month of the Thai lunar calendar. A multitude of Lanna-style sky lanterns are launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluor...

I'm back in Chiang Mai right now with Mel. Just sunbathing by the pool right this very moment! The weather is much better here now than it was in august, we've only been here two days now and it's sunny all day but cooler at night which is good. We flew from Vietnam to Bangkok on Monday night; me, Mel, danielle and Leanne. Dani and Leanne had actually booked their flight for Sunday morning but mistook the departure time for the arrival time! They only double che...