Monthly Archives: June 2014

Back in Chiang Mai

After leaving Koh Lanta, I flew to Chiang Mai where I will be spending my last month. Yep, I fly back to the UK in just a month! I cant believe it’s been almost 6 months already! It has gone crazy quick. I am looking forward to seeing my family again though and the UK summer isn’t so bad!

I will be carrying on with language classes here and also meeting up with some of the girls from the shelter where I volunteered last year.

It was a nice feeling coming back here. It almost felt like I am back in civilisation! I have always been a city girl and while I really enjoyed island life, it feels good to be back in the city. Chiang Mai is a great city. It has everything you need, but without the craziness of Bangkok and still with bags of culture. Life here is relaxed and everyone is so friendly. And it is so cheap to live here! I went for dinner at a local Thai/Burmese restaurant on my 1st night and ordered rice with stir fried pork with garlic for dinner and it amounted to 30 baht, the equivalent of 60p! I felt like I had just robbed them! The pound does definitely stretch a very long way here!

Goodbye Koh Lanta

So after just over 3 months here, it is time to leave this island. It feels kinda strange, it has become my home but at the same time, I think I am ready to leave. This has been the longest I have stayed in one place for over a year! So I’m starting to get itchy feet. It doesn’t help that it’s low season here now so a lot of the restaurants and shops close. There are still a few local places open but it gets a bit boring having to eat at the same place every night. I have finished beginner levels 1, 2, and 3 of my course here so am now at the intermediate level which is pretty cool.

I have really enjoyed the school here. It has been hard work but I have learnt so much! I feel so much more confident talking to Thai people now and actually really enjoy it. It’s funny seeing how surprised they are initially when they hear you speaking their language but they really open up to you after that. I can also read and write the Thai script which I never expected I would learn! Especially in just 3 months. I had to write an essay in Thai as part of my final exam. It is such a hard language but the school manage to make it fun and I have really enjoyed learning here. At my last day at the school here I had a certificate ceremony and had to give a speech to the school in Thai! I was pretty nervous about it. I had been very sick in the days leading up to it so hadn’t had the preparation time I wanted but it ended up going pretty well! Here are a few pictures from my last day.

Me and Paula Group pic class pic

1 year on…

It is now just over a year since I quit my job and left the UK…and what a year it has been! The best year of my life! It has gone way beyond my expectations! It’s so funny to me now thinking back to when I was making this decision and all of the doubts and fears I had. I literally haven’t looked back for a second! It’s funny before I left, I had heard so many people talk about how travelling changes you, but I didn’t understand it. But it really does! It is hard to explain fully but it is like you leave your little bubble and your mind completely opens up. You realise that some of the things you thought were important back in your old life actually aren’t! And that makes you start changing what you want in life. I do feel so free out here, literally like the world is my oyster and it’s a great feeling!