Our
Trip to
By Daniella (Bella)
Hello dear ones;
WEll, I made it to the land
of smiles....the flights
were long but i managed to meet some cool girls from
the way....I didn't get
out of the airport in
until
of adequate sleep and totally
awake from the shear
anticipation of
what's to come...
I took a taxi to my friend of a friend of a friend's
apartment,arrived at
around
quiet dimly
lit side street and because it was so late
wasn't surprised
to not find anyone there...
So...jumped back into another taxi and headed for ko
an overabundance of stimuli
Picture a long street filled with young thai men and
women, young
western tourists like me, tuk-tuks(3
wheeled motorized
taxis) running up and down, food
vedors everywhere
selling some strange looking
food,music blaring,
Bright lights, restaurants,street
perfomers..and me.....my turtle shell on my back,
lonely planet
book in hand, eyes wide open but craving
to close for the night,
desperatley looking for a
place to
crash as it's somewhere around 4am now.
Finally found a room with it's own bathroom,
shower
and a fan. SLept ok as the intial shock of
where I was
in the world had completely
washed over me.
Now it's around
about to
go hunt down some food-there are so many
little places
everywhere its hard to know where to
start.
Still feeling slightly overwhelmed and exhausted I
might try
leaving
Ayuthaya either by river boat or train.
THe weather is sunny and
warm and slightly humid- if
feels good.
Despite my little handy phrase book the
language barrier
thing is definitely putting a twist
on things....
Looking forward to more adventures, yummy food, and
heading south!....and
of course getting my first THai
massage!
Many Blessings and love to you all-you are all in my
thoughts.
Daniella
Sawasdee ka!
Have you ever typed a really good e-mail and then just
when you are about to send
it your computer messes up
and you loose it? I'm trying
to breathe...
So, am I really motivated to do this AGAIN?
It will have to be the shortened version because it's
beautiful outside
and I want to go play!
Feeling alot more acclamated
and I feel myself opening
up more and more to my
new surroundings as the moments
pass...
Spent all day in
riverboat, eating
at wonderful Thai food places and
paying under
a dollar each meal, window shopping,
traveling with
two women from
later in
the south, and getting an hour Thai massage
for 3 dollars!
I bartered for a sarong with a THai woman as
nothing
is priced and everything
is bartered for. As I
approached her
stand she said "Hello, whish one you
lie?" I smiled warmly
and held up the one I was
interested in
and she said "180baht, how much you pay,
tell me" and I said
"100baht" and she said "Ok, 140
baht" I laughed and
she laughed and in that moment I
felt we shared some humor
on the reality of what we
both were trying to do. I
got the sarong for 100baht.
I am getting plenty of time alone and just the right
amount of
time traveling with other people. One thing
I find interesting is how I have not met any Thai
person who
speaks fluent English. They either don't
speak it
at all or if they do it is broken English. I
am trying to learn and
speak as much Thai as I can.
It's so different-French doesn't help at all.
Took a train last night to Ayuthaya where i was seated
with a 40 something thai man who said he loved me and
wanted to
be my tour guide(he was harmless)a 27year
old thai
girl and a 39 year old thai woman who spoke
some English. She worked
in a jewelry store and wanted
to know the English translations
of every kind of
jewelry that
existed so i ended up giving a little
English lesson and learned some Thai along the way.
She was very sweet and very motivated.
When I arrived in Ayuthaya I met a couple from
my first day here will
tour the city on bicycle and
check out
all the temples and ruins.
Tomorrow I will head back to
overnight train
to the South!
Dad-I feel your proud spirit as I travel alone
Joseph-please save these e-mails so i can read
them
again someday-thanks
love
Mom-no need to worry- I'm doing great!
Jena-wish you could see this
Kyer-how do I figure the
time difference from here to
Isaac/jessica-I think
of you two so much
To all-Much love...
Daniella
Hello all you lovlies...
It was so great to hear from some of you....
Mom-thanks for your kind words-i'm honored to
have
inspired you.
Ellise-thanks
for your sweet wishes..i
hope your dance
performance was
spectacular! Well, of course it was!
Gina-Have a great time in India-wish I could come over
and play with you-joseph is coming on the 20th-cant
wait!!
Well, I finally and
I mean FINALLY made it to the
south and
am safely on the
back trak
alittle, Ayuttaya was
so amazing. Sweet city
completely encircled
by a river making it somewhat of
and referred to as an island.
The locals were so kind
and friendly and honestly
although I am enjoying
meeting other
travelers from
highlights of
my journeys are interacting and
connecting with
the Thai people. I spent some more
time with a great couple
from
them) and took a solo bike
tour around Ayuttaya
exploring the
ancient temple ruins and wats. Took a
picture of
a very famous buddha head encircled by a
banyon tree
to the point where only his face was
showing-so beautiful
and so magical.
Found a wonderful vegetarian Thai restaurant with
excellent food
and such fun and friendly thai guys.
oh, by the way, I am loving
the food-settling well and
I've been more or less good about food combining
well(joseph it's
easy to do here)and you can avoid
mass intake of sugar despite
the amount the Thais use
in their cooking. I had
the most amazing fresh mango
smoothie for
breakfast yesturday! Rocked my body
right!
So headed back to
along the
way who treated me to lunch. He was a nice
man and it was a nice gesture
but after a while I had
to say goodbye because
he was getting alittle too
clingy and
I wanted my independance back.
So, long story short I missed my train down south and
had to stay another night
in
too happy about but made
the best of it nonetheless.
Spent the next day shopping alittle and hanging
out in
this huge beautiful temple
mesmerized by the chanting
of the monks inside.
from the city when it starts
to get to you-the sweet
smells of
incense,the energy there brings you back
into your center in a heartbeat
and you find yourself
breathing again.
The train ride was pretty fun- got a sleeping bunk
since it's
a 12 hour trip and didn't want to waist a
day of traveling so took
the night train. I met an
American guy with a Swedish girlfriend-interesting
couple, an
Australian woman whom I'm now traveling
hanging out
with from time to time, and another couple
from
rushed onto
a bus which took me to the
Thani about
35 minutes or so away, then got rushed
onto a boat that took me
to Koh Phagan 4 hrs.
later...needless
to say when I got there I was
exhausted and
starving but it didn't end there...took
a tuk-tuk
taxi to Had Rin where the Full moon Party is
and walked around sweating
profusely and searching for
the bungalow at which I
would live for the next couple
of weeks.
When I found it, it was so worth all the crazy
traveling....cute
little hut up on a hill looking over
a beautiful view of the
ocean right below me. This
island is
so gorgeous-right up there with
It's owned by a really sweet THai woman and
her son.
It's far enough away from downtown Had Rin to be
peaceful but
close enough if I want to go and
socialize and
be where the party's at...
With the exception of the folks I met on the train, my
experience with
meeting other travelers especially
Australians has not been good. As soon as I open my
mouth and
they discover that I am American I feel
their hatred
of the
It is very disheartening...I can't say I am proud of
my country right now and
I'm beginning to fear being
asked "where
are you from" because it just stops
there. It's
a very interesting time to be traveling as
an American. Had Rin is full of young people who are
here to rage-tonight is half
moon party night and the
rest of the week every night
will be building up to
the grand event. I will
probably lay low until the
full moon-especially tonight
since I just arrive today
and am so tired. I got myself
my 3rd Thai massage so
far on this trip today and It was the best so
far...tomorrow I will take
a yoga class at a local gym
and check out the Sanctuary
spa.
So making friends here has become difficult for me
which is
kinda a new experience especially since I am
not considered worth talking
to because of what
country I am
from. I can understand their anger and
hatred it's
just unfortunate that they can't see
through it.
So even though I have one Australian companion friend
here-we travel
and live very differently so I'm not so
drawn to
hang out with her too much. I'm preferring
solitude right
now.
Joseph, I ran into Rasa(totally recognized her),
another girl
who i can't remember her name, and
Ananda, one
of the guys that had that discount import
store where
you bought Jai's shirt. They'll be coming
soon and hope to run into
them. I hung out with Ananda
my last night in Bangkok-it
was fun.
Well, there's much more but i will stop here-
my solo
time has been trying to interact
with the locals as
much as I can. I enjoy them
so much and have so much
to teach us.....
My love to you all....
Daniella
Hello all my dear ones;
My days on the island have been quite interesting. I
am currently coming out
of an internal and very heavy
hearted space.
It has been difficult to find friends
as this island is infested
with more and more partiers
as the time grows closer
to the Full Moon Party. It is
a big drinking vibe full
of unconscious people who
beat their bodies to death
every night and don't know
when to quit. And as many
of you know, since I am not
the drinking type(except
an occasional glass of wine
is just lovely...)this
makes for a very solo
experience. I
was feeling very lonely for a few days
and on the verge of tears
for some time but now as I
am feeling more at home
here I'm feeling more like
myself.
I have found a beautiful place to practice Hatha
Yoga-it's called
massage, tai
chi, yoga, meditation and it's on the top
of a hill in a bamboo and
straw hut with wooden floors
overlooking the
ocean! That's what I get to stare into
while doing
yoga! So amazing. My teacher is this small
but powerful Thai woman
named Naa. She's very good and
her personality cracks me
up. I've been doing two
solid hours
a day and it feels great. The weather here
is HOT..you sweat all the time...actually it's like
being in
a Bikram studio every minute. I'm getting
used to it and then there's
my frizz ball hair....
The bungalow hut I sleep in is a 20minute walk from
the main town where all
the bars, restaurants and
clubs are.
The bungalows around me are full of men so
I'm getting more than enough my share of
testosterone!!
and craving some female
companionship.
I have yoga at
isn't really
an option but that's ok because my soul
purpose on
traveling alone before Joseph, Jessica and
Isaac come out has been to relax, do yoga and spend
some quality time with myself
and the Thai people.
I've met a lot of Isralis,Canadians
and English
people(no americans!) and in fact I've been talking to
so many English people
that i've started to pick up on
their accent.
It's funny to hear myself talk but I
kinda like
it. I've met a sweet girl in my yoga class
who is here with her boyfriend
and hopefully will be
having dinner
with them tomorrow night or soon
thereafter.
The food, good god the food, is so damn good! I have a
fresh mango
shake every morning with a fruit salad
mixed with
yogurt and museli. This is my fav!
The curry dishes are amazing but I don't eat them
everyday since
that' where the sugar is hiding....lots
of rice and noodle dishes
makes my belly and my taste
buds sing with pleasure!
The thais don't use
chopsticks to
eat with. You see them here occasionally
but that's only due to the
Chinese influence.
Everything is served with a fork and spoon. You use
the fork to push your food
into the spoon and them put
the spoon in your mouth.
To the Thai people, putting a
fork in your mouth is as
ridiculous as it would be for
a westerner to eat with
a knife. If you ask for
chopsticks they
will look at you funny unless you have
ordered a noodle
dish,then you'll probably get served
with them.
I met with my Naa today to talk to her boyfriend
about
doing private
lessons with him. He is a German man(I
think he's
safe joseph)who has studied Hatha
Yoga for
15 years and teaches on the island along with Chi gong
and meditation. I have my
first session with him
tomorrow morning
and at that point I will decide
whether or
not to continue with him based on
techniques and
whether or not I resonate with how he
teaches. He
is asking for whatever I can afford which
is so kind of him.
The crickets here are soooooo LOUD they sound
like
they should be about the
size of my foot at least.
Well, there's lots more but i'll save it for next
time!
Samantha and Debra-Thanks so much for your loving and
supportive words..they brought me to tears.
Jena-glad you are enjoying my e-mails so much..
i'll
keep em'
coming!
Kyer-thanks for the pic of Joseph but i couldn't open
it for some unknown reason..i so appreciate the
gesture though.
Big hug to you!
Phet-I miss you and can't
wait to see you in Chiang
Mai! it will be like a dream!
Joseph-I miss you! i
miss you! I miss you!
mom and Nana and Papa-i love you so much
To all-my love and many blessings
Daniella
p.s-i just
remembered something so funny-I met 3
friends of
an Israli guy i've been
friendly with and
one of their names is Yoni.
For those of you who don't
know, that's a sanskrit word for vagina. I was trying
so hard not to burst out
laughing....he he he.
| Subject: |
|
Chiang Mai and Pai |
| Date: |
|
|
Hello dearest ones;
Well my
close(for
the moment he he he)and
the four of us(me,
Joseph, Jessica and Isaac) made our way up north to
Chaing Mai.
Jessica and Isaac were busy taking care of their
import/export buisness stuff while J and I rented
bicycles one
day and toured the "old city" surrounded
by a brick wall and a mote
checking out all the
temples and
food! I love seeing the monks everywhere.
They are so beautiful and humble and sweet. They wear
bright orange
robes wrapped around their bodies so
they are very easy to notice.
Every morning they walk
the streets carrying big
metal bowls in hopes of
receiving food
from local Thai families(which they
always do)and
eat from that for the day. They
typically don't
eat dinner. But there is just
something about
seeing them that warms my heart and
makes me
smile. They are so peaceful...
Another day Joseph and I rented a motorbike(we
love
doing this!)
and got out of the hub bub
of Chiang Mai
and headed up the mountain
to see a very well known
and most stunning temple
called Wat Doi Suthep. The
ride was great. We passed
a beautiful waterfall along
the way and could smell
the sweetest smells in the
crisp fresh
air as we rode up the mountain.
There were 300 steps leading up
to the
atop a peak overlooking all
of
Along the sides of the steps were elaborately
decorated with
two huge long dragon carvings with
maybe 6 or
more smaller dragons coming out of the
larger dragons
mouth. These dragons are called "naga"
and are the protectors of
the
itself was
amazing. Gold covered Chedis and colored
mirrors and
Budda statues everywhere...lotus flowers
and incense for offerings.
Big gongs and bells to
chime