After leaving Dublin on Wednesday at about 15:30pm we finally arrived to Khaosan Road, Bangkok at about 4:30pm on Thursday. Our travelling was fairly smooth other than one thing, nobody made us aware that two of us were on a separate connecting flight once we reached Doha. We all ran to the same gate only for two of us to have to run back to where we came from as well as getting a train! Thankfully, we didn't miss our flights and we all got there safely eventually!

The hotel we stayed in was called the Dang Derm! It was right on Khaosan Road so was super central and close to everything, it was also super clean and had a great rooftop pool. Khaosan Road gets a bit crazy at night though and because our room was right out the front my bed was literally vibrating from the sounds of outside at one point. Everything ends relatively early (1-2am) so it's not that loud for the entire night! 

After so many people recommending it we decided to do the floating markets tour and it was worth every penny! It was 650 baht which works out at about €16 and included our bus there and back as well as all of the activities throughout the day! 

After driving for about 1 hour 40 minutes we finally arrived at the first stop of the tour which was a market on a train track. We were confused at first and thought maybe it was out of action or something but then we were told to be back where we met at a certain time as that's when the train would be passing. It was totally insane, all of the markets along the tracks were mainly selling foods such as meats or fish and when the train was due they packed everything off of the tracks and then waited for it to pass before returning to normal! 

Once the train had passed we jumped back on the bus and went to the floating markets. 

All of the stalls were great, most of the items at the stalls were handmade and were sold for so cheap! 

We got lunch and got a table on the waterfront where we sat on the floor and had to take off our shoes! 

I picked up these shorts on Khaosan Road and had so many people scream MUAY THAI while holding up boxing fists lol. 

After two hours wandering the floating markets we were taken on a boat along the river where we got to see fireflies lighting up the trees! Sadly none of our cameras could really capture it. It was so so beautiful it was like tiny little fairy lights illuminating all of the trees and bushes! Riding along the river was also extremely refreshing after such a busy day! This was the end and the highlight of the tour! 

The whole experience was amazing and something I'd highly recommend! 

Being vegan I am well aware eating abroad is never going to be a walk in the park. When my first meal of vegetable noodles arrived, it was fried with egg which I spent about 5 minutes picking out and I was starving all I wanted to do was eat some normal non airplane food, even though the vegan meals on board were surprisingly great! I learnt from that experience to just ask for anything I order without meat or egg and so far  so good. I am a huge fan of noodles rice and veggies at home so I've no problem eating them almost everyday lol! 

Whilst Bangkok was a great time, I'm not totally sad to have said goodbye! We were there for a total of 3 nights and 2 full days and that was plenty! It's quite heavy! Today (Sunday July 2nd) we caught a flight to Surat Thani. We didn't really have any kind of plan for our arrival as we didn't think we'd make it on time to catch a ferry to an Island but a woman in the airport got us a super fast driver after creating the impression that staying in Surat Thani for the night wouldn't be as good as just moving straight on! Thankfully with minutes to spare we made the ferry and are now on Koh Samui. We're here until Tuesday before moving onto Koh Tao! 

Super excited for some beaches!!!

Grainne 

XO

 AGHHH! Honestly, I cannot believe it but the time has finally come. On Wednesday my 8 weeks traveling begins! I got my exams results this week also, I'm delighted with them and have just finished packing for Body & Soul where I'll be spending the weekend! What a way to say bye to Ireland!!! 

Trying to get organised for both as well as working as much as I could to stack up some cash has been fairly hectic but I've decided even throughout my travels I am going to try and blog as much as I can about my trip and I guess this is the first part! The preparation! 

We still aren't day by day super organised on this, nor do we want to be. We decided we would book important things like the full moon party accommodation as well as the first few nights of accommodation in Bangkok! Our plan so far though is to spend the first three nights in Bangkok, then making our way over to the Islands on the east side and then the West side. We then have a flight booked from Phuket to Cambodia then plan to make our way to Vietnam before heading back to Thailand for some Jungle fun in Chang Mai! Then it's back to Bangkok and home bound! We did want to squeeze in Bali at some point but we figured even with 8 weeks we just do not have enough time!!! 

Despite the many festivals I've been to I have just never bought myself a bagpack lol! I would have liked to get a really great one that maybe might have lasted years but I decided for this trip I needed the extra cash for other bits lol. This one is still dead handy though, I picked it up in Argos for €32.99. It's 45L and surprisingly fits all of my stuff quite cosily and I am not good at packing light! How cute is my little flamingo luggage tag?

 As I said I am absolutely so bad at packing light, but I'm surprised at how well I am doing so far! I didn't really buy loads of new clothes because I decided I would rather bring things I don't mind leaving behind if my bag does start to get too heavy at some point along the way! I mainly have bikinis, small tops/bralettes, shorts and little dresses! Everything pictured is my toiletries, it was so hard trying to buy what I think will last 2 months, this is also by far the heaviest part of my luggage! I got this cute little happiness journal from work as part of a leaving present, I definitely plan to write in it every second day at least! Journals are amazing especially a few years after they're written. Memories are literally refreshed as brand new! In terms of shoes I am bringing these amazing new flatform sandals I got today for about €6, they are SO comfy as well as 1 pair of runners and 1 pair of sliders! I will be bringing my camera, but I've decided against bringing my laptop in fear of it being stolen as there could be some hostels we stay in without lockers! My aim is to get to an internet cafe whenever I can to get a blog done!!! 

I am so excited, so many beautiful memories to be made and documented!

Grainne 

xo