Bangkok in a Tuk Tuk...

...but first there is Koh Samui on a motor bike. This small island has one main road with two stoplights, no police, and a large population of motor bikes. I thought that taking a motor bike out on the wrong side of the road would be an easy task considering my time on mini bikes and dirt bikes as a kid and my time driving a moped to and from work. Nope, none of this mattered. Motor bikes in Koh Samui go at all speeds, pass on all sides, and have multiple babies and kids on board with a mother talking or texting on her phone. No joke, it was crazy! But it was the most efficient ($6-10/day) means of getting from point A to B, so motor biking we went! Surprisingly, Chris and I only had a few kerfuffles on the motor bike and managed to leave the island in one piece.

We lived a hard life of doing yoga twice a day, kayaking, paddle boarding, eating delicious Thai food, and relaxing as much as Chris and I are capable of doing. It was truly the "vacation" part of my trip. I very much enjoyed having a travel mate for 10 days. Actually, I'm not sure if I would have survived Bangkok without Chris. Well, let me rephrase that, I wouldn't have been able to do some activities in Bangkok without Chris. I would have also bought clothes (not that we did any of that at a night market) for too much money and would would have had no means of bringing them back with me. I am one lucky girl.

One day in Bangkok was enough for our taste. We saw Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. We walked around markets by the river before taking a Tuk Tuk to a night market on Khao San Road. A Tuk Tuk is a three-wheeled motor taxi (see picture below). The night market is incomparable to anything in Minnesota. I wanted to describe it by contrasting it to a farmer's market or the state fair, but it's just too unique. It's a provocative, hodgepodge market selling knock-offs of every sort. It is rowdy with bars and street music. We indulged in street food and had a hard time deciding between a foot massage and a tattoo. I will let you conjecture which one Chris decided upon.

My surreal vacation in Thailand has now ended. I arrived yesterday to political uproar in Nepal. They are on "strike," which means that a large portion of Kathmandu is shut down. But not to worry, I am currently sitting at an organic cafe on a circle cushion cross-legged at a table that is about two feet high. I'm wearing Nepali clothing (shoulders and legs down to calves covered), eating vegetable korma (vegetables and rice served in coconut and cashew curry) and drinking green tea. Despite chaos on the streets, I have had nothing but kind and genuine interactions. I feel safe and calm in this humble country.

I'm not exactly sure what's in store for me these next two weeks. I do know that I will be disconnecting almost completely except to tell family my whereabouts and that I'm alive and well. That being said, this will be my last blog entry until I return to Minnesota. Goodbye my friends and thank you very much for caring enough to read my blog. I will see you back in Minnesota.