adventures

Watch for Penguins: Day 3

/ Emily / Leave a comment

Our morning started out finishing up our time in Cape Town. My father ran to get our rental car while my mother and I opted to do a little more birding. I’d really enjoyed getting to see some new species in the park we’d walked through, so I asked to go through one more time before we left. 

After managing to add a couple more birds to my lifer list, we met my dad at the hotel to get in the car and begin our journey out of Cape Town. 

We drove out of town a ways and made a stop at Hout Bay Beach. It was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed dipping our toes in the water and enjoying the good weather.

With our beach break done, we headed up Chapman Peak Drive, enjoying the gorgeous scenery along the water. We stopped at a lookout for some photos and then continued on. 

We’d driven for a while and decided it was time to make a stop. We took a break at Imhoff Farms, a cute little original Cape farm dating back from 1743 with little shops and animals. We had fun walking around for a bit before grabbing some food from the shop and having a picnic. We enjoyed some fresh goat cheese made from the local goats and a nice loaf of bread. The place was a very serene and fun picnic location.

Finally we hopped back in the car to make our way to our final destination. We were staying in Boulders Beach at the Boulders Beach Hotel. As we pulled into the parking lot we had to giggle as there were signs asking you to check for penguins under your car. 

Of course, going down to the point we knew there was a chance we’d get to see some penguins. Some people I’ve talked to about my trip are a bit surprised I got to see penguins, in Africa of all places, but honestly it is far enough south they do have a species called African Penguins that only live along the Southern Africa coast. A bit different than what people traditionally think about when it comes to these adorable birds.

After checking in, we immediately took off down a nearby boardwalk, hoping to spot some penguins. Sure enough we soon came across a couple, even some nesting not too far away from the walk! It was so fun to get to see this new species. As a birder I was especially excited for this new and unique lifer to add to my list.

We enjoyed getting some photos and also admiring the Dassies (Rock Hyrax) chewing on leaves and climbing in bushes nearby. After a bit of a walk we arrived at the Boulders Visitor Center where we could pay to go down to the beach to get an even better view of penguins. Though we’d seen plenty on our walk, including lots of chicks, we thought it would be fun to get to see them hopping in the water.

Down at the beach we indeed had plenty of great views of the penguins going out to feed and just hanging out on the sand. They are remarkably smelly, and quite loud (sometimes known as Jackass Penguins due to their noises). It was still just an unbelievable experience and definitely one of my favorites of the trip.

After plenty of time admiring the penguins we headed back to the hotel before dinner. For dinner we opted to drive into the nearby Simon’s Town to find someplace to eat. 

As we came out to our car, however, we found out the signs in the parking lot might not be as silly as we initially found them. I jokingly went to look under the car for penguins, only to see a group of them coming right towards our car. I tried to block them from coming any closer, which only spooked them and caused one to dart right under our car. I ended up managing to get him out and then directing my father, the driver, as to when the path was clear. Penguin wrangling wasn’t something I had on my 2024 bingo card, but nonetheless it happened. 

In Simon’s Town we ended up wanting to try The Lighthouse Cafe, but they were very busy and would require us to wait. As no one was starving it seemed like a good idea to just walk around town a bit and come back when our table was ready.

As it turned out, walking around town proved more of an adventure than we really realized. 

There was shouting and we turned to see people in bright vests with flags running across the street. To our surprise there had been a robbery. But not by a human.

A large baboon had run into a nearby store, grabbed something and taken off outside to see if it was edible. We watched in amazement as the creature tore off the wrapper of whatever snack he’d grabbed and proceeded to eat it. 

The people in vests were apparently simply there to keep an eye on the baboons, preventing people from getting too close or otherwise causing problems. A local woman was locking up her shop and remarked to us that they are a big nuisance in town and unfortunately with their protection it makes things difficult on locals. 

I think it definitely shows our society still has a long way to go to figure out the best balance in living with other creatures. For so long we’ve dominated their territory, so it does feel right that they get to have a turn, but at the same time I did sympathize for locals who find their behavior difficult to cope with at times.

We enjoyed exploring a bit of Simon’s Town, reading some signs about the history, stopping down at the wharf to see a statue of Just Nuisance, the only dog to ever be officially enlisted in the Royal Navy. 

Finally we headed back to the restaurant to check on our table and found out it was ready to go. We went inside and enjoyed the fun restaurant atmosphere. My stomach had been a bit off that day (got to love traveling), so I settled for the pecorino chicken breast. For dessert we tried the traditional Malva Pudding and an apple berry crumble. It all tasted very good. As our hotel didn’t serve breakfast we went ahead and looked at the breakfast menu as well, figuring we might stop by in the morning. 

Back at our hotel, my dad and I opted to do a night walk along the boardwalk to see what other animals might be awake. We had some grumpy penguins get a little upset to see us so late at night, but otherwise weren’t seeing much. We did spot two otters down in the surf, which was very fun. 

With our busy day completed, we turned in for the night.

Exploring Cape Town History: Day 2

/ Emily / Leave a comment

After a good night’s sleep trying to stave off jetlag, we rose and grabbed some breakfast at our hotel. They had a nice self-serve spread of bread, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit, pastries, and coffee. 

Once we were finished we took off walking three kilometers to head to the District Six Museum. 

Though our trip took place in late May going into June, South Africa was heading into their winter, so we did see some not great weather. It had rained hard all night, but thankfully was starting to clear off come morning. We enjoyed various fun buildings on our walk over to the museum.

Once we arrived at the museum we bought our tickets and began looking around. Unfortunately we had arrived too late for a guided tour unless we wanted to wait for more than an hour. We opted to just tour by ourselves. 

The history of District Six is definitely heartbreaking, so it was good to get to learn a little more. It started out as a primarily black area. Due to the laws in the area it essentially became a ghetto as regulations made it impossible to do any kind of improvements. However, as Cape Town began to grow, white South Africans began to want to live in the area closer to the center of the city. For that reason it was declared a whites only area and the black families were forced out to the townships and their homes were torn down to modernize for new owners. 

Like any tragic period of history, it was hard to read some of the stories, but definitely meaningful to understand more of South Africa’s history. 

After we finished exploring the museum we headed over to the Company’s Garden. The Garden is the oldest in South Africa, started by the Dutch East India Company to be able to raise produce to sell to passing ships along the Cape. 

We wandered for a bit before heading over to Motherland, a local coffee shop where we had planned to catch a free walking tour. We had opted to do the 11 o’clock Historic City Tour, hoping we might get a better overview of Cape Town. Free walking tours are one of my favorite things to do in a new city. They are tip based, and thus far I’ve only had a couple I didn’t like. 

We had a coffee from Motherland while waiting for our tour to begin. It was delicious and just the thing to get us energized for some more walking.

Our guide Tim took us and one other tourist who joined a bit later on a walk around the area, pointing out various places and giving general information about the history of South Africa as a whole and Cape Town specifically. Though I know I learned some South African history in school, it was definitely minimal, so I appreciated getting more insight into the country. 

We walked by the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town City Hall where Nelson Mandela made his speech, the old Dutch Reform Church, and the parliament. We ended back in the Company’s Garden again and this time were surprised to see some albino squirrels. We did another walk through the garden, admiring some Egyptian Goose goslings. 

We decided to mosey back to the hotel as our energy was beginning to wane. We opted to walk back to our hotel, but this time detour through the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. 

Bo-Kaap is a beautiful neighborhood known for their brightly colored houses. The weather had truly become gorgeous by that point, so we enjoyed walking around and snapping some pictures before making the trek back to the hotel.

We took a little time to just relax in the afternoon and rest before taking off a little before dinner time. Since we’d arrived back in the hotel earlier, we opted to head out a little earlier, giving us some time to explore the waterfront. 

So we meandered down to the Victoria and Alfred waterfront to walk around a little. We admired the beautiful views and took plenty of pictures. It was especially fun to get to see the Cape fur seals lounging on the piers. 

Finally we were getting hungry so we stopped to get some dinner at Den Anker, a Belgian restaurant along the water. I felt inspired by the scenery so had some poison et frites (fish and chips). 

We finished the meal off with some delicious chocolate mousse. Satisfied with the amazing day we headed back to the hotel. It was our final day in Cape Town, but there was plenty of adventure left to be had.

Welcome to Cape Town: South Africa Day 1

/ Emily / Leave a comment

I’m finally ready to get back to writing about my current travels now that I’ve wrapped up my account of Thailand. 

This summer I had the pleasure of joining my parents on a trip to South Africa! I always get questions of how I choose my destinations, so let me break it down for you. 

Though I do enjoy returning to countries occasionally, I’m always looking to try something new and different. With the benefit of not traveling solo, I knew this expanded my options as well. My family and I discussed doing another trip together. We are all three in teaching so do have summers off together. So we agreed it might be fun to try somewhere new like Argentina or South Africa. South Africa ended up winning out as a destination that sounded new and fun to try.  

Getting all the way over to South Africa can be tricky, but thankfully we managed to get airline tickets from our city directly to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Cape Town (roughly a 15 hour flight). Though it’s still a long journey, only having two flights was a nice way to break it up and we didn’t at any point feel we were backtracking. 

Mom and me before the 15 hour flight
Views flying into Cape Town

We arrived late our first day and simply grabbed an Uber to get to our hotel. We stayed at the Altona Lodge. We headed down the road to a German restaurant our host recommended called Cafe Extrablatt. As we were tired and jetlagged we didn’t invest too much time into finding a good restaurant and instead opted for something quick and easy. 

After a good night’s rest we all managed to grab some breakfast at our hotel before heading out for the day. The hotel manager had warned us it was election day in South Africa, and therefore she advised sticking to more touristy things to avoid running into any conflicts or closures. We therefore opted to do the City Sightseeing Hop On Hop Off Bus. We also felt it would be a good choice as it was supposed to rain the next couple days, so would give us a chance to see the famous Table Mountain. 

One of the things I’d always heard about Cape Town was about the beauty of the dramatic landscape of mountain overlooking town right on the edge of the water. So our family felt Table Mountain was a big priority in our time. For that reason, we opted to take the bus up to that stop and get off there first to prioritize it.

On the way over to the bus stop, we passed through Green Point Park.  Anyone who knows me well is aware I’ve become a birding enthusiast in the last couple years. Walking through a beautiful green space like the park provided views of all kinds of amazing birds. As we had plenty of time before the bus left, we spent a bit of time admiring the park as well as its feathery occupants.

After some birding and admiring the ocean, we did finally catch the bus. We rode up to Table Mountain, enjoying the views on the upper deck and enjoying the comfortable temperatures. The bus provided free earbuds to be able to listen to some information about the city as we drove.

Up at the stop we headed to buy tickets for the cable car to the top of the mountain. For any looking to visit Cape Town, you can hike up to the top, but if you’re out of shape or limited on time, the cable car provides a fast option to get up. 

Up at the mountain top, we admired the gorgeous views of Cape Town. We had been warned by our host that it might be rainy the next couple of days, so we were glad to get such good weather for this important activity. 

After a bit of hiking around admiring the various flora that grows on the rocks and looking for little rock hyraxes (small rodents the locals call dassies), we opted to head back down and catch the bus back around. 

At the final stop in the bus we got off and switched over to the blue line bus this time heading out to the beautiful Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. 

At the gardens we stopped for a quick snack lunch at the cafe before heading into the gardens to wander through the various paths. Once again, I had the opportunity to do some birding, but also to admire the beautiful plants that grow in abundance in South Africa. 

We wandered for a couple of hours, though the wind was picking up. After a bit we did grab the bus back towards the center of Cape Town. We had some beautiful ocean views as the sun was going down, before getting off and heading towards our hotel for a bit of downtime before dinner.

That evening we walked down to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to find some dinner. 

We decided to try a restaurant called Mozambik on the waterfront. It’s a chain with locations in a couple of African countries and considered an Afro-Porto (African and Portuguese) fusion restaurant. We figured it sounded good. 

I had a pina colada as well as a delicious steak with coconut rice and roasted vegetables. It really hit the spot after such a busy day! 

We walked back to the hotel to get some good rest for the next day. Stay tuned for more South African adventures! 

Off to Khao Sok: Day 12

/ Emily / Leave a comment

It was a much less exciting day due to largely being a travel one, but I figure it’s still worth mentioning. My next destination was Khao Sok, another national park in the area famed for its beautiful landscape with dramatic limestone mountains and the oldest evergreen rainforests in the world. I’d arranged a van to take me there. 

In the morning I ordered breakfast at the hotel (a little extra charge but figured it was worth it). Some eggs, toast, and sausage (though every time I had sausage in Thailand they were more like hotdogs, which was fine with me). Then I got a Grab car to take me over to the van station in town. The van picked me up and we drove for about three hours, stopping every once in a while to let people off at various stops. I was a bit surprised, as in Europe most buses I’ve taken that don’t have a bathroom will do a stop or two along the way at a rest stop or gas station. That didn’t happen, but thankfully it wasn’t a long enough drive to be a problem.

I just enjoyed listening to some podcasts and staring out the window. It was a very pretty drive, especially once we neared the park. 

I arrived at the van station outside of Khao Sok. It was only like a kilometer and a half to the hotel, and the road was actually in decent condition, so I opted to walk. 

I stayed at Khao Sok Jungle Huts resort, a little place with guest houses outside of the national park. At the hotel I was shown to my little jungle bungalow. It’s pretty cute, up on stilts with a little porch area. Mosquito net around the bed and AC, which are both good to have. 

I scheduled a full day trekking tour the next day to go through the jungle looking for wildlife. But the resort didn’t really have anything else I could do for today. The lady at the desk suggested I just “relax” until tomorrow. But that’s not really my style. I asked about a night tour that evening, but she said it would be the same route the next day so she didn’t recommend it. 

I was a little disappointed, but honestly figured it might be for the best. 

I went and walked around a little bit instead, had some snacks and water. I used the hiking app I have on my phone (AllTrails) to see if there were any trails outside the park I could do on my own. There was one listed nearby that was short to the monkey temple. I opted to try that. 

It was basically just following some dirt roads down to the temple. Not really a “hike” but it was a good opportunity to enjoy some wildlife, take some pictures, etc. Saw some monkeys along the way who got super close to me, but seemed uninterested thankfully. I enjoyed taking some pictures of them. They were long tailed macaques, so a different variety than the ones I’d seen earlier in the trip. 

I arrived at the monkey temple and it looked like it was being repaired, and also wanted me to pay to go in. I just opted to look through the gate and snap a few pictures of some monkeys I saw before heading back.

I did a little more wandering down to the main gates of the park and exploring the tiny town, but eventually headed back to my place.

I had a leisurely afternoon having some coffee on the porch, and cleaning up from getting all sweaty on my walks, and then eventually went to find dinner. 

Had some Thai food not too far from my hotel at Pawn’s Restaurant. Most of the food around the park area was European… I mean it’s a very touristy area so maybe they just assume that’s what people want. I went ahead and just had Pad Thai, and it was the most mediocre of the trip. Unfortunately in an area so dominated by tourists I think they can get away with not making the food quite as good and flavorful.

I had some pineapple fritters to finish off the meal which were delicious. It began pouring rain, but thankfully slowed down a bit around the time I was done eating. I headed back to the hotel to get an early night’s sleep excited to go jungle trekking the next day.

Museums and Miscommunications: Day 11

/ Emily / Leave a comment

So I had a leisurely morning at my hotel in Chiang Mai eating breakfast and everything. I checked out and left my bags with the hotel. I had a flight in the evening to head down south to get some beach time, but I plenty of time to kill before going to the airport.

I decided I wanted to go to the temple up on the mountain, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. The Spanish guy I’d talked to at the elephant sanctuary mentioned he’d hiked up but said it was a little slippery in places. I initially thought about hiking it. My phone said it would take about 2 hours… but since I no longer had access to a shower, I decided maybe that wasn’t the best idea to get super sweaty and gross. 

So I figured, I’d get a ride up to the top and then walk down. Sounded like an easy idea.

The driver who picked me up immediately started negotiating about picking me up on the way back too, but I told him I was going to walk back. He was in disbelief, but told me I could just pay him 280 for the one way. 

As we drove up the mountain, I wasn’t seeing any clear pedestrian trail. I think there is one, but it just wasn’t obvious. The road was very narrow and it didn’t seem good to walk up and down. It also had several long curves to get you up to the top, so was longer than the distance my phone was indicating. I decided to be smart and just not do that to myself. 

Sure enough, the driver asked me a few minutes later if I was sure I wanted to walk down. I told him as it was further than I thought, yes I’d appreciate him taking me back. Could he wait an hour and would it be the same amount? 

He told me he’d come back in an hour and a half. I thought he said yes to the same amount, but I think there was a miscommunication somewhere (yay language barriers). I had just enough money to be right at 600 baht, so a small tip on top for him.

Up at the temple I climbed the huge stairs up to the very top and wandered around. It was very pretty, very peaceful and had good views. I definitely didn’t feel like I needed an hour and a half, but went ahead and sat down for a mango smoothie and then looked around for some wildlife. 

I went and waited where the taxi driver had indicated. The time he’d told me rolled around, and then five minutes, and then ten. 

I noticed there were kind of open back trucks heading down the mountain that would take you to the downtown area for 100 baht. I gave him a few more minutes and figured I could take one of those if needed. 

Thankfully, just about the time I was about to get one of the trucks, the taxi driver appeared, apologizing profusely for being late. He drove me back down to the town. Unfortunately, I guess because he’d waited he now wanted 800 for the round trip. I did not have that much in exact cash so had to just give him 1000 for the whole thing (about 30 dollars). I was pretty miffed, but just let it go. What could I really do? 

I went ahead and found some lunch in the city, determined to make the rest of the day better. Had some fried rice and Thai milk tea.

Then I headed over to one of the museums I’d wanted to try called the Lanna Folklife museum. It was in an old city courthouse, so a fun building, and just gave an overview of the people who had lived in the area. It was originally the Lanna kingdom before Siam took over. 

It was a good museum, fun building, good exhibits in English as well as Thai. But it didn’t take me very long. I’d planned to be back at the hotel around 5 to collect my bags and everything, but it was only about 2. 

Looking online there was another museum not too far away (literally across the street), so I headed over there. This was the Chiang Mai City Arts and Culture Center. Essentially just a museum dedicated to the city itself. 

Again, it was a good museum in a beautiful historical building. It was somewhat small, but overall I enjoyed it. I still had to time to kill, so I sat down at the museum coffee shop for an iced coffee. It actually was probably the best coffee I’d had the whole trip, so that was something at least. 

I still had time so walked down to the 7 eleven near my hotel and bought some snacks. I wasn’t sure what options I’d have for dinner at the airport, so thought I’d at least make sure I had something (just wasn’t hungry enough for real food at 4 PM. I ate by the moat around the city and started noticing the traffic was getting pretty bad, so I figured I’d go ahead and head over a little earlier than I’d planned.

Got my bags and took a Grab car to the airport. Compared to most cities the airport is not actually not way out in the middle of nowhere, so the drive didn’t take super long even with traffic. 

At the airport there were definitely limited dinner options so I had a ham and cheese panini just to get some protein and carb. I had figured the plane might give me a snack, but it actually ended up being one of those really budget airlines that makes you pay for everything. So thankfully I was not super hungry anyways and just skipped that.

We arrived in my next destination of Surat Thani about thirty minute early. I was very surprised by that, but I figured the process of getting my bags and using the bathroom and all that would take time. I figured I could maybe buy some water at a shop so I’d be set for the night (wasn’t sure what all would be available where I was), and could find an ATM and get a little more cash to be ready for the next day

However, bags came out within like 3 minutes. I’ve literally never seen baggage claim go so fast. I went to the bathroom, and came out into the lobby only to find the airport started shutting down after 8:30 PM. No water to be bought, no ATM in the immediate vicinity. However, it was just about when I’d told my hotel, Inn Khun House I’d arrive when I’d booked a shuttle service ahead of time so I started looking around. 

No sign of anything in the lobby area. Went outside, no immediate sign of anything out there. The hotel had referred to it as a shuttle service, so I kind of expected an official “shuttle”. A lady working for the airport asked where I was going and tried to pass me off to a taxi driver. I turned him down and told him I already had a ride scheduled. 

It was getting well past the time I’d said, so I went ahead and called the hotel to ask where I should meet them. My phone had terrible service and I could barely hear anything, especially in all the hustle and bustle of everyone leaving. All I could hear was the man telling me the price for airport pickup. I told him I’d already asked to be picked up, would that not work. 

Unable to hear anything else I gave up and hung up. Started to call for a Grab car, but nothing was in the immediate vicinity.

At this point there were maybe ten people left outside the airport.

Thankfully, the hotel managed to message me on the booking app and say they could be there in 15 minutes if that still worked. They asked if I was okay, since I guess I sounded a little frazzled.

I agreed to wait the fifteen minutes, though almost everyone else was gone at that point. 

Finally the driver did show up in a car and drove me back to the hotel. I guess he did remember scheduling but must have figured he didn’t need to be there right at the time I’d said figuring it would take time to get bags and everything. I actually had neglected to say what flight I was on, so he definitely didn’t know I was early, but even so apparently had just thought showing up late was okay. 

Anyhow, I will say it was the one time the whole trip I was uncomfortable and wished I hadn’t been by myself. Definitely learned my lesson to not fly into small towns late at night even with a transportation plan in place. I’m just thankful it all worked out.

We arrived at the hotel. It was very basic but okay for the night. I turned in as I was super tired from the long crazy day, and just grateful to have arrived safely.

Through the Streets of Chiang Mai: Day 9

/ Emily / Leave a comment

I’m attempting to get these Thailand posts done so I can update on my latest adventures. Most of them are thankfully written out just need to be edited and have photos added. Stay tuned for the last couple days about Thailand and then on to South Africa!

Day nine was actually my most unplanned day. Anyone who knows me is aware that my travel tends to be extensively planned. I not only book all my accommodation and transportation ahead of time, but often have a daily itinerary planned out. 

However, day nine kind of ended up falling apart. 

I’d booked a caving tour outside of Chiang Mai. But the night before I looked and realized I had accidentally booked the wrong day. I was able to cancel for no charge, but unfortunately by the time I realized, it was too late to book for the next day. 

Therefore I woke up and had a day with nothing planned. Which actually was a nice change of pace.

I had a very lazy morning at my hotel. I let myself sleep in a little before grabbing some breakfast downstairs. 

I don’t think I had any hotels with bad breakfast, but this one definitely stood out. They had a huge variety, both typical western fare of eggs, toast, yogurt, but also some pineapple fried rice, passion fruit, and some kind of Thai dessert (I never did find out exactly what it was but it was sweet and sticky, pictured below as the pink rose). 

I had a leisurely breakfast, finding an app for my phone to be able to make my own walking tour of the city. I used GPS My City, which worked well for putting in destinations that looked interesting to explore and then looping them into a logical walking route. 

Before I left the hotel, I also decided to make a plan for my afternoon. I decided to book a Thai massage. 

Anyone who knows me well is aware I really am not a fan of touching. Only really close friends and family are allowed to even hug me. I’ll tolerate cuddling with a significant other, but most of the time I just prefer to have my own personal space bubble. For that reason, it has never really occurred to me to book a massage. But, it really was something I’d heard people speak highly of, and the prices were so low (about $10) that it was difficult to resist. Besides, Thai massage was supposed to be very different from traditional western style massages. I’d seen things that described it more like assisted yoga. 

I planned to be back in the late afternoon to enjoy some time at the pool and then get ready for my massage. But in the meantime I was determined to take off and see as much of the city as I could. 

I followed the route the map suggested, stopping at a few temples including Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Samphoe. I admired both of them, snapping pictures, reading a few signs and reading what the app had to say about each location.

I was a little surprised at the second temple to see a sign saying women weren’t allowed in certain parts. There was a sign explaining that it was to avoid the possibility of a menstruating woman entering the temple and thereby making it unclean. There was plenty else to see, but it was my first encounter with something like that before and it definitely had me surprised. There will always be some downsides to being a female traveler, and unfortunately this was one. Places that will never be accessible to me simply because I’m a woman. 

I walked past the Tha Phae Gate and then onwards through a market and to a Chinese temple the Pung Thao Kong Shrine. It was actually fun to get to see the different styles of a temple built by those who weren’t Thai. 

After that it was just more wandering, mostly admiring some very beautiful flowers. I stopped at Katam Corner, a remnant of a fortification wall from the 13th century.

Then it was over to Wat Sri Suphan, the silver temple. I paid a small fee to get in and then wandered around, admiring the beautiful shining temple apparently made of silver, nickel, and aluminum. 

My final stop was Nong Buak Haad, a public park with beautiful flowers. I took some pictures and a little break, but then decided I needed to head onwards. 

I was getting hungry and quite warm, so I decided to stop and get some lunch. I ended up at the Phordee Bistro and had chicken with cashews and a mango smoothie. Absolutely delicious. As I was heading out, I had one of the servers run after me because I’d somehow forgotten my phone. I definitely would have noticed pretty quickly, but I still was glad of the kindness in making sure I didn’t have to come back. 

The day was getting later so I headed back to the hotel. I spent a little time in the afternoon in the pool before getting ready to head to the massage area.

I was led into a darkened room with a couple of massage tables and a couple of other people already in the middle of massages. I was given some loose clothing to change into and then brought over to a table. 

What followed was one of the most painful experiences of my life. This small Thai woman started with some kneading. I definitely wouldn’t call it gentle. She made sure to work pretty much every part of my body. On top of more of a typical massage, she also did pull my body into some different positions, some of which were quite painful. Nonetheless, I persevered. I knew no massage would really be my thing, but this at least was something different and unique and I hoped maybe it would help me feel a little bit better the next day. 

The masseuse did tell me I was “very strong” when she was done. I wasn’t quite sure if that was a compliment or she was remarking on me resisting her movements, but either way I thanked her and tipped her before changing back into my clothes and going back to my room.

I then headed out to find dinner. I ended up at a casual restaurant called Kat’s Kitchen. I started with spring rolls and a passionfruit smoothie before moving to a yellow curry. I was asked my spice level and asked for medium. I often don’t think of myself as very good with spice, but then I meet people who tell me things they find spicy that make me just laugh. So I figured medium would probably be just right and it was. 

After that I did a quick night walk, going back to Katam’s Corner to admire it all lit up and then past a couple of the temples as well. 

All in all a great day, but I turned in early to be ready for more adventures on the next one! 

Across the Country to Chiang Mai: Day 8

/ Emily / Leave a comment

With school starting back up, I’m unsure if I’ll actually be able to finish these posts, but I’ll certainly do my best.

My eighth day in Thailand was one of my transition days, so not spent doing quite as much as adventuring. Nonetheless, there were still some fun experiences I’d love to share.

My next destination for the trip was Chiang Mai, which is a city all the way up in the north of Thailand. I’d heard lots of good things about it, so in spite of it being a little further away, I opted to make it a priority.

Many people take the night train to get up there, but looking at prices I noted there were cheap flights from Bangkok, and with that I’d only spend a shorter time traveling for a similar price. The train was more than twelve hours, while flying was under an hour (though it would take a little more time to get a van back to Bangkok and then to the airport).

I woke early in the morning in Ayutthaya, had some breakfast at my hotel before calling a Grab Car to take me to the van station. My ticket had suggested showing up 30 minutes early, so I did so. This meant I actually ended up catching a 30 minute earlier van, and getting on the road earlier than I’d intended to. The van was pretty crowded, so I was crammed in a back seat with my backpack on my lap. Not the most glamorous ride, but cheap and effective to get back to Bangkok. 

I arrived at Bangkok plenty early, called another Grab car to get to the airport. 

Since I’d given myself plenty of leeway in my flight times (accounting for possible delays on the road, traffic etc), I had time to kill in the airport. So I had a coffee at a shop and relaxed for a bit and then even went to do a sit down meal for lunch (some kind of noodle dish and milk tea). I also wandered around a bit, as I hadn’t seen much of the place when I was coming in on my first day.

I had to admit it was very interesting to me that in the Bangkok airport for domestic flights you don’t go through security until you’re headed to your gate. I saw people with stickers saying they’d cleared security so they could then go back out and eat, but I opted to just wait until I was ready to go to my gate rather than coming and going. A short bit before my flight I went ahead and headed through a quick security line and headed to my gate.  

The flight was very easy, and as it was so short I chose a window seat to really get the most of the views. Bangkok was fun to see from overhead, but I was most interested in seeing more of the North which I’d heard was lovely. Sure enough, the beautiful lush green surroundings to Chiang Mai were beautiful overhead. 

When I’d booked my hotel on Booking.com it came with a complimentary taxi service, so I opted to use that for convenience. My driver picked me up and took me straight to my hotel, making things very easy.

I had opted to stay at the Twenty Lodge, a boutique hotel in the heart of the old city of Chiang Mai. 

I checked into my hotel. They gave me some kind of refreshing tea that I really enjoyed and then showed me to my room. I set my stuff down before taking off to do a little exploring. 

I enjoyed walking around a bit, mostly looking around some of the temples in the area, and admiring the canals surrounding the old city. I also spotted a few fun pieces of street art. Feel free to look through some pictures in the slideshow below.

Then I went back to my hotel and lounged by the pool for a bit. 

At last I was ready to get some dinner. I cleaned up and then headed to find a restaurant. 

I ended up settling at The House by Ginger, this lovely little restaurant in an old colonial home. I ordered a Chiang Mai Sling (white spirit, coconut liquor, lychee syrup, lime juice, white sugar, and pomegranate) and some fried rice with crab meat for my main course.  

Everything tasted delicious, but what I loved the most was the atmosphere of the old house. It was just so fun, such a lovely romantic space with candlelight and an eclectic mix of couches and chairs at tables. 

I was unable to resist dessert as well. I went with a brownie and ice cream, which was delicious and decadent. Definitely the perfect thing to end a busy day of traveling.

After I was finished eating, I headed back to the hotel. I’d been told the pool was open twenty-four hours so I opted to take one more swim before turning in for the night. 

And that concluded another amazing day. Follow along to read about the other amazing days! 

Crumbling Ruins at Ayutthaya: Day 7

/ Emily / Leave a comment

I woke up in my hotel in Ayutthaya and went to grab some breakfast in the courtyard before starting out on my explorations. My hotel had a nice breakfast with toast, juice, coffee, and fruit and then a main course of your choice (either more traditional Thai fare with rice etc. or more Americanized options). I went ahead and had eggs and sausage as I figured the protein would fill me up for a busy day. 

Once I’d had my fair share of food, I took off towards the historic city. I started at Wat Ratchaburana . I bought a ticket to be able to get into all of the different archeological sites in the city and then headed into the first one I’d chosen to visit for the day. 

Lizard spotted on the way to the temple

As with the day before, I wandered through the ruins, getting pictures and admiring everything there was to see. Wat Ratchaburana actually ended up being one of my favorite sites. One of the phrangs was actually open to go up inside. There were even some bats up in the corners of the chamber and you could admire the view of the temple from the top. 

It didn’t take too long to see everything there was to see. Temperatures were heating up so I took off to the next site I’d planned to visit as quickly as I could, stopping a couple of times along the way to see other interesting things. 

So as I mentioned in my last post, Ayutthaya is very spread out. Which is why a lot of people visiting more than one site choose to rent a bike. Unfortunately, overconfident person that I am, I looked at the distance and figured “oh I can just walk it”. 

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson the day before of realizing Thai streets are not always built for walking.

Still, I went ahead and walked down to Wat Thammikarat, another site that was open for no charge. 

Next was probably my biggest priority, heading to the site of the old palace (Wang Luang). I started by visiting Wat Mongkol Borpit. Much of Ayutthaya is in some amount of ruin, bases of buildings, crumbling phrangs, and chedis that are just exposed brick. This temple was a little more modern (1500s rather than 1300s), but it was also in a restored state and is still currently a working temple. 

Picture of the temple before restoration

When I was done seeing the inside of the temple, I decided it was time to take a little break. Temperatures were continuing to rise. I know the hottest temperature I saw in terms of “currently feels like” was 109 degrees F (42 degrees C). 

So I had a milk tea and some water and relaxed in the shade for a little bit. 

Finally, I felt refreshed enough to continue, so I went on to visit the old palace. I wandered through, taking breaks in the shade of some trees as needed. 

When I finished up seeing everything there was to see at Wang Luang, I headed over to Wat Phra Ram. I did stop to admire the elephants doing rides outside of the temple. Sadly, modern research shows that riding elephants can be harmful to them. So while I definitely would have loved to ride one in theory, I made a conscious decision not to participate. Still, I snapped a couple photos of the elephants walking by. They are definitely beautiful creatures. I hope one day Ayutthaya will get rid of their elephant rides, but sadly that’s probably a long way in the future at this point. 

 Still, I headed into Wat Phra Ram and saw everything there was to see there. 

It was getting to be almost noon, so I hastened my pace a little, determined to see everything on my list before the heat became unbearable. 

So, as quickly as I could, I made my way across the river to Wat Chaiwatthanaram, another ancient temple right along the Chao Phraya river. 

I had thought about stopping for lunch, but again just felt any long break would only let the heat continue to increase. So with that in mind I grabbed some snacks at the 7 Eleven and then continued on my walk to the temple. 

Some might feel like “well it’s just another crumbling temple, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all” but for me, I enjoyed the uniqueness of each one I saw. Wat Chaiwatthanaram had several very detailed parts, and several terracotta impressions of stories from the Buddha’s life. There was some restoration work being done, so there was some ugly scaffolding on a couple parts, but otherwise it was still impressive to see. 

As I was already on the other side of the river, I opted to head down to Wat Phutthaisawan. It was one of the few temples that wasn’t completely destroyed during the collapse of Ayutthaya so it is actually still in beautiful condition and still used today. Unfortunately, it too was having some restoration work and had scaffolding, but it was still interesting to see what the former city might have looked like in its full glory rather than the crumbling archeological site that it is today. 

The temperature was reaching its peak, and in order to get back across the river to my hotel, it would be a long walk. I opted to have a Grab car pick me up and take me to the Ayutthaya Historical Study Center on the other side of the river. 

The study center was a small museum talking more about the history of Ayutthaya and giving more information about the various archeological sites. I particularly enjoyed that it was airconditioned so I could start to cool down after so much time out in the sun. 

After I’d seen everything there was to see inside, I headed back out. I debated if I wanted to go elsewhere, but honestly I was exhausted. I’d walked about 14 miles (22 km), so I needed a break. 

I headed back to my hotel, had a cold shower and otherwise just relaxed for the remainder of the hot and humid afternoon. 

I was definitely getting pretty hungry though, so I soon mustered my strength and went back out to find some food. I ended up at Malakor Kitchen and Cafe.

I sat on their porch as the inside had open windows as well, so wouldn’t be much cooler. They did have lots of fans at least, so that definitely helped with the heat.

I had a passionfruit smoothie, some spring rolls, and a curry with pork and betel leaves (a leafy green kind of like spinach). Everything was delicious. 

After finishing up dinner, I took a few more pictures of the temples lit up at night before heading back to my hotel. I needed to get packed as I would be taking off for my next destination early the next morning. However, I definitely had enjoyed what Ayutthaya had to offer. I saw so much beautiful history and it’s not a place I’ll forget anytime soon.

History and Nature at Ayutthaya: Day 6

/ Emily / Leave a comment

I had a lazy morning around Greenleaf Guesthouse to start my day. But, as much as I wanted to stick around Khao Yai National Park a bit longer, I had other parts of Thailand to explore. So I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before getting ready to go. 

In the late morning, a driver took me and three others to the train station. We were all catching the same train, one heading to Bangkok but making a stop first in Ayutthaya. 

I had never heard of Ayutthaya before I started researching places to see in Thailand, but it’s a pretty popular tourist destination, especially for those interested in history. Ayutthaya was at one point the Siamese capital, founded in the 1300s. Today there are ruins in varying states of decay of the once great city. 

My train ride was a lot less pleasant than my first one was. I had chosen to sit in third class, as apparently second class (the best for regular trains during the day) was all booked up. 

Though the second class car was definitely nothing fancy, third class was much more cramped and had no AC, just fans and an open window. You could tell people are used to being crammed on at times, as there were handles like they have on buses and subways. I did find it very interesting that there were reserved seats for Buddhist monks that clearly are set aside at all times.  

Thankfully it wasn’t a very long ride, maybe an hour and a half to two hours. I did my best to just look out the window and admire the countryside. At last, we finally arrived at the small train station. 

I bid farewell to the other two people who’d been in my group at the guesthouse with me before setting out to my hotel. 

My phone said it was less than a mile to the hotel. I’ve walked more than that before, even with a heavy suitcase, so I waved off taxi drivers and set off walking. 

Maybe three minutes later I realized what a mistake this was. 

While I’ve struggled with suitcases on cobblestone streets and the like in Europe, I found Ayutthaya to be lacking in pedestrian spaces. If there was a sidewalk it often was crumbling, blocked by bins, bikes, cars etc. I was ending up in the street quite a bit and also noticed I’d have to take what looked like a freeway overpass to get over the train tracks. I was a bit dubious that there would be a proper walkway across that. On top of that it was over 100 degrees F (37 C). So, I parked myself in the shade on a corner, pulled out my phone and requested a Grab Car. 

My ride was there a few minutes later, taking me to my hotel in blissful air conditioning. 

Sure enough, it was a very short drive, but I was relieved to be out of the heat and felt this was a safer option to walking overall. 

I arrived at my hotel, Luang Chumni Village. It was pretty much a large house in traditional Thai style with some modern amenities. I spent a few minutes in the AC in my room, drinking some water and laughing at the “No Durian” signs on the fridge. For any who don’t know, Durian is a very smelly fruit, so I did see several signs asking people not to have it in hotels and other public spaces, but this was my first encounter. 

Finally, I gathered my day pack and set out to go explore. 

The remains of the historic city of Ayutthaya is quite large, spread out across the city, though concentrated on an island in the middle. Still, I knew being mid afternoon I probably would only see a small part and could concentrate on seeing more the next day as I was staying two nights. 

Some ruins close to my hotel (free to wander around)

I grabbed a few snacks at 7 Eleven and then took off to Wat Maha That, the remains of an ancient temple. As Ayutthaya is spread out, you can buy a ticket to get you into all the sites for one day, or just individually buy ones for the sites you want to visit. There are also some parts that are free, but the more elaborate structures all charge. I went ahead and just bought an individual ticket, figuring it was unlikely I’d see more than one part with so little of the day remaining.

Sure enough, I wandered through the temple and found myself dripping sweat. It’s pretty exposed out in the sun. They provided free umbrellas for people to shade themselves, but even that only did so much. I also had noticed signs asking women to cover up, so I had slipped some lightweight pants over my shorts, warming me further. I’m not sure the rule was actually being enforced, but I would rather be safe and respectful. 

I just meandered through the various temple structures, admiring crumbling phrangs, old pieces of statues, and everything there was to see.

I finally wrapped up my wanderings and headed out of the complex. I noticed there was a park behind the temple, Bueng Phra Ram Park, a large green space with some ponds and shady trees. I sat under one of the trees to eat a snack and rehydrate. 

As I was doing so, and debating what I wanted to do next, I noticed a beautiful bird flying by. 

I mentioned in my last post, but for any who don’t know I’ve become very interested in birding in the last year. I read a book about the intelligence of birds called The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman and every since I’ve been hooked. It’s pretty budget as far as hobbies go and makes for good motivation to get out into nature. So, needless to say seeing some new birds had me intrigued. 

Turned out the bird was a Common Hoopoe. But as I watched it fly away I was beginning to notice more birds gathered around the large ponds. 

Since I knew the day was drawing to a close, not the best time to go explore the other sites, I figured this might make for a good conclusion to my day. I’d stick to the shade of the park and see what beautiful new birds and other animals I could spot.

So I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering, taking photos, listening and looking for birds. I wandered over bridges and looked at a few free ruins in the mix. I recorded a number of new species I had never seen before. I also was surprised by alarge Asian Monitor Lizard in the waters of a pond. He disappeared into the lush aquatic plants before I could snap a picture.  

At last, I was tired and ready to be done for the day. I headed back to the hotel, bought some cold water on the way and then took a cold shower to refresh before dinner. 

For dinner I ate at a place called Earl Thai. I know I had some kind of a chicken and rice dish which I enjoyed. I had wanted to do one of the curries but unfortunately it was unavailable the night I was there. 

On my way back to my hotel I took some pictures of the temples in the evening light. I also stopped by the night market. I’ve seen my fair share of markets in Europe, but definitely haven’t visited one at night, so that was a fun new experience. I didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed wandering a bit.

As I was heading back to the hotel, I realized I was still a little hungry so I grabbed some chocolate ice cream at a local parlor called Duca Tim. They did soft serve, two flavors for the day. You could get one or both flavors in a swirl and then pick your cone flavor. It was very fun and colorful experience!

Finally I headed back to the hotel, determined to get a good night’s rest before another eventful day.

Natural Wonders of Khao Yai: Day 5

/ Emily / Leave a comment

I began my morning in Khao Yai National Park with breakfast at my guest house. Greenleaf Guest House has a small restaurant attached, so they offered food you could order. I had eggs, toast, fruit, and coffee. 

After filling up, our group hopped on the back of the truck and took off for the park with our guide, a different one than the day before. 

We stopped at the park gates. Apparently they need names of anyone entering the park submitted ahead of time online, and our guide had done so, but technology being what it is, it hadn’t gone through. We entered our names in her phone again and waited before finally being granted access. 

The roads wound up into the mountains through beautiful lush jungle. Even as someone who had visited beautiful tropical locations before, I was in awe of the gorgeous scenery. 

A few minutes up the road, we stopped pretty quickly, our guide noticing a snake in some bushes on the side of the road. Somehow she’d managed to see it from her spot in the passenger seat. We were all quite impressed with her skills.

It was an Oriental Whipsnake, named for its slim body and crested eyes. Our guide tried to pull it out of the bushes to look at more closely but eventually had to just let it continue on its way as it had slithered out of her reach. 

We continued driving onwards, keeping our eyes peeled for more wildlife. 

At the top of the mountains we stopped at a viewpoint. Our guide passed out leech socks. To anyone not familiar with leech socks (I definitely wasn’t before this trip) they are small cloth sacks the size of your foot that you slide on like a sock over your socks and the bottom of your pant leg. You then fasten them to keep them tight around your leg, thereby preventing leeches from crawling under your pant legs and finding a place to feed. As it was becoming the wet season in Thailand, leeches were more of a problem so it was important to take precautions. 

After some pictures at the viewpoint and securing our socks in place, we continued driving. We stopped at the visitor’s center and had a look around and a short break. Our guide gave us some mango sticky rice in banana leaf as a snack to prepare for our upcoming hike. Then we were back on the road again.

We stopped for a view of a Great Hornbill. As someone who’s gotten into birding lately, I was definitely thrilled to get to add such a beautiful species to my life list. 

We did a little more driving and looking for species from the car, but sadly weren’t able to see much else. Our guide then had us stop at a trailhead and we began walking into the jungle. 

Our first animal spotted was a Cardamom Mountains Pricklenape, a very unique looking lizard. Our guide kept joking about him wearing eyeshadow since he does have a dark coloring around his eyes. 

We kept walking further into the trees. I was at the back, but suddenly the entire group froze. Everyone ahead of me was open-mouthed. As I crept a bit closer, I caught a glimpse of a large black furry form. Before I could even think to raise my camera, it bolted into the trees. 

At first I was unable to even comprehend what I’d seen. My brain was trying to register monkey, but I knew the largest monkeys in the area weren’t that big. 

Our guide, who was also still in some shock, said it was a juvenile Sun Bear. In all her years at the park, she said she’d never seen one that close before.

We waited for a bit while our guide called her boss and told him. He was nearby and came to look around and see if he could find the bear again. Sadly no luck.

Our guide had calmed down some, but she was still a little shaken. Admittedly to come face to face to such a large and dangerous animal, had to be a shocking experience. As I hadn’t gotten as good of a look and hadn’t even realized what I was looking at until after it was gone, I wasn’t quite so scared.

We continued on our walk, stopping to look at some different insects and bugs. We also spotted some claw marks left from a Sun Bear in the area.

We took a break at a large tree… well I say tree but really it was just where a tree had been before vines had strangled it. Now the vines remained like a giant cage. We climbed through them, amazed at how large they were. 

The group sat and ate some snacks. Our guide had gone to scope ahead, leaving us alone. We sat chatting for a bit before we became intrigued by something inching along the ground. It looked like a little dark colored worm, moving in a strange manner, inching and wriggling and then standing on one end and stretching towards us. We were all quite curious.  

Our guide returned and we asked her about the strange creature. She told us to move away as that was a leech and the reason it was moving towards us was because it could sense us and was looking to feed. 

Thoroughly freaked out we all backed away and followed our guide onwards. It definitely wasn’t like leeches I’d seen in movies. 

A few minutes later while looking at something I felt a strange sensation on my finger. It felt like playing with a straw as a child, pressing it to your skin and sucking. Sure enough when I looked down there was a leech clinging to my hand. 

I immediately began to panic. I’ll admit, it was not my finest moment.

My guide flicked the leech away and looked at my hand. The little beast hadn’t broken the skin thankfully. She said it was unlikely they would as finger pads have pretty thick skin on them. 

Needless to say I kept my arms closer to my body from then on out, worried about brushing against vegetation and having another tiny hitchhiker join me for a ride. 

The jungle soon cleared and we came into a large grassland type area. We saw some elephant footprints and dung, but sadly no elephants. 

In the middle of the grassland was a watch tower to look for animals. So we climbed up and took a look around. No luck at spotting anything big, though we did admire some swift nests built under the tower. 

At last, we came to the end of the trail. The truck met us there and drove us to a restaurant in the park where we had lunch. I went ahead and ordered Pad Thai again, though it wasn’t nearly as good as the day before. Our group enjoyed our food and some fresh watermelon, chatting and sharing pictures with one another. Sadly, no one had managed to get a picture of the Sun Bear before it took off.

With some time remaining for our lunch break, we wandered around the restaurant area a little. I ordered an iced milk tea. I also admired a Sambar (a type of deer) lying near the rest area.

Our guide had set up her scope near a bird nest up front, keeping an eye out for the mama bird to come back. Sure enough, a Long Tailed Broadbill soon showed up. We admired her colors through the scope. 

As we were getting pictures of the bird, there was a commotion behind us. Turning around, we saw a monkey with something in his mouth quickly climbing up to the roof of the restaurant. Apparently the sneaky macaque had snuck down, grabbed someone’s food and then quickly headed back up to hide on the roof out of reach. 

We had a good time sitting and watching him for a bit, before our guide told us it was time to go. The monkey we’d seen earlier sat at the exit, seemingly watching us leave. He really was prime entertainment.

On the road we drove around a little bit, seeing a juvenile Red Muntjac and its mother. We also saw a large Asian Water Monitor Lizard, though our guide assured us it was actually more of a medium size. 

We stopped at a waterfall, hiking down into the canyon to get a better look and take some pictures. Sadly, there is no swimming allowed in the park, but it was still beautiful. 

After that the leech socks were finally able to come off as we would be spending the remainder of our trip in the back of the truck. 

Apparently evenings are a good time to spot wildlife, so the tour concluded with a drive along some of the roads keeping an eye out for monkeys and elephants. 

But after only a short time of driving, our driver pulled over and our guide asked us to hop out quickly. The driver went and grabbed something out of the road using a piece of cloth. He came over to where we were standing on the side of the road and put down the biggest scorpion I’d ever seen. Looking it up later it was a type of Giant Forest Scorpion. Thanks to their large size and bright green color they are very a bit easier to spot crossing the road, so our guide thought it would be a fun thing for us to see, and we’d save it from being run over too.

Our guide let us get some pictures, even turning it around so we could get a better angle. She’s definitely a braver woman than I. 

After we were done photographing the scorpion, we hopped back in the truck and continued driving. And before too long we started spotting monkeys. Lots and lots of Pig-Tailed Macaques hanging out along the road. Most of them know that tourists often have food and make easy pickings. Our guide had warned us ahead of time to have food and even sodas tucked away if we didn’t want monkeys in the truck stealing from us. We got to admire them from a safe distance, especially laughing at one larger male who would block traffic to check if there was anything worth taking. 

The sun was beginning to go down, so unfortunately we did eventually turn around and head back towards the exit of the park. No elephants spotted.

I was at the back of the truck, so I was staring down the road behind us. I noticed a fuzzy black head poking out of a bush towards the side of the road. My mind immediately jumped to a dog based on the size, and knowing there were plenty of feral dogs in Thailand, I just assumed one had made its home in the park. But as I started to laugh about it to the group, I watched a bear look both ways before heading out of the bushes. And behind the bear were two little black cubs. Sadly by the time I realized, I didn’t get a picture, and only one other person in the group saw it. I apologized for not realizing sooner it was a bear, as I’m used to American bears which are much bigger. Still, I was thrilled to know I’d seen not one but four sun bears in my time in the park. I missed a porcupine others spotted at the front of the truck later, so it was definitely luck of the draw sometimes on spotting wildlife. 

We headed back to the guest house for the night. As most of us had to pack or were leaving by train that night, we didn’t hang out as long in the evening, but did enjoy dinner together before heading back to get working on packing our bags, ready for another adventure in the day ahead. I would miss Khao Yai, but definitely looked forward to something new the next day.