christmas in khao yai

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends and family, Merry Christmas to the workers at 7/11 who always remember my coffee order, Merry Christmas to the motorbike drivers outside my condo who know where to take me without having to ask.

Merry Christmas!

To follow up to my Thanksgiving post, this was my first Christmas season away from family and away from the Western world. I don't think people truly understand how different the rest of the world can be. An American friend asked me about two weeks ago via Facebook if Thai Christmas music was better or worse than American Christmas music.

Haha, there is no Thai Christmas music. Lies, I think I heard ONE. But, that's it. This is a Buddhist culture, and in Buddhist culture they don't celebrate Christmas. First of all, it's hotter than balls still and the only Christmas decor you see is at huge malls where the only purpose is to tempt rich expats and affluent Thais to go spend their money on way-too-expensive stuff.

To continue reading, click below.

loy krathong

It was the day of my golden birthday. I turned 25 years old on the 25th of November, which happened to be the same day as the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar, hence the Thai festival - Loy Krathong. Did you follow all of that?

It's a festival celebrated annually. Each year the date changes since it's based on the lunar calendar. The name Loy Krathong translates directly as "to float a basket" which comes from the tradition of making a krathong or a decorated basket which is floated on a river or any body of water nearby really. Traditionally, the floating baskets are made from a slice of a banana tree or a spider lily plant but in modern times they are mostly made of bread which adorably gets eaten up by fish in a number of minutes.

To see pictures and read more about this incredible holiday, click below

it is your birthday.

"Not even an exclamation mark?" "This way is more professional." Thank you Jim & Dwight, always.

Just kidding, guys. It was MY birthday! 

Last Wednesday, November 25 was the day I celebrated my golden birthday. 25 years young and I have to say that I am decently happy at where I'm at in life - living in Thailand with a boy in a nice condominium, proud cat mommy of two beautiful, annoying creatures and developing a life for myself as an "adult"... or whatever.

Thanks to all the new & old homies in my life, my birthday was - quite frankly - incredible. I'll let the pictures do the talking... but the key points are as follows

-Justin took me to dinner at the beautiful restaurant where we had our first date.

-He surprised me with a 'day at the spa' where I was indulged by three hours of amazing.

-I got my mouth on some craft brews with one of my new buds.

-A group of us celebrated the Thai holiday, Loy Khathong.

-All my friends and I ate dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Beautiful, beautiful. 

Thank you to everyone who made me feel special & most importantly, loved.

To see photos from my special day, click below!