Nashville, TN

After a six month adventure I finally returned back home to the USA. The transition was difficult especially moving back into academic life. I definitely had the travel bug (note: it will never go away) and was thirsty for yet another new experience. In March 2013 I had another new opportunity by having 1 week off for Spring Break. I knew I absolutely had to do something besides just going home. My first spring break in college I spent going on a service trip to Washington D.C. I made some of my best friends through that trip and loved it so much that I decided to plan it for the next year. I feel like each year builds upon the next and I needed to do something that will stretch me a little be further. I love the idea of stretching and expanding! A mentor of mine once told me that you shouldn't step outside of your comfort zone, but you should stretch it. That idea has always resonated with me. So, when I heard about another service trip that was being offered over spring break that was pretty inexpensive, I jumped right on the band wagon. This trip was to Nashville, TN... a place that I had personally never been to.

Thistle

The reason I wanted to go on this trip wasn't purely because of the place, but the purpose of the visit. A year prior to this trip, I attended a lecture at my college that was given by a woman named Rebecca Stevens. Rebecca talked about prostitution and addiction that she has seen in her community in Nashville, TN. She was working to fix these issues through two different programs: Magdalene, a residential treatment program for human who have survived human traffic, prostitution, and addiction, and Thistle Farms, a social enterprise that is run by these woman.I remember leaving that lecture feeling inspired and hopeful. This trip was organized to spend time serving and working besides the women of Magdeline & Thistle Farms to hear their stories and help them spread change.

About Magadeline & Thistle Farms:

Making Paper

For the duration of the trip, we stayed at a small church in Vanderbilt University. The first night we got burgers at Rotiers which certainly did not disappoint. The trip to Nashville was a pretty even mix between service and outings for fun. The majority of the volunteer work we did was with Magdalene & Thistle Farms. The first day that we arrived at Thistle Farms we were invited to take part in their daily morning ritual where all the woman gather in a circle and share how they are doing in that moment. I cannot even begin to express the amount of love, pain, acceptance, and openness that was conveyed within the circle. It was incredible how these women who have endured so much received us with open minds and hearts and allowed us to be apart of their journey, even if only for an hour.
We had a tour of the facility and were able to see the women making the beauty products that Thistle Farms sells. We also had the chance to be put to work for the day. They set us up to make paper for cards and notebooks. The paper is all made from recycled materials such as old t-shirts and other recycled paper. In each piece of paper the thistle plant is also added.

Dinner We Prepared for the Women

Why is the thistle plant so important to the woman of Magadalene? Well the thistle plant serves as a symbol that represents these women's struggles. Thistle is considered as a pesky weed that grows up between the cracks in the sidewalk. These plants root deep making them difficult to get rid of. They have sharp prickles and are unwanted within the city. This is how the women are viewed. However, when thistle blooms there is a beautiful purple flower. The idea is by having these women participate in these two programs they two will bloom and heal through the power of love.

Motivational Cards

We had a blast making the paper and learning about the healing effects of the thistle plant in general. The women were so inspiring to spend time with and had such a positive stance on life as well as hopeful outlooks for the future. Also, during our time we had the opportunity to cook a meal for the women living in Magadelene house. During this experience we gained a further in depth view on the lives of these women. I had the chance to talk to one women in particular who had just arrived to the house 3 days before. She told me her story about being pimped out. living in fear, and turning to drugs to numb herself. She was truly grateful for Magadelene and felt empowered sharing her story to a stranger. I had a very spiritual moment connecting with her.

Working with Children

Country Girl

Besides working with Magadelene & Thistle Farms we worked for another organization called Nashville Cares. Nashville Cares is working to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tennessee. Through that organization we volunteered and made small care packages accompanied with cards, and worked with low income children at their schools.

On top of all the great volunteer work we did, we still went out to explore Nashville and have a little fun! We went line dancing, saw a show at the Grand Old Opre, walked down the main strip in Downtown Nashville bar hopping to see all of the live music, sang karoke, and of course ate a ton of great food. I must admit, by the end of the trip I started to actually enjoy and grow to appreciate country music! Another highlight was that we actually saw Darius Rucker filming his music video for the song Wagon Wheel. I'll admit before this trip I had no idea who that was, but in the moment it was still pretty cool! All in all it was a great trip in which I not only had fun, but was reminded about the healing power of love.

Darius Rucker! 

xoxo,

Becca

Amsterdam & Frankfurt

The last two places I visited in Europe were Amsterdam and Frankfurt. I only spent 1 day at each place which was really unfortunate. I decided to stop by Amsterdam on the way to Frankfurt, which was the place I was flying back home from.

Although my visit to each of these places was short lived, I definitely still got something out of the experience. I wish I had a camera to more accurately capture the beauty of each of these places, but my memories will have to suffice.

                                                                                       Amsterdam

Not my photo: But, canal in front of Ann Frank house

The reason I wanted to go to Amsterdam so badly, even if only for a day, was to see the Ann Frank museum. I know most people want to indulge in a crazy 4:20 experience, but I was more curious to gain an insight on the Holocaust. The Ann Frank house was eerie, powerful, and incredibly emotional. To be able to see the place where she hid and peek out the same attic window was an experience I would encourage to have. It is hard to imagine living in that situation and being there made me reflect on the bad but also good parts of humanity.  Just outside of the Ann Frank house is beautiful canals and charming shops and restaurants. It is hard to picture this place being one of chaos versus what felt very peaceful to me. After the Ann Frank house my host had instructed me to get french fries at Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx, which is supposed to be the best place in Amsterdam to get them. There was a long line, but it was certainly worth the wait. Of course I got them with mayo and peanut sauce, which is the way they are eaten over there. They were absolutely delicious :)
That night I briefly walked around the Red Light district by myself. I know that sounds really sketchy, but I found myself wanting to understand. It was different and I am not entirely sure how I feel about it. As a strong feminist, it was certainly difficult to be faced with the realities of this industry. There was so much more to see in Amsterdam but I was very limited by time. Things I want to do if I have the chance to go back: ride a bike through the canals and see the famous tulips that are nearby.

Frankfurt

Bratwurst at the Christmas Market

After Amsterdam, I headed to Frankfurt for a day. Well, it was more like 1 night because the Megabus took so long. Although it was such a short time, I had the most wonderful host who made my time in Frankfurt special. Her name is Manu, and she gave me the best Couchsurfing experience I have had to date! First, when I arrived she gave me a gift, which I was completely shocked by! It was so thoughtful and extremely kind. She took me to a lovely Christmas market where I tried Bratwurst for the first time (and attempted to order it German with her help!) Luckily, Manu took a picture to document the experience. She had also traveled to India so we talked a lot about that as well as Germany vs. the USA. It was awesome to hear her view points in such an open, honest, and warm way. In the morning we woke up early to make breakfast together. She made a mango rice pudding as well as a blueberry tart. It was absolutely delicious! Afterwards she took me to the airport to send me off. Once I got home, it didn't end there. She sent me additional recipes as well as German music to listen to. Manu embodied the Couchsurfing spirit and we truly had a cultural exchange. I need to stop back in Frankfurt just to have the chance to meet with her again.

Yummy Rice Pudding

Blueberry Tart in Manu's flat 

xoxo,
Becca

Paris

After Barcelona I made my way to Paris, France. Yes, another sudden language shift. Luckily Camille taught me a few useful phrases to help guide me through. The only one I remember is the following: Je suis etudiant pauvre. Translation: I am a poor student! :)

Lourve

Paris was, different than I thought. Paris is the place where you have a romantic encounter under the Eiffle Tower, fall in love, and bike around with a beret on your head and a baguette in your bike's basket. What an idealized idea. The real Paris was cold: the weather and just the overall attitude/feel of the city. Not to mention that every corner of Paris was swarming with tourists (myself included) and the city smelled! (the subway especially) Despite these things I did actually enjoy Paris a lot but I had a mix of good experiences as well as bad ones.

Notre Dam

Let's start with the bad so we can end with something good. Well, I spent pretty much the entirety of one day trying to navigate the subway system in Paris. By the time I finally found my host's house it was late and I was beat. The next morning I woke up bright eyed and ready to see this dreamt about city. My first stop was the Louvre given its central location. I spent a good amount of time trying to peek into the museum, as a budget traveler actually entering the Louvre was a bit outside of my price range. I know that I will return to Paris one day, and at the time I will see the Mona Lisa. But at the time it wasn't a huge priority.

Alex & I

The architecture of the Lourve was absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing. Paris, and Europe in general has so much history, I love being surrounded by both the old and new. Anyways, after looking around a bit I flagged down a very nice looking women, presumably a tourist, to take my picture. Let's be real, a selfie at the Lourve was going to cut it! She kindly agreed and held out her hand for my camera. I gently placed it in her hands and watched as she attempted to grasp it, but missed. Next thing I knew my camera went flying towards the pavement. I picked it up only to see the lens smashed in... I stood there speechless and devastated. The women also looked shocked and preceded to say: "OOPS! I am so sorry!" and then she quickly walked away. That one hurt. Luckily I met some other nice tourists who let me put my memory card into their cameras while they took a picture for me. I was very grateful for their kindness. Also, later in the day I met up with one of Camille's friends, Alex. This girl was a complete doll! We ate chocolate crepes together, went to Notre Dam, and just walked around the city chatting the day away. She was a sweetheart and let me borrow her camera for the rest of my stay! I was so incredible grateful to her and got some very nice photos as a result :) So despite the morning's mishap, everything worked out & the day ended on a positive note.

Moulin Rouge

The next negative thing (and last for the purpose of this blog), happened when I went to check out the Moulin Rouge as well as Cafe de deux Moulins, the cafe from the movie Amelie. After walking around and seeing the sites I followed my nose to a cute little bakery with the most delicious looking goods. Unfortunately I was out of money so I went on a search to find an ATM. Luckily, there happened to be one just across the street from the bakery. I got out my card, punched in my pin number, and waited for the screen to load so I could withdraw the money. Suddenly, I felt a big push from the side which nearly knocked me over. Startled, I regain my footing to see a teenage boy fumbling at the ATM. I started screaming at the boy and shoved him right back. He looked at me equally startled, and ran away. At the ATM, 600 euro was typed in, and thankfully the boy didn't have time to press the withdraw button. I cleared the ATM of that amount and proceeded to take out the amount I needed. I stood there with a mix of emotions. First, anger. I didn't do anything to hurt this guy and I work hard for my money. What makes someone think that they can take from others? Second, sadness. If I am to be honest, I did shed a few tears. I think I was in complete shock over the situation. Looking back I am surprised I shoved him back. I guess I thought when it came to it, I would shut down in those situations. Well, I guess I am braver than I thought.

After getting my baked goods, I saw him hanging out with his friends. I gave him a death stare while he gave me an apologetic look. People aren't sorry until they are caught.

Breath Taking View

Pit Stop On Our Bike Ride

Besides my near robbery, I met some lovely people within the city. My couchsurfing host, Pierre, was one of those great people. Pierre took me on a 10 mile bike ride around the city at night to get a different view of the city. It was one of the best things I have ever done. We used the Velib system, which I definitely don't think I would have been able to figure out if it wasn't for him. Also, we didn't spend a dime on it! You do have to punch in your card information to take out a bike, but you can ride those bikes for free for the first 20 minutes. So, we changed bikes every 20 minutes in order to ride the entire time for free! I think that part added an extra fun layer to our ride. Most of the time it was easy to find a Velib bike rack, but at one of the times we definitely were on a race against the clock to find one. I remember we had less than a minute left as I was putting the bike back, what a rush! We biked under the Eiffle Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, down Champs-Elysees, and through so much more. We ended our ride at a bar for a couchsurfers meetup. Overall, it was a great night :)

Montmarte

Of course, I saw a lot more things than what I mentioned in here, but these just happen to be the highlights. It is funny how the tourist dropping my camera sticks out so vividly in my mind, but visiting Montmarte.. not at much. I mean I remember the beauty of the area and wandering through the Christmas market, but I don't as much remember how I was feeling / who I talked to. Overall, I think I warmed up to Paris throughout the duration of the week. Maybe it wasn't exactly how I imagined, but there is no doubt about it that is still a picturesque city that has a lot to offer. I do hope that my path leads me back to Paris someday.

xoxo,

Becca

Barcelona

My first pit stop after England was Spain, and more specifically to the beautiful city of Barcelona. My aunt was able to hook me up with one of her friend's family who was living on the outskirts of the city. The only catch was that the family did not speak any English. After 5 months of jamming my head with Tamil it was time to make the switch. Needless to say, my brain was not happy. However, I think that was my favorite part of Barcelona, pushing my language skills. My grammar was absolutely horrible, but overall I was able to communicate. One of my proudest moments was being able to successfully have a conversation with my host family about Spanish politics, and almost understand everything that they taught me :)

 I absolutely loved acting as the adopted daughter to this family for one week. I was completely immersed in their lives and family structure.We had big lunches, took siestas, and had insightful conversations about USA vs. Spain through my broken language skills. It was the quite the cultural exchange. They made delicious food, and I definitely came back with an profound appreciation for bread with tomato :)

Besides spending time with this family, I was able to spend a lot of time exploring the city of Barcelona itself. The majority of the site seeing was done with myself, and I wouldn't have changed a thing about that.

Ah, Solo traveling.
Commence rant:
It is a beautiful, beautiful thing which I fully believe that everyone should experience at least once in their life. Traveling by yourself brings about self-awareness, an heightened awareness of  your surroundings, and opens you up to explore endless possibilities. I often look back at my time in Spain and realize that I share these memories with no one but myself. It is as though these memories, which almost feel like secrets help deepen and nurture the relationship I have with myself. Self-love in this day in age, hard to come by. & I don't mean that in a narcissistic way, but being alone gives you time to think, reflect, and expand as you are immersed in a new environment. You have to call all the shots, and make all of the decisions. Sometimes it is hard, but it provides the opportunity to enhance your problem solving skills and follow your instincts. Personal growth is absolutely a result. At the same time, you are able to do whatever you please with your day and can indulge yourself in whatever you desire. If I wanted to spend the entire day curled up in my bed, no one would stop me or judge me. You are on your own schedule, and that feeling is empowering. So yes, I was able to causally stroll through Las Ramblas with no plans, no stress, & pure enjoyment.

The view from my table during lunch

Another thing, it allows you to connect with people you might not have otherwise. I went to Park Guell totally by myself, taking my sweet time taking in the surroundings around me. I hiked to the top of a gorgeous and scenic overlook of the city. I quietly sat on a rock admiring the city below me. Next to me were two Italian men drinking wine quietly by themselves. I decided to engage them in conversation. We talked for an hour about Barcelona, life, travel, everything. They offered me a place to stay in Venice if the occasion every arised. I don't think that experience would have happened if I was alone. Traveling with others blocks you from branching out and finding new opportunities, which often times are incredible and transformative.

Lunch Selfie

Photo Cred: The Italians

What is comes down to is the fact that people are terrified of being alone, even if just temporarily. It makes us feel vulnerable and perhaps we are afraid of what we will find out about ourselves when there is no one else their to serve as a buffer. I do admit, I had moments of loneliness and embarrassment. Maybe not embarrassment, but more a fear that I was being judged by others.However, I realized that the only person that judging me was myself. My first solo meal in Spain started that way but by the end I was feeling liberated. That first solo meal I parked myself in front of La Sagrada Familia drinking a giant class sangria and eating awesome paella. & you know what, I had a blast!

Park Guell

Okay, that can be the end of that rant :)

In Chupitos

Besides enjoying some quality self time, I was able to meet up with two friends who were studying abroad in Barcelona. They took me to a cute cafe and out to get a taste of the infamous Barca nightlife. We started in a dive bar where we drank mojitos. Afterwards, we went to a shots bar named Chupitos. This bar was awesome, and the bartender was a hoot! Many embarrassing pictures were taken. Finally, we ended the night at a club and a late night walk around the city. Overall, Barca was certainly an eclectic experience. Family cross-cultural dialogs, self-growth through solo adventures, amazing tastes and views, & night club college reunions. Definitely wouldn't change a second of it :)

xoxo,

Becca

England: Sites Are Nice, But People Are Better

India. 
Ah. Those 5 months passed incredibly quickly. It all feels like a distant dream now. At the time I was protesting the fact I had to leave. I thought I would change my flight & continue traveling within the country, but it was much too expensive. However, it wasn't that expensive to "delay" the second leg of my flight from Frankfurt. So I went ahead and "delayed" my flight an entire month & planned a pretty last minute euro trip :)

Thanksgiving with my adorable cousin

I know what you are probably thinking. Money? You are a student, no income for the past 5 months.. your parents must be rich & are helping you. Actually, no. I am a very resourceful traveler who had saved long before India. It probably couldn't have been done if it wasn't for my aunt who lives just outside of London. That was my home base for the month as I traveled around. I am so incredibly grateful for her support through the trip. Just think, I had only packed clothes for India, one of the hottest countries in the world! I was staying in Europe from Nov-Dec..... clearly my wardrobe needed a change. Again, I cannot express my gratitude for my aunt & her family, I would have been very cold & poor if it wasn't for them.

England. 

Changing of the guards ceremony

They always tell you that reverse culture shock will hit you and hard. My god. This was absolutely true. Although I was still in a new country, England felt remarkable similar to the US. The temperature, trees changing color, the people, food, etc. Of course my first shower in the UK was heavenly! I also got so much joy out of doing in the laundry machine... such little effort! I forgot about those small conveniences during the past 5 months. Things that stuck with me. Indian head bob. Man that was pretty awkward. & I had all of these stomach issues the first few weeks. Which is so ironic! My stomach problems in England were actually much worse than in India. I think it had something to do with having limited dairy in the previous 5 months to all of the sudden eating cheese, yogurt, and milk like it was my job. Interesting right. On our first night in England we went out to get Indian food, also ironic. It was such an interesting experience though. The food was so SWEET! Not like any food I had in India, but I suppose that is the beauty of the UK, everything is fusion :) It was definitely a reverse culture shock to me. As similar as I'm painting the UK to be to the US, this is not actually true. They are in fact different but just happen to be much similar compared to India & the US.

Buckingham Palace

UK is so much more... open? Receptive? Aware?
People knew what Diwali was... and were actually celebrating it within their schools. Ask yourself, would that really happen in the US? I also celebrated Thanksgiving while there. I went to my little cousins school for the day and was shocked that they were celebrating. I mean, imagine if we celebrated a holiday in which people who we were oppressing left our country to start their own. It is rather strange, again the beauty of the UK.

& yes there are some culturally difference! For example, when shopping with my little cousin I kept on telling him that I was searching for a new pair of pants. Little did I know that what I should have been saying is "trousers"! Oopps!

England was overall great. It kick started my solo travel adventures, which I think are incredibly powerful and transformative. & it all started in good ole London.

London.

Couch Surfers :)

I went into London a few times, but the first is humerus looking back now. I made absolutely no plans, did no research, and kind of just showed up. In general that is my solo travel style, but usually I do just a tad bit more planning than that. So I legit walked off of a bus and saw a crowd of people. I was curious, so I followed the crowd. Eventually I find myself very smooshed standing in front of a gate with lots of people on tip toes & cameras out. So I asked a guy next to me, where I was and what was going on. He looked at me completely startled and said: "This is Buckingham Palace and they are doing the changing on the guards". What crazy luck right! They don't do the changing of the guards everyday and it is wild that I happened to stumble upon it. I spent the rest of the day walking around with that guy exploring some of the side streets and parks in  London. He was from Brazil and having his own solo travel adventure I think we spent a total of 3 hours together. To be honest, I don't remember a single thing we talked about. Just to strangers purely enjoying each other's company. It is truly beautiful if you ask me.


I had another similar experience with two people I met through couch surfing. It was a woman around my age from Poland and a man in his late 30's from Peru. The woman was checking out a potential employer while the man had been living in London for the past 10 years. We spent all day seeing the sites: museums, bridges, buses, churches, Big Ben, London eye, you name it. Really it wasn't about the sites, but about the bond and adventure I shared with these people. The man took us to a hole in the wall Colombian restaurant that I would have never been able to find on my own. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant speaking English, it was incredibly authentic and had the most delicious food. We talked about everything and anything. Three strangers who at the end of the day were no longer strangers but deep, insightful, and incredibly inspiring and positive people. Everyone has a story and I find the stories of strangers to be the most moving. The whole experience reminded me how beautiful humanity is & that these stories are all around us waiting to be heard and felt by all. 

Northern England.

Me & Camille

After spending some time in London and with my family I was able to travel up north to Harrogate where my friend Camille was living at the time. To get there I took the megabus, which was my very first experience with it. It was cheap, it was overnight, it was well... an experience. I remember being the very last one on the bus & it was around 4 o'clock in the morning. It was dark and raining and the bus finally pulls up to a bench. As I am getting off the bus, the driver calls out to me in what sounds like a foreign language. Startled, I turn back to the driver with a deer in headlights look scared that the possibility that something was wrong. The driver laughed and spoke very slowly: "Have a goodnight, love". My aunt told me that the accents would be different in the north, but my goodness! I was not expecting that in the slightest!

York

My time in Northern England was filled with Christmas markets, good food, old sites, shopping, and most importantly rekindling my friendship with Camille. It has been 2 years since we saw each other and had so much to catch up on. We traveled to York and Manchester together. Again, I have vague memories of the actual things we did. I do remember meeting her friends for a fancy meal getting the insights on young professional life, being talked through my first pub experience, and talking about boys. Well more specifically talking about "romantique tragique" :)  I went with the flow and became embedded in her Harrogate world. Reconnecting with friends is wonderful and I hope I can continue to do so for the rest of my life. Although, I imagine it will become much more difficult as new connections are made all over the globe. I suppose it gives me an excuse to travel more :) 

Final Thoughts. 

It is hard to say what the most amazing thing about England was. It was amazing making new connections and maintaining the old. However, the best was perhaps a mix of the two of those: being able to spend time with a part of the family I wouldn't usually and didn't know well before that trip. You see by aunt, I mean my step-mother's sister. But to be honest, I truly consider her and the rest of her family as being nothing but family (so we can drop the "step"). Connecting with them helped me gain insight on a different side to my step-mom. I was reminded more than EVER how family does not have to be blood and love transcends so much. I grew so close to my little cousin and felt myself more educated on England norms in his presence than in any others. I was free, supported, loved, and nurtured throughout the entire visit. I felt blessed to be integrated so flawlessly into their family and I couldn't imagine being in England without them and spending Thanksgiving any other way. I felt completely and utterly at home. Since then they have moved to the US and I am hoping that my travels eventually lead me to them in order to have another chance to connect and spend some quality time.

Cheers!

Cousin Love

xoxo,
Becca

Bring It On Back

Hey Ya'lll,

It has been too long.... 

But, I'm bringing it on back.
The past two years have been crazy. Crazy good that is. Since my last posts about adventures in India & Thailand some major places I've explored are:

-UK
-Spain
-France         
-Netherlands        
-Germany 
-Nashville, TN 
-Bangladesh
-Gainesville, Florida 

Some may seem more exciting than others & all were from varying lengths of time (2 days- 3 months!) But each offered new connections, insights, growth, & further affirmations of my vagabonding dreams. Soon I will be gearing up for yet another exciting adventure to Turkey! But what not a better way to prepare for the future than by reflecting on all the amazing opportunities that I've been granted in the past? Also, for my health & wellness elective we must immerse ourselves in activities that will support our health & well-being. I thought that kick starting this blog back up would be an excellent coping mechanism to off set an otherwise stressful semester of occupational therapy graduate school. So,  as a result I'm tied to writing in it at least at hour a week for the next month. In other words, this "assignment" is forcing me to reflect (something I am not the biggest fan of), help process through, & potentially make meaning of two years of travel. I'm not really sure who is reading this/ if anyone is even reading this; which to me it doesn't really matter. For the next one month (& hopefully past that) I'm using this blog as a vessel to remember, reflect, & regroup for the trek ahead. All are welcome to join me in this process :)

Trekking Becca is back & raring to go! 

xoxo,
Becca

Elephants, & Cooking, & Bridges, OH MY!

Hey friends, it has been more than awhile & I'm sure that you are dangling on the edge of your seat to hear about parts 2 & 3 of the Thailand adventure.... so let's get cracking!

After leaving Bangkok we took a van to Kanchanaburi, a town west of Bangkok. The main purpose of the trip was to get out Bangkok for a few days to hopefully see a more rural side of Thailand along with seeing the Bridge over the river Kwai of course. We were hoping to get some experience with elephants here as well & my god did we!

Strong woman who biked us to the hostel!

We arrive in Kanchanaburi like we arrive in most places: confused & without a plan. (Luckily, this always seems to work for us) After an hour of walking around to find maps & get our bearings we finally cave in to let this woman bring us to a place where we think we can sign up to ride elephants. We were shocked when we realized that she would be biking us to our destination. First off, we barely fit in to her tiny seat & our bags were basically dragging across the road. Needless to say, this woman had calves of steal. The hostel/tour organization is a lot closer than we thought & it is a bit of a relief. With some difficulty we manage to sign up for an elephant trek scheduled in a few hours. So with the time we have to kill we begin to explore.

We decide to try and find the war grave site from the victims of the Burma railroad, most of the people were prisoners of war. I don't know why but this grave site hit me hard. I think it was the fact that American history does such a bad job on giving you a world view. I honestly had no idea that this happened & really is such a tragedy for so many people. Laura & I sat there for a long time reflecting on the horrors of the world & payed our respects.

Walking back we stumble across a restaurant with a sign that says "Thai Cooking Lessons Here!" Without even thinking we burst into the place to get more information. We meet a tiny Thai woman who is appropriately named "On" (because she is never off!) who is accompanied by a man from America in his 30's acting as her apprentice. He told us that he fell in love with the Thai cuisine along with Thailand & felt like he needed to learn from her so he can open a restaurant back home. We chat with them for awhile & decide that we are going to cook after our elephant adventure. We pick out our dishes and we are back on our merry way.

Minutes after we get back to the hostel a van arrives that is scheduled to bring us to the elephant site. We are joined by a father & a daughter from China who are enjoying a week long Thailand holiday as well. We laughed the whole way about our adventures & after a 30 minute drive we arrive to the site. I am not sure what I was expecting but the place seemed to pop up in the middle of nowhere, it was so small. I can't even begin to imagine how I would have found this place if it wasn't for luck. Before we know it we are put on top of an elephant and starting our trek. They had us in those caged box type things on the elephants back. Don't get me wrong it was fun for awhile, but Laura & I wanted more. I am pretty sure that the guy didn't understand our request & we probably broke the rules, but we shimmed straight down that elephant's back right on to his neck. WOW. I can't even tell you, it was beyond freeing. To be in charge of such a large animal, I felt like some type of warrior princess. The elephant's skin felt like sand paper and his ears would occasionally flag against my thighs & tickle just a little bit. I would put my head on top of his and my arms on top of his trunk, I felt as though I was one with him. Being out of that seat was unsteady, and it felt like any minute you could topple off. To be honest, I didn't care. I felt so close to this animal & felt that it was incapable of bringing me harm. We trekked around the woods going up and down for some time taking turns with who gets to ride on the elephants neck. Eventually we both get down on there... not going to lie that was a bit scary. Finally we are finished & just like that I feel incredibly sad. I want to just be on the elephants back forever. Just as we think we are heading back to the van one of the guides stops us and takes us down to the river (YES, the River Kwai!)

The guide leads the elephant into the water and beckons us to come with him. The next thing we know we are taking a bath with this magnificent animal. Well, I would say it wasn't just

a bath but more of a full fledged intense shower. The elephant was tipped its head and trunk into the water and whipped its neck back to blast us with river water. Don't ask me why I chose to wear a skirt this day. Laura & I were screaming & felt completely in the moment. It was a surreal rush. I even got brave enough to stand on the elephants back to see how long I could balance myself. Soon our time with the elephant was over & I found myself protesting. We said our goodbyes, hugs, and kisses (yes the the elephant) and dragged our butts out of the river. We were left feeling ecstatic, on top of the world, & alive.

After making our way back into the town we find On's restaurant. We change out of our drenched clothes and get ready to start cooking. On. How can I even describe her? She was dancing, laughing, and of course cooking up some amazing dishes. Gangam style was her jam & all the meanwhile she was doing the dance while throwing ingredients into the wok. She taught us the only Thai word that I will ever remember: mnaw (muh-now), which means lime. I'll never forget her demand to add more lime by giddily screeching: "NOW....MNAW!" On teaches us how to make two different soups, pad thai (my favorite!), pineapple fried rice, mango sticky rice, and tons more. We left with our souls rejuvenated and our belly's full.


The next day we took a walk to see the famous bridge over the river Kwai. It was a hot and beautiful day & today it felt good to be a tourist. I won't go into all of the details about the bridge, but if you want to learn more here is some basic information: http://www.bridgeriverkwai.com/

All in all it was a wonderful trip filled with a history lesson, laughs, adventure, & food. What more could you ask for? :)

xoxo,
Becca