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Thailand – Day 6 (Ao Nang)

Today I did nothing. Well, that’s not true. You’re always doing SOMETHING, I suppose. What I mean is, I got up and drank my coffee on the balcony while reading my book, then gradually got my bathing suit on and headed down to the beach. I walked down the far end and hiked up the monkey trail, but saw no monkeys which was a bummer. Then I wandered back to the other side of the beach, and wound up at Noppharat Thara beach next door which wasn’t as nice or as groomed as Ao Nang beach but had thousands upon thousands of little tiny crabs that were rolling teensy balls of sand out of their chosen den locations leaving hairline pathways for them to move around. So I sat down and watched them work for a while and every time I moved slightly they would all scatter to their wee dens. Eventually some of them worked out I wasn’t trying to kill them, and ignored me even if I was moving. Then I tip-toed around them and walked that beach for a bit, then went back to Ao Nang beach. I stopped at a really nice restaurant called The Last Fisherman for sweet and sour chicken and a smoothie that was supposed to have rum in it but most definitely didn’t (still was tasty though) before heading back to the hotel to reapply sunscreen. After sunscreen, I went back to the beach and floated in the warm sea water until my fingers and toes were prunes, then sat in the surf and hunted for the tiniest of shells I could find for a while. Then I went back to the same restaurant for dinner and watched the sun set. So yeah, a lot of walking, sitting, laying down, and floating…not much of anything. I did book a boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands tomorrow but the weather is looking a little rough. Fingers crossed the rain stays away!

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Paris – Day 2

I woke up to it being super foggy outside, which normally isn’t a problem except today was Eiffel Tower day. I made my way to the tower by foot, passing some cool museums and random old gardens and buildings…and can I take a moment to just say the French are completely, totally EXTRA? Like, they don’t just put in a building, they decorate it with statues and gold and intricate iron bars and there is no building here old or new that’s just a plain glass/metal square. Every building here is interesting and unique in some way. Granted, I didn’t go outside the downtown area to where all the big buildings and businesses are so maybe it’s more modern there, but here everything is so cool and over the top. I love it! The people? Eh, not so much sometimes. The French like to keep up appearances but also weirdly don’t give a shit about others and will bump you right into a wall or shove you into oncoming traffic or smack you with their bag as they throw it over their shoulder or stand in the narrowest part of a hallway taking up the most room and will NOT shift even slightly to let people through even if they have plenty of room just two steps forward. As a result, the other French people just plow right through them, and this is seriously a locals thing not a tourists thing, so you really need to pay attention. They all seem to exist in their own little bubble and no one else matters, yet they want everyone to notice them and be impressed on a grander scale. Based on what I’m learning about their history, it seems it’s always been this way. 😂 Can’t say I’ve encountered a culture quite like this before.

Anywho, the trip up to the Eiffel Tower summit went smoothly even though with the fog you couldn’t see too far. Hoping the fog would burn off before I left, I ate the most expensive microwave veggie lasagna I ever had at the 1st floor restaurant (no, seriously, it was like a Lean Cuisine lasagna they charged about $20 American for. How are these places getting good ratings? Am I being dumb and missing the good food? I know it must be here, lol!) then walked around a bit when the sun finally came out. I headed back down to ground level and walked around the exterior, too. Afterwards, I went to Arc de Triomphe and hung out there watching the mass chaos of cars and being impressed that somehow magically there were no accidents, barely any honked horns either! It was getting late so I started to meander back to the Eiffel Tower. I stopped in a pretty park area for a bit, then went to a restaurant next door that actually wasn’t too bad. I watched the light show at Eiffel Tower around 7pm, then walked around and watched it again at 8pm. It’s actually really cool if you get a chance to go. I much preferred the Tower area at night rather than during the day, personally. By that time my feet were aching so I took a taxi back to the hotel to relax.

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West Ireland Day Tour

I got up before dawn and walked a mile uphill (of course) to jump on a bus tour of west Ireland. Our first stop was the Kilmacduagh Monastery, ruins which had originally been a monastery complex dating to 500 A.D. Then we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher, where I walked the bulk of the left trail and up to the tower on the right trail. It was super windy, but no fog or rain and the clouds would break for the sun once in a while so it was gorgeous. We made a quick stop by the Burren, a rock outcrop on a mountainside into the sea, then we grabbed a late lunch in Galway and had some time to wander around and do some shopping. It’s a cute little town, kind of reminds me of Naperville. Afterwards, we made the long trek back to Dublin, where I stopped at a Japanese/Korean restaurant for what’s becoming my international ramen tour. Tomorrow, it’s off to Paris!