April 9th, 2015
Part 1

Chiang Mai

We woke up at 5:30 in the morning and went out into the Old City to explore temples. All the temples open at six, so this was really special because no one is in the streets besides Monks. I really admire monks they dedicate their whole life to their religion. They are so devoted and strong in their faith. We walked from temple to temple that morning exploring and the temples are so incredible beautiful. The sun this morning was blood red. It was really beautiful as it cam up over the old city. The cool thing about Chiang Mai is that there is over 1,000 temples. There is literally a temple on every corner. We were so sore from the Trek this was the most painful morning walk of our lives haha.

 This old man was so sweet, he talked to us about where we were from and how we liked Chiang Mai. By the end of our conversation I felt like we had been friends out whole life. He told us that he hoped we would come back to Chiang Mai one day. The people in Northern Thailand are the nicest people ever!

  

         Monk's clothes drying, this was so beautiful to me.

 April 8th, 2015

Chiang Mai

We woke up early in the morning had a fruit, muesli, and eggs at our hotel and then we were picked up and we drove about 2 hours into the mountains outside of Chiang Mai. We were dropped off with a man named Cam. He was from a little village up in the mountains. He was 40 years old but he looked like he was 28 and he was our guide for the day. Little did we know we were in for the hardest hike of our lives. We hiked for about 90 minutes and made it to the first water fall. At that waterfall we swam and ate Tamarind (a fruit that grows on trees inside little brown shells and taste like the best sour patch kids ever) About 10 minutes later we ended up in the Hoi Hoi village. It was incredibly humbling to see this. Then we hiked what seemed like forever through rice fields and villages and had lunch in the middle of the jungle. We had pad thai and watermelon that Cam pulled out of his backpack and it was some of the best pad thai ever. After lunch we kept hiking we went through lots of villages and more waterfalls. The last waterfall we went to we could swim in. I never in my whole life have been more excited to jump into water. We were so sweaty and disgusting and had just hiked 8 hours. We ended the day crossing bamboo bridges and walking through the most gorgeous rice field. This day we climbed what seemed like every mountain in Chiang Mai and in those mountains no one had more than a house made of bamboo walls and a roof made of leaves but they are the kindest, happiest, hardest working people you will ever meet. I couldn't feel my feet and my legs hurt more than ever but this day more than anything I was humbled and grateful. Happiness doesn't come from money, status, or things. Happiness is an attitude and it is a choice. So while we were hiking I decided each day I was going to try and wake up and decide to be happier than I ever have, and then rub that happiness off on someone else. On our hike we past kept passing locals. They would do the same trek as us just to go get water or go fish in the river for food. This whole day of hiking was a spiritual journey for me. As I watched Cam hike he was steady, kept his pace, didn't have a drop of sweat once, and he never really ate anything beside some sticky rice. I hope in my life I can be as steady as Cam. Not physically steady but steady with everything around me, with my life, family, emotions and faith. This day really changed me also, I was so sore. As soon as we got to our hotel we jumped in the pool and at night we got dinner, walked around the markets, got Scott a custom suit, and went to the fish spa. It was a really cool experience! 

The drive to the trek

 Cam and Scott

The first waterfall

 Tamarind it's so amazing I have been searching everywhere to find this available in Utah.

 The first waterfall

 One of the last villages we trekked through

   Hoi Hoi Village

 This was so amazing and had been sitting for four hours how does that even work?

 Cam and some rice fields

He's the best he literally pushed me up some of the mountains. This is when he said "Were halfway done but the problem is I'm done" haha

 This sweet lady let me weave on her loom and help make a scarf. I have been really into weaving lately so this was really special.

 Cam in his steady walk

One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen are rice fields. This is a sticky rice field.

 April 7th, 2015

Bangkok and Chiang Mai

Our first day in Thailand we woke up in Bangkok and went straight back to the airport after being on a plane for 24 hours the day before and took a short plane ride up to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai quickly because one of my favorite cities in the world. The first thing we did was head to Ginnys Cafe and found Tee a sweet lady from Chiang Mai who helped us plan our trip. We set up our itinerary, drank some mango shakes, and walked around Chiang Mai and checked into our Hotel. We stayed at the De Naga Hotel in the Old City and it was just about the greatest experience of our lives. We loved all the employees and they quickly because our friends. After we checked in we went and ate some pad thai and curry at a sweet little familys cafe. Later that day we went ziplining. It was so fun, beautiful, and amazing. We went on 32 ziplines! After the ziplines they had food prepared for us, we ate the best pineapple of our lives that afternoon. We headed backed to the hotel and we walked around the street Markets at night. 

 At our first hotel in Bangkok

 We had the greatest croissants for breakfast that morning

The company we went ziplining with was called "Flying Squirrels" and they loved their name haha. They made us wear flying squirrel shirts and had logos everywhere just like this one pictures. We thought it was hilarious. I mainly just have videos from the ziplines that I will post later.

 April 6th, 2015

Tokyo, Japan

Today we flew 2 hours to L.A. and 11 hours to Tokyo. I honestly have never had a huge desire to go to Japan but I was proved wrong with our experience here. We don't have many pictures but we flew to Tokyo and it was so much fun during out short time there. We saw cherry blossoms trees, did a Japanese calligraphy class, and met some really amazing Japanese people. Some of the nicest people ever. One of the guys teaching us calligraphy actually studied at the University of Utah! It is such a small world.

 My Calligraphy final

 The girls loved Scott so much haha

 This is a medium in Japan.. well done Tokyo!