2nd
Thai me up and throw me in the jungle - PS we’re staying at a place called Wang Chang
So we’ve finally made it to Thailand - and not a moment too soon. After a brief but strange stop over in Bahrain (their airport has strange little animated dolls reminiscent of Disney’s Small World) we arrive in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning. The air feels like a pollution milkshake but I do love the lower prices here! Rooms for 2 were like $8 - $12 here and meals for about a $1. We were in Bangkok just one night in an area just slightly north of Banglamphu (central tourist area) and spent our day wandering Khao San Road and the surrounding temples. Quite a few Westerners near Khao San, and quite a few more lady boys. The area almost reminds me of drinking in the marina there are so many white folks here! Bangkok is a huge bustling city filled with every sort of imaginable person (as well as quite a few “wily strangers” waiting to con you out of your money). But compared to Cairo - much easier to navigate for the wide-eyed Westerner (they have a McDonald’s that actually delivers! I mean seriously…) And, no, we did not go and see any of the infamous “ping pong” shows (or as my grandma so eloquently said “sex shows”). We decided not to stay long here as I was anxious to get to the countryside. The next evening we took an over night train to Chiang Mai.
I must say - I liked Chiang Mai much better. More laid back and less intimidating, Chiang Mai treated us well. Like many of our other destinations, we met some other travelers to keep us company and walked around the city to explore what it had to offer. And by exploring, I really mean kick back and eat delicious food while getting a bunch of Thai massages (only $5 for an hour! I’ve reached spa heaven!). It’s hot here - but more humid than hot really (much easier to take than Egypt in the summer).
Our first activity in Chiang Mai was to take an all day cooking course from a guy named Permpoon (no joke). He likes to crack himself up with corny jokes - which was concerning at first - but ended up being a great cooking teacher (after all his school is called “the best Thai cookery school”). We went to the market in the morning and he patiently explained what each of the mysterious vegetables, fruits, and herbs were as well as how each of them are processed to make what we see in our American grocery stores (like coconut milk for example). There was a rainbow of alien and strange looking herbs, spices, fruits and mystery meat that would make the Ranch 99 Chinese market at home look like a 7 Eleven. We even got to sample some of these mysterious tropical fruits that even I had never heard of and wouldn’t have the courage to try otherwise. We spent the day making papaya salad, mango and sweet rice, green and panang curry, sweet and sour chicken, tom yum soup, and a multitude of various Thai restaurant favorites - all very delicious and surprisingly easy to prepare. We even explored what Permpoon called “adventure” cooking, which basically comprised of a wok, oil, vegetables, and a gigantic fireball that almost singed off my eyebrows (the youtube video will be posted shortly). Not the kind of lesson you try at home (unless you have good fire insurance) - but it is always fun to play with fire and your food. Being a wannabe chef myself, I found this activity one of the most fun and educational - be prepared for my amateur efforts of Thai cooking when I get back home.
That night we ended up hanging out with some new found American friends in a strange hippie rooftop bar with a strange collection of people from all over the world. There seem to be people from all over here - although mostly Caucasian white males looking to hook up with the local Thai “ladies”. This sort of tourist attraction has the tendency to attract a rather strange sort of tourist. We decided to end our 2 days in Chiang Mai with another Thai massage - but this time from a couple of old blind people. Let me tell you - just because they are old and blind doesn’t mean they can’t beat the living daylights out of you for a meager $5! Greg and I both went through some pain but oddly enough felt reborn after it was done.
We then took a bus to a hippie enclave called Pai. Three and a half hours of nauseatingly windy roads on a little bus brought us to a small town crawling with Patchouli and dread-locked wearing trustafarians nestled up in the mountains on the way to the Burmese border. We ended up staying in a bamboo hut near the river called - Wang Chang Puek Pai. As soon as we saw the name, we knew we had to stay there. A little more expensive than the other rooms (a whopping $13 a night) but well worth it since we get our own hut and immaculately clean room in a place very close to heaven. We slept in this morning (since we haven’t had a full night’s rest in a little while) and rented a hot pink motorbike to cruise around the surrounding mountains (only $3 a day! Greg looks great in hot pink). Cruising around the waterfalls and villages today reminded me a lot of when I used to live on Maui (except they drive on the other side of the road here). It is beautiful here and almost makes me want to drop off the grid and stay here for a little longer. Life is simple - all you need is your little motor scooter and bamboo hut. Afternoon rains come like clockwork to cut the humidity while we sip coconut milkshakes and eat papaya salad. Tomorrow, unfortunately, we are to leave again to try to make it to the Laos border and on to Luang Prabang. From there we plan on doing our elephant and trekking adventures deep in the northern jungles. Until then…
