Alright folks, for those of you who actively await my updates (and I'm sure there's lots of you out there) here it is! It has been a little while because either, I was out having too much fun, there was no power, or I was in the wilderness. There's your short version.
Okay, Chiang Mai:
Smaller city than Bangkok and I was really excited to get there. I took the overnight train. Which was totally nice. You have a seat that faces the one in front of you, and then at some point, they come and take down the beds and the bottom two seats fold down. So I was on the top bunk, which was totally fine. There was kind of a hilarious woman across from me. Didn't seem like she'd ever done much budget traveling before. She was very worried about setting up her trek when she got to Chiang Mai. She's like "I'm going to sleep in my clothes, no shower, I don't care." But clearly she sort of did. Anyway, this kiwi guy kind of had to talk to her for a long time about god knows what.
So, train was mostly uneventful, slept alright up there with the train rocking me to sleep. Got off the train and was bombarded by tuk tuk drivers trying to take me to Chiang Mai. Decided to start walking. Met this brother and sister pair who were afraid of taking a tuk tuk after one duped them in Bangkok. So I ended up walking all the way into the city with them. As a result, was ready to take the first place we found because I was darn hot from walking with my bag (3k!). Good exercise though.
My basic view of Chiang Mai is a city with an identity crisis. On the one hand it is a cute old town with a moat around it, small streets, all called soi 1, soi 2, which means alley. But I didn't realize that there could be more than one. Cute little restaurants, some run by expats, and a lot of outfits running tours. Kind of weird the way that the whole town is built upon tourism, but I guess that's a lot of thailand. And then, on the other side of the moat, there's the new part of town. That's where you can find tons of Thai prostitutes and expensive beers, as well as pool and the night bazaar. Ended up going out over there only because the people I met at my guesthouse wanted to go over there.
So let's see, I did a cookin class at Gap's house (thanks for the rec Ruth an Chris)and a massage class which was one on one with a thai woman. We had (who I assume to be) her foreigner boyfriend as the model. Poor guy, got poked, I mean massaged first by her then by me. It was about 5 hours total. He looked a bit sore when he stood up. Nice guy from England who was here on holiday for 6 weeks. Cooking class was great. I cooked about 9 dishes, and was so full. My pat thai was not great but my Tom Yum was awesome. This Thai woman came along and wanted to try each of our pat thai. so I said, of course! She tried one, hmm, good. Another, yeah pretty good. Mine- uh, blank face. Oh well. What can you do?
Spent two nights hanging out with a mix of Brits, sweeds, canadians and americans. Was pretty fun. On the second night we went out to the cheezy bar (where the woman start running around when they see a huge group of us coming bc they are so excited to have any business, it being low season and all). Played some connect four, actually a lot of games of connect four. Then we moved on to this other club. we get there, and this sweede is like, "oh no, I'm not going in there." everyone's trying to ask him what the deal is. I mean, I can see it isn't going to be that fun. Bad music, really expensive beers (200 baht for a small-about 6 dollars, more than home!). But i mean, come on, we're here. But he won't come in. There's 14 of us at that point. So whatever, we go in. Soon, one of the guys goes to the bathroom. Comes back all freaked out. I guess while using the urinal, you get massaged by some guy that comes out of no where and freaks you out. Hehe, now we know why he wouldn't come in. Anyway, dance there for an hour or so and then get some tuk tuk drivers to take us back to the other part of town, at warp speed, and I make my exit as it is already 3am. These young kids wear me out! They are all about 23, 24.
Pai:
If, as I said, Chiang Mai can't quite figure out its identity, then Pai is a town with a superiority complex. It is obsessed with itself. Every shirt they sell here says Pai on it. Mind you, it is cute stuff, and the town is great, but come on. Basically a typical traveler town. A few roads, lots of fun bars, some cute shops and good access to outdoor stuff. I just went hiking for three days.
Trek was fun. It was myself; a french canadian girl-cybele; 2 brits-Robin and V.J.; and an american couple, Jack and Shelby. Our tour guide, Toi was pretty cool. He brought us to a bunch of different villages where he knew people and we stayed on their floor (my back is still sore). The food was good. The first night was stayed at a hut that was seriously in the middle of no where. The second night we stayed in a hill tribe village. Bascialy, Toi's job, (aside from leading us in and out of (aparently bandit ridden, but we found that out after the fact) wilderness, clearing the trail with his machete, cooking and knowing the culture,) was to remove leeches from us on a regular basis. We'd find one, and be like, Toi, Toi, and he'd take it off. Was a good trek. Very green a lush. The group was pretty cool and got along well. Shelby was generally freaked out about something, usually leeches. The brits didn't seem like they'd ever hiked before. Showed up at the office on the first day in jeans and one in white linen pants and shirt. It rained most of the time and keeping your balance was a bit tricky. There were a few classic falls where legs just completely came out from under people. Let me tell you, V.J.'s pants were not white for long.
The rain was a bit of a downer but at least it was warm. On the first day we hiked to a nice waterfall and swam. Just as we were getting out it started to pour cats and dogs. We raced back to the hut where we were staying, but man, everything was just pretty much wet for the rest of the trip.
Last night we hung out in the village and it was a real party. The homemade whisky came out and a bunch of men and some women hung out in the hut with us, singing and talking for a long time. I tink was pretty exciting that we were there bc they are friends with Toi and also he pays them some to have us. So they like those nights. They made some amazing food for us as well.
The rural communities kind of reminded me of kenya. Kind of subsitence farming, but the governement, and also Toi's company, have provided a lot of funding for them, so now they have solar panels and stuff. The houses are quite close together and they cook over wood fires. The smells and general way of life, I think is what brought back my time in Kenya.
This morning I wandered over to the school and saw this one classroom. I think the teacher was a bit frustrated because I distracted the kids from her directions to line up for snack. But I did get them all to shake my hand and say hello and I did the Thai greeting of bowing my head with my hands togehter. Their tables had the american alphabet so I pointed and they repeated after me. It was a funny scene. Sadly I was alone so I have pictures of the kids but none of me with them.
Well, I'm feeling exhausted from all this writing. I have pictures up on picasa. I'll be in Pai for a few more days before I head to Laos.
Write back, I miss all of you. I think most of my teacher friends are back to work today. Sorry!
Xoxo,
Dina
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