Playing in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai was just what the travel doctor ordered. We spent 9 days there, more than we've spent anywhere else I think, and came away very relaxed. If China was travel than Thailand has been a vaction. After spending the first three days just looking around and buying some light cotton clothing at the night market we started touring.

Sunday night we went to a Wat (Buddhist version of church) and attended a MonkChat. For about a hour a monk who was 23 talked with us and two locals about what it was to be a monk and Buddhism. He started when he was 12, most all do, and left his parents and family at his parents urging. The Wat's serve as a bit of a school/university for the kids and they will take two or three religous courses, one of which will be Buddhist studies, along with all the other standard school classes.

On Monday we took a Thai cooking class where we made four main courses and what has become one of Kathryn's fave desserts....sweet sticky rice and mango. The class was in the instructor's home and we were the only two in the class that day. Having it in Yui's, the teacher's, house was nice as we were able to get a look into the average Thai's life. We did three dishes before lunch, a rice dish, a soup and a noodle dish before we left for a tour of the local market. During the tour Yui pointed out all the things we'd been eating for the last five weeks and put names to them for us. More importantly she pointed out of the items in the Thai dishes that were strictly for flavour and not to be consumed. After the market we returned to do a stir-fry and have the sticky rice with mango.

The next day we started our two night hike in the national park about 100k outside Chiang Mai. Before the hiking we visited a hillside village tribe that had imigrated to Northern Thailand from Tibet. The whole village was about 300 people but number of families much less as husband's take several wives. Village is 50/50 buddhist and christian and very harmonious. Interfaith marriages have 2 ceremonies so everyone can take part. After about another hour in the back of the pick-up truck we arrived at the trailhead. The elevation was about 750m and the temperture was 35 degres C. I took about four steps and was drenched with sweat. At one point the guide picked a plant and cracked the stem in two, blowing on the liquid that drained out he made bubbles like we do with soap. After about three hours walking we arrived at a Karen village where we spent the night. We slept in a hut that looked like it was built by a group in Survivor...one of the ones that knew a little about what they were doing. It started to rain about 8pm and we went to bed shortly after the curry chicken dinner. A couple of hands of cards and that was it. (editor's note - kirk kicked my (kathryn) *ss and skyrocketed in points in a mere 2 hands and then decided he was too tired to play anymore)

Awoke to the sound of 30 roosters crowing in a call and answer fashion at 4am. This lasted to about 6:30am when we got up. The next day we hiked for about an hour before we arrived at the clearing where the elephants and their handlers were waiting for us. The two we rode were 40 years old and their skin felt like rice paper but was very mushy. As we walked though the jungle everytime we crossed a stream the elephant took a drink and lost the branch of leaves it was carrying with it's trunk to swat the flies away with. It would stop for a moment on the other side of the stream and rip a new branch off a tree with it trunk like it was snapping a toothpick. Hiked for another hour after the ride and arrived at a waterfall where we swam and spent the night.

The next day we hiked up and out of the vally we'd stayed in the night before in sweltering heat and humidity. A dog that lived at the camp we'd stayed in the night before followed us to the end of the trail running ahead, prowling around in the bushes and then running past us again when we least expected it. Scared us to death a couple of times. About an hour and half later we arrived at the end of the trail and went to have lunch. During lunch it started to rain and we decided to hop in the truck and go to the start of the bamboo rafting. Only when we walked out of the restaurant did we realize we had to ride in the back of the pick-up, standing-up and holding onto a rollbar in the rain. Just as we started down the road the rain became torrential. At least it didn't really matter how wet we got sitting on the bamboo rafts now. The guide took us down the river and amazingly our bungee corded raft stayed together. Thankfully the rain subsided about half way through.

The next couple of days we spent looking around Chiang Mai. Sunday there was a huge market, must have been more than a thousand vendors with their wares spread out on blankets at the side of the roads that were closed for the occasion. One afternoon we rented a motor scooter and went to a town known for making parasols and Kathryn tried her hand at making paper from scratch. After that we looked for a town that is known for its silk manufactors but we couldn't find it so we drove into the country side and explored the foot hills covered in palm trees around Chiang Mai.

After that we made our way down to Phitsanulok. Getting back on the road again was a bit of a shock to the system. We'd been told many buses that go all day. Our day went something like this:

9:30am - arrive at bus station.

9:50am - figure out next bus is at 12:20.

9:55am - confirm with tourist info that is really the correct information.

9:56am - buy tickets.

wait the couple of hours in a couple of spots seeking a hint of a breeze.

12:10pm - make our way to the platform. ticket has a big 2 on it and the sign on platform 2 says Phitsanulok (our destination).

12:20 - look around anxiously and figure bus must be late.

12:22 - ask person inside and realize bus has left from platform 7 where the sign says bangkok.

12:25-12:26 - say many words i can't repeat here

12:40 - get tickets on the next bus at 5:30. not sure if she's going to charge us for them or not. decide to leave our big packs behind the ticket counter. put the odds at 80% they'll still be there when we get back.

spend a few hours hanging out in town. checked out a street kids art festival that was pretty cool.

5:00 - get back to station

5:05 - confirm and reconfirm platform

5:06 - realize this bus is the lowest class which means hard seats and no air-con.

5:07 - apply buddhist principles and practice the art of zen...or something like that.

5:30 - happy to find bus isn't that full and the fans are doing a fair job at keeping the air moving.

11:30pm - arrive in phitsanulok and happy to find a taxi still at the station.

12 midnight - get to hotel and crossing fingers they have room. they do. currently with a rather large guest. but he's soon expelled by brave kirk and his can of raid.

12:05 - fall into bed and realize our week in Chiang Mai has made us soft. it's been a long day.

but a new morning is refreshing. we spent the day on rented scooters and drove into the countryside. After driving along a winding road that lead up three smallish mountains we stopped at a waterfall where Thai's that were visiting from southern Thialand offered us some of the lunch they were having and wanted us to take their picture standing with one of the two of us. It was a little odd as they approached us and wanted us to use our camera to take of photo of them with us. Odd but fun. The next stop was a bamboo forest where I got a nice falang (Thai for tourist or foreigner) tattoo when I touched by leg against the scooter muffler. OUCH!After riding though a wildlife reserve we started back as Kathryn's bike was running out of gas. As luck would have it we were on a stretch of road where there was very little in the way of gas stations, or much else, and it was starting to rain. We kept riding for about 20 minutes and then the rain started to get really bad. At this point I pulled off the road as I couldn't see much with my glasses dripping with water. As soon as I pulled off the road and applied a little brake the tires started to slide and down went the bike. I jumped off but held the bike up enough so the mirror didn't get broken off. (editor's note - he got top scores for the stylish descent!) We waited with a local that didn't speak any English, so we just kept smiling at each other, in a little bus shelter at the side of the road for about an hour till the rain subsided enough that we could start to look for gas again. We passed one place that looked like it only sold boat gas and then it started to rain again. Pulling along side Kathryn says she's OK with the rain but running on fumes for sure. Another 10 minutes and we pass two girls sitting under a canopy just off the road who have a oil barrel with gas written on it. Stop, discuss it and decide boat gas or not we'd better give this one a go. They argue between themelves which of the two types of gas they would give us and test what little we have by putting a straw in the tank. It appears to the the right choice as we make it to the 7-11 (which is an institution here) 20 minutes down the road. It's about 6pm now, it gets dark at about 7:30pm, and we have about 60k back to town and the rain is coming in again. Do we wait to see if it passes or try to get back before dark? OK it's back before dark. Through the rain, down the mountains, around the lame dog at the side of the road, through three sections of road that are washed out and we make it back into town about 15 minutes after nightfall. Soaking wet it takes us an hour to find someone from the bike rental shop so we can return the bikes as we're leaving the next day. What a great day!

Next stop Lopburi. I, Kirk, wanted to stop here and see the architectural ruins and the monkeys that live in the streets. It's a quiet town and despite the bugs that infest our hotel room we really enjoy our stay here. (kirk was ever the brave hero with his can of 7-11 raid!) Walking around the ruins of a 17th century royal palace I stop and played hacky sack with a group of 14 year old school kids. The old legs remembered a few tricks and props were thrown out at the end with a thumbs-up and 'you're good' from the kids. The monkeys have taken over this town and hang from the electrical wires and second floor of shops. You spend a lot of time looking up for a number of reasons.

The next morning we catch the train to Bangkok. And there's more as we're now down south on Ko Samui - an island in the gulf of thailand - but we're typed out for tonight. One of these days we'll get this thing all caught up :)

K and K