I have arrived back in Wenling. After traveling around for over a month it's good to be back 'home,' where, first I waited 30 minutes for the bus. Then, find out I'm hone a week early. Instead of school starting on March 2nd, it starts on March 7th. Oh, also I'm not in school, so of course its raining. It is an official rule that if I'm in Wenling and I don't have to teach, it has to rain. I was told the week I was in Thailand by myself the weather was warm and beautiful. So I should probably tell you about that first week in Thailand.
Week 1 – Thailand – Chiang Mai
After staying in Shanghai a few days, I was very excited to get on the plane and finally be on vacation and on the way to Thailand. Things would be interesting as soon as landed because I needed to find a way to get to Chiang Mai. I flew into Bangkok, with no connecting flight. With some advice from Katie, my friend from Chiang Mai, I was able to find a flight to Chiang Mai for later that same day. The price was pretty cheap, about 1,700 baht. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but if you consider the conversion rate of 35 baht to 1 dollar, it's really good for a flight.
I arrived a little late in Chiang Mai due to my plane sitting on the runway for about an hour before takeoff. I really didn't mind, more time to nap. Katie came to pick me up with her motor bike. I had never ridden on a motorcycle or motorbike or anything like that. I should have gotten a picture of me with big backpacking bag sitting on the back with Katie driving. I felt like some of the folks I see driving around on motorbikes in China holding TV sets or bookshelves. Even with my big backpack, the ride was amazingly calm. Katie was being careful since her roommate had gotten in an accident two days before I arrived. But the amazing thing was that no one was honking!!!! It was so quiet. It was sonice to be in quiet traffic with non crazy drivers. You'll see my love of motorbikes and the Thai traffic grow throughout the trip. My first meal in Thailand was of course… Mexican Food! Hey I can only get Chinese food in China. Chiang Mai and all of Thailand have a great variety of ethnic foods, which was a great treat!!!!
I'm really thankful to Katie for showing me around and giving me a place to stay. She was extremely nice and a great host. Sunday we headed to church. The Thai church service was one of my favorite things in China. It was mainly run by the students. It was all in Thai, but we're able to read the passages they were using for the sermon, and do some of our own meditation. Also, the songs were given to us with the Thai lyrics in phonetics. It is great to see how no matter where you are, and what type of music is used, the Word is still there.
After church I had my first taste of real Thai food, a great spicy soup with a Chicken leg. Maybe my favorite Thai meal during my trip, since I ate two huge bowls of it. Afterwards we journeyed to the Royal Flower Show. An enormous area set up for the Kings 80th birthday. You have to travel 30 minutes from the city just to get there. This was the largest flower show I've ever seen. Countries from all over the world pitched in to make it an unbelievable sight. And all of it was setup up to run for only 3 months! It was incredible. And for supper of course we had… GREEK FOOD. Delicious!
The next day I decided to go to the church again and sit in on a little of their bible study. Afterwards I spent a few hours fixing one of the church's computers with one of the teachers. In the afternoon I toured around the local market on my own. This was where most of the Thai people went shopping. They had everything, food, clothes, fishing supplies, and many yellow shirts (In Thailand, the people love their king. Also, every day of the week has a color. Because the king was born on a Monday, his color is yellow. Therefore you see millions of yellow shirts around on any day, and especially on Mondays when all workers are suggested to wear yellow.) Supper – Indian Food!
Now I had a little bad fortune. Tuesday I scheduled a Thai cooking class, but my stomach wasn't feeling great. How sad!!! Imagine being able to cook some of the best dishes in the world, and only being able to take a few bites of it! It truly was a sad day. The class starts at 9 am and goes until 4 pm. You cook 8 dishes, all enough to be a meal themselves! I got a cookbook, so I can practice at home, as long as I find the ingredients.
Now the real adventure begins! I came to Chiang Mai with no plans and no ideas of what to do there. I just asked Katie what was there and if she could set some things up for me. Through a friend I got a last minute trek. A 'trek' is a journey through the jungle. Some last only a day, others 7 days. I wanted one for 3 days, 2 nights. And again, I really had no idea what was involved in it. Well it ended up being the best thing I did in Thailand.
First we met our group of 11 foreigners from Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Finland, and our guide. Our guide, Mr. Kan was hilarious, very funny and very intelligent. We also had a training guide, Mr. Tin, who rode our Tuk Tuk (truck with benches in the back for seats – the Thai taxi)
the entire trip of 2 ½ hours hanging on to the back standing on the bumper. The first day involved two natural sights of opposing temperatures. First we went to a beautiful waterfall and went swimming under it. And by swimming, I mean standing in the freezing water while painfully getting pelted by the waterfall. But it was surely worth it! Afterwards, as a reward I think for actually going in the cold water, we got to spend an hour at a hot spring resort. Nothing like a natural sauna! All of us agreed we should come back to this place after our 3 days of hiking.
After relaxing in the steaming water, we began our hike. We hiked several hours, and arrived at our first village pretty early in the afternoon. We had plenty of time to relax and see what the village was like. The villagers then cooked us several amazing dishes. After our meal we sat around the fire until we were tired and went to our five star hotel (in the words of Mr. Kan). Our five star hotel was a wooden/bamboo hut. We had blankets and a thin mattress type thing to lie on. Even with my sweatshirt and my jeans, and about 5 blankets I still got pretty cold. The jungle was in the foothills of the Himalayas. The hardest thing about village hotels though, Roosters! 4 am, and non stop!!! And there's not just one or two of them but about 10 of them, all right beneath you. Around 7 am the villagers herded the cattle through, right underneath our hut. Who needs an alarm clock when you have roosters and stampeding cattle!
Day 2 including a lot of hiking, but also some things I may never experience again. We ate our lunch out of bamboo bowls cut right there in the forest. Our dinner was cooked in bamboo, and we had bamboo chop sticks. This bamboo stuff is amazing! After another 2 hours or so of walking we made it to our destination, the elephant camp. Here we got to feed a spoiled baby elephant, that liked to chase people around if you didn't feed him. We also got to ride elephants! And this isn't just like a carnival ride, pay 20
dollars, ride an elephant in a circle for 10 minutes. We took these elephants on an hour and half journey to our village! So riding an elephant is pretty exciting, what would be more exciting? I know, seeing an elephant fly. But other than that, how about riding on his neck! Most people sit up on a seat on their backs. I got to ride on his neck! You can feel every step and movement as his shoulders go up and down. It's also fun as you see the steep declines you have to go down, and feel like you are going to fall off and get stepped on by this gigantic animal, very fun! The elephant I was on was the mommy elephant. During the whole trip we got to see the baby elephant in front of us, messing with the other elephants' tails. Also, halfway through the trip, mommy had to stop to feed the baby. Pretty amazing!
We arrived at our village and got to see some villagers building our boats for the next day's trip. We also got to take little river baths, alongside some of the village kids. I sat for awhile and watched by the river as kids on the other side practiced their Thai boxing. We again had a great dinner and then spent most of the night out by the fire, sharing stories about our countries and learning about everyone else's culture. Also, our guide learned a little bit about Jack Daniels. One of the Australians brought a little bottle along which he passed around the fire. Mr. Tin took a little too big of a shot. About 15 minutes after his drink, he fell over backwards from his seat and laid there for the next 45 minutes, with his feet still up on the bench.
Day 3 the last day of our journey was a day of riding down the river. Our ships were bamboo rafts completely made out of bamboo. Even the pieces used to tie the big bamboo trunks together were bamboo. The trip was like nothing else. No touristy places, no loud cars, no nothing, just the beautiful jungle. At one point we passed a few people riding elephants through the water, near a small village, with a rope bridge crossing the river. I couldn't have taken a picture, it wouldn't have been able to capture the beauty and serenity of this place. The boat ride was a lot of fun, as we were the ones who actually steered the ship. We had no problems, except the one time when we ran head on into a rock. Other than flying about 5 feet in the air, I was fine. I stayed on the boat, and we didn't sink, no problem. Luckily, Mr. Kan was on the other ship, making it his job to try and pull as many people in the water as possible. He was pretty small so he was unsuccessful most of the time. This was a perfect end to our trip. Floating down a beautiful river 4 hours, how could you beat that?
I got back to Katie's place and joined her and a friend for a Thai massage. Nothing like getting bent in half after walking in the jungle for three days. I really enjoyed Chiang Mai. It was a big city but very laid back. Some place I would like to visit again sometime. The next day I headed to the airport and to Bangkok to meet Bracha for Week 2 – The Tropical Islands of South Thailand! To be continued…
Week 1 – Thailand – Chiang Mai
After staying in Shanghai a few days, I was very excited to get on the plane and finally be on vacation and on the way to Thailand. Things would be interesting as soon as landed because I needed to find a way to get to Chiang Mai. I flew into Bangkok, with no connecting flight. With some advice from Katie, my friend from Chiang Mai, I was able to find a flight to Chiang Mai for later that same day. The price was pretty cheap, about 1,700 baht. Now I know that sounds like a lot, but if you consider the conversion rate of 35 baht to 1 dollar, it's really good for a flight.
I arrived a little late in Chiang Mai due to my plane sitting on the runway for about an hour before takeoff. I really didn't mind, more time to nap. Katie came to pick me up with her motor bike. I had never ridden on a motorcycle or motorbike or anything like that. I should have gotten a picture of me with big backpacking bag sitting on the back with Katie driving. I felt like some of the folks I see driving around on motorbikes in China holding TV sets or bookshelves. Even with my big backpack, the ride was amazingly calm. Katie was being careful since her roommate had gotten in an accident two days before I arrived. But the amazing thing was that no one was honking!!!! It was so quiet. It was sonice to be in quiet traffic with non crazy drivers. You'll see my love of motorbikes and the Thai traffic grow throughout the trip. My first meal in Thailand was of course… Mexican Food! Hey I can only get Chinese food in China. Chiang Mai and all of Thailand have a great variety of ethnic foods, which was a great treat!!!!I'm really thankful to Katie for showing me around and giving me a place to stay. She was extremely nice and a great host. Sunday we headed to church. The Thai church service was one of my favorite things in China. It was mainly run by the students. It was all in Thai, but we're able to read the passages they were using for the sermon, and do some of our own meditation. Also, the songs were given to us with the Thai lyrics in phonetics. It is great to see how no matter where you are, and what type of music is used, the Word is still there.
After church I had my first taste of real Thai food, a great spicy soup with a Chicken leg. Maybe my favorite Thai meal during my trip, since I ate two huge bowls of it. Afterwards we journeyed to the Royal Flower Show. An enormous area set up for the Kings 80th birthday. You have to travel 30 minutes from the city just to get there. This was the largest flower show I've ever seen. Countries from all over the world pitched in to make it an unbelievable sight. And all of it was setup up to run for only 3 months! It was incredible. And for supper of course we had… GREEK FOOD. Delicious!The next day I decided to go to the church again and sit in on a little of their bible study. Afterwards I spent a few hours fixing one of the church's computers with one of the teachers. In the afternoon I toured around the local market on my own. This was where most of the Thai people went shopping. They had everything, food, clothes, fishing supplies, and many yellow shirts (In Thailand, the people love their king. Also, every day of the week has a color. Because the king was born on a Monday, his color is yellow. Therefore you see millions of yellow shirts around on any day, and especially on Mondays when all workers are suggested to wear yellow.) Supper – Indian Food!
Now I had a little bad fortune. Tuesday I scheduled a Thai cooking class, but my stomach wasn't feeling great. How sad!!! Imagine being able to cook some of the best dishes in the world, and only being able to take a few bites of it! It truly was a sad day. The class starts at 9 am and goes until 4 pm. You cook 8 dishes, all enough to be a meal themselves! I got a cookbook, so I can practice at home, as long as I find the ingredients.Now the real adventure begins! I came to Chiang Mai with no plans and no ideas of what to do there. I just asked Katie what was there and if she could set some things up for me. Through a friend I got a last minute trek. A 'trek' is a journey through the jungle. Some last only a day, others 7 days. I wanted one for 3 days, 2 nights. And again, I really had no idea what was involved in it. Well it ended up being the best thing I did in Thailand.
First we met our group of 11 foreigners from Australia, New Zealand, Holland and Finland, and our guide. Our guide, Mr. Kan was hilarious, very funny and very intelligent. We also had a training guide, Mr. Tin, who rode our Tuk Tuk (truck with benches in the back for seats – the Thai taxi)
(Mr. Tin, Mr. Kan and Me)
After relaxing in the steaming water, we began our hike. We hiked several hours, and arrived at our first village pretty early in the afternoon. We had plenty of time to relax and see what the village was like. The villagers then cooked us several amazing dishes. After our meal we sat around the fire until we were tired and went to our five star hotel (in the words of Mr. Kan). Our five star hotel was a wooden/bamboo hut. We had blankets and a thin mattress type thing to lie on. Even with my sweatshirt and my jeans, and about 5 blankets I still got pretty cold. The jungle was in the foothills of the Himalayas. The hardest thing about village hotels though, Roosters! 4 am, and non stop!!! And there's not just one or two of them but about 10 of them, all right beneath you. Around 7 am the villagers herded the cattle through, right underneath our hut. Who needs an alarm clock when you have roosters and stampeding cattle!Day 2 including a lot of hiking, but also some things I may never experience again. We ate our lunch out of bamboo bowls cut right there in the forest. Our dinner was cooked in bamboo, and we had bamboo chop sticks. This bamboo stuff is amazing! After another 2 hours or so of walking we made it to our destination, the elephant camp. Here we got to feed a spoiled baby elephant, that liked to chase people around if you didn't feed him. We also got to ride elephants! And this isn't just like a carnival ride, pay 20
dollars, ride an elephant in a circle for 10 minutes. We took these elephants on an hour and half journey to our village! So riding an elephant is pretty exciting, what would be more exciting? I know, seeing an elephant fly. But other than that, how about riding on his neck! Most people sit up on a seat on their backs. I got to ride on his neck! You can feel every step and movement as his shoulders go up and down. It's also fun as you see the steep declines you have to go down, and feel like you are going to fall off and get stepped on by this gigantic animal, very fun! The elephant I was on was the mommy elephant. During the whole trip we got to see the baby elephant in front of us, messing with the other elephants' tails. Also, halfway through the trip, mommy had to stop to feed the baby. Pretty amazing!We arrived at our village and got to see some villagers building our boats for the next day's trip. We also got to take little river baths, alongside some of the village kids. I sat for awhile and watched by the river as kids on the other side practiced their Thai boxing. We again had a great dinner and then spent most of the night out by the fire, sharing stories about our countries and learning about everyone else's culture. Also, our guide learned a little bit about Jack Daniels. One of the Australians brought a little bottle along which he passed around the fire. Mr. Tin took a little too big of a shot. About 15 minutes after his drink, he fell over backwards from his seat and laid there for the next 45 minutes, with his feet still up on the bench.
Day 3 the last day of our journey was a day of riding down the river. Our ships were bamboo rafts completely made out of bamboo. Even the pieces used to tie the big bamboo trunks together were bamboo. The trip was like nothing else. No touristy places, no loud cars, no nothing, just the beautiful jungle. At one point we passed a few people riding elephants through the water, near a small village, with a rope bridge crossing the river. I couldn't have taken a picture, it wouldn't have been able to capture the beauty and serenity of this place. The boat ride was a lot of fun, as we were the ones who actually steered the ship. We had no problems, except the one time when we ran head on into a rock. Other than flying about 5 feet in the air, I was fine. I stayed on the boat, and we didn't sink, no problem. Luckily, Mr. Kan was on the other ship, making it his job to try and pull as many people in the water as possible. He was pretty small so he was unsuccessful most of the time. This was a perfect end to our trip. Floating down a beautiful river 4 hours, how could you beat that?I got back to Katie's place and joined her and a friend for a Thai massage. Nothing like getting bent in half after walking in the jungle for three days. I really enjoyed Chiang Mai. It was a big city but very laid back. Some place I would like to visit again sometime. The next day I headed to the airport and to Bangkok to meet Bracha for Week 2 – The Tropical Islands of South Thailand! To be continued…
