My good friend and ex-boss Eileen sent me a message a few weeks ago, letting me know that one of her friends lives in Laos, and we should catch up when I'm there. So I sent an e-mail to her friend and found out that she lives in Luang Prabang. Yesterday, Karyn and I met in the morning and went for a nice brunch along the river while we chatted. At the end of brunch, she asked if I'd be interested in going out to a party that evening that was held for the staff of several area restaurants that share one owner. I said yes, and we met up again later that evening.
The entire evening ended up being a great lesson in Laotian customs and culture and great fun on top of that! The invitation said that it all kicked off at 6pm. At about 7pm, we hopped in a tuk tuk and hoped that we wouldn't be the first to arrive. We weren't, thankfully. Karyn immediately spotted a Lao friend at a table near the entrance, and we went to join Lang and a few of her friends at a big round table. The food was already set out on the table, waiting in Saran Wrap until we were given the word to start.
The French restaurant owner came over to say hi and to let us know how the evening was going to proceed, seeing as most everything was going to be said in Laotian over the PA system. It started off with drinks (soft drinks, wine, or the amazing BeerLao), and once most of the people had arrived, we were given the go to dig into the chow. We had bread, rice, mango salad with squid, a nice fish dish, sun-dried beef (which looks like beef jerky's close cousin), some sort of meat teemed with cucumbers on a plate, beef (or maybe pork) and potatoes in a nice yellow curry sauce, cut up mango, and rambutan fruit scattered around our table. I picked around some of the meat, tried the fish, and chowed down on the fruits. All in all, a decent spread.
While we were eating random people were going up on stage and singing Laotian songs. Karyn told me that the people here are not timid about singing and dancing in the least. They love parties and they love to party. After a healthy round of introductory singing, the competition was underway. Nine employees got up and either sang or danced. The singing was all Laotian songs, and I was lucky enough to see my first traditional Laotian dance by the only female competitor, plus two guys dancing hip hop (one with quite a good routine; the other a good dancer but too drunk to really put on a good performance).
A funny trend started with the first singer, as the Laotian started to raid the flower bouquets on their tables and carry them up to the singer to offer encouragement. Karyn told me that traditional gender barriers, as they exist in the cultures I know, don't really exist, as it was common for both men and women to carry flowers up to the singer. But following the first singer's finish, most of the bouquets had been picked through, and they started resorting to the leftover greenery for the second singer. By the time the third singer took the stage, singers #1 and #2 were helping out and letting the others recycle their bouquets. #4 was a dancer, so no flowers were given until the end, but by the time numbers #8 and 9 took the stage, they were bombarded by masses of flowers, some taken from nearby plants and bushes, plus some of the original flowers. It was hilarious, and you could see the people bringing up the flowers laughing at the massive bouquet as they returned to their seats. It was pretty ridiculous but hilarious and kinda sweet as well.
After the competition, the dancing began. Karyn informed me that if anyone asks you to dance, it's considered very rude not to dance with them. And it's not uncommon for women to dance with women nor men to dance with men. I watched one dance go by, and I have to agree with Karyn, it's quite a simple and boring style of dance. At the second song, I was asked to dance about 30 seconds in, and I found out that it's not so hard to learn the dance. It involves shuffling your feet forward 3 steps, then to the back, standing in place for three steps, then you alternate your hands (one up, one down) with every step. Although you dance with a partner, you don't touch at all. Somehow or another, the younger people can turn it into a bit more energetic and interesting dance, but it's still more or less boring. I was asked to dance/endure two more songs before Karyn and I decided to take off. She was hoping for some Laotian line dancing (probably nothing like Country-Western line-dancing), but it never came. She was right - some of the songs go on forever! They seem to last between five and ten minutes... that's a long time to do the same dance with no variation. I miss salsa dancing!
Friday, May 2, 2008
The slow boat to Luang Prabang
Two days after my trekking, I hopped aboard a bus (well, two... Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, then Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong) to the Thai/Laos border and arrived at about 7pm. I went searching for a hotel with two Canadians I met on the bus, and we got a steal of a deal - about $6 for a room with 3 beds. Perfect! We had dinner with 3 others from our hotel, and then we went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs to use the bathroom to find about 15 people crowded around the TV watching a movie at about 6:30am. Weird! I later found out that they'd taken an overnight bus to the border town and were killing time until the border opened. I much preferred my more bed to a mini-van going around curve after curve through the hills of northern Thailand.
After breakfast, we started walking to the border and got our stamps out of Thailand (10 seconds per person, yay!), then paid a bit over a dollar for a boat across the river to the Laos side. There, we sat around filling out some paper work for about 10 minutes before forking it over with passport photos and money for our visas ($35 for Americans, $42 for Canadians). Then, I decided that I would indeed take the slow boat up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. (I had been throwing ideas of going into the jungle near the border on this cool gibbon excursion, or of maybe taking the bus, or of maybe taking the boat partway, then swapping over to bus for the final leg.)
In preparation, I had a sandwich made up, and I bought a seat cushion for just over a dollar (I had been forewarned that the seating consist of wooden benches. And the trip is TWO DAYS LONG.).
I made my way to the boat, which was pretty long and narrow with a roof and big windows. After I put my backpack in the luggage area in the back, I claimed a window spot and hoped that the light rain wouldn't turn into something stronger, although we did have plastic flaps we could roll down if we wanted. I crossed my fingers that no one would sit next to me, but in the end, an English girl did. There was lots of conversation around, and for the next 7 hours, people chatted, read, listened to music, tried to sleep, drank beer (sold conveniently at the back of the boat) and tried to pass the time.
That evening, I hooked up with three of the people from my hotel from the night before, and we went off in search for a hotel in Pak Beng, a town described by a friend as a "no-horse town." We found a place that was very cheap and decided it'd be fine for a night's sleep. The guy who dragged us in there also made it very clear that if we wanted to buy some marijuana from him, that was no problem. When I said, "No thanks," he was like, "why not?" I told him that there was more for him... And then when we went to pay for the room, I didn't have any small Thai bills (they still accept Thai currency and the price was quoted in Thai baht). He said no problem and hurried off to get my change.
He came back with a fistful of Laos Kip and handed them over. Me, being unfamiliar with exchange rates and the two currencies, counted the kip and decided that it didn't seem right, although I couldn't remember the exchange rate. He recounted and said, "oh right, I miscounted," and added a couple of 10,000 kip notes to the pile. That still didn't seem to be enough to me, so I called over my travel companions and asked them about exchange rates. They were pretty useless, as well, but at least I had some moral support. I asked the guy point blank what the exchange rate between baht and kip were, and he pretended not to know. At about that point in time, one of my fellow travellers offered to pay for my room, and I'd pay him back later. So, I started to suggest to the sketchy dude that he give me back my 1,000 baht note, and I'd hand him over the 100 baht he needed. He started doing a song and dance about how the market had closed, and he'd already changed the money, blah blah blah. I continued to insist on getting my 1000 baht note back, and he said he couldn't do that. We moved up to the restaurant area where two women who worked there were standing, and they got involved and started talking to the sketchy dude in Lao. Then I started in on how I didn't trust him, and I just wanted my money back, and we would leave the hotel, blah blah blah. He questioned why anyone wouldn't trust him (!!!), and I came back with commentary on his original "mis-counted" change and the fact that he'd just tried to sell me drugs. Eventually, he gave in and gave me the true exchange rate (or something close to it), and my change was sorted.
Upon leaving my room for dinner, I grabbed all of my valuables, as I wasn't sure if he would try to retaliate or something. I had nothing to worry about, though... nothing had been touched when we returned. The 4 of us had a nice dinner overlooking the Mekong River, and then we headed to another place for a drink and played some cards. At about 9:30pm, we decided we were all exhausted, and we went to bed to sleep in preparation of the next day's 7 hours on the river. Good thing we went to bed then, as the generators for the town's power were shut off at 10pm. I hoped that the rest of Laos would surpass my experience in Pak Beng in enjoyability... if not, it's gonna be a short and fast trip through Laos!
The next day turned out to be closer to 7.5 hours, and I managed to score my own bench for the entire day. Hooray! The whole trip along the river was gorgeous! Lush green hills, local people in dugout canoes and fishing from the rocks, little villages of wooden huts... too bad it was overcast both of our days on the river, but that also provided for a more comfortable journey, as it stayed cool enough to make the trip very enjoyable.
When we arrived to Luang Prabang, the 4 of us, plus a fifth, a Canadian girl, set off to look for accomodation. After about an hour, we'd all found a place to stay, and I was rooming with the Canadian girl in a nice room with a balcony and private bathroom in a quieter part of town for just a little over US$6. We set off shortly afterwards to explore town and immediately stumbled upon the night market, which is full of beautiful handicrafts. After dinner at a street vendor that had about 8 different bowls full of vegetarian local fare (as-much-as-you-can-fit-on-a-plate for less than US$1!!!), we walked around a bit longer before deciding we were all exhausted again, and I was in bed by about 10:30pm again.
The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs to use the bathroom to find about 15 people crowded around the TV watching a movie at about 6:30am. Weird! I later found out that they'd taken an overnight bus to the border town and were killing time until the border opened. I much preferred my more bed to a mini-van going around curve after curve through the hills of northern Thailand.
After breakfast, we started walking to the border and got our stamps out of Thailand (10 seconds per person, yay!), then paid a bit over a dollar for a boat across the river to the Laos side. There, we sat around filling out some paper work for about 10 minutes before forking it over with passport photos and money for our visas ($35 for Americans, $42 for Canadians). Then, I decided that I would indeed take the slow boat up the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. (I had been throwing ideas of going into the jungle near the border on this cool gibbon excursion, or of maybe taking the bus, or of maybe taking the boat partway, then swapping over to bus for the final leg.)
In preparation, I had a sandwich made up, and I bought a seat cushion for just over a dollar (I had been forewarned that the seating consist of wooden benches. And the trip is TWO DAYS LONG.).
I made my way to the boat, which was pretty long and narrow with a roof and big windows. After I put my backpack in the luggage area in the back, I claimed a window spot and hoped that the light rain wouldn't turn into something stronger, although we did have plastic flaps we could roll down if we wanted. I crossed my fingers that no one would sit next to me, but in the end, an English girl did. There was lots of conversation around, and for the next 7 hours, people chatted, read, listened to music, tried to sleep, drank beer (sold conveniently at the back of the boat) and tried to pass the time.
That evening, I hooked up with three of the people from my hotel from the night before, and we went off in search for a hotel in Pak Beng, a town described by a friend as a "no-horse town." We found a place that was very cheap and decided it'd be fine for a night's sleep. The guy who dragged us in there also made it very clear that if we wanted to buy some marijuana from him, that was no problem. When I said, "No thanks," he was like, "why not?" I told him that there was more for him... And then when we went to pay for the room, I didn't have any small Thai bills (they still accept Thai currency and the price was quoted in Thai baht). He said no problem and hurried off to get my change.
He came back with a fistful of Laos Kip and handed them over. Me, being unfamiliar with exchange rates and the two currencies, counted the kip and decided that it didn't seem right, although I couldn't remember the exchange rate. He recounted and said, "oh right, I miscounted," and added a couple of 10,000 kip notes to the pile. That still didn't seem to be enough to me, so I called over my travel companions and asked them about exchange rates. They were pretty useless, as well, but at least I had some moral support. I asked the guy point blank what the exchange rate between baht and kip were, and he pretended not to know. At about that point in time, one of my fellow travellers offered to pay for my room, and I'd pay him back later. So, I started to suggest to the sketchy dude that he give me back my 1,000 baht note, and I'd hand him over the 100 baht he needed. He started doing a song and dance about how the market had closed, and he'd already changed the money, blah blah blah. I continued to insist on getting my 1000 baht note back, and he said he couldn't do that. We moved up to the restaurant area where two women who worked there were standing, and they got involved and started talking to the sketchy dude in Lao. Then I started in on how I didn't trust him, and I just wanted my money back, and we would leave the hotel, blah blah blah. He questioned why anyone wouldn't trust him (!!!), and I came back with commentary on his original "mis-counted" change and the fact that he'd just tried to sell me drugs. Eventually, he gave in and gave me the true exchange rate (or something close to it), and my change was sorted.
Upon leaving my room for dinner, I grabbed all of my valuables, as I wasn't sure if he would try to retaliate or something. I had nothing to worry about, though... nothing had been touched when we returned. The 4 of us had a nice dinner overlooking the Mekong River, and then we headed to another place for a drink and played some cards. At about 9:30pm, we decided we were all exhausted, and we went to bed to sleep in preparation of the next day's 7 hours on the river. Good thing we went to bed then, as the generators for the town's power were shut off at 10pm. I hoped that the rest of Laos would surpass my experience in Pak Beng in enjoyability... if not, it's gonna be a short and fast trip through Laos!
The next day turned out to be closer to 7.5 hours, and I managed to score my own bench for the entire day. Hooray! The whole trip along the river was gorgeous! Lush green hills, local people in dugout canoes and fishing from the rocks, little villages of wooden huts... too bad it was overcast both of our days on the river, but that also provided for a more comfortable journey, as it stayed cool enough to make the trip very enjoyable.
When we arrived to Luang Prabang, the 4 of us, plus a fifth, a Canadian girl, set off to look for accomodation. After about an hour, we'd all found a place to stay, and I was rooming with the Canadian girl in a nice room with a balcony and private bathroom in a quieter part of town for just a little over US$6. We set off shortly afterwards to explore town and immediately stumbled upon the night market, which is full of beautiful handicrafts. After dinner at a street vendor that had about 8 different bowls full of vegetarian local fare (as-much-as-you-can-fit-on-a-plate for less than US$1!!!), we walked around a bit longer before deciding we were all exhausted again, and I was in bed by about 10:30pm again.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Trekking! Cont'd....
I've decided that I'm never going to get around to writing a day-by-day account of my trekking experiences, since that's now a good week or so behind me, so I will write a list of highs and lows, which gives a pretty good idea of what was involved.
Highlights:
Beautiful scenery
Great company/fellow trekkers
Guide who is originally from one of the hill tribes (and spoke English!)
Bathing side by side with the villages in a stream, wearing a sarong for modesty
Nightly fire circles
RAFTING!!! On bamboo rafts!!! Awesome!
Learning a song in Thai complete with actions on aforementioned rafting, then looking back while singing to see our whole group participating from my own raft and the other two raft
Not seeing another trekking group during our journey
Finishing off the trip with a waterfall visit
Meeting up with the entire group for drinks that evening
Sleeping inside of the home of some of the Karen hilltribe locals, with them sleeping on the other side of the fire.
Lowlights:
Tiny inch-long skinny leeches that penetrated through footwear (!!!) Creepy...
15 minute stretches up steep inclines
Leaky roof in our sleeping quarters, which prompted us to have to move over to a local home (see last highlight)... all in all, it wasn't so bad, and it was kinda amusing.
Straw mats that were our mattresses - Night 1, I didn't have a very good night's sleep, but by Night 2, I slept like a baby despite the lack of padding
So, all in all, it was a good trip. Day 2, we trekked about 6-7 hours (2 hours of which included the damn leeches!), and Day 3, it was an hour of bamboo rafting, then 45 minutes of walking. I'm glad I signed up for this particular trip because everything seemed to be focused on low impact tourism, and the communities we passed through seemed interested in us, but the people didn't beg, persistently try to sell us their weavings and necklaces, nor offer us opium, which is fairly common on the more-touristed areas for trekking.
Highlights:
Beautiful scenery
Great company/fellow trekkers
Guide who is originally from one of the hill tribes (and spoke English!)
Bathing side by side with the villages in a stream, wearing a sarong for modesty
Nightly fire circles
RAFTING!!! On bamboo rafts!!! Awesome!
Learning a song in Thai complete with actions on aforementioned rafting, then looking back while singing to see our whole group participating from my own raft and the other two raft
Not seeing another trekking group during our journey
Finishing off the trip with a waterfall visit
Meeting up with the entire group for drinks that evening
Sleeping inside of the home of some of the Karen hilltribe locals, with them sleeping on the other side of the fire.
Lowlights:
Tiny inch-long skinny leeches that penetrated through footwear (!!!) Creepy...
15 minute stretches up steep inclines
Leaky roof in our sleeping quarters, which prompted us to have to move over to a local home (see last highlight)... all in all, it wasn't so bad, and it was kinda amusing.
Straw mats that were our mattresses - Night 1, I didn't have a very good night's sleep, but by Night 2, I slept like a baby despite the lack of padding
So, all in all, it was a good trip. Day 2, we trekked about 6-7 hours (2 hours of which included the damn leeches!), and Day 3, it was an hour of bamboo rafting, then 45 minutes of walking. I'm glad I signed up for this particular trip because everything seemed to be focused on low impact tourism, and the communities we passed through seemed interested in us, but the people didn't beg, persistently try to sell us their weavings and necklaces, nor offer us opium, which is fairly common on the more-touristed areas for trekking.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Trekking! Day 1
One of the popular things to do around Chiang Mai and northeastern Thailand is to go trekking in the area that's inhabited by the hilltribes. There are several different minority groups (at least 5) that live around here, and people want to go check them out.
Now, of course I can't make any easy, spur-of-the-moment decisions, so I had to talk to several different operators, look online for advice and quiz all travelers I'd come into contact with about their trekking experiences. And it came to light that many of the treks left people feeling like they'd just visited the zoo and looked at the people, and some sort of false environment had evolved from all of the outsiders visiting the villages. They were hassled to buy goods, and the children wanted candy, etc. I decided that I didn't want that, and then I talked to two folks who had gone to the Eagle House in Chiang Mai and done their non-tourist area trek. They saw no other foreigners during their trek, and they had a great time.
So I signed up the next day for that trek and then left for Pai to kill time before the trek left.
On Day 1 of the trek, we met up at 8:30 to store our bags and valuables before we left, and then we set off, each of us with just a small backpack on our backs. We had a lot of driving to do - about 4 hours total - but we first stopped off at a market so they could buy food for our trip.
We were travelling in a covered small pick-up truck with benches along the side in the back... there were 4 people plus driver in the front and 8 in the back, with the guide riding on top of the truck. Our group consisted of a family of 5 from Greece (the mom is from England, so daughters are fluent in English), 2 American girls travelling independently from each other, 1 Irish guy, 1 English guy, 1 German guy and a Canadian guy.
After the market, our next stop was an elephant camp were we were put in groups of 3 on elephants. Two people sat on an actual bench mounted on the elephant, and then a third person sat basically on the elephant's neck just behind its ears. Then our elephants were led on an hour-long loop down to a small waterfall. It was slow going, and those of us on the bench had a fairly easy ride. Those sitting right on the elephants had a bit more work to keep from falling off, but they also quickly got their balance. I thought it was interesting but not an amazing experience, but I did enjoy being able to touch an elephant - their skin is quite tough and their hairs quite prickly!
Post-elephant riding, we had fried rice and piled back into the truck. Eventually, we were given our backpacks and we set out for a fairly easy 2 hours' trek to the town we were going to sleep in. We were walking through rice paddy terracing (dry at the moment because rainy season has not yet begun), crossing a few streams via logs across them, and walking through a bit of greenery. Eventually, we hit our first home, which was a village of the Karen hilltribe, and we sat down to a beer to help recover from the hill we tackled to get up to the village.
Stay posted for more about rainstorms, bathing in rivers, leeches and more!
Now, of course I can't make any easy, spur-of-the-moment decisions, so I had to talk to several different operators, look online for advice and quiz all travelers I'd come into contact with about their trekking experiences. And it came to light that many of the treks left people feeling like they'd just visited the zoo and looked at the people, and some sort of false environment had evolved from all of the outsiders visiting the villages. They were hassled to buy goods, and the children wanted candy, etc. I decided that I didn't want that, and then I talked to two folks who had gone to the Eagle House in Chiang Mai and done their non-tourist area trek. They saw no other foreigners during their trek, and they had a great time.
So I signed up the next day for that trek and then left for Pai to kill time before the trek left.
On Day 1 of the trek, we met up at 8:30 to store our bags and valuables before we left, and then we set off, each of us with just a small backpack on our backs. We had a lot of driving to do - about 4 hours total - but we first stopped off at a market so they could buy food for our trip.
We were travelling in a covered small pick-up truck with benches along the side in the back... there were 4 people plus driver in the front and 8 in the back, with the guide riding on top of the truck. Our group consisted of a family of 5 from Greece (the mom is from England, so daughters are fluent in English), 2 American girls travelling independently from each other, 1 Irish guy, 1 English guy, 1 German guy and a Canadian guy.
After the market, our next stop was an elephant camp were we were put in groups of 3 on elephants. Two people sat on an actual bench mounted on the elephant, and then a third person sat basically on the elephant's neck just behind its ears. Then our elephants were led on an hour-long loop down to a small waterfall. It was slow going, and those of us on the bench had a fairly easy ride. Those sitting right on the elephants had a bit more work to keep from falling off, but they also quickly got their balance. I thought it was interesting but not an amazing experience, but I did enjoy being able to touch an elephant - their skin is quite tough and their hairs quite prickly!
Post-elephant riding, we had fried rice and piled back into the truck. Eventually, we were given our backpacks and we set out for a fairly easy 2 hours' trek to the town we were going to sleep in. We were walking through rice paddy terracing (dry at the moment because rainy season has not yet begun), crossing a few streams via logs across them, and walking through a bit of greenery. Eventually, we hit our first home, which was a village of the Karen hilltribe, and we sat down to a beer to help recover from the hill we tackled to get up to the village.
Stay posted for more about rainstorms, bathing in rivers, leeches and more!
Northern Thailand, take 2 - Pai
Where was I? Last I wrote, I'd booked a yoga class in Pai. On Tuesday morning, I donned some flowing and light clothes, followed the instructor's advice to keep breakfast to a minimum and bought a yogurt on my way to the 10am class.
Mama Yoga, as the instructor is called, put on some soothing eastern-style music and began our session. There were 6 non-beginners and 3 absolute beginners, including myself. We stretched and then slowly worked our way into some poses, with us beginners trying our hardest to contort our bodies into new positions, mimicking Mama Yoga. After half an hour, I was sweating and warm, despite our slow movements. By the time the two hours were up, I was ready to rest. All of us sat down together and ate the watermelon, bananas and cookies that were put down in front of us and we started to chat a bit.
We three newbies went back in the afternoon at 3 to meet with Mama Yoga again. We were given a handout with the poses, and then we slowly went through all of the poses again so that we could remember what we'd done that morning. Afterwards, the three of us sat down with Mama Yoga, ate some Phad Thai with rice noodles and talked with her. She's an amazing woman! 60 years old and incredibly fit - she looks like she's 40 or 45. She is from Thailand and is part of the Hindi minority, thus vegetarian. She went to India when she was in her twenties, and there she learned yoga, which nicely complemented her Hindi meditation and beliefs. Ever since, she's done yoga, and she's been happily living in Pai for since about 2000, and it's definitely a great retreat for her. Her husband passed away years ago, her children are grown, and she seems to love teaching and nurturing her yoga students. She's incredible.
The next morning, I squeezed in another yoga session before hopping on a bus headed back to Chiang Mai, arriving in time for my 6:30pm meeting for the trek I was to head off to the following day.
I really liked yoga! It feels great, and after a session, I walked down the street feeling wonderful! I'm going to try to search for other yoga sessions in other towns as I make my way through Asia. Hooray - a hobby that's not as expensive as scuba diving and travel!
Mama Yoga, as the instructor is called, put on some soothing eastern-style music and began our session. There were 6 non-beginners and 3 absolute beginners, including myself. We stretched and then slowly worked our way into some poses, with us beginners trying our hardest to contort our bodies into new positions, mimicking Mama Yoga. After half an hour, I was sweating and warm, despite our slow movements. By the time the two hours were up, I was ready to rest. All of us sat down together and ate the watermelon, bananas and cookies that were put down in front of us and we started to chat a bit.
We three newbies went back in the afternoon at 3 to meet with Mama Yoga again. We were given a handout with the poses, and then we slowly went through all of the poses again so that we could remember what we'd done that morning. Afterwards, the three of us sat down with Mama Yoga, ate some Phad Thai with rice noodles and talked with her. She's an amazing woman! 60 years old and incredibly fit - she looks like she's 40 or 45. She is from Thailand and is part of the Hindi minority, thus vegetarian. She went to India when she was in her twenties, and there she learned yoga, which nicely complemented her Hindi meditation and beliefs. Ever since, she's done yoga, and she's been happily living in Pai for since about 2000, and it's definitely a great retreat for her. Her husband passed away years ago, her children are grown, and she seems to love teaching and nurturing her yoga students. She's incredible.
The next morning, I squeezed in another yoga session before hopping on a bus headed back to Chiang Mai, arriving in time for my 6:30pm meeting for the trek I was to head off to the following day.
I really liked yoga! It feels great, and after a session, I walked down the street feeling wonderful! I'm going to try to search for other yoga sessions in other towns as I make my way through Asia. Hooray - a hobby that's not as expensive as scuba diving and travel!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Northern Thailand, take 1
I arrived to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand a four days ago, and it probably wins the prize for the hottest place I've been so far. It's the second largest city in Thailand, so it's quite big, but it has a walled/moated inner part of the city, which I've pretty much kept to, so it doesn't seem quite so big.
After my night on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, I was looking forward to a good night's sleep, but first I had to pass the day... since it was absolutely steamy, I didn't do too much.
Mission #1: find specific Indian restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet for lunch. Mission failed, but I did find a different restaurant to have Indian food.
Mission #2: explore Chiang Mai. Mission also failed due to sweltering heat. I eventually saw pedicures for less than $3, so I went in and got a pedicure and a foot/leg scrub for a grand total of just over $5. Massages and that sort of thing are so cheap here!
Mission #3: find info on treks and cooking classes in the area. Mission semi-accomplished, as I flipped through the trek book at the place I was staying at.
Mission #4: get a good night's sleep. Failed miserably due to hotel's rock-like beds, poor ventilation in room, sweltering heat, and loud nearby bars.
The next morning, I got up and looked for a new hotel. I spent an extra $1.67 a night to upgrade to a room with better ventilation, softer bed and all-around better feel to the place. Well worth the investment.
I decided to work on accomplishing missions 2, 3 and 4 from the previous day plus add in a visit to the famous night market, and I more or less succeeded! I checked out a couple of temples and then eventually collapsed into an internet cafe with a/c for a while before heading back to my room for a quick nap.
That evening, I headed out to the night bazaar that had been recommended, and I was a bit disappointed. I wasn't expecting a market that was mostly full of things that tourists would buy - I was expecting other random household goods, etc, like the markets of Central America that I'm familiar with. The thing to buy are beautiful - silks (most fake at this market, but nearby you can get the real thing), textiles, wooden carvings, beautiful Buddha paintings, etc etc etc, but I just don't have room in my backpack for anything right now.
At about 10pm, I was nearly falling asleep while walking around, so I caught a tuk tuk and headed back to my hotel for a good night's sleep before my next day's Thai cooking class.
The Thai cooking class was great! There were about 15 of us there, and first the chef took us around a produce market to introduce us to fruits, veggies, and spices we weren't familiar with... and to give us tips about buying eggs, etc. Did you know that the smaller eggs are tastier because they're laid by the younger hens, and they have a better flavor? So, stick to those medium eggs from now on.
After the market tour, we went back to our chef's house to cook - we all had little stations set up with a chopping block, sharp knife, wok, stove, etc. The chef showed us first how to make our dishes, then we'd get our ingredients put out in front of us, and he'd direct us through our dishes. It was great! I made a coconut soup, stir-fried veggies, panang curry with tofu, and pad thai. MMMM.... needless to say, I didn't have dinner than night.
However, I found out during the day that there is a special Sunday night market, and I went to it and found it to be far better than the normal night bazaar, so maybe that's the one that had been recommended to me... I still didn't buy anything, though.
And then, this morning, I got up, signed up for a three-day trek that starts on Thursday (look, I found this link from someone else's blog, detailing their trek and some other stuff.. but check out the trek stuff), and I took off for Pai, where I'm currently at.
Pai is super laidback compared to everywhere else I've been to, and upon arrival, I saw a sign for beginner yoga classes, which piqued my interest. After finding a place to stay (cheapest yet! $3.30/night for my own little hut with a bed... downfall is shared bathroom), I found the yoga place and will be doing 4 hours of yoga tomorrow. Yay! Let's hope I can still walk the next day, when I need to head back to Chiang Mai.
After Chiang Mai and trekking, it's on to Laos. My visa runs out on May 2, so I'll be out of Thailand by then at the absolute latest, probably sooner. Wow, sorry this one's so long! More post-trekking through the hilltribe villages...
After my night on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, I was looking forward to a good night's sleep, but first I had to pass the day... since it was absolutely steamy, I didn't do too much.
Mission #1: find specific Indian restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet for lunch. Mission failed, but I did find a different restaurant to have Indian food.
Mission #2: explore Chiang Mai. Mission also failed due to sweltering heat. I eventually saw pedicures for less than $3, so I went in and got a pedicure and a foot/leg scrub for a grand total of just over $5. Massages and that sort of thing are so cheap here!
Mission #3: find info on treks and cooking classes in the area. Mission semi-accomplished, as I flipped through the trek book at the place I was staying at.
Mission #4: get a good night's sleep. Failed miserably due to hotel's rock-like beds, poor ventilation in room, sweltering heat, and loud nearby bars.
The next morning, I got up and looked for a new hotel. I spent an extra $1.67 a night to upgrade to a room with better ventilation, softer bed and all-around better feel to the place. Well worth the investment.
I decided to work on accomplishing missions 2, 3 and 4 from the previous day plus add in a visit to the famous night market, and I more or less succeeded! I checked out a couple of temples and then eventually collapsed into an internet cafe with a/c for a while before heading back to my room for a quick nap.
That evening, I headed out to the night bazaar that had been recommended, and I was a bit disappointed. I wasn't expecting a market that was mostly full of things that tourists would buy - I was expecting other random household goods, etc, like the markets of Central America that I'm familiar with. The thing to buy are beautiful - silks (most fake at this market, but nearby you can get the real thing), textiles, wooden carvings, beautiful Buddha paintings, etc etc etc, but I just don't have room in my backpack for anything right now.
At about 10pm, I was nearly falling asleep while walking around, so I caught a tuk tuk and headed back to my hotel for a good night's sleep before my next day's Thai cooking class.
The Thai cooking class was great! There were about 15 of us there, and first the chef took us around a produce market to introduce us to fruits, veggies, and spices we weren't familiar with... and to give us tips about buying eggs, etc. Did you know that the smaller eggs are tastier because they're laid by the younger hens, and they have a better flavor? So, stick to those medium eggs from now on.
After the market tour, we went back to our chef's house to cook - we all had little stations set up with a chopping block, sharp knife, wok, stove, etc. The chef showed us first how to make our dishes, then we'd get our ingredients put out in front of us, and he'd direct us through our dishes. It was great! I made a coconut soup, stir-fried veggies, panang curry with tofu, and pad thai. MMMM.... needless to say, I didn't have dinner than night.
However, I found out during the day that there is a special Sunday night market, and I went to it and found it to be far better than the normal night bazaar, so maybe that's the one that had been recommended to me... I still didn't buy anything, though.
And then, this morning, I got up, signed up for a three-day trek that starts on Thursday (look, I found this link from someone else's blog, detailing their trek and some other stuff.. but check out the trek stuff), and I took off for Pai, where I'm currently at.
Pai is super laidback compared to everywhere else I've been to, and upon arrival, I saw a sign for beginner yoga classes, which piqued my interest. After finding a place to stay (cheapest yet! $3.30/night for my own little hut with a bed... downfall is shared bathroom), I found the yoga place and will be doing 4 hours of yoga tomorrow. Yay! Let's hope I can still walk the next day, when I need to head back to Chiang Mai.
After Chiang Mai and trekking, it's on to Laos. My visa runs out on May 2, so I'll be out of Thailand by then at the absolute latest, probably sooner. Wow, sorry this one's so long! More post-trekking through the hilltribe villages...
Friday, April 18, 2008
Backtracking: night out in Phi Phi
Back before I went on my diving trip, I was on Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi was hit pretty hard by the tsunami back in 2004, like most of that coast of Thailand, but it's come back full force and is now a mecca for hotels, restaurants, dive shops, tour agencies, and, at the moment, Scandinavian tourists.
My first night there, I'd tentatively told two guys I met on the boat ride over that I'd see them out for a drink later on. Beforehand, I headed off to a local restaurant and ended up eating dinner with Daniel, a guy from England travelling by himself. We hit it off almost immediately, and then we hung out the next two days off and on as well.
When it was time to meet up with the guys from the boat, I dragged Daniel along to Reggae Bar. Little did I know prior to showing up that there was a Thai boxing ring set up in the middle of the bar. Permanently. Part of the draw to the bar was that dumb (or drunk) tourists would get up in the right, put on gloves and headgear, and they'd fight each other. They would both get a bucket of booze for their efforts, which contained a half bottle of booze and some sort of mixer. It sure drew a good crowd! Daniel and I were half-mesmerized, half-disgusted.
And when that was over, we were told to go upstairs to wait for the ladyboy show. Thailand is known for its ladyboys, and although I don't know all that much about that part of the culture, I do know that there are ladyboy shows all over the place. Daniel and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and headed upstairs. The promised ten minutes turned into thirty, but at the end, we were rewarded by what I would call a well-choreographed drag show, complete with ladyboy divas.
Entertaining... and I hit two Thai highlights in one evening! For free!
My first night there, I'd tentatively told two guys I met on the boat ride over that I'd see them out for a drink later on. Beforehand, I headed off to a local restaurant and ended up eating dinner with Daniel, a guy from England travelling by himself. We hit it off almost immediately, and then we hung out the next two days off and on as well.
When it was time to meet up with the guys from the boat, I dragged Daniel along to Reggae Bar. Little did I know prior to showing up that there was a Thai boxing ring set up in the middle of the bar. Permanently. Part of the draw to the bar was that dumb (or drunk) tourists would get up in the right, put on gloves and headgear, and they'd fight each other. They would both get a bucket of booze for their efforts, which contained a half bottle of booze and some sort of mixer. It sure drew a good crowd! Daniel and I were half-mesmerized, half-disgusted.
And when that was over, we were told to go upstairs to wait for the ladyboy show. Thailand is known for its ladyboys, and although I don't know all that much about that part of the culture, I do know that there are ladyboy shows all over the place. Daniel and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and headed upstairs. The promised ten minutes turned into thirty, but at the end, we were rewarded by what I would call a well-choreographed drag show, complete with ladyboy divas.
Entertaining... and I hit two Thai highlights in one evening! For free!
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