Chiang Mai Oh My!

After 4 days in Bangkok (it felt like a month) we'd had enough of the pollution and constant offers to go see 'Ping Pong Shows' (you don't want to know) so we headed up north to Chiang Mai. After finding the cheapest bus we could ($10) we instantly knew why we had paid so little. It was a 15 hour ride where we rocked back and forth over cliffs gasping everytime we swung toward the edge, and where the air con wouldn't turn off, so we were freezing to death. Inevitably, it eventually broke down altogether.

Eventually we made our way into town. After Bangkok, Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air. Chiangmai is a very old city, some structures dating from the 15th century, and home to literally thousands of temples. We were lucky to have met an Israeli girl who lived in a monastary in China for a month, and who acted as our personal tour guide for and entire day as we did the temple circuit. They were just gorgeous. The night markets were equally impressive. Km after km of traditional Thai furniture, jewelry, food and live music. It was just amazing. Ian even tried his first fried grasshopper, to be followed up by a large water beetle. Ugh!

We decided to book a 3 day jungle trek, to get out of the city for awhile. There were twelve others in our group, from Australia, America, England and Canada, oh, and 1 Guide named Rocky. Old Rocky, who for the longest time we thought was named "Locky", who called all the men girly boys, and who laughed hardest at his own jokes (mainly because no one understood him), and whose favourite saying was "Oh My Budda!"

Early the next morning we were all piled into a very small truck, with its back wide open and Ian and I holding on for dear life because we were the last two in. For two hours we hung on precariously, white knuckled while we swung over hills and around corners at break neck speed. Unlike Australia which makes you sign a waver for EVERYTHING, in Thailand this is just what they do. If you get hurt, well, that's your problem.

We arrived later that day in a hilltribe village, where the children greeted our truck by running from the bushes, jumping onto the back and attacking our wrists with traditional woven bracelets they'd just pulled from their pants....then immediately demanded 10 baht. Since the bracelets were impossible to take off, we had no choice but to pay. Crafty little Hilltribe children. We spent the day treking through the hills and forests, then stopped in another village for the evening. It was so beautiful. In the middle of no where these villages exsist with no electricity, farm animals running around everywhere and naked children hovering around fires, where their mothers cooked dinner. We ate dinner on the floor of a grass hut by candelight and some of the village women and children performed for us some traditional Thai songs. Rocky played guitar and we sang them some of our "traditional" songs such as "Hotel California" (Ha!), until the last candle burned out, then we went to sleep on mats layed out on the hut floor.

We woke up the next morning to the sound of a pig being slaughtered. Nice. We made our way into the jungle and after hours of hiking came across a waterfall and all jumped in. It was beautiful! From there our hike continued until we arrived at a river where elephants were bathing themselves. It was such an amazing site to see in the middle of the jungle! The guides organized the elephants (and us) and in couples we mounted each one. Now I've had some pretty surreal experinces, but riding an elephant with Ian through the jungle is now pretty high on the list. In fact, my already dreamlike state increased ten fold when Ian suddenly turned to me and proposed, ring and all!....on an elephant!....in the jungle! Can you imagine?! It took me a few minutes to register what he had said. He just kept looking at me, sayng, "So will you?". I eventually managed a "Yes". That night we announced it to our group and we spent the night celebrating by a campfire. We could not have asked for anything better. It was a day we will never forget.

The next morning we were back on the jungle trek until we arrived at a river with long bamboo rafts. There were 3 of us to a raft (standing) and a Thai river guide who was more interested in pushing us off the raft and mushing mud into our faces, than keeping us safe. For 2 hours it was full out chaos, with everyone running and jumping from raft to raft, making it just before hitting another rapid, people falling off, and guides dissapearing, leaving people to fend for themselves. The rest of the time we spent baskeing in the sunshine that streamed through the break in the jungle trees, while we ate this enormous volleyball sized yellow fruit the guides picked out of the jungle for us. It was one of the best experiences so far.

We headed back to Chiang Mai soaking wet and tired, but incredibly happy. We were very lucky with the group we had. Everyone was so much fun, no one wanted to split up afterward. That night everyone took us out for our "Stag and Doe" night. We went to a Thai boxing match, then split up, with me heading off with the girls and Ian having a wild time with the guys.

The next day, with Angie and Alex (a couple who we've become friends with), we rented motorcycles and drove into the gorgeous mountains outside of Chiang Mai until we got to this ancient temple called Doi Sutep that had an incredible view of the city. Absolutely stunning! When we got back, the girls picked me up for the continuation of my Hen's party. They bought me a big white bow (in place of a veil) and they took me to a Thai spa where we all treated ourselves to Thai massages. HIGHLY recommended!

Our time came to an end in Chiang Mai. It was hard to leave, but with ten out of the twelve from our group, we headed off to Chiang Kong, the border crossing to Laos, to begin our long descent together down the Mekong River.

Here a Tuk- There a Tuk - Everywhere a Tuk Tuk

Finally we have arrived in Bangkok! We stepped off the plane and I felt this instant sense of euphoria. I'm pretty sure it had to do with the heavy medication I was on, but it felt like a dream. Our first impression was that everything seemed straight out of a movie. We loved it immediately!

After we bought out half of Mountain Equipment Co-op back in Canada and felt there was nothing else we could possibly need, we quickly found out what we forgot to bring was a translator. Our first dinner experience was, well, an experience. We stood outside a tent on the side of a highway, trying to distinguish any of the numerous things hanging over the B.B.Q. while a handful of Thai people stared at us with huge grins. Here, we asked what has become our most common question to each other. "What do you think that is?" No one knew a word of English except for a nice man that knew approximately 5 words. "Maybe I can help you". But then, thats really all he knew. At that point we were welcoming ANY help. We eventually found out we were looking at stomach and some other sort of intestine. I asked about fish. They only had fish heads. Of course. What do you need the rest of it for? Finally we managed to get a small plate of beef and squid. They came with sauces that make battery acid seem mild, which we cried our way through. Ian is still recovering. When we were done, the nice man, whose name was actually "Man" came over and asked us if we liked our meal......we thought. Enthusiastically, we replied "Yes!" I guess what he asked what if we wanted something else. Another dish promptly arrived. We stared at is skeptically. Just vegetable I think, but with tiny little shrimp skeletons. In North America, we call these "Sea Monkeys", put them in water and keep them as pets, but I won't even get into our theory about eatable pets over here. The dish wasn't bad but we were starting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes and were looking forward to paying the bill and leaving. We were busy congratulating ourselves for making it through our first meal without ordering something completely horrific, when another dish suddenly appeared. We looked up to see Man standing there with a huge grin. "Duc beer", "I'm sorry, what?", "Duc BEER.", "Duck what?". What we had sitting in front of us was a whole plate of bbq duck bills. We grinned our way through it, mostly trying to figure out how to even eat it. As soon as Man walked away, Ian looked at me with huge frightened eyes, and said, "Run, before he orders us anything else!"

What is amazing is how people stare. If we stop to ask for directions (which is pointless to do anyway) people gather around to hear us speak. Their excitement to see a Westerner soon became our excitement to see one. "Look, there's one! There's another one!" Its funny when you catch the eye of another Westerner. You feel an instant grin spread across your faces as if you're saying to each other, "Can you believe this? Me neither!"

The rumours are true that everything here is incredibly cheap. Food and accommodations cost us (together) about $16 a day. Its the shopping that's lethal. We moved to Khao San Rd. which is famous among travellers for their $8 Pumas and $5 Guccis. Of course they're not real, but boy they look good! With every shopping spree we tweak our bartering skills as we've learned it is an art....or a sickness. In fact, we've pretty much become obsessed with it. We actually find ourselves walking away from a vendor because they won't give it to us for 10 cents cheaper! Hey, 10 cents goes a long way out here. What we are also loving, although the books warn travellers against it, are the fresh fruit. Watermelon and pineapple kabobs, whole coconuts with straws in them, banana pancakes and of course the hundreds of things we can't decipher. The curries are amazing as well although we can't understand how its the most popular dish, yet they don't have toilet paper in the bathrooms. In fact, most bathrooms don't even have toilets. Just a small hole in the floor and a bucket of water beside it. Use your imagination. One thing no one can miss are the potent smells on the street. Anywhere at any time you can be smelling delicious Pat Thai being cooked on one side of you, and rotting fish guts on the other. The mixture is at first revolting, then you find yourself getting used to it, then you actually start to welcome it. Its very strange.

We had our first tuk-tuk experience and it was wild! You wouldn't believe how fast they go! We were flying through traffic, down center lanes between trucks and buses, screaming and laughing our heads off, while choking down the thick, black smoke coming out of every tailpipe. What an experience!

Bangkok is bright and colourful, but where the average minimum wage is 150 baht ($5.00) a day, it is also very run down. Everyday Ian and I walk under a highway overpass or over a sewer grate and say, "Gee, that looks like it could go any time now". The bus services are another experience. Crowded so its hard to breath our second time on one, it broke down and it took us 4 hours to get back to our hotel. A lot of deep breaths on that ride home.

So our Bangkok experience has been a success, although Ian has let the experience go to his head...literally. He has decided to go "monk" and shave his head. Just like the song says, "One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble." This place will have you doing anything. Its been fun, but we're looking forward to our next stop, Chiang Mai!

Bratwurst and Windmills

We arrived in Germany tired and sick. I had caught something the day before leaving and by the time we landed in Dusseldorf it had turned into a full-blown chest infection. Ian got the roote canal, so I guess it was only fair I got something too. Always a good way to start out a trip!

Carrie, Fabio and Elliot picked us up from the airport and shuttled us back to their pretty house outside the city. They absolutely spoiled us rotten! We spent the next week disco bowling, riding bikes through the country, going for drives to see castles and to Cologne to see a famous gothic church. We went to the market where Ian ordered his first "bratVerst sausage". We had our belated Christmas and Carrie's birthday present opening night, which was a lot of fun. As soon as Elliot discovered the portable piano my parents sent, however, we knew that might have been a big mistake. I still wake up every morning with the DEMO tunes already running through my head. They are permanently engrained.

A special night was New Years where downtown Dusseldorf turned into downtown Bagdad. We were shocked that a country who enforces such strict rules so that you rarely see anyone jay walking because of the heavy fines, leaves the fireworks show up to the civilians! It was absolute carnage! Fireworks going off in every direction, hitting buildings, hitting lamp posts, hitting eachother. A couple times we were caught in the crossfire trying to get across the street and it felt like we were running to save our lives. It was crazy!

Onto Amsterdam we drove and spent a few days seeing the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank's House. The Red Light district was.....unreal! Has anyone ever noticed the large amount of 2 in 1 stores in Amsterdam that just make no sense? Like "Hotdogs and Lighters", or "Haircuts and Snowboards". How could they not realize that that's just really weird? Carrie and Fabio headed back to Germany and Ian and I spent another 2 days enjoying the canals and admiring the endless clogs, flowers and bicycles. My gosh! Millions and millions of bicycles....everywhere! Okay, that sounds really boring. It was a lot of fun though, trust me.

We took the train back to Germany and unfortunately with the weather (damp) and the jetlag, my chest infection developed into a full blown sinus and ear infection. It was beyond painful. Carrie took me to see the quirkiest Nutty Professor of ear doctors (she laughed through my whole appointment while he poked and jabbed me) and sent me to bed early as we were leaving for Bagkok the next day!

We had such a great time with them! What a way to start out our trip! Next stop Bangkok. Toot Toot!