Part VI: Farewell Thailand (Koh Samet)

And...it's over: five weeks, eight different towns, four overnight train rides, two countries, two border crossings on foot, one night in a hill tribe village, an elephant ride and bamboo rafting through the jungle, snorkeling on a beautiful coral reef, perfect beaches, oil massages, a few words in Thai, a bamboo tattoo, hanging out, getting a tan, fresh fruit all the time.  That was Thailand.

On my last day, on the island of Koh Samet, I swam in the warm and crystal clear Gulf of Thailand, got some sun on the finest, whitest sand ever, got one last oil massage on my way to the ferry and while chatting with the ladies there in my rudimentary Thai, finagled myself a 100 Baht discount :)

As I sit here in Suvarnabhumi Airport outside of Bangkok, I am tanned, healthy, happy and tired. Five weeks is a short time really, but here, it was long enough to get used to this peaceful, slow and friendly way of life.  My mother commented when she returned from Thailand: " I thought Thailand a country of wonderful people and many surprises."  I agree.

Jordan

Chiang Mai revisited (and again, in pictures)

Flower along the moat

The Grand Temple of Chiang Mai

Along the Mae Ping River

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In Bangkok once again, we treated ourselves to the five-star Amari Watergate Hotel with aneighth-story rooftop pool overlooking the sprawl.

I successfully haggled two cheap tuk tuk rides down to the Lumpini Park (named for the Indian birthplace of Buddha), where we saw at least a dozen group Tai Chi, aerobics and weightlifting sessions taking place, lest we thought Thai people stay slim and healthy-looking merely on their diet alone. It made for good people watching. Standing on a bridge over a man-made lake in the center of the park, we could have been in the Boston Public Garden.

We then took the public sky train to the Chao Phraya River water taxi (I figured out all of this!) to check out the Grand Palace-home of the King of Thailand. It is so unbelievably ornate and detailed and beautiful with so many Buddha images and guardian statues and gold and jeweled columns and arches and entry-ways. To count each sparkling piece of colored glass inlay and jewel would be a task to fill eternity.

Mum and Auntie safely departed Thailand after one last meal of steamed rice with stir-fried vegetables and tofu. By the end, they were off on their own in the streets of Bangkok, buying fresh fruit and perusing the Pratanum Street Market. I am proud of them-two hip mid-fifties (er...thirties) American women hoofing it with backpacks around a country who's culture is so very different from ours.

I have arrived safely in Siem Reap, Cambodia after a seven hour bus ride and crossing the boarder on foot (crazy!). I have re-united with Kevin. I can check a cheap dental visit (no cavities) and Thai gifts and souvenirs off the list.

The language lesson I took during my first trip to Chiang Mai is already paying off. I can't understand a darn thing, but i can meet and greet and haggle in Thai like a pro.

Angkor Wat awaits.

pop kan mai

Part IV: Koh Chang (enter Mum and Auntie)

Kevin and I parted ways for a while in Chiang Mai-he to Laos for 10 days or so and I to hot and sweaty Bangkok to await the arrival of Mum and Auntie.

Bangkok is one big chaotic jumbled mess-roads filled with mopeds and scooters and tuk tuks (three-wheeled taxis) that weave around and between buses and cars and taxis and spew black exhaust which just lingers in the thick, humid air. The sidewalks are a mass of foreigners and Thais trying to decide whether to walk on the right or left, all the while maneuvering around food and wares laid out on the ground and bursting forth out of shopfronts.

Bangkok is as undecipherable to me as the run-on sentences in the previous paragraph would be to a Thai :) It is intimidating and gritty and just too disordered for me. And thus, into this, arrived Mum and Auntie.

Leaving Bangkok behind, we settled into a six-hour double-decker bus ride and a 40-minute ferry ride, arriving on the paradisaical island of Koh Chang in time to see the sunset.

Located just north of the Cambodia's border off the far south coast of Thailand, Koh Chang is white sand as fine as powdered sugar, fresh fruit shakes and soft evening air, the smells of flower blossoms and incense mixed with fires burned to fertilize the soil and the salt from the sea.

The water was an aqua green that I have not seen since my time in Brisbane, Australia. We spent three days lounging on the beach, using a neighboring resort's chairs, towels and pool (like good Yankees, we take what we can get!).

Mum and Auntie love the food (at least the rice with vegetables and tofu they've had each night). They love the people and their slow, deliberate and thoughtful way of life-they've even learned how to say hello and thank you in Thai (sawadee ka and khap kun ka).

We spent our final day snorkeling among corals around Koh Chang National Marine Park. Mum exclaimed at one point that it was coolest thing she's ever done. Can you think of the coolest thing you've ever done? Pretty neat!

As I write this post in my journal, we are on an overnight train back up to Chiang Mai. I am on the top bunk, with Mum and Auntie asleep below. We have hopes of seeing some temples, getting massages, going for a river boat ride, doing some shopping. I would like to get my teeth cleaned for cheap, maybe get a tailored suit and buy a souvenir or two.

From Chiang Mai, we're not sure where we'll go. But that's for another post.

Pop kan mai (see you later)

Jordan

Chiang Mai in pictures

Modern Chiang Mai

Welcome to Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai Night Bazaar

Lanterns at the Night Bazaar

Banister at temple

Nirvana

Part III: Same same, but different (Pai)

Let's begin with a little Thai culture. When greeting someone, or saying thank you or goodbye, you should put your palms together near your heart and bow slightly. With this gesture, you are acknowledging the higher being in that other person. Isn't that lovely?


However, Thais do not shake hands and don't generally do a lot of touching each other. You shouldn't touch a woman at all really. And women can not touch a monk. On the bus from Pai to Chiang Mai (where we are now), Kevin and I bookended three old monks in the back. We were pretty symmetrical the five of us:) When the bus hostess (or whatever you call her) handed us our little milk/honey juice box and crackers, they made sure to cover their hands with their robes before accepting them.


Finally, Thais consider the feet to be pretty gross things. They won't give massages without first washing your feet. You have to take your shoes off to go into most places and you should always take your shoes off to put your feet up on anything-even third class train seats! The big thing, however, is to never dangle your shoes off of your pack, lest they brush up against someone-disgusting.


And an easy way to communicate with Thais? same same, but different. For example: what is a waffle stuffed with taro? "same same potato, but different" :)

Kevin and I are exhausted. In four days, we trekked to a small hill-tribe village where we spent the night, then trekked out, rode an elephant who tried to throw us off of her like a rodeo then went on a hour long bamboo ride, I got a bamboo tattoo (oh yeah!) then we rode a bus for four hours on a narrow road with 762 curves from Pai to Chiang Mai. I'll elaborate a little.

From Pai, we set off on a roller coaster truck ride into the countryside to the north. What I learned: I AM able to get motion sickness-ewwww. We set off into the jungle with our 30-year old guide, Kon, a German couple and two young German women. It was pretty hot and we were slightly carsick. We took some pictures, ate some mandarin oranges, made some bamboo walking sticks, ate lunch out of banana leaf bowls and drank tea from bamboo cups (Kon made both).

We spent the night in a Lahu village. It is a collection of smaller Lahu communities which were centralized by the Thai government 60 years ago. They were on day five of a six-day New Years celebration. There was traditional dancing in costume around a tree, homemade Thai whiskey, traditional songs blared over a loud speaker until dawn (I can't begin to describe how terribly long and painful it was to listen to that all night), huts raised up to house chickens and pigs below and a fair amount of drunken Lahu people. What I learned: eight shots of Thai whiskey before dinner and four afterwards actually doesn't feel too bad in the morning. We also saw an amazing labyrinth cave called Tham Nad Lod.

The following day we rode a female elephant named Phenom who threw us off her in the water like a rodeo, then went for a lazy bamboo ride with an old guide who didn't speak any English down a river that basically cut right through the jungle. Enough said.

We broke some rules we're sure someone has laid down for us: Kevin rode a motorbike, I got a bamboo tattoo. We have both pet a lot of native animals.

So here we are in Chiang Mai-beat but ready to see this supposedly beautiful city. It's getting hotter, but the nights are still fairly cool. We're going to look into a Thai cooking course, and I would like to take a language class. Then I'm off to Bangkok to meet Mum and Auntie and Kevin to Laos. We will re-unite in Cambodia.

After 12 shots of Thai whiskey, wearing a traditional vest passed to me by a friendly Lahu man, I began to think how crazy and different all of our experiences on this planet are. I mean, he and I are both human, both live on a same planet. Same same for the most part, but so different.

Until next time,

Jordan

Part II: Northbound to Ayuthaya (in pictures)

From 1350 to 1767, Ayuthaya was the seat of Thailand's throne--the kingdom extending into present day Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. In 1767, the city was sacked by the Burmese and the king's seat relocated t0 just outside of present day Bangkok.

What's left in Ayuthaya are crumbling, faded, beautiful temples and Buddha statues that attract Buddhist pilgrims, and of course tourists :)

Kevin and I are now in the northwestern hippie outpost of Pai. We survived a 13-hour overnight train ride from Ayuthaya to Chaing Mai, then a 4 hour bus ride here. After sharing a pint of Thai whiskey (on an empty stomach too) and not getting very much sleep on the train, we were more than happy to get here and relax. I'm sure we were pretty sorry looking that morning, nursing hangovers with Thai coffee and peanut butter and jelly :)

We have signed up for a two-day jungle trek through some of the hill villages and by waterfalls and caves in the countryside surrounding Pai. We'll then go for a day of elephant riding and bamboo rafting. When we re-emerge from the woods, there will be stories to tell!

Until next time,

laa kawn

Jordan

Part I: Westbound to Kanchanaburi

After 17 hours on Asiana Airlines, a momentary stopover in Seoul, South Korea, the first few chapters of On the Road, a few This American Life episodes and failed attempts at sleep, a 40 minute bus ride from the airport in Bangkok to an after-hours fruit market and a $1.20 taxi ride from there to the main train station in Bangkok, I've met up with Kevin and am completely wrapped up in the Thai experience :)

Kevin met me at the train station around 12:30 a.m., where I had plopped my backpack down and settled in with the countless other Thais waiting for the first train of the morning.  I had peeled off my socks and long-sleeve shirt, the first trickles of sweat already running down my cheeks, and had nearly nodded off to sleep when Kevin came strolling around the corner and whisked me away to an air-conditioned hotel room.  I was completely drained.

The next morning, we boarded a hot, sweaty, gritty third-class train for the western cultural city of Kanchanaburi.  Built along the banks of the infamous River Kwai, Kanchanaburi is home to a bridge built by the Japanese Army in 1942 during its brief occupation of Thailand (and made famous by the novel and film Bridge over the River Kwai).  We then toured a monastery and wildlife refuge called the Tiger Temple (Wat Luang Ta Bua Yanna Sampanno).  Monks and other volunteers take care of orphaned tigers and cubs, peacocks and native heard animals--all of whom run and eat and play together, and all of whom you can pet and take pictures with. Indeed, Kevin and I have pictures petting tiger cubs and up close and personal with peacocks in full feather.  

The Thais are friendly and helpful, full of smiles and hellos and pleases and thank yous.  It is nearing the hot season, and the days are humid and sweaty and gritty and almost too much to take for more than a little while.  Thankfully, there is cold water and fresh fruit smoothies that are so cold and sweet with chunks of fresh fruit.  The markets are full of oranges and pineapples and mangoes and papayas and coconuts all freshly picked--all of these very plentiful and plenty cheap!

Kevin is tanned and healthy and totally in the groove of Thai life.  I am pale and thirsty and tired, but getting there :)  And the food...oh the food!  The fried rice with vegetables has become my staple, and the peanut sauce has a sweeter, almost fruity flavor to it.  Everything is so fresh and flavorful and slowly cooked with care.  The portions are small, so we've been eating frequently, but who cares when the food is this good.  Life moves pretty slow here, but it's too hot to move any faster :)

The evenings have been so relaxing.  A cool shower, a little reading, some food, a one-hour oil massage that is so nice and costs just pennies, a beer or two and bed.  Is there anything better?  I think not!

And then there's the 7-11s.  The question here in Thailand is not, "where is the 7-11?" but "where is the best 7-11?" :)  Kevin claims they were spawned here.  I believe he's right.

So, here we are in Kanchanaburi, waiting for a bus to the old Thai capital and cultural center of Ayuthaya, just north of Bangkok.  It's noon, hot and sticky and a three-hour air-conditioned bus ride sounds nice.  We will move from there up to the northern hippie outpost of Pai (pronounced "bye") for some jungle trekking.  

And finally, for those of you wondering what time it is over here--we are 12 hours ahead of EDT and 15 hours ahead of PST.  Yes, we are in the future!

Laa kawn (goodbye)