week eight
greetings from laos. the latest of the typing exercises for your indigestion. (pics up)
Oct 23rd.
our new guest house is run by a friendly crew who run their own cooking classes and jungle treks. danielle and i are immediately sold and we sign on for both. tomorrow is cooking and the day after we plan to do a 3-day trek.
with the afternoon we make our way to a temple that overlooks chiang mai from a mountainside. it is packed with tourists and the main attraction is an entirely gold spire in the centre of a square lind with statues and donation bowls.
danielle craved chickpeas and naan for dinner and we combed the streets until we came across the perfect place playing indian music and decorated with rock posters including kiss, jim morrison, zeppelin, etc.. danielle got her chickpeas and i the chicken korma... exquisite meal and we were stuffed and feeling great about life and our luck.
downed a couple of beers before making our way just down the street to see the heavily promoted local muay thai boxing match. the fighters were wirey and young but tenacious and brutal. we picked our boxers and wagered shots. from our front row spot we got the real experience with spray from the punches hitting us as the local fans yelled out in time with the landing blows.
Oct 24th.
thai cooking: our group of 7 travellers were escorted through the largest food market in chiang mai and introduced to the local produce. afterward we cooked a number of delicious dishes ourselves and were able to save them at the guest house to be warmed up later. the group consisted of the same people who signed up for the trek with us and we all took the opportunity to get acquianted and have a few laughs.
Oct 25th.
one of our comrades has fallen ill overnight (bad chef?) and we postpone the trip for a day. i take advantage by heading back to bed after breakfast and finishing jack kerouac's 'on the road' just as i came across catch 22 at the book swap here, which was on my list.
Oct 26th.
trek: day 1
after a 3 hour ride into the hills in north thailand we begin a 3 hour hike along a mountainous jungle ridgeline with spectacular views. came across some orchids, spiders and water buffalo along the way.
the hill tribe village was tiny and modest. there is no electricity but they do have running water and well built shacks.
our sarcastic guide, nai cooked a green curry for dinner and some squash with egg. after, the kids came to serenade us in return for various gifts we were advised to bring. between different thai songs, they sang happy birthday, jingle bells and even kumbaya. then their mothers descended on our table with all of their handicrafts of braclets and woven works for sale.
while we drank a beer i played a game of hearts with our new dutch friends and a goofy isreali girl who lost miserably.
Oct 29th.
trek: day 2
(chorus of rooster calls)
hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and a long day ahead of us. 4 hour trek with some big climbs and downhills but nothing compared to the gruelling hike we took on in malaysia. i spend alot of time chatting with nai about thailand and canada. i discover at lunch that i picked up a passenger stepping in a stream. the leech bite bled for about 20mins before it scabbed, but it reopened as soon as we stepped into the water again getting on our bamboo rafts.
rafting was exciting with our young tribal thai captain guiding us and signalling which direction to push with our long bamboo poles. it was all going very casual and smoothly until the raft slid half onto a rock a in a small set of rapids and we all clung to the high edge as the other side slid steeply under the water and then righted itself after the current pushed us over it. afterward we confessed it was a welcome shot of adrenaline.
the new village was more modern with a paved road, cold beer and some very curious children running around.
for dinner we devour a sweet and sour pork and curried potatoes. another market session ensued and our tired comrades headed to bed. danielle and i strike up a conversation with one of the hollanders about ethnicity and geopolitics.
Oct 28th.
trek: day 3
elephant ride after similar breakfast. our elephant is a delinquent old female who stops dozens of times and runs me through some nasty overhanging foliage (danielle somehow escaped incident on the left side).
next we're taken to an ancient cave with lots of interesting rock formations including stalactites and stalagmites. a sleepy hour ride back took us back to chiang mai to rest our heads but danielle made sure we were well fed as we headed back to the indian restaurant for more chickpeas.
Oct 29th.
as planned, we arise staggeringly early to give alms to the monks who roam the streets in the mornings with offering bowls. the apples and oranges seemed to go over well and we returned to our room for more shut-eye and end up checking out late. a bus takes us to pai in the afternoon and we search around pai after dusk for accomodation.
grabbed some good thai food for dinner and hit up a nice mobile liquor bar for our kicks.
Oct 30th.
up late and grab breakfast. drop off our laundry before renting some motorbikes to tour around pai with. only a few close calls to speak of, we manage to get to a beautiful waterfall and a canyon only a few km from town.
had my worst pad thai experience when we hit up a booth style restaurant and my "chicken" pad thai came mixed with chopped up shrimp bits, heads, tails, shell....
washed it down with a kebab on the street and later snuck a midnight snack of chocolate banana roti that saved us from the doom of the 2 thai buckets we drank.
Oct 23rd.
our new guest house is run by a friendly crew who run their own cooking classes and jungle treks. danielle and i are immediately sold and we sign on for both. tomorrow is cooking and the day after we plan to do a 3-day trek.
with the afternoon we make our way to a temple that overlooks chiang mai from a mountainside. it is packed with tourists and the main attraction is an entirely gold spire in the centre of a square lind with statues and donation bowls.
danielle craved chickpeas and naan for dinner and we combed the streets until we came across the perfect place playing indian music and decorated with rock posters including kiss, jim morrison, zeppelin, etc.. danielle got her chickpeas and i the chicken korma... exquisite meal and we were stuffed and feeling great about life and our luck.
downed a couple of beers before making our way just down the street to see the heavily promoted local muay thai boxing match. the fighters were wirey and young but tenacious and brutal. we picked our boxers and wagered shots. from our front row spot we got the real experience with spray from the punches hitting us as the local fans yelled out in time with the landing blows.
Oct 24th.
thai cooking: our group of 7 travellers were escorted through the largest food market in chiang mai and introduced to the local produce. afterward we cooked a number of delicious dishes ourselves and were able to save them at the guest house to be warmed up later. the group consisted of the same people who signed up for the trek with us and we all took the opportunity to get acquianted and have a few laughs.
Oct 25th.
one of our comrades has fallen ill overnight (bad chef?) and we postpone the trip for a day. i take advantage by heading back to bed after breakfast and finishing jack kerouac's 'on the road' just as i came across catch 22 at the book swap here, which was on my list.
Oct 26th.
trek: day 1
after a 3 hour ride into the hills in north thailand we begin a 3 hour hike along a mountainous jungle ridgeline with spectacular views. came across some orchids, spiders and water buffalo along the way.
the hill tribe village was tiny and modest. there is no electricity but they do have running water and well built shacks.
our sarcastic guide, nai cooked a green curry for dinner and some squash with egg. after, the kids came to serenade us in return for various gifts we were advised to bring. between different thai songs, they sang happy birthday, jingle bells and even kumbaya. then their mothers descended on our table with all of their handicrafts of braclets and woven works for sale.
while we drank a beer i played a game of hearts with our new dutch friends and a goofy isreali girl who lost miserably.
Oct 29th.
trek: day 2
(chorus of rooster calls)
hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and a long day ahead of us. 4 hour trek with some big climbs and downhills but nothing compared to the gruelling hike we took on in malaysia. i spend alot of time chatting with nai about thailand and canada. i discover at lunch that i picked up a passenger stepping in a stream. the leech bite bled for about 20mins before it scabbed, but it reopened as soon as we stepped into the water again getting on our bamboo rafts.
rafting was exciting with our young tribal thai captain guiding us and signalling which direction to push with our long bamboo poles. it was all going very casual and smoothly until the raft slid half onto a rock a in a small set of rapids and we all clung to the high edge as the other side slid steeply under the water and then righted itself after the current pushed us over it. afterward we confessed it was a welcome shot of adrenaline.
the new village was more modern with a paved road, cold beer and some very curious children running around.
for dinner we devour a sweet and sour pork and curried potatoes. another market session ensued and our tired comrades headed to bed. danielle and i strike up a conversation with one of the hollanders about ethnicity and geopolitics.
Oct 28th.
trek: day 3
elephant ride after similar breakfast. our elephant is a delinquent old female who stops dozens of times and runs me through some nasty overhanging foliage (danielle somehow escaped incident on the left side).
next we're taken to an ancient cave with lots of interesting rock formations including stalactites and stalagmites. a sleepy hour ride back took us back to chiang mai to rest our heads but danielle made sure we were well fed as we headed back to the indian restaurant for more chickpeas.
Oct 29th.
as planned, we arise staggeringly early to give alms to the monks who roam the streets in the mornings with offering bowls. the apples and oranges seemed to go over well and we returned to our room for more shut-eye and end up checking out late. a bus takes us to pai in the afternoon and we search around pai after dusk for accomodation.
grabbed some good thai food for dinner and hit up a nice mobile liquor bar for our kicks.
Oct 30th.
up late and grab breakfast. drop off our laundry before renting some motorbikes to tour around pai with. only a few close calls to speak of, we manage to get to a beautiful waterfall and a canyon only a few km from town.
had my worst pad thai experience when we hit up a booth style restaurant and my "chicken" pad thai came mixed with chopped up shrimp bits, heads, tails, shell....
washed it down with a kebab on the street and later snuck a midnight snack of chocolate banana roti that saved us from the doom of the 2 thai buckets we drank.
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