Chang, Mai Favourite Beer
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2008
1
6
22
Trip End
May 06, 2008
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Sunday, March 2, 2008
We booked a load of stuff to do on teh first day, including a 2 day trek in the 'jungle' for about 13 quid! and we also booked a cookery course with the thai equivalent of Gorden ramsey...less foul mouthed though, swearing isnt a thai thing really.
That night we went to the Night Bazaar which was fun, im getting fantabulous at bartering, although its usually over about 15p which seems a bit mean when you think about it! Bought some stuff (i KNOW mum, durrr, i have to carry it around for 9 weeks or whatever, but i cant resist a bargain!) the people there are much more chilled than those of Bangkok, not shoving frogs in your face at all, which is nice.
The next day we went to see Wat Phra Singh, which we found and it was shut to tourists as young buddhist monks were doing exams-sukkers! we got chatting to the director of the uni who let us in. it was so nice to see the temples without there being millions of other people taking photos on 'continuous'. inside the main wat was cool and serene..we sat for a while before walking among some trees with exerpts from the dharma on. we had a general discussion about religion as we sat in the shade, feeling very philosophical. then had a nice chat with a woman in the loos.
we walked to the thai massage school, about 3km away, to find it had shut about 5 mins before we had arrived, but instead we booked a meal at the cultural centre, which was to be eaten sat on the floor. Then talked about what complete chumps we were to have paid to eat in a less inviting environment than usual. However, the food was continually replenished and we were shown some traditional thai dances. Holly and i Were invited on stage and got our thai groove on. very amusing.
That night there was a sunday market. where i bought more stuff. whoops.
Cookery school the next day.. it was AWESOME..have never eaten so much in my life, let alone cooken AND eaten my OWN stuff. YUM! so yes i will be taking bookings when i return. only real news from there is that i sliced my finger. the knife was so sharp i didnt notice til the ingredients for my green curry went a bit red! its fine though my nail is a strange shape!
The day after we did a 2 day jungle trek, it was amusing that our guide was much overweight and walked at the back. we had many breaks, which was good seeing as it was so goddam hot! got to the top of a hill/small mountain and the view was fabulous. We stayed with a hilltribe, slept on the floor, the three of us under a double mozzie net which was intimate to say the least. that night we danced around the campfire (sounds very cliche i know)- han got shown up by a 2 year old who made her dance on her own....hans dance, although meant to be tribal, looks like her usual clockwork dance- swaying with arms outstretched. she didnt do the usual gun slinging though (disappointing)..holly and i though this was hillarious. Had a kind of danceoff with the tribe, which was fun...did a bit of country dancing, and tried and failed the ol' cryptwalk...the previous night we had been practicing in the dirt in our flipflops when we noticed an auzzi lady in a minibus laugh and get the whole group to watch us. in true britsh fashion we carried on.
In the orther group there was an infuriatingly annoying canadian girl who was so Preppy and irritating, kind of a Jack Wills gal if youre familliar with the sort (bristol uni, outgoing, 'im really enthused so ill take over everything' sort of person...and if your thinking that sounds a bit like ME, then she wasnt. ok?) she bust some awful moves and also brought the MOST scabby gross dog into camp that i have ever seen. i named it SCABALICIOUS. it almost made me sick. she liked to pet it. hope she caught scabies or some dermal ailment.
After the breakfast of the 2nd day of the trek we went to an elephant sanctuary and rode Dumbodore (wittily named i think) for a while...holly had to sit on its head, as han and i got a comfy couch...i think her gluteals were well worked out after...then we rafted down the river on bamboo rafts and rubber dingys- predictably we all got pulled in.
Back to Chang Mai, we went out for drinks with the Europeans (our trek group consisted of Germans, Czechs and us)..we won the quiz at the hilltribe camp the night before and therefore decided we were intellectually superior. Was much fun, teh local beer, Chang is quite strong and comes in Large bottles, but we were careful as the next day we were going up the 500 twist road to the Hippy Central that is Pai. tHe others decided to join us, so we went back to the hostel, stopping only to get the party started at an Indy bar where a thai band were playing Franz Ferdinand. We went to bed and passed out, cursing the early wake up.
