Rambo Country
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2008
1
6
12
Trip End
Aug 19, 2008
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
We ended up at a cheap little restaurant, which looked great from the outside, but where it turns out that old white dudes take their young Thai chicks. We were glad that Susan doesn't look that Asian, otherwise that could've been.. awkward. Susan got her new all-time favorite: "big noodles" with chili peppers and pork, while Nick went for a "basic" dish of basil pork and rice. He made the huge mistake of trying some of the peppers from a fairly large bowl on the table, thinking that if it's in a big bowl it can't be that spicy (think of say, the salsa bowls at Mexican restaurants as a guide). He did decide that he needed rice with it, however, and proceed to pour it all over Susan's rice totes ruining it. Luckily, she was already fed and therefore she didn't inflict any permanent damage upon him. On our walk, we saw a pad thai stand that served its food in giant banana leaves, so we just had to stop. Susan taught Nick the proper way to use chopsticks (how Asian of her!), and then she took a picture of him doing her classic "I'm about to devour this and couldn't be more delighted" face. He's got a little work to do, but he'll get it eventually. Practice makes perfect, as Susan well knows.
CM is a fairly big city surrounded by a moat, with the most farang and motorbikes we've ever seen. We don't really know where the Thai people chill, but we can tell you that it is not anywhere near us; we think they hide when we come near. Other than that though, it is a fun city with some interesting activities nearby. We went to a market along the moat to show off our budding bargaining skills and even got one guy to call his boss on his cell phone to ask if he could give us a lower price. We're pretty sure he wasn't saying nice things about us, but we got our price (something pricey like $3) and were satisfied.
We returned to our hostel to meet up with Justin and T around 6 pm. T is taking a two week massage course and looked extremely relaxed... and exhausted. Supposedly, getting practice massages all day is just sooo tiring. Poor T. He soon went home to sleep for the next 14 hours, but a little while later we met up with Justin and a few friends he had met on the night bus. We ventured over to CM's famous night market, home to food, designer knock-offs, souvenirs, and more designer knock-offs. After a failed attempt to eat at the food court ("We finished. Sorry." "What - isn't this a night market?") - we ended up at some restaurant that farang flock to like bugs to light. It wasn't too pricey, though, and Susan got some spareribs with pineapple and Nick had a delicious chicken stir fry thingy. Susan also got mango with sticky rice, a Northern Thai specialty, which was absolutely incredible. After a brief elephant encounter (we, meaning Susan, love those!), we jumped into the back of a pickup truck (a totes legit type of transportation here), and headed towards the bars. We didn't stay for long, however, as we all had to be up early for a cooking class the next morning. We are all going to an organic farm out in the countryside for an entire day of learning how to make and then devouring Thai food. We are so excited!
