Journals

As so often is the case with travel, today started with yesterday never really ending.  I was awakened before the sun rose by the halt of the bus, bright lights, sound and smell uniquely characteristic of Bangkok.  I stumbled off the bus, grabbed my bags, said a quick goodbye to Brandon, and then grabbed a tuk-tuk with Matt to the train station. We arrived at the station at about 5am, purchased tickets for a 2nd class cabin on the 8:30 train to Chiang Mai, sad around, had a donut, and people watched.  Eventually we got on the train which was fairly spacious with great service (much like flying coach class).  Spent some time talking to a couple from New Zealand who were on month five of a six month traveling journey.   We arrived in Chiang Mai and then hopped in the back of a truck to take us to a hostel.  During this transit period I somehow jacked up my foot.  I got this big cut in the side and it ended up swelling to about twice the size it normally is.  Being in a foreign land who knows what kind of infections you can attain.  But having traveled to various countries it’s almost standard procedure that you’re going to have at least one health related incident, so I just spent the rest of the night nursing it with hydrogen peroxide.  I then elevated it and drifted off to sleep. I woke up at our hostel (Winner Inn) and fortunately the swelling in my foot had significantly decreased.  Matt and I took off and walked through Chiang Mai where we had lunch at the Wok.  I had an excellent pork basil dish.  We then continued walking until we found a tuk-tuk driver, Ponchi, who offered to drive us around to various temples for a “very special price.”  Ponchi also took us to a fine jewelry store and an exotic carpet shop, where we quickly learned that he got a cut if we were to purchase anything.  I did end up buying a table cloth and some napkins for my mom.  We grabbed dinner and beers at a fairly nice local pub and then we headed to the Night Bazzar where we loaded up on CDs and shopped to the point of burn out.  Came back watched some horrible Vin Diesel flick and then went to sleep. The previous day we had signed up for an all day cooking class.  I’m not exactly sure why but it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Unfortunately we had to get up early to catch the bus for the Chiang Mai Cookery School.  We rode with about 15-20 other people to the chef’s house which was located in the suburbs of Chiang Mai.  The cooking class began with us learning how to garnish tomatoes and cucumbers.  For each course we were taught first in a classroom and then taken to the kitchen for actual practice.  As was expected there were many moments for us to sample our goods.  After it was all said and done we had learned six courses and received a ‘free’ cookbook with many others.  By the end of the day I was beat and didn’t care if I cooked another thing as long as I lived.  We went back into the city, grabbed some dinner, hit up the nigh bazaar and had a massage.  Had breakfast in the hostel’s first floor restaurant and discussed how we were going to find motorbikes to rent and cruise to a national park.  It took us a while to find someone willing to rent to foreigners as we had to walk down numerous streets and back alleys in downtown Chiang Mai.  We finally found someone who was willing to rent us a couple manual transmission bikes so we grabbed ‘em.  Spent a few minutes trying them out on some side streets and then we were off.  In Thailand road rules don’t apply.  Whether or not you follow the road markings is arbitrary.  It is truly a lesson in organized chaos.  We got out of the city and continued on our way through the countryside.  After about and hour and a half we made it to the national park.  Outside of a waterfall it wasn’t all that exciting.  It was so much more fun on the bikes so we took off.   The problem was our fuel level was decreasing and there were no petrol stations in sight.  I tried all sorts of maneuvers to conserve fuel until we finally found a petrol stop.  We returned to Chiang Mai during rush hour which was an adrenaline rush.  Weaving in and out of traffic, fully immersed with the locals, and dodging cars was an absolute blast, quite possibly my favorite part of the trip so far.  We returned, dropped off the bikes, and met up with these two other Americans, Jen and Aaron, whom we had befriended.