When planning my two weeks in Thailand, people advised me that I had two options: either head south to the relaxing beaches, or north to trek among the jungle's hill tribe villages. Similarly to my other travel-planning decisions, the only deterring factor I really considered was the possibility of encountering snakes in wild jungles... so I have to sheepishly admit that from the get-go, I was hesitant about the north. However, thank goodness that I was emboldened by my fellow travelers to go for it and jungle-trek, since I'm a bit "beached out" after Fiji and Australia (if that's even a possibility). So, I'm now in Northern Thailand in the second largest city of Chiang Mai, and I couldn't be happier about my decision! Plus, I figure I can always come back to Thailand to explore the southern beaches some day. :)
I was promised a more relaxed atmosphere, cheaper prices and a wealth of diverse activities in Chiang Mai, and it certainly didn't disappoint! After arriving at my Little Bird Hostel on Thursday and meeting up with my English friend Rosie, I wandered down random streets to find a spicy soup and rice lunch from people who didn't speak a word of English. $0.90 later, I found myself in my spicy-food-induced "Cassie happy place," which has seemed to be the major theme of my Thailand adventure so far. :) There was this crazy "Asian Idol" TV show on in the outdoor patio area where I was eating with the locals, and I played for about 20 minutes with a little Thai boy, imitating the singers to make each other laugh, to his parents' amusement-- it was really sweet. Then, I visited a beauty shop for a quick $1.25 eyebrow wax, and was a bit startled when the mother of the 14 year-old girl who was treating me began to take photos of us. I didn't think anything of it, until at the end I realized that the girl had 6 fingers on each hand! I was seriously impressed at her dexterity since she'd handled the hot wax with no problem, but even more so at Thai culture which deams it totally acceptable for a 12-fingered person to touch faces for a living. Go Thailand! :) (Did I mention I love Thailand?)
Back at my hostel, Rosie and I met up with 3 Australian girls and a German guy named Daniel to take a sawngthaew-- basically an enclosed, open-reared truck with benches in the back that serves as a public taxi-- toward the night market for dinner. After a delightful meal of dumplings, pizza, beer, laughter and a few geckos crawling on my friend's leg (AHH), we split ways to check out the market. 3 hours, a backpack full of clothes and jewelry, and $120 later, I finally detached myself from the hundreds of souveniers and food stalls to tuk-tuk home, where I finally met up with my long-lost dinner gang. I was relieved to find that I wasn't the only one who had gone a little crazy and spent too much, and we had a show-and-tell session of our wares, taking turns lamenting what we'd bought and validating how great each item was, before hitting the hay.
The next day-- Friday-- was pretty lax, as Rosie and I made our travel plans for our trekking adventure into the northern jungles and took a day trip to the temples of Doi Suthep. It's a short sangthaew ride to the western mountains of the city, and the temples comprise the holiest shrine in northern Thailand. The whole place was beautiful, holy, and similar to the Grand Palace, except that you had to climb 5 flights of serpent-lined stairs to see it. We met (another) really nice German guy named Daniel who accompanied us back to our hostel, and later met up with us for dinner at the Night Market. We feasted on Tom Yum soup, pineapple fried rice served in a pineapple, fish and shrimp cakes, chicken satay and veggie spring rolls... again, I couldn't have been happier. We then perused the night market a second time, where the Europeans constantly teased me for my second bout of American consumerism. All I can say is-- oh well! I've been skrimping for 6 weeks and looking forward to this, and I'm happy with what I've bought, so no regrets, right? ;)
The next morning was Saturday, and I finally got on a bus to go on my jungle trek! As I mentioned, these are a big deal in Chiang Mai, and I had chosen a 3-day, 2-night trek which included 4 hours of hiking per day, locally-prepared meals, staying with villagers in bamboo huts, an elephant ride and white-water-river-rafting, all for a meager $60. Right away I hit it off with a few folks in my van-- 20-somethings James from London, and Lucie and her new husband Menu from southern France. James cracked me up when he said he'd looked into buying an Indiana Jones hat for the trek, and how he had the soundtrack stuck in his head (it never really got out of our heads after that). Much to my dismay, my new friends were doing a 2-day trek, and the 3-day trek group was made up of a family of 13 French-only speakers who barely acknowledged my presence. Lucie convinced me that I should go ahead and switch groups, and it worked out much better!
The two days felt like a week, as we trekked through the jungle with our tour guide Jo. We'd walk through the green jungle for hours on end, stopping occasionally to learn about the medicinal uses of endemic plants, explore bat caves, or tenuously cross a stream on a bridge built of vines and branches. That night we slept in a bamboo hut and hung out by the campfire telling stories and singing the drinking songs of our respective countries (I sang "El Rey", to show my honorary Mexican pride). :)
The next day was more action-packed, with tons of different activities lined up. It began with an hour-long walk to a waterfall, which was my favorite part of the trek, since we were able to jump from a rock into a natural pool thirty feet below! It was really exhilirating, and every bit as good as bungee jumping. Then after another short walk, I got to ride an elephant! Two other people were perched on a little platform on his back, but I actually straddled its neck and grasped onto some ropes in a struggle not to fall off. I'd actually ridden an elephant before at the Orange County Fair when I was little, but this was a completely different experience. The elephant trainers carried long hooked sticks which they prodded into the elephants' backs and chests in order to get them to move, and though you could tell that the elephants were used to this and were decently taken care of, I felt really bad for them. I grasped the most tender part of the elephant that I could-- the gentle folds behind their ears-- and I know this sounds really corny, but I tried to send it love. It felt really peaceful, and brought me right back to making eye-contact with dolphins in New Zealand, and again I startled myself at how much I love communing with animals and nature during my trip.
Later on in the afternoon, though our group was tired and ready for a shower, we got to go river-rafting and bamboo rafting. Like our other activities, it felt pretty inauthentic and touristy, but was fun nevertheless. My boat was comprised of James from London and two Canadian girls, so we knick-named ourselves "Canengus" (despite the fact that it sounds like an STI), and cheered ourselves on as we competitively paddled down the rapids, splashing and passing nearby boats along the way. We had a great time! A few hours later, back in Chiang Mai, I met up with James, Lucie and Manu for dinner. We'd hoped to find a karoake place, since we'd been singing Indiana Jones- and jungle-related music during our whole adventure, but settled for Bob Marley and had a fun last night out together.
Today's my last day in Chiang Mai, and it's been so relaxing that I'm again glad that I chose the two-day trek instead of three days of trying to learn French. I got a pedicure and massage in the morning, checked out local shops, and ate delicious fried chicken from the street. In a few hours I'll catch a 6pm bus back to Bangkok, and then a 7am bus to Siam Reap, Cambodia, site of the ancient Ankgor Wat temples! All in all it will be a 24-hour ride, but at least I have my new book about the Cambodian genocide, First They Killed My Father by Luong Ung, to keep me company. I'm sad to leave Northern Thailand, but I'm committed to coming back... and next time I want to rent a motorcycle to get away from all the tourists! And hey... it'll totally go well with my killer tattoo. ;) Wish me luck in Cambodia!
I was promised a more relaxed atmosphere, cheaper prices and a wealth of diverse activities in Chiang Mai, and it certainly didn't disappoint! After arriving at my Little Bird Hostel on Thursday and meeting up with my English friend Rosie, I wandered down random streets to find a spicy soup and rice lunch from people who didn't speak a word of English. $0.90 later, I found myself in my spicy-food-induced "Cassie happy place," which has seemed to be the major theme of my Thailand adventure so far. :) There was this crazy "Asian Idol" TV show on in the outdoor patio area where I was eating with the locals, and I played for about 20 minutes with a little Thai boy, imitating the singers to make each other laugh, to his parents' amusement-- it was really sweet. Then, I visited a beauty shop for a quick $1.25 eyebrow wax, and was a bit startled when the mother of the 14 year-old girl who was treating me began to take photos of us. I didn't think anything of it, until at the end I realized that the girl had 6 fingers on each hand! I was seriously impressed at her dexterity since she'd handled the hot wax with no problem, but even more so at Thai culture which deams it totally acceptable for a 12-fingered person to touch faces for a living. Go Thailand! :) (Did I mention I love Thailand?)
Back at my hostel, Rosie and I met up with 3 Australian girls and a German guy named Daniel to take a sawngthaew-- basically an enclosed, open-reared truck with benches in the back that serves as a public taxi-- toward the night market for dinner. After a delightful meal of dumplings, pizza, beer, laughter and a few geckos crawling on my friend's leg (AHH), we split ways to check out the market. 3 hours, a backpack full of clothes and jewelry, and $120 later, I finally detached myself from the hundreds of souveniers and food stalls to tuk-tuk home, where I finally met up with my long-lost dinner gang. I was relieved to find that I wasn't the only one who had gone a little crazy and spent too much, and we had a show-and-tell session of our wares, taking turns lamenting what we'd bought and validating how great each item was, before hitting the hay.
The next day-- Friday-- was pretty lax, as Rosie and I made our travel plans for our trekking adventure into the northern jungles and took a day trip to the temples of Doi Suthep. It's a short sangthaew ride to the western mountains of the city, and the temples comprise the holiest shrine in northern Thailand. The whole place was beautiful, holy, and similar to the Grand Palace, except that you had to climb 5 flights of serpent-lined stairs to see it. We met (another) really nice German guy named Daniel who accompanied us back to our hostel, and later met up with us for dinner at the Night Market. We feasted on Tom Yum soup, pineapple fried rice served in a pineapple, fish and shrimp cakes, chicken satay and veggie spring rolls... again, I couldn't have been happier. We then perused the night market a second time, where the Europeans constantly teased me for my second bout of American consumerism. All I can say is-- oh well! I've been skrimping for 6 weeks and looking forward to this, and I'm happy with what I've bought, so no regrets, right? ;)The next morning was Saturday, and I finally got on a bus to go on my jungle trek! As I mentioned, these are a big deal in Chiang Mai, and I had chosen a 3-day, 2-night trek which included 4 hours of hiking per day, locally-prepared meals, staying with villagers in bamboo huts, an elephant ride and white-water-river-rafting, all for a meager $60. Right away I hit it off with a few folks in my van-- 20-somethings James from London, and Lucie and her new husband Menu from southern France. James cracked me up when he said he'd looked into buying an Indiana Jones hat for the trek, and how he had the soundtrack stuck in his head (it never really got out of our heads after that). Much to my dismay, my new friends were doing a 2-day trek, and the 3-day trek group was made up of a family of 13 French-only speakers who barely acknowledged my presence. Lucie convinced me that I should go ahead and switch groups, and it worked out much better!
The two days felt like a week, as we trekked through the jungle with our tour guide Jo. We'd walk through the green jungle for hours on end, stopping occasionally to learn about the medicinal uses of endemic plants, explore bat caves, or tenuously cross a stream on a bridge built of vines and branches. That night we slept in a bamboo hut and hung out by the campfire telling stories and singing the drinking songs of our respective countries (I sang "El Rey", to show my honorary Mexican pride). :)
The next day was more action-packed, with tons of different activities lined up. It began with an hour-long walk to a waterfall, which was my favorite part of the trek, since we were able to jump from a rock into a natural pool thirty feet below! It was really exhilirating, and every bit as good as bungee jumping. Then after another short walk, I got to ride an elephant! Two other people were perched on a little platform on his back, but I actually straddled its neck and grasped onto some ropes in a struggle not to fall off. I'd actually ridden an elephant before at the Orange County Fair when I was little, but this was a completely different experience. The elephant trainers carried long hooked sticks which they prodded into the elephants' backs and chests in order to get them to move, and though you could tell that the elephants were used to this and were decently taken care of, I felt really bad for them. I grasped the most tender part of the elephant that I could-- the gentle folds behind their ears-- and I know this sounds really corny, but I tried to send it love. It felt really peaceful, and brought me right back to making eye-contact with dolphins in New Zealand, and again I startled myself at how much I love communing with animals and nature during my trip.
Later on in the afternoon, though our group was tired and ready for a shower, we got to go river-rafting and bamboo rafting. Like our other activities, it felt pretty inauthentic and touristy, but was fun nevertheless. My boat was comprised of James from London and two Canadian girls, so we knick-named ourselves "Canengus" (despite the fact that it sounds like an STI), and cheered ourselves on as we competitively paddled down the rapids, splashing and passing nearby boats along the way. We had a great time! A few hours later, back in Chiang Mai, I met up with James, Lucie and Manu for dinner. We'd hoped to find a karoake place, since we'd been singing Indiana Jones- and jungle-related music during our whole adventure, but settled for Bob Marley and had a fun last night out together.Today's my last day in Chiang Mai, and it's been so relaxing that I'm again glad that I chose the two-day trek instead of three days of trying to learn French. I got a pedicure and massage in the morning, checked out local shops, and ate delicious fried chicken from the street. In a few hours I'll catch a 6pm bus back to Bangkok, and then a 7am bus to Siam Reap, Cambodia, site of the ancient Ankgor Wat temples! All in all it will be a 24-hour ride, but at least I have my new book about the Cambodian genocide, First They Killed My Father by Luong Ung, to keep me company. I'm sad to leave Northern Thailand, but I'm committed to coming back... and next time I want to rent a motorcycle to get away from all the tourists! And hey... it'll totally go well with my killer tattoo. ;) Wish me luck in Cambodia!
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