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Published: December 15th 2006
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Temple
The sacred white elephant actually carried this thing before it keeled over and died. I woke up after my nightmarish ride north from Malaysia on Kho San road, just north of Bangkok's Chinatown. We checked into our cheap Israeli hostel and completed various big city errands. After a good solid night of catching up on sleep my brother and I headed out to the airport to pick up our mother. Through some manner of devious misfortune, my dear mom somehow voided her 53 year run of living life without any broken bones, by wiping out on black ice 4 hours before her flight to Thailand in a valiant last minute attempt to exercise before engaging in her trans-pacific jaunt. However, through some good luck (if you can call it that), she managed to get a cast and make her flight (the logistics of which are still not known to me) and arrived in Bangkok pumped to ride elephants, shop, see her offspring and skin dive.
James and I got her settled into her hotel and the next day we all returned to pay a small visit and lounge by her pool all day. Later, we decided to take the plunge and "Put on the Ritz" at a local tailor shop where mom bought my
Orchids
I'm told they're "flowers". Plus, if the King of Thailand likes them then so do I! brother and I new suits. Having custom tailor made suits was quite an experience, both getting fitted and picking out styles and materials. The entire process is now classified as something I both want, and not want to repeat in my life. With hundreds of materials and what I can only guess to be thousands of style options, the entire afternoon left me pale and empty, far worse than the worst tortures I can imagine. While they didn't have any top hats, horse carriages, canes with globes and capes, I did manage to leave quite satisfied. The entire suit purchasing experience is a multi-day endeavor and the next day brought us back for a fitting of the suits, hosted by some horribly sleep deprived man who had clearly been up all night trying to prepare our outfits. I have picked up my suit now, with three shirts and four ties, and I must admit I surprised even myself, with a real haircut I might even look normal again one day.
The next night James and I went back to the airport to pick up my sister, who decided to come visit her brothers and family during her Christmas break
Inside the Temple
I tried so, so hard, but after yelling and throwing stuff at him I just couldn't get his attention. from school in Ohio. It was sheer pleasure to see her again after nearly 15 months. Though it was so late at night we didn't really have time to begin catching up, we all decided to take a trip further north to the lovely city of Chiang Mai. We all embarked on an overnight bus where members of the voyage had mixed reactions and levels of success in falling asleep. We then decided to splurge a little bit and stay at the same hotel as my mom this time, which was a very pleasant experience indeed. Days were spent trying to bridge the gap between drunken backpackers (us) and elderly women drinking tea in the courtyards. I'm fairly certain we won.
Jord and I then decided to attempt our fate in a Thai cooking class. It was a very ambitious plan, and rushed decision which turned out better than we both expected. After getting off our overnight bus, some hour or so later we were in a cooking school with mortars and pestles reliving all the smells of India that one would actually desire to recollect. We made a delightful coconut pork curry, a fish dish which we both
Family Reunion
From left to right: Brother Jamez, sister Jodie, Jason the Chip Lush and cousin Jordan "Crooked Nose" Blanchet. ate (but hate admitting it), sweet and sour vegetables, a chicken curry, a glass noodle salad of sorts plus sticky rice pudding. All were a smashing success, and I hope everybody back home doesn't get their hopes up because our chances of successfully recreating any of the aforementioned concoctions are close to zero percent.
Then, our first night in Chiang Mai started off with a goodbye party of sorts, which found us celebrating the end of a rather adventurous episode in our lives, some 400+ days after it began. Due to all kinds of plans and arrangements, this was the last night the three original journeymen would be drunk together. Many cheers were had and a successful night of crashing various parties ensued, restaurants and cafe's both fell to our offensive behavior and getting on-stage with go-go dancers and raiding their change rooms brought things to a final close. Later that night we would learn of an epic food stop called "Mike's" where through some technology yet to be invented, we fit 6 adults in a single tuk-tuk and all lived to tell about it. It was certainly a special night for me anyhow, given the good fortune to
The Chef
Rob Fenie better watch his back. Props to photographer Jord for capturing cleavage in the background, I'm not entirely sure what he was aiming at with my camera, but I think he got the best of both worlds. spend a crazy night on the town with my two journey brethren for a final time, along with my brother, sister and that kid named T-Bone.
The following day was much a haze, I remembered coming home on the tuk-tuk, laughing at Ryan because he got sick, and after that waking up at some kind of elephant farm (probably similar in nature to the dog farms Steve found past Abbotsford), I guess my mom was dead serious when she said we'd leave at 7 am, and in my sleep I commuted to our vehicle and woke up outside of town. Later that day we visited a forest of flowers, a zoo and an ancient temple. I finally got to see my tigers even though they were in captivity. The day was a blast as hung-over as we all were, it worked out great given my mom was a bit slower with her leg and we were hindered by our heavy heads.
The flower garden was quite interesting, I hadn’t seen such bright flowers and so many of them ever before in my life, and the zoo was pretty cool but I must admit I prefer to see the
Changes
So many unpredictable things have happened in the last 14+ months on the road, somehow it looks like I've barely made it out of a P.O.W. camp alive, yet Ryan looks like he's training to become a sumo wrestler. animals in the wild much more (especially the Lions). So, after a day full of activities we then spent much time in the gardens below our hotel playing “Go”, reading and also enjoying Jodie’s early Christmas gift(s). That afternoon Trevor and I took an epic trip across town to the coveted restaurant mentioned earlier named Mike’s where burgers grow on trees and ice-cream floats drift past you while Steak Sandwiches sing from the greasy banks in wonderlust hand in hand with the double dipped onion rings in cheese tuxedos. To say Mike’s is the greatest restaurant in the world since Chubby’s in Santa Cruz is an understatement.
After a terrifying night bus back to Bangkok where my legs went numb and hardly any sleep at all, we rendezvou’d with Ryan and filled his bag (and more!) with dozens of pounds of stuff to bring back home to Vancouver. Thanks buddy! Hope the extra weight doesn’t break your budget! He’ll be returning to Vancouver with all our love and Christmas wishes to both the Lang and B$G families, before returning in time for New Years with us in Thailand. We’ll keep the Changs on ice for him.
Finally, our
The Tailor
Mom helps me pick out a suit and some shirts from her captain's chair. next stop is a triumphant return to Kho Tao where I’m told
Spark has been waiting patiently and putting the final touches on a birthday party for me on the 18th. I hope he’s cleaned up his act a little bit so I can introduce him to Mom.
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Jackie
non-member comment
suits you sir
you did not want to be getting measured for that suit at the size you are now 'cos that won't last when you get home!