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Published: January 27th 2007
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Here we go...it's time to test out the Blog site and see if my sucess rate with uploading pictures improves beyond that which I have had the luxury of experiencing.
Well, as I understand my last e-mail, which was sent from the hostel I stayed at in Bangkok was worth pretty much what I paid for the internet time I used to send it...nothing. The old adage, you get what you pay for rings true again. hahaha. In any case, Bangkok was terrible, a city so filthy and full of people that seemly hate life itself is not something that I have any desire to spend excessive time immersed in. There are just three things that I will happily take with me, authentic muay thai boxing, the Wat (temple) that housed the enormous reclining buddha, and chugging jager from a jager tap machine in the bustling district of Pat Pong. The air quality is the worst I have ever had the misfortune of breathing, you almost feels like you're suffocating just sitting on the street.
So enough of that...
After a long twelve hour, overnight bus ride from the Koh San road (backpacker nucleus), we, Sara, I, Austin
and Elliot (two guys from Vancouver we met on Koh Tao) arrived in Chaing Mai, the capital of the north. What a difference!!!!! As soon as we stepped of the bus it was if we had been transported from one planet to another...the air was fresh (cold, but fresh), and the people friendly. We jumped into a truck that took us into the center of the old city to a guest house approiately named "Nice Place 2" (as opposed to Nice Place 1...makes sense?!). There, exhausted from another magical bus ride we checked in to our rooms and signed up for a three day "Trek" through the northern mountains of Thailand bordering Myanmar and Laos (known fondly, as the 'golden triangle' region.
Sara and Elliot, oddly the only ones who slept on the bus ride, went to their rooms and collapsed...Austin and I decided that 9:00am might be a great time to explore some of this new city, especially the 'old city', bordered by decaying stone walls and a moat that conmpletes a perfect square. After wandering through a couple of ancient temples we thought 11:00am might be a great time to start a pub crawl of the many
expat/Thai bars that littered the perimeter of the old city. What a day!! That night, after a short meeting with the others in our trekking group we went out for a night on the town to get to know everyone we would be travelling/trekking with...4 girls from Sweden, 2 girls from Holland, a girl from Chicago and her boyfriend from Bermuda/Scotland. Austin and I ended up playing pool with a couple of Thai guys for 100 Baht a game and drinking Johnny Walker Black...I still haven't aquired that taste for Scotch, but when in Rome...hahaha.
Trekking was an incredible experience, backpacking through the hills from tribal village to village on trails wide enough to walk single file and no more. We spent three days and two nights eating the local cuisine, sometimes using just banana leaves as our plates, chasing wild/domesticated pigs with the local kids, riding elephants and rafting a river on bamboo. A truly surreal journey leaving all notions and conviences of the modern world behind. Our guide a Thai national who spoke the local tribal dialects was a former special forces border patrol solider, his name was Manit, but was adament that we call him Brad
Pitt. hahahaha. Needless to say a fun loving and entertaining addition to our group; at 49 years old he put many of the group to shame as we charged through the jungle terrain.
The last few days, I guess week, have been spent here in Chaing Mai wandering the markets, visiting temples, and spending late nights with the locals drinking Thai whiskey, playing pool, and listening to music. But as always it's time to move on, our two month visa is about to expire and there is more to see, so we leave, Sara and I with our new companions Austin and Elliot, for Laos tommorrow morning. A bus will take us from here to Chaing Klong, on the border of Laos; there we board a boat that will, over three days, take us into Laos...and from there, only time will tell.
The adventure continues...much love to all...I am about to post pictures on this blog, they'll range from Koh Phangan right up to our trek and Chaing Mai. I hope everyone is well, I miss you all.
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Caesar
non-member comment
Thanks
Jeff! Thanks very much for doing this bloggy-thingee. It's totally awesome to hear what you're going through and to see all the pictures. Very cool, man. I'm jealous, but happy for you...what an experience. I can't even fathom it. Take care, dude. Be careful in the land of little people.