Acting the Monkey!

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Arrived in Chang Mai safely, no worries at all. The first thing that struck me about the place was how commercial it was. Reminded me of a trip I took to America, with its Dairy Queens, KFC, McDonalds, big Cars and flat hot landscape.

The first night there we checked into our guesthouse, which was pretty dismal in comparison to the place we had stayed in Luang Prabang. The bed was broken, it was stuffy, the fan didn't work properly and it had its own unique aroma. It was best to avoid the room as much as possible so we dropped our bags and went out for some badly needed dinner.

There was a bit of tension in the group so we were kind of arguing about where we should go when we stumbled across a restaurant called House. Well, I will tell you we all felt like we had come home. We were treated like royalty and the setting was exquisite. The moody lighting was accentuated with glowing candles to create just the right kind of ambiance. There were rose petals scattered on our perfectly laid table. The service was impeccable, the staff arriving the exact moment that they were needed and then disappearing into the wood work. I went for the House Salad; the name really does not give this piece of art justice. It is a salad of beetroot, lettuce, goat’s cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, various nuts and seeds, homemade croutons and dollops of a delicious pumpkin puree. This was all washed down with a delicious fruity red wine, served at the perfect temperature in the perfect LARGE wine glass (I love big wine glasses-I think that it adds a bit more drama to the drink).

After such a fabulous meal we decided to go out for a few drinks to top off the whole night. You would think we would go to some posh place where brandies and cigars were the order of the day, but we ended up going to a grungy bar where they played Brit Pop Classics like The Clash. Unfortunately the night didn’t end well when the bar tried to sneakily put extra drinks on our tab, ended up having to fight to not be ripped off. It left us with a sour taste in our mouth, especially because it got me bickering with one of my friends in the group. The night ended up with him going home and me in tears sitting by the river burning the ear off another friend-yes I am such a female! The reason that I bring this up is because while we are sitting there and I am crying my eyes out about some stupid crap, this weird little Thai kid comes over to us and starts bothering us about something. Suddenly he disappeared off and returned a couple of minutes later with a live fish in his hands and was stuffing it in our faces!! I seriously think he was just trying to freak us out or something. How random is that, some kid stuffs a fish in your face at 2am in the morning in Chang Mai…don’t really know what he wanted, but us two both being vegetarians, didn’t want to hang around and saw it as a sign to hang up our boots and go to bed.

In the sober day of light all friendships were re-kindled and everything was hunky dory. It was my mom’s birthday so called her and had a little homesick moment. It is fantastic being on the road and I have loved every minute of it, but sometimes you just wish that your loved ones could see it all with you. That’s I guess why I started this blog, in the hopes that everyone could see the new things that I am seeing and explore the world with me. Unfortunately I haven’t been that good at keeping up to date (I am writing this from an apartment in Brisbane) but I was very good at keeping a journal so everything you read it is genuine, exactly how I felt about things at the time, as they happened.

I got a little side tracked there! That afternoon we went to go and see the fabulous Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. It is placed idyllically atop a hill overlooking the city of Chang Mai, here many Thai people come to pay and show their respects to Buddha. You have to walk up a few hundred steps, which in the heat is draining, but it is well worth it. When I got to the top I was embarrassed to realise that I had done the typical ignorant touristy thing and was dressed inappropriately. It had just slipped my mind and in the heat I find it difficult to wear anything more than a skirt and a t-shirt. Luckily for us, they are well used to it and had sarongs on the ready. We looked hilarious, definitely a good look on us haha! The views of the city from this high up were incredible, I also took time to just sit down and watch everyone praying and placing their offerings. Even though it was really busy, it was very peaceful and serene, it makes me think that I don’t take enough time out of my day to meditate and give thanks for all that I have. Something I hope to take with me when I leave Asia. That night we took it easy because we had signed up for a trip the next day.

Woke up early for the Flight of the Gibbon. We were given a safety briefing and shown our gear, including a harness, helmet and brake-if you can call a weedy looking bamboo V-shape a brake that is. We were harnessed up making both men and woman look like we had big ‘ahem’ packages if you know what I mean. They also gave us these terrible green helmets, whoever designs all this safety gear really doesn’t take into consideration that a girl has got look good! Haha! Then we were off to the luscious green Gibbon filled forests of Mae Kampong.

We attached ourselves one by one to the rope that hangs high in the canopy of the forest, I would hazard a guess that is has to be at least 60ft high if not taller. We then zipped through the forest, making our way speedily along the 2km track. It was exhilarating, having the wind in your hair, looking down on the forest that seemed to be miles below. It all came to an end too soon, would have loved to have continued on for hours, really felt like I was getting good at lunging myself off into the abyss, with nothing more than a bit of metal saving me from falling to my peril. Even managed to muster up a bit of style towards the end and didn’t look like a scared, white faced girl, clutching on for dear life. For the last stage of the day they let you abseil down one of the tall trees. You have the option of doing it seated or you can go face down. Of course I opted for the more daring position of face down so I had no choice but to see what was below me. I nearly shat myself, it was so high up and I had no control of the speed that I was being let down, it was brilliant! Nothing like letting a few hairs stand on end to have a bit of fun.

Chang Mai is also pretty famous for its market stalls. Thai people come from villages far and wide to sell their goods. We went to the night market to trawl the stalls for a good bargain. You can buy so much stuff, there is something for everyone: knock off dvds, fine silks, rip off labelled clothes, jewellery, lamps, home-wears and the list goes on. I love markets for their vibrancy, smells and noises, but really I’m not much of a shopper. On this occasion I just watched as the guys as they shopped their socks off. When we returned to Chang Mai later in the trip, I suddenly went all shopaholic and splurged on some badly needed clothes (by splurge I mean I spent about fifty euro). Not to mention the fabuluos foot massage we got to recuperate our tired feet. It was 45minutes of pure bliss! The woman had the hands of an angel, you don't realise how tired and weary your poor tootsies get carrying a heavy backpack and walking in flip flops!

I had a really enjoyable time here, but personally I think that Chang Mai is becoming too urban, I think in ten years time we barely recognise it, probably will be more akin to Bangkok. Its saving grace was the eclectic markets and the temple on the hill, other than that I was not enamoured with the place. I have to point out that although I have put the Flight of the Gibbon in this blog it is actually a couple of hours away from Chang Mai. After the city life, I was really eager to go to Pai to experience what is billed as the hippy escape of Thailand. Countryside and chilling out, two of my favourite combinations.

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Photos

The Gibbon
The only monkey we saw flying that day.

Comments

[JessOnTheGo]

Fishy fishy fishy
I can still smell that fish!!! And the salad...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm