The Monsoon

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I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

-Douglas Adams

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Well I've been busy since the last post, too many bus rides. I rode two overnight busses from Koh Tao to Chiang Mai with a night stay in Bangkok. I stayed a night in Chiang Mai before meeting the prof. in Chiang Rai to do some trekking. We did a two day one night excursion into the jungles of Northern Thailand. The first day was nice and dry and the hiking wonderful as there was a tiny oasis underneath a waterfall along the way which we swam in. We arrived to the Lohu village that we were to stay the night end at around 5 p.m. and to our astonishment they were actually putting on a traditional dance that night. We later found out it was only because there were a group of students from a university in Bangkok there and that they never do this dance for any other reason, a phenomena known as staged authenticity. It was interesting to witness though. Our tour guide was incredibly handy. He took captive three giant bugs along the way which he ate as his lunch. He also was incredibly accurate with a slingshot, what he called a slingshoot. We didn't see any birds along the way but we watched as he picked off tree after tree because we couldn't believe he was this precise. He also had a machete which I think he used far too often and he kinda just had a fetish for it. Either that or he had a fetish for keeping the trails very tidy. Every minute or so he would stop and chop down something that really wasn't in our way at all. I also had the chance to see the largest centipede I've ever seen. It was at least 8 inches long and our guide cut his head off but it kept going. The head and the body just kept going as if nothing had happened. It was insane and gross. The views when we would come out of the jungle were amazing, similar to sapa but not quite as good. The next day of trekking found us passing by a spot where tourists come to ride elephants so I got to see some elephants. Pretty neat seeing them in their natural habitat even if they were not really wild. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, it started raining at around 6 a.m. that second day which was yesterday for me and has not stopped since hence the title. And when I say it hasn't stopped, it really has not even for a moment. Also, Chiang means elephant, so apparently when these cities were named there used to be a lot more elephants, now not so much. I plan on staying in Chiang Mai for a few days to get to know the place a bit better because it seems like a really nice place. Also I'll be seeing some Kenyon grads upon their return from Korea and Bangkok. Today is a Buddhist holiday as well as tomorrow so they are off traveling but will be back soon. I'm staying in a place that costs less than 3 bucks a night so I could basically stay forever but that is not the case, I'll be going to Laos via boat after my stay here so y'all look forward to hearing about a new country.

You can be in my dream if I can be in yours,
bnm

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Comments

[John]

Bugs, ewwwwww
Dude, centipedes freak me out, and now even more so knowing they can't be killed. Also I used to have a slingshot, you might like to know, and spent a whole summer trying to perfect my aim and range. It was impossible. I think one out of 20 times I would hit a can I set up from 15 feet away. Needless to say, I never killed, or struck, a bird. This place sounds so much like I would imagine it in an over-the-top cartoon. Hope you become resourceful enough to teach us all how to catch out insect lunch everyday.