a bit of catchup

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So,
I read a quote recently that said something like "The hardest task
to complete is the one that you have not yet begun", and that kind
of pertains to this email. Through a combination of being lazy, and
being in places without internet, i haven't written in too long and
now find myself with the daunting task of catching up of the last
two weeks. Crap, this is going to be long. Sorry.
So, i ended off my last email in Pai. I spent a total of 6 days
there, and the last few were spent enjoying the Laygatong festival
where there's partying at night, and sending these huge
lantern/hot-air balloons into the sky. Good times of course, but by
the end of my time, i was ready to move on and get back to the
quiet life. Early to bed, early to rise and get out during the day.
Not, late to bed, late to rise, and bumble around and deal with the
hangover. But that's Pai. Grat place.
Next stop was hopefully to be Mae Salong, but it entailed two buses
and two sawngthiaws (pick-up truck things) to get there. I left a
bit late in the morning (hungover) and ended up making it as far as
Tha Thon, i had gotten the first two buses, and one sawngthiaw
before transportation shut down for the day. Almost got stranded
after the first bus ride because all the money i had was in big
bills, and no one ever seems to have any change, let alone break a
1000baht bill to pay for a 12baht bus ride. So, it was a partially
sticky situation because even though i had plenty of money, i might
as well have had no money if the can't break this big bill. But,
luckily 7-11 was to be found, and they are one place that does have
change. So, that got sorted well.
Tha Thon was a little place that i intended to only spend one
night, and then continue up to Mae Salong, which wasn't too far
away. But over dinner i got talking to a couple other people who
told me some things to do and see in Tha Thon, and it seemed good,
so i decided to stay for a couple days. The followin day, a
swiss-german girl and i rented a motorbike and went to Mae Salong
for the day. This is the first time that i've used my rain jacket.
40 minutes up winding mountain roads with a light rain. a bit
chilly and foggy, so i missed out on some nice views, but still a
good time. Mae Salong is supposed to be more like a chinese village
than a thai village, and it was a bit different, but i've never
been to a chinese village, so i can't really say. They did have
lots of tea there though. So, that was a decent day. Lots of bike
riding, stopped in a little village where chickens and pigs and
dogs run around, and met some nice little hill tribe ladies. a bit
of a tourist trap as there's stands set up with mass produced
jewlerry, but nice nonetheless.
the next day, and the highlight of why i stayed, was the monkey
refuge. I was told of a privately run monkey refuge that you can
visit, so of course i did. It was a neat place, run by an aussie
lady, and maintained mostly by four thai guys ranging in age from
14-20, i'm guessing. A little over 20 monkeys, all macaques, and
one gibbon. A lot of the monkeys came from Burma, as we were right
near the border, and unlike thailand who have killed off a lot or
their monkeys, burma is just still in the process, so they get some
injured or orphaned monkeys that people bring in. They start biting
people at around 5 years of age, so until they're that old, they
just run free. So, in this out of the way set place, surrounded in
jungle, there was about 4 young monkeys running around free and
getting up to young monkey trouble. I 'casually' mentioned that i
was an animal nurse, and she let me stay for the day and see how it
runs and help hose out monkey cages. there was about 4 large large
cages that house 3 - 4 monkeys, when they're not fastened to a long
leash and zip line by their waist for some space and a change of
scenery. Ya, make sure you don't go within the limits of the adult
monkeys leash. I was just walking along when one of the kids says
"watch out" and i look over to see this adult monkey flying at me,
ready to bring the pain, when last second (or less) his waist leash
caught and stopped him. His fingers grazed the sleeve of my
sweater, he almost got me, and i don't think he wanted a hug. So,
heads up me! The baby monkeys were cute. Running around, sitting on
you shoe and holding onto you leg when you walk, or they just climb
up your pants and arms to get to your shoulders. I got to hang out
and feed them bananas and oranges, and they sat on my shoulders and
groomed my hair. I got invited back the next day to help give some
de-wormer, which is just a paste that they can eat, but she asked
if i would come back because she wanted a double check on her
doses. More monkey playing? I said okay. I went back the next day
and helped with that, and it was again a good time. The thai guys
who did everything were good guys/kids, and one of them had fairly
good english, so i spent most of my time hanging out with these
guys. All four of them lived on the property. Kind of sad, however,
is that i think i pieced together that these kids were from Burma.
I asked one of them how long he had been in Tha Thon and he said 8
years. He was 15 so that means since he was 7. I asked where he
lived before that, and he said "somewhere over there" and pointed
at Burma. So, this place was did not only have monkey refugees, but
a few kids too. The one kid had lived at the refuge since he was 7.
where are his parents? Did they escape Burma? Did he leave them
behind? So, this kid, and the others, all escaped burma, where
they're either shot by their own government, or put into forced
labour camps. It's ironic too that they're taking care of monkeys
that come over the border after they've been shot or orphaned when
these kids have suffered the same fate as them also. I got invited
to go back for a week when the head lady has to leave the country
for a week to get a new visa for thailand, and she wants someone to
help look after the place! So, we'll see how it works out, but
hopefully i can go back hang out some more!
After Tha Thon was Chiang Rai, a nice-ish place, but there wasn't a
whole lot to do, so i didn't stay there too long. A few nice
temples, a river, a big night bazaar, but after that, not much. I
did get really lost one night though, but that's okay, cuz
motorcycle taxis are never far away, so i just tried to find my way
until i had to just get a motorcycle taxi. In this small city, i
ended up 5 km away from where i wanted to find. Good sense of
direction.
Onto Laos! crossed the border up north into a little place called
Huay Xai, where you stay one night and then set of down the Mekong
River for 2 days on a slow boat to luang Prabang. I bussed to Huay
Xai with a canadian guy from Prince George, and we shared a room in
Huay Xai. The next morning we met an american guy and a german who
were going on the boat with us, so we went together. The boat was
quite big. Long and narrow, maybe 60 person capacity? So, around
80-90 people on the boat. Just sit on wooden bench seat and cruise
down the Mekong. pretty nice. Mainly westerners on the boat as Laos
people go on the fast boat, or bus. The first day was a bit more
gung ho as it's the first day on the boat, and the Beer Laos was
flowing. We kept faily low key, but a group of irish guys were
givin'er and one of them ended up stumbling blind drunk, passing
out in the aisle, and frustrating his girlfriend to the point of
tears. Funny to watch a bit. Fist overnight was in Pak Beng, a
picturesque place on the river, but mainly just there as a stop for
the first night. Had a nice dinner, fell asleep to the sound of a
generator outside my window as that's how they get their
electricity.
To Luang Prabang! What a neat place. When arrived, the 5 of us (me,
canadian, american, german, and american girl) got a guesthouse, at
a reasonble $2/night, and went and had dinner by the river and
watched the sun set. Pretty good. The city itself is amazing. laos
has a history of french occupation, so this place was like
southeast asia with some europe mixed in. Still kind of cramped,
but more spaced out than other places, european style houses,
french and itlian restaurants, cafes with good coffee and pastry.
Very different, very neat. Had about 4 days there. at night we'd
find some dinner, and then head to a couple bars and have some
drinks. But never too late as Laos is supposed to shut down at
midnight, so last call was 11:30, and then closes at 12. Had a
veggie burger which was delicious. On the whole, there wasn't a lot
to do in luang prabang, but it was just a great place to hang out
and just wander the town. a few nice temples that you have to walk
up like 300 steps to get to and then you get a great view, and also
had little places like a used book shop with a cafe and balcony
where you can just relax and sip coffee and read.
Overall, very cool little place that i think is pretty unique.
well, that's it for now. I can't write anymore, and am not really
feeling the writing thing right now. But that's a bit closer to
where i am now (vang vieng), so i'll write the rest in a couple
days.
Hope everyone is doing well,
bye for now
mark

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