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Published: November 28th 2005
In Thailand, as in many other parts of Southeast Asia, the feet are considered the lowest or the most unholy part of the body. It is extremely rude to point your feet at people, and common practice to remove shoes and sandals when entering into homes, shops and temples. After three months of trekking and traveling and general neglect, our feet were pushing the limits of acceptable in any country - regardless of attitudes toward the sanctity of the foot.
As I’ve entailed above my travel worn feet were by themselves enough to get a second look on the streets of Thailand. However, as if the foot gods were laughing at me I’d managed to acquire fresh new blisters in Bangkok and was wearing a small patch of pavement that I’d picked up in an unfortunate incident in Chiang Mai. Needless to say, I was feeling rather foot-conscious as we worked our way North through Thailand, and a new light was shed on my understanding of the saying “adding insult to injury”.
As mentioned I had decided to skip out on the beach party and headed north to another festival being held in the Northern Thailand province of Chiang
Mai, where the annual 'Loy Crating' celebration (festival of lights) was being held also on the full moon. Northern version of the festival entails two main rituals: the launching of hot air "lantern balloons" and the release of decorated flower arrangements set on bamboo or banana tree floats, which are lit and set off down the river.
Tradition says that when the hot air balloons are set adrift, so are the wishes and troubles of the people who launched the balloon. This sounded good to me so I teamed up with an Australian boy I’d met to send our wishes off into the sky. The launching went flawlessly and we decided to also set banana tree floats off down the river. According to the locals, completing this ritual means all the sins of the previous year would float away...it sounded too good to be true and in fact it was. My bamboo float began tipping dangerously as soon as I released it and despite many attempts to re-stabilize it, the little flowered float never regained its balance. I heard it sizzle as the candle made contact with the water and then it bobbed away upside down, disappearing into the
night. I guess I’ll have to keep looking for other ways to lighten my karmic load!
After a week traveling solo days, Lindsay and I reunited in Chiang Mai. After a day of catching up and planning our next move we set off on an overnight venture (along with Deb and Susan) into the Thailand jungle on a trek organized by a local travel company. We had our reservations; the elephant riding and guarantee of an ‘isolated experience’ seemed a little too staged and packaged.
Regardless, we set off and really enjoyed the experience. However, in the future we would recommend travelers to avoid any version of white-water rafting on any of Thailand’s rivers unless the rafting guide a) speaks a language that most can understand b) appears to have some experience in rafting and c) can guarantee lifejackets and paddles for the whole journey. If any of these crucial ingredients are missing you have been warned and we wish you luck. We were lucky: maybe our mid rafting prayers led by Deborah (mainly in the form of Kumbaya) were heeded.
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Leonel
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Good Elephants/Poor Feet
Great story and, as ususal,superb recounting of the events. I love the picture of the elephants, my all-time favourite animal! Your feet need the quick intervention of a pedicurist...but it's all part of the experience. It's cool to see and read your experiences. Bring them on ! Take care and soak your feet, woman !!