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Published: March 25th 2009
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Fitting...
The first place I go to in Bangkok. Northern Thailand kind of reminds me of home (Colorado that is) whereas Bangkok kind of reminds me of Tijuana. That's where I am now, up North, Chiang Mai to be exact just arriving back from a 3 day trek through the jungle. I'll rewind. Spent my first few days in eccentric Bangkok being the ultra-tourist. Saw many of the city sights via tuk-tuk and boat canal including various temples, markets and the Grand Palace. Stayed on Khao San Road in Banglampuu with Shelley, a girl I met in the airport late Tuesday evening upon arrival into Thailand. Shelley is from Brisbane, Australia and was only visiting Bangkok for a couple of days on her way through to Nepal for a month long trek and then she's on to India, Minnesota and possibly Mexico. I've only been here a week and it seems everyone has a story, an "idea" of where they are going and some amazing tales of where they've been... which is why I spent my first night in Bangkok completely sleepless lying there thinking of where I want to go next. I needed a good slap, you are where you are going next! I've got nearly 6 months. So
Shelley and I shared a cab to Khao San Road, and also a "cell" for a couple of nights and she joined me in checking things off of the tourist brochure in our heads (street vendor food eating competition, hour long Thai massage, viewing of the prominent sex market that seems to be all around, Chang Beer, etc). I left Shelley on the third evening to catch an overnight train north to Chiang Mai where I'm spending a week, 5 nights in a "fancy" (meaning air-con and a hot shower- which is actually just a hose over the toilet connected to some sort of heating device) hotel and 2 in the jungle in authentic villages where Hill Tribes reside. Quite honestly the beds in my high-end suite are just as hard as the bamboo floor I've slept on but hey, the toilet paper is free here! I'll venture to say this is the most luxury I'll have in the next 6 months so I'll enjoy having a sit-down toilet of my very own if only for a few days... So back to how I got here... Hopped on the train at 10 PM and fell asleep shortly after in my
Chewy!
I wonder what the nutritional content of "pork" intenstine is.... luxury sleeper car. When I awoke (not actually since I have been waking up at 5:30 AM every single day, but when the sun came up is more accurate) I looked over and there was another train slowly passing us in the other direction and there were two small children looking at me so I jammed out to Paper Planes by M.I.A. on my iPod. Yes I know I'm not in India and no, they weren't actually ON top of the train but I couldn't help myself... So these trains stop frequently. At one point the train must have been stopped for some amount of time and odd that I didn't even realize the amount of time that passed but came to when I noticed Thai officers of some sort walking up and down the aisles. That's when I learned from an extremely blonde couple in the sleeper next to me through broken English that our train had an "accident" (think they were referring to it being broken) and that we should maybe get on another train which there happened to be another one and so I did just as it pulled away. Many of the people stayed on the
original train, not sure what was right but needless to say I did get to my destination only 3.5 hours late. Wondering if this is how the public transportation system works, not too unsimilar from the El in Chicago? I met up with the small group that would trek together in addition to our guide Robert "Oh My Buddha" and early the next morning we jumped into the back of a pick-up and off to the jungle we went. 3 days of hiking proved to be not as scripted and touristy as I was imagining, the heat and subtle inclines made it a decent release of endorphins and visiting the various Hill Tribe villages was educational yet peaceful. The viewing of wildlife was informative as well and in a matter of 20 minutes on the second day after lunch we saw 3 poisonous creatures (per Robert "OH MY BUDDHA!"); a centipede who crawled into it's hole, a humungous tarantula looking spider in it's home in the ground and a green snake that darted in front of Robert causing him to shriek and run the other direction. One of the dogs that had been following us since before the very first
village on Day 1 chased it into a tree. No BBQ dog tonight say Robert. We later learn that the first village we spent the night in is the village where Robert's wife originates and we stop for lunch at his village one day as well. I very much enjoyed the trek though the elephant ride and bamboo rafting was a little over the top, but hey, I suppose I'll be participating in these types of activities from time to time just to give this trip the token destination memories you later share... Some of the things that I'm not able to describe with words or photographs.... the smells and tastes of the different dishes Robert prepared for us by hand each night over a hot Wok on the fire... the green chicken and eggplant curry, the tofu and beansprout dish, the potato curry, the pumpkin and I-have-no-idea-what-else-but-it's-fabulous dish.... unbelievable. The way the moonlight shines through the mosquito netting in our elevated bamboo hut. The feeling of sitting around a campfire in the remote woods of Northern Thailand with 9 other "strangers", all of whom have English as a second language, many of whom only speak a handful of words.
Sunrise
3rd Morning After 3 days together we are comfortable enough to attempt a group conversation and we are going around relaying what we do for work back home. They often look to me for an English word that would adequetly describe their title in a way that everyone can understand as English is the common language used to communicate. Here's what I/ we come up with and am not entirely sure it's accurate: From the Czech Republic a Paramedic and his Defense Attorney wife, traveling with their friend the Pharmacist. A social worker form Germany traveling with her brother who is in the German Army. An Architect from Mexico City who now lives in Australia. Robert "Oh MY Buddha" our guide and a few of his friends that honestly just appeared from the bushes. And me. It's hard to believe I've only been here one week.
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raju
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cool
hai this is Raju from andhra pradesh, India. i really feel pleasure to submit my comments. its really fantastic to view U R experienced in Thailand. all the best