After breakfast this morning, we hopped on bicycles and went for a cruise in Luang Prabang. We ended up at the library, where kids and teens can show up to practice English with tourist volunteers every afternoon. We were just kind of checking it out before lunch where a young guy struck up a conversation with us on the front steps to practice his English. Then the volunteer coordinator walked by and asked if we’d like to go have lunch.
being meta (we’re explaining what a candid photograph is)
We all hopped into the back of a songthaew and were driven to a random noodle shop. We got out an sat down with a guy already eating, a young artist turned librarian, and a young Malaysian woman who had been volunteering at the library the past few days. Without ordering, we were served bowls of noodle soup – many small shops only have one menu option. We ate and chatted, then paid and got back in the songthaew for a return trip to the library (and our bikes!).
random lunch date
We got back and decided to hang out and help out for a while. Our friend from before was practicing French (!), so we were sat in front of this 18 year old boy. We thought it’d be the same easy kind of chatting as before, but it was a little different – the kid had only been learning English for the past three months. We tried to chat, but mostly he asked us to write down words and he looked them up. Still, he was fun and tried hard. Then I was asked to chat with a fourteen year old boy who had just shown up. His dad was a soldier, and he wants to be a policeman. He asked me about words like barracks, military and, randomly, dowry. Methinks he has his eye on someone!
We were about to leave when two more teenage boys sat down. We chatted with the them for a few minutes more, and they were so funny – just being boys. We showed them a video of me eating a scorpion, and they were suitably impressed slash grossed out. There were several other little groups like ours, many with young monks. There was also a group of 4-6 year olds having a quick lesson. Besides the little kids, there weren’t too many girls practicing their English. This place also sponsored a book boat, sort of like a floating library. It’s hard to get rural children and schools books, so donations go to buying books.
We had some time to kill the next day, so we went back. This time, I talked to a soft spoken boy who was staying in school for the summer to study and practice English, even though all his friends had gone home for the break. Mom chatted with a group of girls and a young monk, who was incredibly smart. I was glad to see some young women there! Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a couple of monks facebooking – which made me chuckle.
he couldn’t lean into the girls’ pic (no touching!), so he got his own picture
As we were leaving, the volunteer coordinator asked me if I know the word polyglot. Being the arrogant English-degree-holder I am, I assured him that was not an English word. He didn’t buy it, but he moved on to the word molting, which I pronounced for him but then told him I was pretty sure it was exclusively used for feathers. Then Mom showed up and told us yes, polyglot was a word, but she wasn’t sure what it meant. We googled it, and told the guy we would use multi-lingual to describe somebody instead. Then he asked Mom to say and spell both words several times while he recorded her. Later, we found out that Australians use the word molting quite a bit, and a Dutch woman assured us that polyglot is taught to those for whom English is a second language. I guess there aren’t too many polyglots in America.
It was fun, interesting to chat with these boys, and great to meet some people who were so passionate about teaching and reading. Many of the kids are from rural towns who have come to Luang Prabang for school. The volunteer coordinator told us that most are hoping for jobs with American companies in Laos or the tourism industry.
It rained all night, hard and heavy. We went to bed early, and then got up early to by boat tickets. It was still raining, but we figured they must travel in the rain all the time so no sweat!
We were a couple hours early, so we stowed our bags on the boat and walked around, buying a snack here and there, trying to use up our Thai Baht and outfit ourselves for an eight hour trip. We got some fruit from a lady a little ways from the pier, but never got around to washing it. We got a snickers, some crackers and waters. We still had some time – and baht – to kill, so we stopped at this little restaurant where mom had coffee and I had a delicious banana pancake. So, so good.
We finally boarded the boat, and took off. It set up like a bus, and it was full up but not crowded.
in back, before everybody boardedin front, after everybody boarded
So we cruised down the Mekong for six or seven hours in a slow boat. It was rainy in the morning, but there were tarps to pull down on the side if the rain started blowing in. But it cleared off and got nice – not too hot, beautiful green mountains rising up from the water. The river is a bit muddy, (okay it’s actually chocolate milk muddy) but the clouds rolled by and there was a breeze the whole time.
some clucky passengers
We stopped for the evening in Pakbeng, and it was mayhem! There were hawkers trying to herd everybody to their hotels and restaurants. We got in the back of a pickup with some little old Chinese ladies and Lao teenage boys, but when we got to the hotel we had chosen, it was crappy. “Oh, we have one with air con,” they tried to keep us there and lead us to another room (I smell commission somewhere!). It looked alright, but did the air conditioning work? Well they had to go get the remote. While they were gone, Mom sat on the mattress. Something wasn’t right so she peeled back the sheet – it was a couple mismatched mattresses and pillows stuffed together under a king sized fitted sheet. It was a mess. They were yelling we have a nicer room! as we walked out. We went across the street, and a little old lady showed us around and we signed on the spot. It was way nicer, quiet and clean. We were glad to have made the switch.
always choose the old lady hotels (disregard the smell of tuberose soap.)
We walked around this tiny town (even smaller than the previous night) and finally settle at a Laos/Hallal/Indian food restaurant. A small boy sat us, and a small girl brought us menus – no adults in sight. “Is this a Lord of the Flies type situation?” I wondered just before an adult showed up to take our order. The kids were so cute, though! They brought us our food and drinks, and the little girl even hung out while I tried to pull up the Lao word for “dessert” on the Internet – which was really slow, so she finally had to go wait on somebody else. I never did get any dessert.
supper on the mekongview of the mekongcan’t she tell i’m desperate?
The next morning we got up and dropped our bags on a different boat than yesterday, and then went for breakfast & supplies.
(How did we know which boat to get on? Why, some Australians just standing around told us. We later saw them get on a different boat.)
in front on the new boat (back is same bus seats)
We went back to the restaurant from the night before so Mom could get a pineapple shake, and the owner chatted with us while it was being made. All these children working for him are either orphans or from very poor, very large families so he helps them out by giving them a job. He is from India – we forgot to ask him what brought him to Laos.
We bought some more snacks, and got ready to hit the road (river?). First we had to wait for extra seats to be lowered in through with the roof to placate some people who would have had to sit on the floor otherwise.
our captain
At about noon, we stopped and two guys with strings of fish hopped on from another boat. It was random and amusing.
lunch?
It was sunnier today, and hotter. Some people seemed a little … testy, but mostly ever one is still upbeat (or at least acting like it!).
cruisin
We got to the “pier,” and more madness ensued! The pier was actually two 2x4s precariously perched on the boat and a rut in the mud. We had to get off the boat and then stand on a the side of a hill, waiting for our bags. Then we had to haul them up a steep concrete stair way to the top of the mountain.
precariously perched madness!
We paid a fare, hopped on a songthaew with a group of French hipster bros and got dropped off in the center of Luang Prabang. We asked around for free wifi, and were directed to Joma Bakery Cafe, which quickly charmed us with their air-conditioning, free water and great drinks. The pastries didn’t look to bad, either. We settled in at our lodgings, and then bopped around the night market on the way to our riverside hotel.
at joma – we found ourselves back here a few more times during the rest of our stay in Luang Prabang!
The last thing we did in Chiang Rai was visit the White Temple. We asked guest house lady to call us a taxi, but she asked one of her employees to do it instead! Which was fine with us.
The White Temple was … interesting. It is not that old, in fact it is still being built, and has some interesting details. Michael Jackson, Keanu Reeves, Spider-Man, Batman and the Predator all appear next to Buddha on the murals inside the temple. The bathroom is a golden palace. There is a moat of disembodied hands reaching up that you have to cross over going up to the temple.
nope, not creepy at all
Next we hopped a bus to Chiang Khan, which was a little more rustic than the last bus we were on. It dropped us off in an alley and roared off. We asked twice before we finally hailed a bicycle tuk-tuk to take us to Thai immigration office, where we got exit stamps on our passports.
just like a local!
Then we boarded a ferry, crossed the river in about five minutes, and arrived in Houayxay, Laos. After immigration, we walked up a hill, hung a right and found a place to stay. We walked around the town (which appeared to be one street), and ate supper next to our hotel. It started raining pretty hard, and it sounded kind of scary in our room in the middle of the night. It turns out that we were just surrounded by some tin roofs, making the rain extra noisome. Besides, I bet they are pretty experienced at boating in the rain around here!
Going to visit a hill tribe was something we discussed quite a lot before we made our decision. The popular places are these “tribal villages” where members of six different tribes all live together – a one stop shop for the tourists, if you will. Reviewers said that they were driven or walked through the middle of town, and just stared at the tribe members. The uncomfortable term “human zoo” was tossed around quite a bit. That sounded miserable, for both us as tourists and the tribal members themselves.
Instead we began at the hill tribe museum, run by a non-profit that wants to change the way tourism affects hill tribes.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the harm and disservice that can sometimes come from tourism, and this museum only confirmed some of my negative feelings. In addition to the practice of grouping all the tribes together for convenience, I was dismayed to hear that the Karen tribe, or the long-necks, actually stopped the practice of placing the rings around their daughters’ necks – that is, until tourism sloped off. They realized they had to keep this ancient form of mutilation going if they wanted to keep attracting tourists. The long-neck Karens aren’t even from Thailand – they’re basically a tourist import.
The museum also explained the history of the opium trade, hade replicas of traditional garb and tools, and went in to detail about some the various tribes’ traditions. We watched a short video about each of the tribes, and decided to book a tour through the museum for that afternoon. “We don’t support human zoos” is one of their slogans, I was glad to see.
It began to rain pretty hard while we were waiting to be picked up by a driver and a guide after a hearty lunch of potato chips and bananas. We drove to one tribal village that was a little more modernized – and really, why wouldn’t you modernize if you got the chance? We got on an elephant to take a tour of that village, a little 20 minute ride that felt much bouncier than the last one. I guess we got one with worn out shocks! :) Luckily, it cleared off for that part.
view from an elephant
We drove to another village, where it started to rain again. This place was a little more traditional style. There were little kids playing, chickens, dogs and hogs roaming the streets, and old ladies gossiping (according to our guide).
stilted houses in case of flooding
Then we drove to a waterfall, but it was raining so we didn’t really want to hike up very far. We actually told the guys we could skip the whole thing, but they insisted we at least stop for a photo.
At almost every stop, the driver Mr. Come (which is like calling him ‘Mr. Go’ in Thai, we were told) had a pineapple juice box waiting for us. We liked Mr. Come.
I can’t even remember the guide’s name, he told us so many things! He talked. And talked. And talked. He gave us philosophy lectures, capitalist musings and soliloquies on life and love, among many other subjects. At one point, we were reading an informational sign and he was standing behind us, just talking away at our backs. Mom and I looked at each other and just started laughing – I had no idea what he was saying, and my mom confirmed that she was in the same boat: “He just sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown right now.”
The third village we visited was an Akha tribal village. To get there, we had to drive up a steep, rutted out dirt road. While we were up there, it began to rain really hard – so hard, that we had to wait it out. This village was equipped with a ‘home stay’ set-up, where tourists can spend the night with a family, have dinner cooked (or help!) for them, and theoretically see first hand how villagers live. The home stay building itself was on stilts, and we sat at a long picnic table underneath the house with another touring family that were waiting out the rain and their tour guide. We were served strong hot tea, freshly sliced baby pineapples and rambutan (all yum!). Over the rain, I could hear an old masculine voice belting out the Beatles from somewhere. There was a small room that I believe was the kitchen underneath with us, but the stove was outside next to our table. There was a hammock or two strung up on the house stilts. Although we did not go upstairs, the part where we were did not feel like somebody’s home – more like a place for backpackers to spend the night. Still, it was a nice place to hang out for an hour.
There was a small covered platform where an elderly Akha woman spread her blanket and had her goods displayed for sale. While we were snacking, there was a group of girls sitting in there, I guessed shopping – due to the weather, it was kind dark in there. After about ten or fifteen minutes, we were invited up on to the platform to do a little shopping ourselves. It turns out two of the girls sitting there were a translator and a guide, but the other group of girls were a group of French twenty something year olds and weren’t shopping – just sitting and staring. It was a small platform, and they just would not get out of the way, yall! It got to the point where even the elderly woman was trying to shoo them out of the way! Mom finally stepped over one, but to see goods closer she bent down and stuck her butt in one of the chick’s face – still not a move! It was downright ridiculous. They just stared at us the whole time, never said a word. It was so crazy, Mom took a picture:
You can’t see the three other chicks on my right!
Mom, the elderly lady (who could read the room, a skill those French girl have yet to master) and I were still giggling about it all when we finally made some purchases. We bought some small embroidered bags and each got a bracelet, which the woman tied on us and bowed over our wrists, I’m pretty sure in thanks (or saying: take these other chicks with you!). It was a cool moment of wordless human connection, driven by a moment of wordless communication breakdown.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she switched from french to freedom fries, too.
The weather cleared off and we took our leave of the Akha village. The way back to town, we had Mr. Come drop us at the weekend night market, which to our pleasant surprise was more like a street fair. There were various vendors everywhere, spread out over a couple of blocks that were closed down to traffic. We got some skewered mystery meats, some coconut candy thing wrapped in banana leaves, and a lollipop of buttered and browned sticky rice.
There was a whole row of massage tents set up, and we had a long day so we chose to get one hour rubs from the Massage School for the Blind. Mom had a pretty good massage, but I got a lady who was also head-hawker and money taker, so when she wasn’t being interrupted taking payments from everybody, she was hollering at people on the streets to come get a massage. And she wasn’t even blind. She pretty much only did one half of my body, like she was distracted because she was chatting constantly. The last fifteen minutes were good though, because she had some other random guy come take over. He kneaded the crud out of my shoulders and back. It was worth the $5 just for that last bit.
As soon as we left, it started to POUR. The massage places just pulled down some plastic and kept rubbing, and we were waiting under a tree right next to where we had just been, so my crazy lady masseuse invited us back under the tarp and had us sit down to wait it out. Then she randomly gave one of my arms a good massaging while she chattered away to us in Thai. It was…odd. But it felt good!
mailmen and masseuses live by the same motto: neither rain, nor snow, something, something….
We decided to see the special clock tower, as it was light up at night. So we trekked through the rain to look at… a clock tower. That was lit up. which is NOT a light show. Not really worth the wet walk, in my opinion!
what a light show….SIKE.
We slogged back to our hotel, the water reaching our shins in some places. What a day full of crazy.
We found ourselves this morning at Angel’s Secrets again. This time, fresh orange juice and a beyond delicious chocolate croissant for me and a smoothie and oatmeal for Mom. Still my new favorite place! We planned to bop around town a little, but we saw a severe weather alert for northern Thailand and decided to move on. No time to weather a flood on this vacation!
As we were walking back to our hotel, we stopped to check out a temple. There were these ladies selling birds right outside, so you could release them inside for Buddhist points. I wonder if and where those old ladies caught all those birds?
the birds are in the wooden baskets
We caught a ride to the bus station with the tuk-tuk driver that hung out at the 7-11 near our hotel every morning. Every morning he tried to rip us off, and every morning we laughed.
we finally take him up on his offer
We bought some snacks and hopped on the green bus to Chiang Rai, a swanky ride with plenty of leg room, reclining seats, and a stewardess with free cookies and water. It was classy!
bus snacks! hot chili squid and american cheesy paprika potato chips (not clear why they are american?)
We got to Chiang Rai, used the free wifi in the bus station, and found a guesthouse. We got a tuk-tuk to take us there – turns out it was two blocks away! Oh well, it lessened our chance of getting lost while carrying our packs. :)
We checked in and walked to the night market for dinner. They were selling the same ol’ stuff, but they had a ton of food stalls. They have two different stages, one in front of the food stalls and one in front of a restaurant. We chose the restaurant, and had a delightful dinner while a trio played acoustic instruments on stage.
One thing I don’t understand about Thai street food is that they fry stuff at the beginning of the night, and then set it out for you to buy and eat cold. My mom thinks they might drop it back in the fryer real quick or something when you purchase it, but I don’t know. One thing I just can’t roll with is cold French fries, which were everywhere!
This morning we had breakfast at my new favorite little restaurant. It was called Angel’s Secrets, and I had some fab French toast and tea. Mom had some coffee with a jasmine tea chaser (which apparently is customary in this part of the world) and a delicious fruit parfait. Yum! It was a cute little place, and I recommend it to anybody traveling through Chiang Mai. (They have free WiFi, too.)
you’ll see this pose a lot this post!
After breakfast, we walked to a massage place that we saw advertised on a bulletin board at the restaurant. We opted for one hour coconut oil massages this time – a little more relaxing than traditional Thai massages!
Feeling good, we walked back to our hotel to be picked up by the cooking school we booked a class with. Turns out, we had Tak and Cooking at Home to ourselves! We drove first to a market out of the center/tourist area of town. In a rice shop, she explained to us about how the rice is harvested and how to best use the variations for for cooking.
We also went to a coconut shop, where we watched a guy make coconut cream.
i think i’ll stick to buying it at the store!
She pointed out various other fruits and vegs to us, then gathered some ingredients for our class and headed to the school, which was in the backyard of the house where she lived with her sisters family.
the set up
We hung out on the back patio while everything was set up.
my mom seems to have adapted very well to thai cooking!the view
Tak would demonstrate a dish while we watched, and then we would replicate it at our own station. The exception was dessert – we made sticky rice and coconut topping together as a group, since you only need a little and there were three of us.
the action
The menu:
Pad Thai with prawns
Green chicken curry
Tom Yum soup with prawns
Sticky rice with mango (my fav!)
so, so good
After we cooked each course, we would eat!
I handled myself quite well, thank you (only had problems with a tomato rose garnish). One of my favorite things we’ve done so far, but sooo much food! Tak brought us back to our hotel, overly full and satisfied.
After our tiger experience, we put some research into finding a suitable elephant experience. We discovered the Thai Elephant Conservation Center outside of town. Many reviewers who went there had it arranged by a tour guide service, but not us!
We hopped on a, um, vibrant bus and told the ticket seller, the driver, and about three other levels of translators where we wanted to get off. As the movie Jack the Giant Killer blared in Thai, we embarked on one of the craziest rides I’ve ever been on. The driver didn’t slow down for high grade hills, up or down, especially on some almost-hairpin turns. We felt every sway of the bus, as it was a double decker – seats on top, luggage on bottom. Then suddenly, we just stopped on the side of the highway and the attendant motioned to us – and only us – to get out.
this is how I imagine Charo’s tour bus
There was nobody around as we headed up a dirt road, and very few people when we got to the parking/ticket/vendor area of the center. We paid and got on the shuttle with a couple of other people, and were dropped off at the elephant rides.
I was so excited! See, when I was younger I was a huge chicken about stuff and chose to watch from a safe distance as my little brother and mom rode an elephant at the fair one year. Finally, a chance to redeem myself.
We hopped on an elephant and he immediately went in for a dip in a pond. it was actually kind of deep and slightly alarming, as we were rocking around on an off-balance chair and the water came right up to the elephant’s eyeballs. Then we walked across the pool and up, up into the jungle! There was family on an elephant in front of us, but the jungle was so dense that we couldn’t even tell they were there most of the time. Other than that, almost nobody else around.
hope she can swim!
Our elephant, Pa Chi Da, was 20 years old and very particular – she would rather step off the trail and walk on a slope than step anywhere near another elephant’s poop. Our mahout (elephant handler) was very nice and seemed to really care about Pa Chi Da. He would keep the flies off of her and scratch itches a tree trunk rub wouldn’t satisfy. We lumbered past the nursery, where a month old elephant was hanging out with it’s mother. It was so rad.
Then we hopped on the shuttle for a bit, rode around the grounds in a loop and then stopped for the elephant bathing and show. Before the show, all the elephants take a moment to cool down and are washed by their mahouts in the pond where we started our ride. It was fun to watch them playing in the water and you could also buy sugar cane to feed them. The show is a chance for elephants to display their logging skills (their primary purpose) and other tricks. We saw elephants curtsy, throw balls in baskets and even watched three paint pictures. These elephants paint better than I ever could!
artistesfinished product
Next we tried to see the royal white elephants, because the royal elephant stables were in the center somewhere. Unfortunately we were told that those were not open to the public. Then we wandered down to the nursery to see the baby elephant up close – and it was even cuter! Just like Dumbo, but with this wiry hair standing on end all over. Then we walked to the hospital, where one elephant with a lame foot was chilling. Unfortunately elephants stepping on un-detonated mines is a big problem in this area.
too cute!
To get back to Chiang Mai, we had to cross a large highway and then flag a bus down. It took almost forty minutes until a bus stopped, and when we got on it was standing room only. We stopped a couple times and eventually procured Mom a seat after somebody got off, but I stood for the entire hour it took us to get back.
bus stop across the highway
From the bus station, we had a tuk-tuk driver take us to the night bazaar. It started raining, and we had a long day, so after searching for a well-reviewed restaurant for about an hour we gave up and chose a random (but covered!) sea food place. It was pretty good! We both really like the pineapple fried rice. Mom had fish and I had lanna sausage – a little too hot for me! We bopped around the night bazaar some, but it had been raining all day and people were still setting everything up when we decided to call it a night.
yum!a great day was had by all
—————————
I like to think that some Buddhist thought this was their great auntie reincarnated & decided to doll her up a bit.
Overnight train took so much longer than we thought! What we thought was a twelve hour train ride actually was fourteen hours – almost as long as it took us to get to Beijing from L.A. We didn’t arrive in Chiang Mai until lunch time.
At the train station we were offered a free ride to town to check out a hotel. A quick google revealed some odd reviews on TripAdvisor, but it was nice and had air-conditioning so we stayed. We could do a heckuva lot worse for $16/night! (The bad reviews were regarding the owner’s aggressive tourism services sales, and his questionable reactions if you turned him down. Several people talk about being kicked out after not booking tour services through him. We didn’t find him to be a problem, although we just listened to his sales pitch and then told him we were still thinking about it.)
We were instructed to find this line of red taxis that would take you to a temple on the far outskirts of town. We weren’t sure why only the red ones would take you, but there must have been some reason! We were walking along and got some bomb smoothies for like, seventy five cents each for lunch.
somebody is trying to please a red-soda-loving spirit
We finally found the line of red taxis and pointed out the temple on the map. They nodded and we haggled price, and they handed us a brochure – should have been our first clue – and asked, “it’s okay?” We assume it is, because I pointed out the temple on the map, with a picture and everything.
We get there – it takes much less time than the hotel receptionist told us it would – and my mom keeps asking about a cable car to take us to the top that she heard about. They put us in a horse drawn carriage which was cheaper than a tram shuttle kind of thing – maybe they thought this was the car she was referring to.
this doesn’t look like you need a cable car to get to the top…
My mom still thinks this might not be right, but we go with it. Our carriage driver doesn’t speak much English, but is funny and has pictures and explanations of what we are seeing in English. We stopped at a few different temple ruins in a loop, and our driver shows us pictures of how a flood a few years ago affected them. Mom asked him what he was doing during the flooding? “Swimming!” he replied, and we all had a good laugh. He even pointed out his house as we rolled by it. We got back to our songthaew ready to leave, and the driver was taking a nap in back and told us to go walk around and give him a few more minutes!
friends
Later that night, while looking up stuff to do around town the next day, my mom realized we were not at the temple we thought we were at, but instead at the old city ruins or something. We thought we were at like TripAdvisor’s #2 attraction in Chiang Mai, but really we were at like #47 of 49. We had a pretty good laugh about that.
the gong show!
Honestly, we probably enjoyed chatting with our guide and hearing about the flood then another temple at this point, so it worked out.
day after a holiday
I love this part of traveling – stumbling on to something unexpected.
can anybody explain what’s going on here? saw these at a temple
On our own again this morning, after a familial farewell breakfast. We headed to the Grand Palace, where people were shouting “hurry, hurry, gates close in ten minutes!” Um at eleven am? But still, we hurried… to wait in line.
There were a ton of people milling around. The guy behind me was apparently so anxious to see the place, he was crowding me something fierce. So much so that I finally turned, said “you are much too close to me,” and put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him off me. He was impervious! It didn’t even give him pause, and this time he was pushing me forward. Miserable.
royal rooftopseverything is so ornate
We gleaned that since it was a holiday, the princess would be worshipping there – hence the early closure. The temples in the grounds would be closed all day, as well. This mean we weren’t able to see the Emerald Buddha, but once I learned it was carved from jade and not literally a giant emerald I wasn’t too bummed too miss it. (Hey, we’ve been to a lot of temples so far. This is day 8.)
holiday ceremoniesmaking friends making snacks!
Next we walked to Wat Po to see the giant reclining Buddha. And when I say giant, I mean GIANT. The funny thing is, the building he’s in is barely big enough to house him. Visitors can only stand up close.
one end…
While we were walking around the statue (traffic flows one way, because there is little walking space between the wall and the statue), I wondered aloud if Scrooge McDuck was counting his pennies somewhere in the temple. The sounds of coins clinking was overwhelming, especial given the small space. Apparently your drop these pennies in all these copper bowls for good fortune or something? We skipped it since we weren’t exact sure what that was for, and didn’t want to intrude on any Buddhist ceremonies, just in case. I’m not going to lie, the long line of penny droppers holding up the flow of traffic was also a factor.
…and the other
Next we walked to the riverside, having heard about a tourist boat that will take you down the Chao Phraya river and tell you what you’re looking at. We started at a long boat pier, which were noisy and expensive, so we walked a little further and got to a public boat dock, where we learned that the tourist boat really only started and stopped at two different docks and we were right in the middle of both. So we hopped on a public transit boat, took that to the sky train, took that to the hotel, grabbed our bags and headed out to the train station.
road snacks! (chips were terrible)
A funny thing happened at the train station. My mom and I share a love for Agatha Christie novels, and in fact were watching a documentary about the television adaption of Murder on the Orient Express right before we left on this trip. The old platform sign said our train would be departing from 3, so I went out there and The Orient Express train was sitting in platform 3! I was so excited, I thought there had been some train mix up or we got tickets on a certain leg of the trip or something. Taking a ride on the Orient Express is supposed to be like taking a cruise – it’s luxurious, you are pampered and everything is taken care of. I go tell Mom the good news, and she thinks there’s a mistake somewhere, there’s no way this is our train, but I remain optimistic. I go ask a station worker, just to be on the safe side.
the dream!
The sign is broken. Our train departs from platform 8. It needs some cleaning, a new paint job and some WD-40. It is most definitely not The Orient Express.
the reality.
Oh well, an overnight train is still an adventure, just a less luxurious one I let myself imagine for about three minutes. We got on the train at seven, and the attendant started turning our seats into our bunks at 7:30! We were riding second class, which meant we each had a bunk with a curtain, but the car was open – we were across the aisle from two more bunks with only curtains separating us, and so on throughout the whole car. Luckily, we heard that to eat in the dining car is more fun, so we sat in there a while instead of just going to bed at eight. Hardly anybody was in the small dining car, most having opted to eat in their seats (or beds). The dining car had blinking Christmas lights strung up all over the place, and some 70s (maybe?) German pop band reunion concert was blaring on the tv. Side note: I think I may be really into 970s German pop music.
party on, kitchen staff
After dinner, we resigned to our perspective bunks where I was relegated to the top bunk. I definitely got the short end of that deal, as the bunk was on an incline, and I felt every pitch and roll the train car experienced for the rest of the night. Also somebody had candy up there at some point which had melted and got green sticky stuff everywhere. Not the greatest night of sleep, but a bad night of sleep in Thailand is much better than a bad night of sleep in Texas!
At seven am we hit an appointment market near Koi and Cotton’s house. They had everything there. Clothes for your traditional and modern needs. Shoes. Fruit. Soup. Live turtles in baskets. French fries. DVDs. Vegetables. Beats by Dre. Live fish flopping around. Candy. Sweets. Crepes. Diapers. Fermented fish. A baby elephant. People everywhere. It was nuts.
Yes, I said baby elephant.
i think the term ‘fire ant eggs’ was mentioned, (top left corner) – although i’m not certain
We wondered through several aisles of stalls and carts in front of a temple, asking questions about Thai fruit that we had never seen, or surprise treats wrapped in banana leaves. We tasted some green candy/jello stuff, some tiny grilled balls of coconut-y goodness (I have been on a search for them ever since, haven’t been able to find them yet!), some skewered things – and we bought much more for breakfast.
i can not get enough!frogs for lunch, anybody?
We stopped to feed a baby elephant, which I had some qualms about. You aren’t supposed to encourage this sort of behavior and it feeds into a vicious cycle of possible abuse or poverty-driven neglect. But when you are standing next to a baby elephant, with somebody telling you this is how these teenage boys make money to feed the elephant and themselves, it’s hard to say no.
(Skip to 2:38 for durian-specifics, although I’ve tried fish maw soup and horseshoe crab roe salad, and now kind of think Andrew Zimmern might be a wuss.)
As we were waiting in line for the vendor (a little old lady with two oven mitts on one hand to handle the prickly fruit), I thought to myself – this doesn’t smell so bad. As we stood there a little longer, a terrible smell gradually took over. “A-ha! I get it now,” I thought. Just as I began to inwardly hype myself up to taste this famed smelly fruit, Cotton told us he wanted to show us something Thai people really liked that he just could not develop a taste for in all his years in Thailand. We turned around and walked a few feet, and there was a vendor selling fermented fish.
definitely not fruit!
Durian doesn’t have anything but a mildly fruity smell, y’all. Twelve buckets of various blends of rotting fish three feet behind you, however, does. Thai people use it for seasoning, and Cotton and Koi keep a bucket of it in their kitchen. I just can’t. Durian, however, tastes pretty good. It’s kind of a weird texture, but it smells fine.
durian vendor
Some fruit, soups, curries, sticky rice and fried pork were on the breakfast menu that morning. People in Asia don’t really seem to differentiate breakfast food from other food, so even though the pork soup or noodles with beef sounds good for lunch or dinner, it simply doesn’t appeal to me at eight am. Maybe that’s just me? I did get down on some fried pork.
We headed back to Bangkok after breakfast, stopping along the way to check out a Tesco Lotus – the Thai version of a super Target, just to see what’s going on. Generally, Thai people prefer the fresh market, but you could get some imported stuff – cheese! most importantly to Cotton. Asian people don’t really eat cheese (except, of course, royal cheese). I hadn’t noticed it before, but since then I have not seen anything with cheese that wasn’t Western food.
We went back to the Bourbon Street Hotel, got checked back in and resettled. “Who feels like a rub?” Cotton asked, as he explained that he and Koi haven’t really found a place they like out near where they live. So we went down the street, to the same massage place as earlier that week. This time we opted for the two hour Thai massage. Having barely conquered the pants last time, I did some asking around and was feeling confident in my ability to dress myself. Which is great, except this time my pants didn’t have drawstrings. I just pulled them on and laid down, and it worked out fine. Until I got up to use the restroom (gotta release those toxins somehow!) and my pants fell down. The masseuses closest to me and I all started giggling, and I’m sure we disrupted a few relaxed people. Eh, what are you gonna do?
The massage was intense, and I seriously thought about tapping out at one point (I was on my stomach, she was crouching on the back of my thighs, pressing her knees into my lower back and hands full force into my shoulder blades), but I figured I must have needed it. Besides, by the time I thought all that through, it was over and I was alive. My mom and I both felt awesome the next day, although both of us had a few more bruises to show for it.
After our massages, we went to eat at a delicious little Italian restaurant that Koi and Cotton like to get their foie gras fix when they’re in Bangkok (ah I’ve been missing you, carbs!). After some joking, wait, are you serious, I’m serious if you’re serious discussion, we decided to return to the massage place next to our hotel (yes, the one we just left) and all get another one hour foot massage. I didn’t realize reflexology was a part of a Thai foot massage, so I was very confused when she started poking the bottoms of my feet with a stick. For massage newbies: foot massages also included your calves, arms, shoulders, neck and head. Quite nice for a fraction of the price of a traditional massage.
So far, I am thinking there is no such thing as too much massage – especially when they come this cheap! Judge me if you want, but I hope the other countries we are visiting have a vibrant (and not-sketchy) massage culture. :)
Meredith R. Allen 