I had a great Christmas (or 'Kissmaht' as they say in Thailand).........
The Christmas eve party I went to was pretty bad/funny. It was at a fancy hotel in Chiang Mai, and I went with my friends from the guest house I was staying at. There was a big buffet dinner, that was okay, but I knew I was going to have a hard time when I first heard the music.
They try, but Thais really have no idea what the hell Christmas is about. They've been able to gleen a few concepts, like Santa. So there was a guy in a bad Santa suit giving out little gifts (that was pretty authentic!). However, this is Thailand so Santa was accompanied by sexy 'Santa Girls'. They did a dance routine in their little red and white outfits to a Shakira song. (??!!) I think someone told the band they were at an Italian-American's wedding, because they really relied quite heavily on Sinatra and Elvis material.
So I was having fun laughing about everything, when they started playing really depressing songs (well, depressing for me) There is a popular remake here of that song "I'm leaving on a jet plane" and it got really bad when they played Lionel Richie's "Hello". Like I wasn't feeling bad enough already.
I didn't think it would happen, but being away from home on Christmas did affect me. This was the first time I've been away from home on Christmas, and I miss everyone back there alot.
Here's me trying to have fun View image
Others didn't have to try View image View image
Finally, I had had enough, View image it was time to go get drunk View image View image
I must have been good this year, because Santa had a great day planned for me...........
Christmas morning, head pounding, my Dutch friend Michal and I hit the road on our motorbikes for the 4 hour ride to Pai. It was an excellent way to spend the day, weaving though mountain turns, smelling the pines, gorgeous views. It felt perfect to be on a bike, I get sort of neurotic the next day after drinking alot and driving really clears my head. Even though it was threatening to explode for the headache and my body hurt in every muscle (intense yoga lately!) it was just what I needed.
Unfortunately, since it took me so long to get going in the morning, we ended up having to drive about 30 km in the dark. By the time we got to Pai, we were completely wiped. Fortune smiled on us by presenting an adorable, hyper Aussie girl who told us about the bungalows she was staying at and took us to have a bath.
It will be hard to ever top this: 4 of us drove to some hot springs in the forest, bribed the guards to let us in (it was closed and quite dark), got into our skivvies and sank down into a beautifully hot little pool, the heat easing us into complete contentment, gazing up into the enormity of the night sky.
This will help you imagine it View image
I hope you all can at least once feel the way I did that night.
K
Hi everyone! I've been trying to update this at least once a week, and I lapsed on this last one, just too busy!
I have lots to tell and show you so read on!..................
Okay, so two weeks ago, I decided it was time to get up off my butt and do some hard core sight-seeing.
First I rented a motorbike...View image
And I went to see the snake show. All together, not too interesting, but this snake was really pretty View image come here, my little new pair of boots!
Then I went to the monkey school, where they train monkeys to work picking coconuts. Thais are smart, they get free labor and then charge farang (white people) to see it! There were baby monkeys that you could play with and feed fruit to View image Later, this guy thought he would have more fun smooshing the fruit in my hair.
The next day, my friends from the guest-house, Steve and Toy View image and I drove around through the mountains surrounding Doi Inthanon View image It reminded me of how much I miss driving a bike around, the freedom, the air, I resolved to keep the bike for a while.
We went to this beautiful park near the mountains View image View image
Later in the week, I needed some relaxation (so much activity really wears me out!) so I went to the natural hot springs bath. The springs are sulphuric so it smells like eggs. Guess what they do? They actually sell eggs for you to boil in the hot water View image Just an example of the Thai 'go with the flow' kinda attitude. The bath was really nice, it cost like $1 for a private tub and you could stay in there for hours if you wanted.
I also went to an elephant camp where you could see how they behave in the wild. You would be suprised at how well they paint and play soccer and harmonica. There are so many things we don't know about these majestic beasts. Here's a baby that was only a few days old View image
after he was nursing, he came right up to the fence and touched everyone with his trunk. He got drool all over me.
At this point, my 30-day Thailand entry visa was just about up. I didn't know for sure whether my friend Apple was going to be able to make it, or if I was going to just head to Cambodia. To be on the safe side, I made a Burma border run.
They have it set up so that you check out on the Thai side, buy a $7, 1-day entry to Burma and then walk back out with a new Thai entry visa. Much easier and cheaper than trying to arrange an extension with the Thai government. Here's my token Burma picture View image
It was less than interesting over the border, they get so many people on visa runs that it's like Mexico off the dock of a cruise ship. "Lady, you smoke cigarettes? 200 bhat for you!", "Hello lady, want cd's?", "Lady, lady, cheap for you!". Five minutes later, I was running back to the Thai side.
Fresh visa in hand, I decided to meet up with some friends in Krabi for a much needed refresh on my tan. Krabi is a resort town on the south-west side, near Phuket, and is pretty much what you would expect of any such place. Thousands of red/white faces, Bob Marley music 24-7, an abundance of bland food, and the only Thais you see are in service to the tourists. Fortunately, we were able to find a good Thai restaurant off the strip that performed excellently when asked to "make whatever good food you want for me" and a chill bar on the beach whose dj understood that music didn't start and end with raggae.
I liked it because from Krabi, you could take a longboat-taxi to any number of small outlying islands. We went snorkling and it was unbelievable, the colors were so bright! You could go to some of these small islands and feel like you had it all to your self. Here's some pictures from that.....
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View image-me with J.P. and Anthony
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Having fun? View image oh yah!
You know me, I didn't want to leave the beach, but I didn't have the budget for much more of Krabi so J.P. and I left to see the temple ruins at Ayuthaya, just north of Bangkok. Apparently, this was really some kinda fantastic city 650 years ago. Now though, it's a little difficult to get an idea of the immense splendor that once was, since invaders stole much of the treasures, a new city has developed amid the ruins, and only recently have efforts to preserve the temples begun. Our first stop was Wat Phanan Choeng where the 19m high golden Buddha is the largest ancient one of its kind. View image View image View image View image
Then we wandered around to some of the other temples...
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So now I'm back in Chiang Mai, it's just so great here! I'll be spending Christmas with my guesthouse friends and then meeting up with Apple (she got here!) for some good times in Bangkok. I'm really looking forward to her take on the city, since thus far I haven't exactly been impressed.
Well, I hope this was enough to satisfy all of you who were waiting on pins and needles (I'm sure ;) for my next entry.
Tootles,
Kate
BTW, thanks so much for all the great comments recently. It's been lots of fun to hear from friends, old and new. Keep 'em coming!
Well guys, I promised that my next entry would be food-focused and I'm not gonna let you down. It's great, after I got over my initial squeemish-ness I've been eating everything in sight. There are so many kinds of different food here, it would take me 100 years to try them all. So, by no means are my eating experiences to be taken as exhaustive. Here we go...........
Last week, the first meal I photographed was this fried rice omlette thing,
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pretty gross, I've learned to keep away from things that sound too quasi-normal.
Then, luckily, there was a 'food fest' going on near the airport. Here's some photos from that (forgive me if I don't explain everything, but I really don't know what alot of things are)
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This is kinda icky, but I guess Thai people like to eat baby chickens because they feel that it will give them strength........View image
A few days later, I was at a different fest, and I had some great stewed bbq pork with rice and chilli. As hot as you can take it!
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Later, I had some dragon fruit seed pancakes, yum!
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Now that I've gotten you in the mood to talk about food, I'll give you my general impressions;
Thais take their food seriously, there is alot of pride here in cooking and in ingredients. Anyday, at any time, you can find a market with spanking fresh produce, meats, spices and even livestock (for those who want it REALLY fresh).
For those of you who don't know much about the Thai style of cooking, imagine Chineese food without the heaviness and MSG, then add a ton of chilli, fish sauce, cilantro, lemongrass and coconut milk. (that description doesn't come close to doing it justice, but it gives you an idea)
Thais love to have salads and soups as snacks or starters. Salads often incorporate meat or seafood along with noodles, cilantro, onions and of course, lots of chillis. Soups can be veggie or meat, usually with thin noodles, and spongy (rubbery) balls made of fish or pork. You can find these 'noodle stands' everywhere at any time and a bowl would cost you about $0.50. Thais also eat some of their curries as soups, but we'll get to curries again later.
Other snacky things; food vendors are great for a snack any time of day. Other than noodle soups, there are all kinds of sausages and meats grilling, more of the vague-rubber-meat-ball-things, dried cuttle fish on a stick, steamed wontons, hard-boiled eggs, fresh cut fruit and juices, the list doesn't end.
On the subject of fruit, I had first heard about durian fruit from my Thai friend in Chicago, Tim. He told me about this fruit in Thailand that is so stinky, they don't allow it on the bus. There are even signs on the doors of hotels with the durian and a slash through it, indicating that 'no durians allowed'.
So I had to try it.
I bought some at a night market and it was cut and wrapped in saran-wrap. Then I put it in a bag and tied it shut, I was planning on eating it in the morning.
I'm telling you, they weren't kidding. My whole room reaked of the stuff.
The smell: Like a super-ripe mango in heat, fruity and musky, weird at first but not awful, definately strong!
I was thinking that if I slept in the room with it all night, I would get used to the smell. Nope.
The next morning it was do or die. I had already told some Thai friends that I had bought some durian and they couldn't wait to see me eat it. (I'm so glad I can amuse people!)
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Here I go.......View image
I didn't know what to expect........ View image
Thai people love it!... View image
In the end, I got used to the smell (which you don't notice after you start eating) and I liked it! View image
The consistancy is like a stringy avacado, so creamy and only a little sweet. I could totally eat more.
Thais also make a full range of desserts; cakes, eclairs, sorbets, and crushed ice with fruits and corn syrup. I've found it interesting that Thais need to balance their food between sweet and salty. Commonly, you'll get a fresh fruit juice with salt in it, weird at first, but I dig it.
And then today, I took a Thai cooking class. We learned to cook 6 different dishes, starting with a red curry. We made the curry paste ourselves, hard work, all that morter and pestle-ing. It was really good, and I made it! (anyone who has tasted my cooking can appreciate this) See....... View image
Then we made some garnish for a fish dish, a ground pork salad with glass noodles and the northern favorite, Chiang Mai curry...View image
Here I am in full cookin' glory View image
So that does it for the Thai food edition of Kate Wandering. Thanks for tuning in and I'll leave you with this thought; People of the world may have our differences, but there is one thing that binds us, doughnuts. View image
Hi Peoples, I know I haven't been writing all that often, but it's been hard to find an internet cafe that I can be satisfied with. They have fast connections, but the computers themselves are crap, and so then it takes all day to upload pictures to the site.
Also, I haven't really been doing much that I feel is blog-worthy. I've been obsessed lately with this idea of exporting Thai clothing and accessories to the States and Greece. Obviously, there are alot of issues involved with this process and I've been trying to make sense of trade and quota restrictions. Honestly, it's nice to feel like I'm doing something productive, it's getting kinda boring just being on vacation.
I'm sure I'm gonna get alot of sympathy on that last one ;)
It's interesting here in Thailand, I'm getting a totally different response from people than what I'm used to. I guess I'm feeling a bit ignored. There aren't many single girls travelling (at least I haven't met any) and the guys here aren't too interested in me when there are thousands of Thai girls readily available. So this is the difficult part of this trip and up until now, I was so spoiled by everyone in Greece, I had forgotten what it's like to be alone.
But, I am going out and doing things occasionally with people from the guest house, here's a picture of a few of the guys. Lucas' wife Am owns the guesthouse View image View image
Here's a few of goings on around Chiang Mai, hope you like em'
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These cages have little birds in them, you pay $2, and get to set them free, supposedly for luck..... View image
Here's a few from this lovely little park where you buy little bags of cat food to feed to the huge variety of fish in the ponds....View image View image View image View image
Yesterday was the Sunday market, here's a few from that.....
Apparently, bad taste is international View image
Get tired from walking around buying ridiculously cheap stuff? Get a ridiculously cheap massage! (40 bhat=$1) View image
Dad, I finally found some old radios for you View image....... What?
So loves, hope you're all havin fun doing what you do. I'm just gonna keep on shopping and eating, ooh, maybe next entry will be food-dedicated, that sounds good!
Later,
Kate