Christmas in the Land of Smiles…
Saturday, December 27th, 2008We reluctantly left Laos and crossed the Mekong for the final time, arriving in Thailand on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. It’s so strange to have come full circle (though there will still be a little Malaysian and Burmese offshoot!), and we knew we were back once we saw the first of maaany 7-11 stores!
We went all the way to Chiang Rai that evening, arriving to find a city so unlike anything that we’ve seen recently; shiny, brightly-lit stores with fancy displays, billboards, plate glass windows, heavy traffic, well-dressed people, lots of 7-11s and a massive night market with a music stage and huge beer garden. We already missed Laos, but it was nice to see Christmas lights everywhere and, well, we were more than a bit excited about having Thai food again!
Christmas day was wonderful, despite the fact that it didn’t have much of a “holiday” feel. We woke up to an absolutely pristine day and set off for the first of many breakfast at what we refer to as “point places,” which are essentially rice/curry shops that have in excess of 30 pots of incredible Thai concoctions, which you simply point at and have spooned over a mound of rice. The price is next to nothing, and the taste is out of this world!
The morning was spent browsing a wonderful used book store (it’s nearly impossible to find books in Laos and we were running dangerously low) and exploring the market, rediscovering all of our long-lost Thai food loves. Lunch was back at another point place, but with icecream afterwards. We both then got haircuts (mine was done by a gay kid with a razor for $3 – he did an excellent job!) and then treated ourselves to a heavenly 90 minute massage (it cost all of $6).
I treated Gabe to a 30th birthday dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant (we are hooked!), since we were to be back in the middle of nowhere the next day, his actual birthday. It was a nice change to have more of an upscale, sitdown meal, and we discovered some new favorite foods in the process.
Afterwards we agreed to split up for an hour so that we could actually buy some little gifts for each other; we spend 24 hours a day together and it’s next to impossible to buy any sort of presents or surprise each other in any sort of way! We went our separate ways amid the maze of the night market and naturally ended up running into each other multiple times! We’d just smile and pretend to avert our eyes from whatever the other was purchasing – we both knew exactly what we’d be getting…
We both were able to have great Christmas phone conversations with our families, which made both of our days – it was almost like being home! We finished off the night by using our leech socks as stockings for our gifts and then gave in and opened them that night as we enjoyed a few drinks. Certainly not the most traditional Christmas, but will without a doubt be one of our most memorable!
allisonrae