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Archive for January, 2009

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Spicy

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Food is a big deal in Thailand. From the farms to the markets to roadside restaurants, you’re never very far from some aspect of your next meal. We’ve slowly gotten more adventurous in our meal choices each day and every time we try something new, it seems to get better.

Given our new found admiration for Thai food, we just had to take a cooking class while were here. After selecting a few dishes to make, the teacher took us to the market to show us what the ingredients look like and how to select them. The rest of the day was spent cooking a range of dishes from Pad Thai, stir fried chicken, spring rolls, papaya salad and sticky rice to making our own curry paste. It was a lot of fun, but the best part was getting to eat all of the dishes. I can’t wait to get to a place where we have a kitchen to try them on my own. However, I’ll probably cut the number of chilies in half next time. I like hot food more than most people, but these peppers were too much for me.

Later that night we attended a Muay Thai boxing match. It’s a bit hard to describe, and much better to see in person, but it was part boxing and part WWF, with a few rules thrown in. The surrounding venue is packed with a mix of bars that cater to all sorts of tastes (I’ll leave it at that). Anyway, add in a few Chang beers, and it’s a fun time.

Next stop: South

Posted in Thailand, Travel | No Comments »

101 Uses for Bamboo

Monday, January 12th, 2009

We are back in Chiang Mai again after spending 4 days on a “trek.”  We were the only people signed up, so it ended up being a sort of private tour with a guide to ourselves.  I think the recent protests at the Bangkok airport have scared away some tourists, which is a shame because this area is great and stable, but hurting a bit from all the economic troubles like the rest of the world.

The trek itself was actually a big loop of northern Thailand with a variety of activities.  The first day we went to an elephant camp and saw how the mahouts (trainers) bathe and care for them.  They are pretty impressive animals and are surprisingly agile given their huge size.  From there we took a bamboo raft down the Ping River to meet up with our driver.  There are many hill tribes living as farmers in this areas and we stopped off in some of the Akha and Lisu villages on the way to start a hike up to our lodgings for the night. We stayed in a bamboo hut, but this one was “deluxe” with a shower and bathroom right next door. 

The next morning we hiked back from the village and headed through more agricultural areas to the Chiang Dao cave.  This area grows a lot of rice, as well as peanuts, corn, lychee, coffee, soy, and other crops.  There are bamboo plants growing naturally everywhere too, and the hill tribes put them to great use.  Everything from walls, floors, fibers for roofs, brooms, baskets,  a TV antenna pole, as a “pot” to cook a sticky rice treat in, cups, and so many other things are all made from it.  Pretty amazing plant.

As we went along, we stopped at quite a few temples and learned quite a bit about the different architectural and religious styles of the Burmese, Sri Lankan, and Thai inspired temples that are all represented here.  We spent a quiet night in a hotel overlooking the Me Kok River in a small town called Tha Ton near the Burmese border.  The next day we continued through more Akha, Yao, and Chinese (refugees from years ago) villages until we reached Mae Sai and the actual border with Burma.  We had the chance to cross over into Myanmar as it is now known, but decided not to.  You have to give up your passport when you cross and the fees go to the Myanmar government, not Thailand.  Didn’t seem worth it just to get a passport stamp and say we were there.

Our next stop was a Karen village where they train elephants.  We stayed in a nearby, but remote Lahu village, but the dirt road to get to it was too bumpy for our van.  The only way to get there is to hike up a steep hill, take a motorbike, or as we did, go by elephant.  Our elephant was named something like “Mingga,” but I preferred to call her Stampy.  About 10 minutes into the journey, the trainer jumped off and just “steered” her by voice commands walking behind us.  Occasionally she veered off the path to grab bamboo leaves to eat.  Going uphill was pretty scary, but slow.  Going downhill was terrifying.  I was pretty sure I was going to plunge off the side into a muddy stream.  However, over an hour later, we did arrive safe in Ban Yafu village where we fed her an entire bunch of bananas in one bite.

After the ride, we finally relaxed and checked out our digs for the night.  We were staying with a local family in their house completely made of, what else, bamboo.  They live a very simple life, but seem to be very happy and have all the basics – lots of food from the hill farms, as well as pigs and chickens who crow all night long – not just as dawn.  The government has also started a program to supply them with solar panels, so incredibly they have electric lights at nights.

After our night in the village, we hiked back down and took the van to the Golden Triangle.  This area is where the Mae Ruak and Mekong Rivers meet and forms the border of Burma, Laos, and Thailand.  It’s very strange to be able to look into 3 countries at once, especially given the vastly different political systems in each one. 

Finally, it was back Chiang Mai.  The trip was mentally pretty exhausting because there is so much to take in and think about.  I’m sure it will take days for me to really process everything we saw and did.  However, I’m starting to feel more like a real “traveler” and less like a tourist.  My biggest accomplishment came on the trip too.  I’m not an expert yet, but I can now successfully use the local toilets, aka the squatty potty, without too much distress or mess.  That’s it for today.

The grand bamboo:

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One of the quieter moments with Stampy: 

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Posted in Thailand, Travel | 3 Comments »

Chiang Mai

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

This post will be a quick one. We’re in Chiang Mai now, but heading out tomorrow for a “jungle trek” for the next 4 days. We’ve been enjoying ourselves and indulging in everything this town has to offer. The markets are fun, the massages relaxing, the food yummy, the temples beautiful, and everything costs way less than we expected. Lunch for 2 (i.e. pad thai, fried rice, and 2 cokes) was $2.50. Our budget is saved.

We also took two new forms of transportation for the first time – a tuk tuk and a songtaew. While the former is pretty common in Asia, the latter was new to us. It’s basically a pickup truck with covered seats in the back that cruises around picking up passengers who are going in the same general direction. Got us there in one piece. So long for a few days. Hopefully we’ll be back with some interesting photos and stories.

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Posted in Thailand, Travel | 1 Comment »

The Other Big Mango

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Bankgok seems to have a lot nicknames – City of Angels (but that’s LA?), Venice of the East – but the Big Mango is my favorite (see the post from last month in Australia for a picture of another one).  In addition to the names, it has a lot of everything else too.  Shopping centers that put South Coast Plaza in the OC to shame.  Boats dodging each other on the Chao Phraya river.  Amazing food that’s spicy and cheap too. 

It also has a lot of temples and we visited a few of the “best” including the Wat Phra Kaeo and Wat Pho.  It seems like there is a temple on every street and photos just don’t capture the beauty and quiet that surround you.

My favorite sight was a few monks in their bright orange robes with a digital camera taking pictures of each other in front of Wat Arun.  We were doing the same thing, of course, but I found the mix of high tech and reverence to be a perfect symbol of this place.

 Along with the obligatory view from the temple, I’ll leave you with an ad from the front page of our morning newspaper.  Could be the next hot trend…

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Posted in Thailand, Travel | 4 Comments »

G’day Australia

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Today is our last day in Australia and I’m going through a range of emotions.  On one hand I can’t wait to see our next destination, Thailand, and start the next phase of the trip.  On the other, Australia has been amazing and it’s sad to leave.  I feel like we’ve only gotten a taste of the place and can’t believe we’ve been here for 2 months!  We’re already planning what we’ll do when we come back someday. 

The last few days were spent running around Sydney picking up all the stuff we’ll need for Thailand and India – everything from novels to toothpaste.  The shopping has made me realize how comfortable it is here.  I expect that our next stops will be considerably more difficult, and I’m a little anxious about it.   

We took a few breaks to get our minds off all this though.  We attended a play at the Opera House called the “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)” which is all 37 of his plays in 97 minutes.  It was hysterical and the experience of being in that beautiful, iconic building definitely cheered me up! 

We also headed to the Star City Casino early yesterday morning as it was the only place in town where we could watch the Rose Bowl. Sorry to all the Nittany Lions in my family, but for the USC friends, Fight On!   

I’ve been trying to reflect on everything we’ve seen and done here, but there’s just too much and it’s too recent.  It might be nice to take some time out to process it all, but we’re on to the next adventure.  Next stop:  Bangkok.

Posted in Australia, Travel | 1 Comment »

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