Friday, February 3, 2012

Chiang Mai > Bangkok

Soon we'll be crossing the border from Thailand to Laos. The last three days were really great. Hopefully a taste of what's to cone next. After taking the bus into Chiang Mai, we decided to take "the lonely planet"'s advice and go to Julie guest house; anyone who goes to Chiang Mai, I suggest you  do the same. Walking into the guest house foyer at 6 in the morning, other travelers were awaiting as well--signs noticing the travelers to relax on the furniture until they open at eight. Once 8 rolled around the guest house came alive with bustling tourists and workers serving breakfast and filling vacancies. The room was another double bed with shared bathrooms for about 6 dollars a night--kinda ridiculously awesome if you ask me.

Check in was at ten thirty so we decided to walk around. Again, like Bangkok, guest houses were everywhere, and places for food were even more plentiful. Instead of going to a place that served all kinds of food we wanted something more traditional. We stopped at a place where no one was in there and didn't look like any tourists would be there. It didn't seen like breakfast food but the noodles and chicken that was served was delicious, definitely traditional Thai and exactly what I was looking for coming to Thailand--an Anthony Bourdain type of food experience.

We then wondered off for a couple more hours seeing the different shops they have that seemed to be repetitive--guest house, restaurant, bar, repeat. But there were unique temples we stumbled across as well, which were really beautiful.

After check in and the necessary shower, we decided to book a cooking class for that night, and wander some more until then. Considering we booked a trek into the mountains for the next morning, we decided to get our feet cleaned by fish; an interesting experience to say the least. There were a bunch of fish just cleaning our feet which tickled the whole time, but actually got used to it--"happy feet by Dr. fish" was everywhere in Chiang Mai. Later, we found this one restaurant "spoon de best" which was run by this amazingly polite cute woman who took pictures of us for her wall. She said it was a fairly new place but the food she cooked was so traditionally Thai compared to the touristy restaurants around. We got some pork slices topped with this really spicy chili sauce that was sooooo good but spicy enough that I cried. A couple Singha beers later and we were ready to cook.

The cooking class was fun and we learned how to make curry from scratch and made fried noodles with chicken and masaman and chicken with basil--all traditional Thai. It was delicious as well as a lot of it.

The next day we literally trekked up a mountain with this guide, Hod, who we met the day before. He was an awesome guide who had been trekking the mountains for decades, as well as being a muoy Thai boxer. He took us up to the village at the top--about 1500m high. On the way up we stopped for herbal medicine which grows in the mountains. It took about 4-5 hours to get to the village at the peak. At the village he also cooked us curry and chicken with basil--not bad for 30 dollars. Luckily for us the village was celebrating the new year and we got to interact with them for a while--the children dancing and dressed in their customary new years outfits and the elders offering home made spirits and more food. Starting to walk down the mountain, I realized that I probably shouldn't have eaten as much as I did but regardless it was well worth it. Our next destination was a waterfall where after being so hot walking down and making sure I didn't die slipping over a cliff, was worth the home-not to mention the breathtaking views. The only bad part of the hike was the ride back where I wanted to just relax, because there was this girl who was with us wouldn't shut up. It was amazing that she was even breathing because she wouldn't stop for the life of us. All in all though, the trek was an awesome work out and even better views.

Unfortunately for us we were exhausted but forced ourselves to go out. We went to a muoy Thai boxing match, where their special round was to blindfold amateur fighters, probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. After that we decided to go to a ping pong show. Luckily we got there on time to see a lady blow darts out of her vagina to pop balloons. That is probably the highlight of the shows anyway. And went retired for the night after.

The next day we were trying to figure out a flight from Laos to Phuket and ended up going to the Air Asia office four times before we got anywhere. In between the went to our friend at "spoon" for a taste of half of her menu--2 spicy delicious soups, shrimp with a spicy chili sauce, fried shrimp with garlic, and Thai sausage meatballs--all for a total of 20 dollars and by far the best food in Thailand so far. She also had wifi which helped us find out how to get from Laos to Phuket the fastest and cheapest. Back to Air Asia we booked our flight to get to our Similan island dive trip on time. Rest of the day was for wandering around until the minibus to Laos picked us up--still on our way to Vang Vien but luckily off that minibus and on a larger sleeper bus.

So far Chiang Mai >> Bangkok. It was amazing to see how less busy people in Chang Mai were compared to Bangkok and the environment was just more chill too. At times traveling in their makeshift taxis, I was thinking I'd be in a scene from fast and furious because everyone is riding scooters and was Asian. The food was amazing and the people here were so nice too. Next stop tubing in Vang Vien.

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