Will and I decided after Bangkok, we would head north to Chiang Mai, check that out, then make our way south seeing some places along the way. However, true to form, we started talking to some people that recommended going across the border into Cambodia and seeing Angkor Wat, a huge 1km x 1km temple built in the 12th century (a post soon to come).
We were lucky enough to arrive during Thailand's New Year, Songkran. Its a massive country-wide celebration of partying in the streets, throwing buckets of water on people and smearing others' faces with concoction of chalk tablets and water. You can only imagine what are reactions were upon our arrival into Bangkok when we see the people, painted white faces, showering each other with buckets of water... "uhhh, is this what they do in Bangkok!?"
During our stay in the country's capital, we were able to visit many temples (unfortunately after a while they all start to look the same). The most memorable had to be the Reclining Budha, a 50m long golden Budha which almost looked too big for its temple housing. We cruised down the Chao Phraya River in the public ferries, shopped the local markets for knock-off band name clothes, and ate our fair share of Thai cuisine.
Example: One night Will and I decide to dine at a little street cafe for dinner. The food was amazing, spicier than anything I've ever had before, but delicious! We're sitting at the table in the outside dining area (the sidewalk) finishing up our beers, when we see a man on a strange bicycle roll up, honking a horn, and stops literally in front of us. Before we know what he's doing, a line of people line up in front of him, money in hand and a mysterious eagerness in their eye. We examine more closely his choice of transportation and realize on the side of the bicycle is a rack... a rack of dried salted squid of various sizes! And behind the seat is a small table and cook pot with burning coals fastened to the frame. We intently watch the first sale...
Money is exchanged, a brief conversation is spoken, designating which size squid the customer prefers. The driver/ salesman/ chef, then heats up several squids over the pot of coals, lays them on the table, runs them through a hand cranked roller to flatten them, places them on a plate with a delectable chili sauce, and Voila!... Squid Chips!... delivered right to you!Obviously, we're not going to pass up this opportunity to try this tasty little snack that apparently is quite popular to the locals, given by the line of people awaiting their plates.
After the line diminished in size we motioned to the man that we too would like to order, we choose our size squids, a choice between S, M, L, XL... we chose small. Again the process starts, and before we know it, on our table is a freshly (sort of) prepared squid chip snack.
Together, oceanic chip in hand... "cheers!"... chewing... facial expressions of displeasure (but not disgust)... chewing... swallowing... frantically searching for a beverage... gulping down the little beer we had left... "...That wasn't that bad." "Yeah, not bad at all, you want another?" "No!" "Ok, good, me either..."
And so goes the Bangkok Squid Chip story...
2 days later we left Bangkok for Chiang Mai via the night train. For about 20$ you ca get a nice bed in an air-conditioned car ( almost a necessity in the hot tropical humidity) for the 10 hour journey. For a fee you can also be served food and drink. So my first night train experience was quite pleasurable.
We walked around our first day in Chiang Mai and quickly found that walking in the heat caused an excessive amount of perspiration that was neither pleasant for us or the people we were around. And that the city is spread out so much that everyone else either drives a car or a motorbike causing the congested roads to virtually un-crossable (cross walks... what are those?).It was only natural that we made the decision to rent motorbikes... check out the previous post and watch the video. Using my digital camera, some borrowed duct tape, my helmet, and a little bit of engineering skill, we had a helmet cam... and a source of entertainment for our visit!
The motorbikes were also our transportation while there. We went exploring one day, about an hour and half out of the city. We started out on main roads, then it narrowed into a mountainous one lane paved road, and finally into a 6 ft. wide dirt trail. We stumbled across a coffee farm. We drank a cup of fresh coffee while admiring the view of the same farm where the coffee was harvested (you don't get that opportunity too often). That was the same day that I ended up with a flat tire and had to travel back in forth 2 extra times on the back of a mechanics motorbike... but that's a story for another time.
The Thai Massage Experience: Unlike a Swedish Massage that is intended to relax the subject, a Thai Massage is used to stretch and loosen the muscles. It consists of the Masseuse aiding (sometimes forcing) your body to stretch itself out, while using oils and an IcyHot like substance. Now we didn't want our Thai Massage in just any old place, we wanted it to be done with character.... So where did we go? Why the local Chiang Mai Women's Prison, of course!
Now, its not what you think. Its actually quite nice. The prison has a program for its inmates that are being released in the next 6 months to be trained in Thai Massage and can use it as a means of making money upon their release (I now consider myself an International Philanthropist). So for almost 2 hours I was twisted, stretched, and pounded by elbows, feet, and fists. And when it was all said and done... I felt like I had gotten beat up (surprise surprise). I have never been so limber like that in all my life. My flexibility had improved dramatically in the course of 2 hours!.. albeit I was sore for the next couple of days, but that's why the locals consistently get them.
Cooking School: Another little activity we participated in was The Thai Cookery School. For a whole day we were introduced to the culinary world of Thai cuisine. We started off at the morning market, each of us in the class was instructed to pick out 1 or 2 ingredients after a brief lesson in vegetables, fruits, and meats. I picked out some of the best kale and bananas you could ever imagine. Once the shopping had been completed we headed back to the "classroom", was given a lecture and demonstration how to prepare our first dish, rice noodles and vegetables. Then it was our turn!...Surprisingly, mine turned out very well. And for the rest of the day we made 5 more dishes, spicy prawn salad, chicken with cashew nuts, steamed fish in banana leaves, yellow curry with chicken and bananas in coconut milk. All of which turned out to be delicious... although i have the sneaking suspicion that when i try to duplicate these dishes at home the results will vary...
Muay Thai Boxing: Nothing like a good ol' boxing match... Thai style! Kicks and knees are allowed as well as fists. We were a little worried when the first match was between 2 boys no older than 11 or 12... "uhh, is this legal?" But eventually the matches moved beyond the realm of "little league" boxing into the real deal. And one of the best "between match entertainment" we saw was 4 person blind folded boxing. Pure genius! No other time have I seen 4 people frantically swinging punches and kicking, sometimes connecting with another contestant that almost every time would come as a complete surprise. The final match, the best of the night, was an intense 5 round spectacle. And yes, there was some money put down, just like the Van Damme movies (Chris, you owe me 100 Baht).
Chiang Mai quickly came and went, and before we knew it we were back in Bangkok... impulsively at the ticket counter buying a plane ticket to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
... next post!
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