Thailand in Words_003
Hey.
This should probably be the last or second-to-last time I fill valuable space on my blog with boring itinerary details. But I will type it out so that I don’t forget the highlights upon my return to the Korean Peninsula. We absolutely loved Chiang Mai, and ended up staying there for four or five days. We rented a scooter one day and headed up the mountain to a temple called Doi Suthep, which was crowded with national and international tourists, monks, bells, Buddhas, kids playing traditional instruments, and little markets and foodstalls. Again, some of my best photos to date… Thailand is damned photogenic. We also did the all-day tour of Doi Inthanon Park, visited the Hmong and the Karen hilltribes, where Nicole bought some beautiful textiles from the tribeswomen as they worked their looms (I kind of wanted to stay with them, so ultimately chill and egrarian was their lifestyle), saw some falls, and enjoyed a great panoramic view. Some new friends, fellow former ski-bums from Jackson Hole, met up with us in Chiang Mai. We visited the Night Bazaar with them, which was a huge, sprawling, ultracrowded good-time, and we found some more of the wares irresistible (although I am now lugging around about 8 books, two statues, and 2 lbs of spices in my backpack!). Fortunately, I packed extremely light in the first place. Chiang Mai had an exceptional array of inexpensive international food options, so we did some sampling, and with four other farang one night, went for the most amazing Indian feed I’ve ever been to… with wine and beer for about $5 a person. Incredible.
Next, we went to Sukhothai, rented some mountain bikes, and peddled around a Unesco historical site in the scathing heat, taking photos of ruins. This was a big highlight for me. I would describe it here, but I ’ve taken several photos that will do a better job than my clumsy wording of conveying the details and atmosphere of the place. Sukhothai gave us our best glimpse to date of rural life in Thailand, as we biked through a mellow residential area. We spent a boring and eventless night in Phitsanulok, and are now in Lopburi. We came here specifically to see monkeys. Sections of this historical town are literally overrun with monkeys, and these things are brats! They hang all over the telephone wires, eating garbage, trying to shit and piss on people (I swear!), tossing garbage around, stalling traffic, and just generally wreaking havoc. While I’m sure the residents and shop-owners must at times loathe the little bastards, rumor has it that the monkeys bring in enough tourist dollars that no effort is being made to get rid of them. We went to an old temple ruin that was crawling with them, and took heaps of pictures. This blog will see a sampling in 2 weeks or so. The monkeys were a ball! One of them stole Nicole’s stick (they arm you at the entrance as monkeys occasionally attack), and I had one leap up on me at one point. But mostly they just rolled around, picking lice and scratching themselves, occasionally making faces for the photographers.
Today, having a bit of a hang-over from too many Heinies at the Come On Bar, we are boarding a bus to go to Ayuthaya, another modern city among ancient ruins. We are cancelling our intended visit to Angkor Wat this time around as we are, frankly, getting a bit bored of ruins and temples (that sounds lame, but it is true). Having about 8 days left to play with, we’ve decided to make for the coast again, with a stopover in Bangkok, for another 4 days or so of swimming, sunning, snorkeling, and hammock-swinging. My next entry will include photos, so help me God.
be happy,
suteebun
