Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

Chaing Mai reminds me a lot of a city like Kelowna B.C. Its dominated by the local gangs. Everything from restaurants, transportation, and clubs/bars are owned and operated by them. But its also just a nice secondary city that has all the convienences of a big city, without the urban sprawl, pollution and general big city problems of Bangkok. But its also naturally beautiful. Its an old city with the reminants of the old fort walls and a moat still marking the boundaries of Old Chaing Mai. And set in beautiful surroundings with the cool (30*C) climate of the mountains surrounding the city, and its a jumping off point for so many people to go on treks, or other outdoor adventures.

So us folks from Nan arrive in Chaing Mai, refreshed after 6 hours of lots of cookies and cream soda complements of the Green Bus co., to the swarm of Sangathew drivers looking to con us poor farangs 'Fresh off the Bus'. There were 8 of us, and we had a guesthouse already booked, so we were having nothing of the scammers and got a ride in the red sangathews nice and cheap. Only had to go to one other guesthouse because the driver 'accidentily' took us there. ps. accidentily means he wanted commission.

The 6 other GAP volunteers met us, who are also ready for a vacation from Thailand, which is what Chaing Mai is. You can go months without having to eat/speak anything Thai. We bought english books at the many book stores, went for late night snacks at a chilli fries restaurant on the corner, watched the world cup games at the English Pub, drank at the UN Irish Pub and danced after hours at Spicy with all the other Farangs in Chaing Mai. It was actually really nice being a tourist again. I think that is why i'm starting to enjoy my time here in Thailand so much more. When I get tired of the 'local experience' of being the only white person in a small town, I can escape and blend back in to the Backpackers on Khao San rd. And then come right back to Wiang Sa when I start to crave bamboo sticky rice and som tam.


We rented motorcycles in Chaing Mai and that was so so so much....SO MUCH FUN! Mine was neon green. Asia is made for motorcycles and it is just so much easier to get around on them. Traffic is no problem because you dart onto the sidewalk, or make your own lane. And you dont have to deal with bargining to go everywhere, and being a Farang you can basically drive right into a bar and park beside your table. 3 of us girls decided to rent them for a day to drive up to Wat Doh Sithup which is 45 minute drive through the mountains. Such a beautiful wat with 308 steps up to the actual wat that is perched overlooking the Chaing Mai valley. We were up there the same day as Prince Albert of Monaco but didn't see him, or become one of his wives..... Then on the way down stopped at some glorious waterfalls and the Chaing Mai zoo. That night Maeve and I didn't feel like going to dance, so we did a 3 hour midnight drive around the city. Saw a lot, and ended up at a locals Karaoke bar, thank GOD Maeve can sing, as her rendition of Celine Dion's "Titanic" won the crowd over! We also went to a local Muai Thai boxing competition about 20km out of town. We hitched a ride with a local boxing school and ended up in a big dirt/mud field with a huge ring set up in it! Very cool to actually watch little kids kick each other. Apparently the retiring age is around 18 years old!!! I'm glad I got to see it, since it's defenitly a Thai thing (especially for free!), but don't expect me to be signing up for classes any time soon!

Then had to get up at 8am to go to the train station to book my ticket and sadly return my bike. Got a little lost on the way but that's 1/2 the fun! Had a fun night at the Chaing Mai night bazaar. Claimed to be the biggest night market in Asia. It was pretty big yes. Some great deals too! But lots of the same old crap like Beer Lao shirts, thai silk scarves, counterfiet everythings, etc. Decided to mix up the transportation a bit and take the overnight train to Bangkok so I went to the train station a bit early to makes ure I got a ticket, and ended up meeting the nicest monk ever who told me all about his life in Thailand, and how I should stay up north and not go to the islands, and that the monk life is defeintly the way to go. He was very interesting, and so generous! Always offering water/snacks/friends business cards/herbal pills. It must have looked funny to have a white girl talking to a monk in a dark train station! Hard to remember all the customs I had to adhear to like not pointing my toes at him, not touching him (a 3 day clensing cerimony would follow!), and not passing anything directly to him but placing it on the floor for him to grab.