I’ve finally got a few free minutes tonight before heading off to dinner. Here’s the scoop on what I’ve been keeping busy with:
Zip Lines — Took a three-hour zip-line trip through the jungle canopy up in Chang Mai. This course dwarfed Skyview Ropes at Wolf Ridge by a long way. There were footbridges, zip lines, and belays from one high platform down to a lower one. There were even some fast enough to require you to brake with a wishbone-shaped piece of bamboo. A fun afternoon.
Thai Boxing — spent an evening out with just boys at a classic Chang Mai favorite activity. Mui Thai style boxing involves kicking with shins, knees and fists. Had a fun night betting against a table of Canadians and sharing some pretty awful whiskey with some British backpackers at the table next to us. A meeting of cultures to make the Olympics look petty.
Cooking School — Learned how to make Pad Thai, curry, chicken with cashew nuts, deep-fried spring rolls, sweet sticky rice with mango, hot and sour prawn soup and got to tour a local produce market. Yui, our instructor, was one of the nicest women and helped all of us develop quite a palate for real Thai food. Watch out for that Pad Thai with not enough fish sauce in it!
Sleeper Train to Bangkok — Hoped aboard an overnight sleeper train from Chang Mai to Bangkok for less than $30. The 12+ hour trip started off with us sitting in seats, eating a decent curry for dinner. A man came through and folded down all the seats and dropped down what looked to be overhead bins, but were really upper bunks. I managed to get a few hours of sleep, despite the constant rocking and bouncing of the train… this thing was no Euro-star.
Grand Palace, Bangkok — A giant collection of golden statues, Buddhas, and memorials walking the fine, fine line between awe-inspiring and gaudy. This place is a must-see for all tourists… glad to have checked it off the list.
Markets — We’ve been spending lots of time walking through markets here in Bangkok and Chang Mai. I’ve been hesitant to buy anything due to a lack of space in my backpack. It has been pretty amazing just to wander between the stall and shrug off all the shopkeepers who keep shouting “hello!”, “you want!” and “lookie!” at every white shopper walking by. Spent the afternoon today touring the big weekend market here in Bangkok. This is a market selling everything (and I mean EV-ERY-THING) you could ever imagine: snakes, pottery, vintage t-shirts, cell phones, leather sofas, shoes, food on sticks, tablecloths, wallets, hats, puppies… the list goes on. This place makes the Mall of America look quaint.

Off to Cambodia in the morning… stay tuned, faithful blog-readers!

Way too much to write about now… no time.

Having a blast, eating lots and seeing great things.

Off to Cambodia in the morning to see Angkor Wat, float down the river to Phnom Phen and then fly back to Bangkok. I promise I’ll find more time to share when I’m back.

Lovin’ life!
-Dillon

Had an amazing (top-ten-life-experiences amazing) day yesterday. Nicole and I visited Patara Elephant Farm just outside of Chang Mai for the day. Out of the seemingly hundreds of different elephant shows, farms and preserves, Patara was one of the most highly reviewed and rated attractions here in Chang Mai. We arrived to meet our guides, Pat and Ben, bought some locally-grown bananas from farmers for the elephants and learned quite a bit about the history of elephants in Thailand (there were lots, they helped with logging, then they died, now there’s only a few). The guides introduced us each to our own elephant for the day. I wanted to name mine Stompy, but she already had a name — Mae Boon Tong. We learned about elephant health (count the poops) and skin care (gotta wash off the sand before you can ride) before we took our elephants into the river and scrubbed off the sand from their backs. We learned how to get up on the elephant’s neck (use the trunk!) and took off on a ninety-minute ride to a great waterfall. The elephants hung out with their real trainers while we tourists splashed in the pools made by the waterfall. We ate a fantastic Thai lunch of sweet sticky rice, fried chicken and pork, fresh fruit and a few other Thai delicacies. We had to wash the elephants again before leaving (they put mud on their own backs to keep the bugs off)… I swam with Mae Boon Tong and her four-month old baby (didn’t catch his name) before we loaded back up and headed back to the camp.

The whole day was so well worth the money to be able to participate in such a unique and wonderful activity that does so much to give back. Patara elephant farm is truly doing wonders to slowly rebuild Thailand’s elephant population. They are doing wonderful things by spreading their motto: extinction is forever. In addition to the conservation work, they are building Thailand’s economy from the bottom up by employing local farmers to make our lunch and sell bananas and other vegetation for the elephants. Third, they are doing a great job educating tourists in the history and current state of the elephant in Thailand and the positive outlook they have for returning Thailand’s natural forests and elephants to a state of healthy equilibrium (where was all this stuff when I was teaching Wildlife Management classes at Wolf Ridge?).

A truly memorable day.

Had an eventful trip to Chang Mai yesterday. We managed to get out of Macau nearly on time, which is quite a feat considering we were still technically under a typhoon warning. Nicole (my traveling buddy and partner-in-crime from the SOMA tour) and I had purchased tickets to Chang Mai with a 5 hour layover in Bangkok. There was an earlier flight, but we opted for the later one expecting quite a line for customs, immigration, baggage claim, etc. Air Asia had their shit together, though and we landed in Bangkok in time to try to transfer to the earlier flight to Chang Mai. We got on the standby list and waited around the check-in counter to find out if we’d get on it. Five minutes before the boarding gate closed, we were told that we could get on, but we’d have to run. After checking Nicole’s bag (too many liquids inside) we ran (and I mean RAN) through the terminal to the gate. I sent my big backpack through the security point and had to sacrifice my toothpaste (they missed my sunscreen and a half jar of peanut butter — ha! Joke’s on you, Thai TSA!). As we handed off our boarding passes, I couldn’t help but think of “The Amazing Race” and how hard it actually is to move at a full-on sprint with a giant backpack on you.

We arrived in Chang Mai to find that Nicole’s bad DID actually make our flight (we had some doubts) and then we headed for our room at Ben Guest House (a bit dingie, but the woman the runs the place is very nice and very helpful and cooks a mean plate of scrambled eggs). We explored the area, ate dinner with some Israelis and Germans, got foot massages ($2) and took a tuk-tuk ride home.

More to come regarding elephants, zip lines and general observations about how much greater Thailand is than the rest of Asia. Stay tuned.

Being on tour in a different country is a lot like playing the board game Monopoly. Every week we get handed a big old wad of cash — per diem is a lot like passing GO. The money’s all different colors and sizes from what we’re used to and the prices seem to be completely unrelated to anything in the world we’re used to — 11 Yuan for a cab ride? 32 MOP for a #3 at McDonalds? 44 HKD for a beer? No problem. I’ve got it covered. I’m only a few more days (spaces) away from the next wad of cash.

Stay tuned, faithful blog reader, for our next episode: “Traveling to Thailand, or How I Nearly Auditioned for The Amazing Race”