Jun 19, 2008

The Second Week: Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and the Golden Triangle

The second week was a bit of an adventure. I spend the first part of the week relaxing in Chiang Mai, spending many afternoons relaxing by the pool. Of course, you can't relax all the time so I took a Thai cooking course. The teacher was Charlie's friend, Boom, who is an excellent chef. The morning started off with a trip to the local market where she told us all about the different veggies and such and we bought ingredients for our recipes. Then we drove to the cooking school, located in the country. We got our aprons and chef's hats on and started cooking! The first dish was Pad Thai: noodles with chicken, egg and other veggies, one of my favorites.
Next, we made Tom Yum: a spicy soup with prawns.
Then we had a choice of red or green curry. I chose red, my favorite, with chicken.
Then we made mangoes and sticky rice with palm sugar.
Next was chicken stir-fry with cashew nuts.
Finally, we made Thai green papaya salad, very spicy. When I eventually get home I'll host a fabulous Thai dinner party.


At the end of the week Charlie, Naz and I took the bus north to Chiang Rai. We did a day trip to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) meet. Getting there was really easy. We followed the info office's advice and took a bus to Chiang Sean, then a minibus to the Golden Triangle. We got there find, walked around, saw a giant buddha, ate lunch. We then walked to the Hall of Opium, recommended by some guy to be much better than the House of Opium. The entrance is a long tunnel with colored lights and strange people-like creatures coming out of the walls. Apparently, its supposed to be like an opium experience. The rest of the Hall is 3 floors of video presentations, dioramas, and artifacts going from the history of opium to the addiction and victims. Very informative, but I was sick of reading by the end of it.

Now, is where the adventure got interesting. We thought we could just go back the way we came. We walked back to the busy part of the Golden Triangle and looked for a minibus to take us back to the bus. Unfortunately, there were no minibuses going back. Every way we could get back wanted a lot of money which we didn't want to part with so we started asking people if they were going to Chiang Sean. We found a really nice young couple going and they offered to take us all the way back to Chiang Rai. On the way they took us to some interesting temples and showed us around the University where she worked. When we got back they refused to take any money or let us buy them dinner. Very nice people.

The next day, Charlie and Naz headed back to Chiang Mai. I was going to wait until the next day to leave, but I met a German girl going the same way I was so I left with her. We took the bus to Chiang Khong and crossed the Mekong into Laos.
Facebook is giving me problems today, sorry I'll try to post more pictures in a few days.

Jun 8, 2008

The First Week: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai - Thailand

Its been almost a week since I left Korea to start my adventure. I arrived in Bangkok at 3am in pouring rain. The next day I woke to sunshine and tropical temperatures. I only stayed there 1 night, I had planned to take the train to Chiang Mai, but found a cheap air ticket so flew instead. My friend, Charlie, who I met in Cambodia has been staying here for a few months so I met up with her and met her friends. I've visited Doi Suthep, a temple with 300 stairs and Bhuping Palace, the winter home of the King and Queen. There were lots of amazing flowers there. Then we went off-roading and I got to drive a 4x4 standard on the wrong side of the road in the jungle. Very fun! We visited a tiger farm and played with 4, 2 month old baby tigers. They didn't play much, they were very sleepy, nap time I guess. On Thursday I went with some friends of Charlie's to Pai, a small village in the mountains near the Burmese border. It was really nice, reminded me off Banff and Jasper, but with jungle. The road to get there was crazy! 1864 curves in the road, all switch-backs. Apparently, its in the Guinness record book. We stayed at a fantastic resort with a great view and a swimming pool for only $15/night (between 2 of us). The next day was a bit of a write-off because of car problems, but eventually got it fixed and went back to Chiang Mai. Now its time to do some laundry.

Its difficult for me to post pics because I'm using shared computers so all my pics are on facebook. Click the link to see.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121998&l=777e2&id=798630540

Jun 2, 2008

The Plan

Later today I'll be leaving on my dream vacation. A 3-4 month tour of SE Asia. I'll be updating the blog with photos and stories of all my adventures. My plan is to start out in Bangkok then take the train to ChangMai where I'll be meeting a girl I met in Cambodia last summer. I'll spend some time exploring northern Thailand then head to Laos on a boat. I'll spend about 2 weeks in Laos before heading to Hanoi, Vietnam. My friend will meet me there and we'll take our time and travel down the coast, where I hope to learn to scuba dive. In Ho Chi Minh City my friend, Aileen, from Canada, will meet me. She has a few weeks vacation so she's decided to come travel with me for it. We'll see the sight around HCMC and then head to the Thai peninsula and relax on the beaches of Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. We'll spend her last few days together in Bangkok then I'll fly to Bali, Indonesia to meet Megan, my sister. We'll spend a few weeks island hopping and then she'll leave any my last few weeks will be spend on the islands of Java and Sumatra. Then I'll head to Singapore, the last stop on my trip. Then its back to Canada, but I'm not sure I'll be able to leave my backpacker lifestyle behind. I'm really excited!! Bye!

I'll still be keeping in touch by e-mail, facebook and skype.

Jun 1, 2008

Goodbye Korea, I'll Miss You

Tomorrow is the day. After 3+ years in the land of the morning calm, I'm finally leaving, for real. To mark this momentous occasion it seemed one day of partying would not do... so we made it a goodbye weekend!
Friday:
My last day of work. I'm unemployed and have no job prospects, but I've never been more excited! It was really hard to say goodbye to my kids, especially the kindergartners. Some of them started to cry, making me bawl like a baby, too.I got some flowers, notes from the kids and many, many hugs. My boss gave me a plaque in appreciation of my work and a set of bone china tea cups and saucers. And the final paycheck was pretty sweet :)
After work we went to eat Deok Sam. It's pork barbeque with thin slices of rice cake that you grill and then wrap around the meat and kimchi. So delicious. I'm drooling just typing this. The hardest thing to leave will be my friends. We work together, we play together.

After dinner we went to a second place to have some drinks and then the girls went singing. I just had break out my vocal stylings once more. We were in fine form. I'd say the highlight of the evening would be Lisa trying to sing Mariah Carey's 'Touch My Body.' I think Mariah would be shocked :)

Saturday:
Before I left Korea there was one dish I still really wanted to try. I'd eaten the bugs, the squirming octopus...but I hadn't tried the scariest dish of all, Boshintang. Boshintang is dog soup. Coming to Korea that was one of the first things people said to me, "You know they eat dogs, right?" Actually, most of the Koreans I know are younger and have never eaten it, it seems to be more enjoyed by the older generation. Anyway, I did it. I ate the dog. They're dogs specially farmed to be food, its not like I ate a poodle. It was edible, but not something I'd ever eat again. Ever. The meat was stringy and a little beefy, but not much. The soup was like a beef broth. There are no pics though, because I didn't want to offend the people in the restaurant who were eating it and enjoying it. Korean's are touchy about the dog-eater stereotype.
After quickly downing some ice cream to get the taste of dog out of my mouth all us girls got dolled up for a night on the down.
First stop, Casa Maya for some delicious Mexican food. Then we headed to the Rocky Mountain Tavern for some drinks, Canadian style. After that it was dancing until the wee hours of the morning.
These guys had a lot of fun, too. We found them passed out on the street and couldn't resist the photo op.


Sunday:
The end of the party season. I met my bookclub for my last meeting. They had even let me choose the book :) Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides. We decided to meet at the Doctor Fish Cafe where we had delicious drinks then got our feet cleaned up by fish. They're a special type of little fish that feed on the dead skin off our feet. It was the strangest feeling ever!! Kind of like a ticklish, mild electrical shock. But my feet did feel really fresh after!
For more photos go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120396&l=8fa50&id=798630540