Monday, March 31, 2008. (writing this on the bus Monday, April 1 en route to Chaing Rai with very little battery to spare and rotten bus with no electrical outlet for my laptop!) 08:49am. The morning dawned again with am fog, so that pictures weren't going to be amazing. I woke up before the alarm clock at about quarter to 5am, which was an improvement over 3am the previous night. I think by the time I get to the end of the trip I'll finally be acclimated to this time zone then it's going to be a nightmare going back home to my time zone- we're almost the polar opposite, just a couple hours off. Breakfast was great again, this morning I had noodles thai style with hot chilis and some fruit and an egg. After the meal we all loaded up onto the bus again at 8am this time to go check out some more cool things followed by the deterioration into shopping at local places which nobody wants to see. The remaining seat next to me today was occupied by a pharmacist named Linda from Salt Lake City who is traveling on her annual vacation with her 2 sisters and one brother in law. She is my age, or probably a bit younger and they are all rather frustrated with Nan's incessant and impossible to understand chatter, as well as the useless trips to these shops after we've seen the wats and monuments we find much more interesting. It was fruit for my snarky, complaining nature to be sitting next to her and I think we fed eachother's frustration a bit too well. They've not used this company before and don't really plan to again for this reason. It dawned on me that I actually chose this trip not just because of price, but because it was promising me a lot of time "on my own." especially in the afternoons, which she is feeling the need to fill up with crap, forcing all of us to go, when I think there are really only 3-4 rather vocal people interested in what she's offering. If one person says they're interested in doing something, she feels like that means all of us are, so away we go to more "shops." Ugh. First stop today was the elephant farm in the countryside. The place was beautiful, although driving by shacks and more feral dogs and trash strewn at the roadside was a reminder that Thailand is still very much a 3rd world country.
They have a lot of elephants, many of whom were depressingly chained to a 5 foot chain which tethered one foot to a cement anchor in the pen area where they stood, chewing on the piles of bamboo or food (sugarcane?) lying around at their feet. I was immediately torn: the asian elephant is going extinct because of severe habitat loss and human encroachment, and like most 3rd world countries, there is no conservation effort to save them, save a few pockets here and there. The whole time at the farm I was at the very verge of bursting into tears feeling wildly emotional since this "conservation" place is done up true 3rd world style which is very exploitative to the animals, as opposed to keeping the experience less of a "show" and more of an experience, but it was shameless and it kept me at the very back of the crowds all drawing forward to get a touch, get picked up on the trunk, etc. I just sat there forcing back the tears in my eyes feeling wildly emotional.
The amazing thing about elephants is that they are so intelligent- these have been trained to be more incredible than circus dogs- they played soccer, they bowed, they smacked their trunks of the ground, they moved logs around. They danced and stood on hind legs, they played with the crowd, they got in the river and put on quite a show. The handlers have these pick-axe things that they use to control them- the end looks like something you'd find on an autopsy table, it was upsetting to watch them being used. Some of the big elephants were absolutely massive males with tusks which were trimmed. First you get to meet the elephants, they come close to the audience, they pick you up and let you sit on their necks or trunks, then they bathe the elephants in the river, then this show they put on which is really incredible. Looking into the eye of this incredible, intelligent animal I wanted to chuck my life away and save it from all the evil in the world. After the show, which ends with (seriously- I am not kidding) the most incredible demonstration of elephants PAINTING, you can pet them again, ride them, all the while the handlers are kind of pushing them into you for tips. The elephants take them diligently with their "finger" on the end of the trunk and hand it to the handlers.
I finally couldn't resist, basically because the handler had me in a total corner to get up on the animal after I was petting his face, so I got up. I immediately started to tear up and just sat up there crying, trying to smile and not feel like a terrible human being.
last but least me just crying.
Ivana
on the trunk ride, and Ivana and I after my emotional ride.
I went around the grounds when the show was over and spotted a basilisk lizard and took (I think a really gorgeous show of some blue-bells on the beautiful grounds complete with bit raindrops still visible on the leaves.
After the elephants, we were back on the bus toward an orchid farm which I was kind of jazzed to see. Thailand, of course, is home to over 150 species of orchids naturally and being a jungle is home to a myriad of bromeliads- and they have little nets around the trunks of trees in the cities trying to encourage them to grow. It's really cool. I took a bazillion shots of orchids, but unfortunately my camera DIED so I had to use Marius' camera and he was kind and generous enough to let me do so. We took a million shots of orchids, I'll try to parry it down here and just show you my best- this place was really cool, and it came with a little enclosed butterfly garden. There weren't too many kinds of butterfly, many of whom were actually moths, but they had some monarchs, a white spotted swallow tail and some others I don't know. If you look carefully at the waterfall apiculture on the left, you can see all those little brown spots are actually butterflies.
We ate lunch which was a buffet at the orchid farm, it was truly a blast. I head the story of Ivana and Marius' relationship and marriage- which is really very funny. We suddenly realized we were having such a good time that we were the only people left in the dining room from our group and ran out to catch the bus before it left. They have really made this trip fun for me. Back on the bus, we went in for the becoming-traditional afternoon shop stops which everybody under age 50 seems to find uninteresting and taxing. This is coupled with a tour guide who talks about as much as Marcos from Costa Rica- well, maybe 60% as much, which is still waaay too much, and as nice as she is, has very difficult english skills. She is also probably very bright and may have a little ADD because organization of her thoughts seems to be an issue- jumping from today to tomorrow to these options we can think about... nobody can seem to walk away knowing when and what we're expected to do either today or the following. It's getting a bit frustrating. Lina was rather vocal about it, her party is all very frustrated and don't plan to use this company again.
Past the handicapped shop we passed the pervious day en route to the gem factory, we drove to this place that carves wood. I was actually interested and impressed with this, didn't buy anything, but this was impressive. I would love a house where I could have room decorated in this style- low furniture which is heavily carved, moderately dark stained and just beautiful. I want one of those beds with a canopy that's low on the ground all carved. One man was inquiring about a teak bar- they walked away at 1400$ for tax, shipping and delivery. Wow. I want a bed and living room set. But I need the house to put it in first... Therein lies the rub...
It was after this the afternoon deteriorated into something really frustrating. The women in the front of the bus want to shop and see all these places where you can buy from the makers at a wildly increased price compared to getting these same things in the markets- (I assume Friendly Planet does this so they get kick-backs from these companies which helps finance my very inexpensive vacation) but I had specifically booked this trip because I had a lot of "afternoon on your own" slots which Nan seems to feel compelled to fill up with this kind of junk, keeping me on a bus, not seeing what I would really rather prefer to be seeing. Alas, after visiting a lacquerware place and a silver making place (some of the silver was truly amazing- these ceremonial vases and wall sculptures I assume they are making for the royal family), we went back to the Amora hotel. On the way in, I asked Kerry if she would .let me use her card reader so I could upload the pictures I took with M&I's camera onto my laptop- she let me, so I followed her to her room which was right next to Ivana's, then we went there while we uploaded. We've agreed to just share pictures anyways, it's nice that way- then you get the best of what you took as well as some potentially amazing stuff that somebody else shot. John and Charlene were supposed to give me a CD with their CR pics and they just never managed to get that together (john!!!). Kerry was waiting for her reader while we were deciding to head out and explore the night bazaar. Kerry decided to go with us, she was looking for a massage- all these traditional thai massage places are literally lining the streets- they charge like 100 bhat for a 1-hour massage, feet, head/neck, back, etc. (100 bhat is about $3.50). Out on the street, we stumbled upon this wat which we passed on the bus and what a find- it was the most ornate wat I' believe I've seen yet- it was after closing time, but this one was still open, so we let ourselves in and wandered around the grounds. Ivana asked a monk if it was still open and he said we could go in, so we took our shoes off as one of the ugliest feral dogs I may have ever seen got comfy on the front steps for a nice nap on the warm tile. A few of the monks were kneeling in the wat. I stayed a minute but left when the clicking of Kerry's camera got to be what I thought of as a bit too conspicuous.
The wat is called Buppharam and it was the most ornate we had seen yet and was a most unexpected surprise just sitting on a miscellaneous street in Chiang Mai.
Below is the absolute best dragon ever in all of Thailand- he reminds me of "Luck" from The NEverending Story. He was *so* awesome.
Outside there was a second building at the complex which was the most painted, gilded, mirrored, carved wat I may have seen yet- it was amazing. And all this with an animal motif in the gardens- all sorts of animal statues all over, complete with Donald Duck right out front. I was headed toward that building when a monk approached me and asked where I was from when I made eye contact and smiled at him. He looked young, with a thin line of facial hair at his upper and lowe lips, saffron robes and carrying some sort of large, but not heavy, book. Placid. I told him I was from San Francisco, which usually seems to impress people (big city life and all), he asked about my trip, the weather back in SF, etc. He had perfect english. This defies what Nan has been saying about monks never taking to anyone, let alone foreign women for polite conversation... nice. I smiled after a few minutes and we parted. The group and I spent about 45 minutes just around the wat taking photographs, well- they were, I was there for the ride with a broken camera back at my hotel and begging to use Marius' camera for a few snapshots here and there. Kerry is insatiable with the camera and has usually been the last to leave, which got a bit frustrating.
We wandered in and out of shops, found our way to the night market after darkness had set in on Chiang Mai. We walked past a massage place at the entrance to the market and for a half an hour and 50bhat you could get a foot massage- all 4 of us sat down, and suddenly 4 women came from somewhere inside the open-air tent with little plastic buckets of supplies and each sat down at one of our feet. There was a german woman between myself and Marius getting a foot massage and her partner was inside the tent getting a body massage. A really nice couple walked by and was starting to laugh with us, saying how comfortable we looked (it was actually kind of painful! My woman had hands of steel- in that 80lb frame she was like Atilla the Hun digging into my calves) and we asked her to take a picture of all of us. After we were finished with our feet, the rest all wanted to get shoulder/neck/back done, so I agreed. Marius went with full-body, the women with backs. This was actually a half an hour of pain- I have a couple of what I believe have to be trigger points in my right side l-spine area because they felt like taught bands and when she would go at that spot, it would painfully spasm tighter. Then she'd lay off the fingertip digging and go at the spot with her palm until the spasming subsided. I remember lying there thinking "How can anyone sleep through this?!" Finally, it all ended by this 80 lb woman getting me up on her knees with her arms laced between my arms like a full bridge on her knees as I'm fully extended and she kept saying "relax, relax" and then she moves me like a seasoned chiropractor and cracks me. Job done. I thought i was going to crush her to death. For 140BHT plus tip, 1 hour i thought for sure i was going to pay for with soreness tomorrow and an overall cool experience.
The night market in Chiang Mai is a series of 4 huge, dedicated buildings with probably a square mile of tents and booths lining the street on all 4 sides of the covered structures, it's HUGE. The quality of the things far exceeded the sunday market- this stuff was much nicer quality. We wandered, slowly, and me now extremely tired through a series of stalls and things, looking at the wares. Kerry bought a colleague a faux watch knock-off for 1400 bhat. I was feeling tired by about 9pm, the others were still going so I left them and headed back to the hotel. It is about a 20 minute walk- I made a quick lap, Shelby-syle, around the inside of the bazaar, opted out of food choices and watched the kantoke dancers troop onto a stage set up in the middle of the food-court area for a free show with the exact same dances we saw the previous night. Just free. I hemmed and hawed a little over a polyester red faux-silk bedspread duvet cover with matching pillows that this woman wanted for 1400 bhat, trying to insist it was silk. If that's silk, lady, I'll give you my left kidney. Still, thinking of the bad green polyester one I bought for $100 bed-in-a-bag at Macy's it was tempting. $50... I probably could have talked her down to $1000. They had some lovely curtains, too, but I've still got my heart set on sari fabric if I am indeed going to make any changes to the existing black velvet and tapestry setup.
I took my first tuktuk ride back to the hotel for 40bht, stopped at the 7-11 and bought a Singha beer bottle, some cashews, a razor, and a single-serve can of pringles for dinner. I tried to drink the beer after eating the "dinner" and managed to almost do so before I fell asleep.