After we had our rides we continued our trek back to Chiang Mai where we were able to stay out our driver's one room efficiency complex. Umm...it included a mattress, and a makeshift bathroom. The walls were bright blue, like the blue house in Goshen, VA, and it was probably the shadiest place I've ever stayed. If not for PLa's generosity and security the four of us never would have agreed to stay there, but it was safe, secure and most of all free.
He took us to the Night Market, and we chose to eat Western Fare: Pizza and French Fries. Um...the fries were good. Pizza not so much, but it wasn't rice and that was a good thing. The guy who owned the restaurant was from Ohio and spent his time in the service traveling, and fell in love with Thailand. He named his restaurant "Hell's Kitchen" and we read about his bio in the menu. He was definitely an interesting character that is for sure.
In the morning PLa and his wife made us a Thai breakfast in the morning which was delicious, although I picked out the pieces of squid in the soup! I am trying to get adjusted the food culture here, but no lie its a challenge.
The highlights of Chiang Mai come in the form of the touristy trap things, although they were fantastic to me. Ranging from where silver jewelry is made (scored a great pair of earrings and a ring at a fantastic price), umbrella making (so beautiful), and wood carving and furniture (I wanted an outdoor table and chairs so badly: for three grand it included freight to the States!...but no I did not buy it.).
The train ride was exponentially better for the way back because we had an air conditioned car, and boarded the train at 4pm instead of 10:30pm. Mark and I played Uno, had a Bacardi breezers, wrote postcards, and slept. We arrived back in Bangkok geared up for the day, and at 7am BC and I experienced something amazing: getting our hair washed and straightened for only 3 bucks! AMAZING, especially after 'roughing it' in the North!
Upon returning we had a day of pampering which included: the AM hair appt., manicure and pedicure, and a thai massage. No joke, the thai massage was the most unreal experience. While completely dressed you are worked on a room full of mats on tables and you are prodded and stretched by a blind Thai man. It was so painful, and I have bruises on my arms! How do you remember to say 'No' and 'Stop' in Thai when all you want to do is run away?? haha. All in all, the stretching was my favorite part and we all did it and survived.
The most special moment of the day came when we all went to the Orphanage that Tiffany volunteers at. The baby she was working with was adopted not too long ago so she was assigned a new one, and we got to meet him. I can't pronounce or really remember hisname right now, but I have refered to him as TBoo in pictures. He was precious, so little and was still enough to take photos of. I have uploaded several to facebook, and if you need a link to the blog I will post an entry of links to all photos here as a reference. It is difficult to upload photos sometimes online here.
Afterwards we headed to the Princess Sirivannavari's exhibit from her fashion runway show in Paris this year. It was beautifully presented and I really appreciated her aesthetic. She identifies much of herself to, and has adopted the Peacock as a visual point of reference for her art. She has also used more traditional Thai dress and translated that into a modern representation, and its all beautiful. It was a really neat thing to go see and I got a fruit smoothie on our way home which reminded me of Jamba Juice. I was delighted.
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