Back in Thailand

This past week was probably one of the least cultural weeks I have had. Thailand is so touristy, you just have to embrace it and go with the flow. I left Bali and got into Bangkok around 8pm where I met up with Leo Waible!!! Me and him have a history of meeting up in the most random places, just add Bangkok to the list.

We had a hotel, changed and headed out for the night. Leo had never seen the Ping Pong show, so we headed over to Patpong. We got dragged into this bar where half of the girls on stage were lady boys and the other half were fat and naked doing strange things with their lady bits, so we downed our beers and shots and tried to make an escape but "mama" tried to charge us with a $200 bill!! We said bullshit, getting better looking girls and maybe we would pay to watch, so we ran out which made Mama pretty angry. We went to another one where the girls just dance on stage in their bikinis... and you can order them or something. Anyway, I got dragged up on stage for a dance, which was humilating because I felt like a fat cow next to all these tiny Thai girls. I think Leo got a picture somewhere. From there we went to some after hours club, danced some more, and called it a night around 5am.

Leo!

One of our bajillion tuk tuk rides that night

The next day was extremely unproductive... we did try to go see something but we got lost and didn't make it before it closed. That night we met up with some of Leo's friends that work in a club on Rama 9, which is the street with all the high end clubs. We hung out with his friends, drank, danced, watched the dancing show (which involved no ping pongs) and had a good time. These girls were so funny. They are kind of like waitresses, but they get paid to hang out, drink with you and basically entertain you for the night. By the end of the night, all the girls were in the bathroom throwing up... I would too if I had to do shots with every man in the bar! After that place closed, we headed to another after hours club called Spicey and again called it a night at 5am. We are worthless! But now I have seen Bangkok by day and night. Check.

Anne and Ming at the club

Garfield was another one of Leo's friends... she was a dance teacher and to do Thai dancing, you have to stretch your fingers all the way back. It was terrifying.

Leo left the next day to go back to Singapore and I hung out in Bangkok until my overnight bus to Chang Mai. I got to Chang Mai the next morning and decided to just go straight to this little hippie town called Pai. I got there, found a cute little bungalow for about $5 a night and stayed in Pai for about 5 days. Didn't do much, hung out, went to see some bands, went to a waterfall, hung out at the pool, walked around, did a hike, just a really mellow week. Two things I did that were cool was ride an elephant and took a cooking class. The elephant was funny cause it was really hard to stay on, and then when we got to a little creek, the elephant flung you off into about a foot of water. Imagine being knocked off an elephant and laying on the ground right next to its feet, it was fun/ frightening... so I did it and probably will never do it again.

The cooking class was amazing. We learned how to make 5 different dishes that were all so good. The teacher, T, was so cool. We did lunch, took a break and then had a big dinner where we invited friends and drank and ate all the food we had cooked. It was an awesome day and I look forward to cooking these dishes at home! I met a group of people who were in Pai learning thai boxing. They tried to convince me to participate, but I declined. I had a lot of fun with them, they were all amazing and very fun people. Made my time in Pai.

The bridge to my bungalow

the elephants

waterfall

Pip on the awesome swing

Nice view


Niamh (pronounced Nieve because its crazy Gaelic) dissapointed because we couldn't find the waterfall we were looking for

Curries! I can make those now!

Action shot

Our dinner party

It was Paul's birthday so we got him a cake at 7-11

I left Pai the next morning for Chang Mai. I was only there for a night and a day, so I don't have much to say about it. Went to a Wat, walked around, not too exciting. Then I took another overnight bus back to Bangkok and now I am waiting for Gary to arrive before we head to Laos!

The Wat

Part of Chang Mai