So, I caught a cold. That was not too much fun. Thankfully it's almost out of my system. Waking up on Feb 10 with no voice was a bit ridiculous.
Anyway.. RECAP!
So! Chang Rai - nice place, kind of more on the boring side. We saw the tribes from various parts of Thailand, and the surrounding countries. Basically, the tribes come to this refuge place to make some money to go back home eventually. In a natural setting the different tribes wouldn't get along, but at this site they live in harmony, as they are all there for the same purpose of getting money together to go back 'home' to where ever that may be.
That night we went to another night market, and purchased more stuff for our evening out. I finally eat a bug! Then back at the hotel, we dressed up in an 80s\really tacky bright clothing theme all the girls wwith side pony tails and teased hair. Everything we wore was what we found in the night markets, then went to Thai disco-tech... or night club....- oddly named 'Sperm'. Meanwhile the hotel was named "Wangcome Hotel"
The night in all an amazing sight to see. Everyone had a blast dancing to the Thai band and music, then dancing to western dance music (Lady Gaga and the other such you would hear at a club in the states). I left early to deal with my stupid cold and head problems.
Feb 10 - off to an all day cruise on the Mekong River. It took a while to get there... but we did.
First we got up and left by 6:30 am to take a 2 hour ride to the Thailand/Laos river crossing boarder. It was pretty ridiculously unorganized, in terms of the boarders crossing, not the tour group. Tara (tour guide) did a great job organizing all our paperwork and passports. I would not have wanted to cross the boarded by myself. There were 100s of people shoving and pushing to get to a table with 2 people working. Simply hectic and crazy. Plus my head cold was at it's worse, and I had no voice for the majority of the day.
Finally, we were able to get from Thailand to Laos via really long thin boats, and then dealt with the massive amounts of crazy people, then got in a Songtail (basically a truck, and the back part of the truck, you sit in (8 to 12 people). We found our way to the Slow Boats. Made a chain gang and pushed our luggage on to the boat where the owners put our bags under the floor boards. Then, we boarded and sailed for 8 hours to our next stop.
The 8 hours was soooo relaxing. The view all around was lushous greens and beaches and rocks. We saw water buffalo, and people doing working and laundry in the river. We napped, we talked, and ate. We definitely bonded more.
We have most people's names down by now. We are telling stories of our lives instead of "what do you do for work? where do you go to school?"
When we arrived at the spot we were staying for the night there were 25-35 kids just waiting where we docked to carry our backs to the guesthouse. They were adorable. I had a kid carry my backpack up this hill, I felt bad, but we did tip them, and this is a source of income for the town.
The town - I can't recall the name at the moment. I'd need to pull out my itinerary which is way far away on the other side off the boat (about 50 feet away)... I can't be bothered. ;)
Anyway - the town was the size of... one road that stretched 2 football fields. plus houses up in the mountain a little ways. Very small. We walked the whole town to and from where we were staying in about 10 or 15 min, while i stopped and snapped photos.
We then ate a great Laotian (sp?) dinner, filled with great foods that i have no idea what they are names. Food has been spectacular on the trip. Yum.
After, about 7 of us sat around and talked in to the night. Mostly about the different slang terms we all use. (2 Canadians, 1 kiwi, 1 ozzie, 1 irish, 1 american, one brit with a cockney attitude) That was a lot of fun, i can't wait to bring back all these new terms.
While sitting out on the patio area of the guest home, we looked up at the sky and the brit and i talked about how many stars there were. There is no light pollution, so the stars are there! Lots of them! The moon's crescent sits differently in the sky too. The kiwi (New Zealander) told me the stars were nothing here, that when i get to NZ, i'll be super impressed.
Bed. Wake up. Good breakfast. Back to cruising.... and that's were I am now. Watching the green pass by.
This afternoon - temple caves, and a bike ride.
Tonight - dinner will be some water buffalo. Some more night club activities, get laundry done, and get ready to ride an ELEPHANT in the morning!
I think all these posts that have been waiting for wifi should post at the same time today when we get to the hotel. So, happy reading!
---------------------------------
Uploaded and sent from an iPad that's exploring Southeast Asia. Please try not to mind the typos and spelling errors. Autocorrect does some funny things.
---------------------------------
Curious..did you see any long neck natives?
ReplyDelete