Adventure!

I am filled with a strange sort of sadness over leaving Thailand. Although I lived here for a month, I often felt confined and restricted by my academic life. I want to come back again for sure, but the next time I want to do it just with a backpack, a tent, and a plane ticket. You can survive very comfortably here with just a little bit of money...

Since I last checked in things have definitely been interesting. Two days ago we boarded a bus to Chiang Rai. The trek upwards over the mountains on our little 70-styles bus was beautiful to say the least. The hills got so steep at parts that the bus had to chug slow a long for five or ten minutes stretches. All the while I was busily thinking of the little engine that could and how fitting that story was for the exact moment.

What is so amazing about the Thai country-side is how well its used. Hills? No problem! you can still farm a hill! The result is the hills look like awkward pimples or moles bubbling up out of the earth. I love the rice fields and never tire of passing them by, but my heart aches for the poor souls who have to work there. From the looks of it, it is anything but easy.

On the bus I met two girls from Montreal. We chatted briefly, but mostly I stared out the window or read my book. Everyone is amazed at how regardless of how twisty or bumpy the road is, my ability to read and not get car-sick. I say its from all the time spent having to do homework in the car going to and from soccer practice.

That evening the group of us who headed to Chiang Rai (Paul, Haley, Anne, Tara, and myself) met up with a friend of Paul and Haley's who randomly happened to be in the city. We went out for dinner at a restaurant called "Cabbages and Condoms" which is run by a local NGO. The profits from the restaurant help the NGO survive. The NGO is tackling HIV/AIDS in the area...

After dinner we went to yet another night bizarre, though it was much smaller than anything we went to in Chiang Mai. There was a big open area and a stage so we bought a pitcher of beer and waited for the show. The show had many different acts but the most common seemed to be the "Lady Boys" men who dressed up as women and sung and danced. I guess they have this in the US too from what my fellow travelers say but I'm not so sure...

Things like being trans-gender or gay/lesbian are really well accepted here, which is weird given their "sex" phobia. The lady at our hotel where we are currently staying is actually a man....

Anyways, moving on.

In the morning the six of us went out for breakfast then Paul and Haley headed to Burma because they needed to renew their visas because they are staying in Thailand before they move to China. Anne, Tara, Fletcher and I went first to the white temple and then to a river.

The white temple looks as if it could have been carved out of ice. It is completely white and covered in tiny mirrors making it hard to behold in the sunlight. Honestly, I felt like I had stepped into a setting from a fantasy novel... While the temple was gorgeous the inside walls of it were very bizarre. The back panelling had pictures of the twin towers, jets, aliens, cellphones, people making out, Neo (from the matrix), and a bunch of other random stuff you wouldn't expect on a temple wall...

After that we wandered around aimlessly and ended up finding a cock-fighting ring. Obviously, we didn't stay. We then got a taxi home and went out to this river.

The side of the river we were on had a bunch of shops and was kind of boring. The other side, however, looked really interesting so Fletcher and I forded the river. The current was fairly swift and we had to walk about 50 meters in the water at waist to chest depth but it was so worth it. (Anne and Tara stayed behind)

In our exploring we found a remarkable cave temple that was overrun with feral cats. Everything smelled like cat pee. Despite that, however, it was pretty cool. We also found this strange "ball-flower" It was literally a flower that was a sphere. It's hard to explain but it felt and sort of looked like a koosh ball... All around us were huge hills, fields, and cool villages. Unfortunately it was getting late so we turned back.

We met up with Haley and Paul and spent the night wandering the streets of Chiang Rai. We got lost for about two hours but eventually made it home...

Today we went to a waterfall and did some remarkable hiking and waterfall visiting. The hike wasn't particularly long (sad) but the waterfall was about 70m high. It was incredibly gorgeous.

It seems strange to me that I am leaving Thailand tomorrow. Again, I felt like I saw so little of it and came away with only a greater curiosity to come back and really poke around. While I learned a lot in my dialogue, I felt like I didn't really learn as much as I was expecting about Thailand.

Perhaps the real problem is that I am simply not a city girl and have had to spend most of my time within the confines of concrete walls rather than in the chaos of the jungle. Who knows!

Tomorrow, I leave for the Seychelles where I have no idea what to expect. I am not nervous about going, rather I am simply in this weird state of awe that the stars aligned in such a way where it was actually possible for me to go.

It seems only appropriate that I have finished the book series I started upon leaving the trip but am left with that empty void that fills you up whenever a good book ends. I now start (once again) on a book that has plagued me for the last several months by its slow narration but that I enjoy tremendously. Check it out "House of Leaves."

Anyways, I have to go get a few things in order. Hopefully I will be able to write another post soon giving details about the frequency of updates for Part 2 of my journey.

Love and Miss you all,
Sarah