First stop in Laos

Where is Rachael now?: Back in snowy Shanghai

I'm back in Shanghai now. Today was my first day of teaching for the second semester. Of course, I woke up to snow of the ground and heavy flakes falling. Good to be back, though I had hoped to be past the winter.

Anyways,

After riding elephants in northern Thailand, I found it a good time to cross over to Laos. Typically, people take a two day slow boat ride down the Mekong, which serves as the border, to get to the northern-most big Lao town of Luang Prabang. The ride is known for its beauty and discomfort. I was ready to find a place and stay there for awhile since my schedule had been very rapid thus far.  So I saddled up for 20 hours on a bus. First we drove through Chiang Rai, visiting one of the coolest Buddhist temples, The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun).  It is made entirely of white plastic with mirrored mosaics to represent the purity of Buddha.

At the border (I was dreading another long wait out in the sun), we were hustled across the river and through quick lines. Welcome to Laos! Now back on the bus! Before, I had taken 'sleeper buses' where the seats reclined and we, well, slept. But here was a whole new level on the 'sleeping bus'. They were actual cots. Three rows of bunkbeds were crammed in the bus. I looked at my ticket and headed for the back. But instead of getting a narrow cot to myself my ticket indicated that I would be sleeping in the back row made up of 5 cots all together with only narrow metal loops to keep us from getting cosy with our new neighbors. I had an older French man to my right, two American girls to my left, and another French man to the left of them. Cozy. My slot was also where you climbed up so throughout the night my mattress (and legs) slowly slid towards the floor. I was thankful to make friends with the American girls from San Fran and Bend, OR. They provided jokes and melatonin to get through the night. My French neighbor provided snores and complaints. What a riot. 

Made it to Luang Prabang, Laos. Similar to Chiang Mai, we sipped coffee and watched the young monks collect alms as we waited for hostels to open. I splurged with a room (plus bathroom!) to myself. I went back to sleep.

Elephants in Thailand!

-->

Day two in Chiang Mai was a big day. I was going to spend it with ELEPHANTS. 

First stop, the markets to pick up some bananas. At the elephant center, we learned commands to give to the elephants (faster, stop, turn, head down, leg up) Then we got on the elephants. We were bare-back since the seats are uncomfortable for the elephants. One way to get up is to sort of hurdle yourself over the head and then turn around on its back. You sit around the neck, holding onto the ears. The elephants are surprisingly hairy with lots of bristly black hair sticking up. We rode around for a bit and then had lunch. After lunch we met the baby of the herd (providing lots of bananas and sugarcane) and then mounted the big guys again. This time we went off into the jungle. It was a bit scary being so high and knowing the elephants could charge off into the jungle at any moment. The clunked along so heavily so that when going downhill, you felt you could easily slide off. At one point, we stopped at a stable area and my elephant wandered over the water bucket (with me still on his back!). He started sucking up water and pointing his truck straight at me! Whoosh! I was drenched over and over again. We also waded through a river with them until they decided to lay down and wash themselves off. As they knelt down in the water, we slid off their backs. We got some brushes and proceeded to help scrub off some dirt on their backs.

'giving me a kiss' literally, sucking off my neck

1

2

3: made it up!

da baby

 

It was a great experience. A little terrifying, humbling, and empowering all at once.  

On another note, today, February 10th, is both Chinese New Year and Tet (Vietnamese New Year). This is according to the lunar calendar. So 

Chúc mung nam moi ! (Happy Vietnamese New Year)

Xīnnián kuàilè ! (Happy Chinese New Year)

Wat-tastic! Wat-exhausted.

Where is Rachael now: Vientiane, Laos

Chiang Mai, Thailand

I escaped Bangkok to head north to Chiang Mai, Thailand. After the overnight bus dropped us off around 6:30am, I sat outside my hostel at an early opener cafe and watched novice monks pass by. Every morning, monks file out of the temples and walk the streets with their bowls to collect alms. Practitioners of Buddhism give them food in their bowls showing respect and merit to the monks.

Anyway, I eventually got into the hostel, took a shower, and decided to explore..via bike.
There are over 300 wats in Chiang Mai. I was a bit tired of stopping and taking pictures of more temples, but it was fun to ride around town and see tons of golden stupas jutting out from between buildings. My issue, as I mentioned in my list about biking, was not veering off to the right side of the road. It took me longer than it should have to realize they were driving on the left.

the old city is surrounded by walls and a moat

That night, sitting in the hostel, the winds picked up and the sky opened up. For the next 15 or so minutes it poured! The wind blew the rain inside and pamphlets flew everywhere. Then the power went out.  Nothing better to do than drink some beer and wait it out.

candle-lit beers

Power came back on and in the interim, I had been convinced to try steak for the first time. So we headed out for steak. I'll tell you, I don't understand eating so much of something that has the same taste. I preferred all the vegetables on the side.
Upon arriving back at the hostel, I found out there was another inhabitant at the dorm. A rat. A large, black rat who had come up from the bathroom drain. I found out later that he also chewed through the "brain' pouch of my bag. 

"Keep bathroom door closed. Big Rat!!!" The sign everyone wants to see on their dormitory

Day 2: Elephants! I'll do a separate post on that experience!
That night I went out with a few others to a mostly -Thai club. I danced a bit with a local Thai girl, perhaps the only other girl in the club wearing pants. We bonded to the rhythm of techno.
I wish I had stayed longer in Chiang Mai, but it was time to get to Laos. The next morning I boarded a bus to the border. We stopped in Chiang Rai to see one of coolest Buddhist temples, The White Temple.

Bangkok and bicycles

Where is Rachael now: Luang Prabang, Laos

Well, I survived Bangkok. 

I can't take this seriously when it is in the same font as Harry Potter

But it wasn't pretty. Who would have guessed that the girl who doesn't like big cities didn't jive very well with the "capital city of SE Asia". To keep it short, our bus ride from Siem Reap, Cam to Bangkok, Thailand was four hours longer than expected. That was caused by sitting out in the sun in a nearly standstill queue at the Thai border. Of course, you could bypass with a little bribe, but I wasn't going to give into the corrupt system! Instead I just got sunburned and angry. My first full day in Bangkok I successfully navigated the subway, the air tram, and the river taxi to get to the Royal Palace. Pretty impressive right? And then I got scammed. I guess I should have re-read that warning in my travel book-classic "Oh, it is closed now for cleaning so come back later. In the meantime, go to this special place and then there is a sale of real Thai handicrafts! Have this speical tuktuk price, too!" Listen all, if it sounds like a gem scam, it probably is. It was. After seeing a small Buddha, we pulled up to a gem store. I had just figured it out and stood my ground and made the driver drop me off down the road. You can't walk anywhere, try to get any tuktuk, without being molested about special tours. So frustrating. Once I finally got back to the Royal Palace, I paid 500baht for a claustrophobia attack. I zoomed through it...waaay too many people but you know, now I can say I did it...at least that's something right?

motorin'

Royal Palace

The rest of the day continued the same with two stops for street Pad Thai (Bangkok's saving grace). I was only too happy to book my ticket for the following day to head north. Day two consisted of more temple and wat ("monastery temple") sightings, more PadThai, and a lot of self-control to not buy cheap clothes on the main backpacker road Khao San. All the trains were booked so that night I settled in for an 11hr night bus to get the heck out of dodge. A cough has followed me from Bangkok traffic pollution.

Bangkok view from Wat Arun (the coolest Wat in town)

Great! Enough about Bangkok. Chiang Mai is much more my style! Back to nature! It's my first day here (arrived at 6 this morning) and I decided to explore the city by bike. Here are some things I've learned:

Rachael's Bike Riding Realizations

1. I have just as bad indecision of where to turn and stop on a bike as I do in a car

2. This bike is not going to make it up that very mountainous-looking hill (but nice try said the motorbikers)

3. I can't keep a straight face whilst ringing my bell (at least this one doesn't sound like a dying toad)

4. I need to pay attention to where I park my bike

5. No one should give a bicycle to an American to ride around in a city where they drive on the left side of the road. (whoops, drifting!)