Recording the adventures of Robert and Jenn since 2010.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Mae Sai: Red Headed Fruit
skin off with those spiny looking things and they will stick you if
your not careful.
Mae Sai: Thai Walmart
prices were higher than at the normal markets, but we did procure some
much missed cheese. Camambert, to be exact, sliced with a plastic soup
spoon and eaten on Rosy Crackers (imitation Ritz). Not satisfying in
the least. Damn.
Mae Sai: they were roasting chestnuts all over town
They were put in a large wok with lots of small black rocks over a flame. When the nuts were deemed finished, they used a metal spoon with large holes to sift out the rocks. We aren't sure where they got the rocks from - maybe from the river bottom? (yum!) Regardless, it was a good system. We sampled some when we were trying to figure out what they were and they weren't all that tasty, so we didn't invest in a giant bag. Note: We have never seen, nor tasted a roasted chestnut in the States, so this is all guesswork.
Thachileik: Cigarettes - 40B! No? How about some Viagra??
to your right. The bargain shoppers and clueless farangs pour down
this one staircase. It is a terrible bottleneck that vendors have
learned to use to their advantage - there are hoards of mobile vendors
just waiting you. There are so many that the crowd inevitably slows
and you are unable to escape. They are selling cigarettes and viagra
and who knows what else, but they are very aggressive and quite
irritating. (but they only wanted 40B for a carton of cigarettes!!
$1.30)
Mae Sai: our feast from the night market
dish, Jens salted yellow noodles, and coconut sweet bread.
Monday, November 29, 2010
11-28-10: Myanmar
Crossing the Border
We woke up a little nervous and ambivalent about crossing in to
Myanmar; should we cross all the way into Myanmar and hang out there
for the day or try to avoid getting stamped into Myanmar at all? Last
night we discovered that our visa exemption expired that day, as
opposed to two days from now as we had previously thought. So by our
crossing today, we have overstayed by one day. This compounded our
unease; what happens when you overstay your visa? We had heard about a
fine, but is it actually levied? Do the border agents get mad at you?
The uncertainty of it all made us loathe to get started. We tarried
over rice soup at the guesthouse and walked into town at no more than
an amble.
Finally Robert mustered up enough conviction for both of us and
convinced me to get the crossing out of the way, come what may. We got
out our passports and departure forms and stood in the "Passport
Control" line. The sign being in English - the line was only for
foreigners; Thais and Myanmarians can cross at will so long as they
are on the correct side when the border closes each evening. The line
moved slowly, and our overstay generated even more paperwork.
Thankfully they didn't harass us, just asked for a 500B fine ($17 US).
Regardless, we will be more careful next time.
Like cattle in loading pens, we were herded across a bridge to Myanmar
Immigration. A river forms the border here and currently it is only
waist deep. We heard accounts of smugglers just wading across from a
fellow at our guesthouse and the guidebook, but we didn't get to see
it first hand. The no-mans-land bridge was an unpleasant place.
Myanmar is significantly poorer than Thailand, thus the bridge
attracts beggars. They were both young children and more persistent
than others we have encountered - no fun for either of the parties
involved.
Once we encountered this, we decided to attempt a quick U-turn without
completely crossing into Myanmar, but we were denied re-entry pursuant
to actually being stamped into Myanmar. So cross we did. Myanmar
Immigration consisted of passing into an office protected by a red
velvet curtain and talking to the immigration officers behind. We paid
only $10 US apiece since we had US currency. Otherwise the fee is
500B, equivalent to $17 US. There was another westerner in the office
as we went through. He was quite unhappy that they wouldn't make
change for his $100 US dollar bill, in baht or dollars. He went about
it all wrong though - he raised his voice and made quite a fuss. Even
a cursory scan of a guidebook will recommend keeping a smile and a
light tone during any negotiation in Asia. Losing your temper is
considered shameful and will get you no where. Indeed, he was denied
completely. I'm not sure how it eventually turned out though, we
passed through the red curtain quietly as soon as we were done.
Our passports, however, did not. I confirmed that I wanted to do some
shopping, so he set my passport aside until I returned to collect it.
Apparently this is standard procedure, but it made me uncomfortable
none-the-less. Now we got to experience Myanmar! (This is not entirely
fair; I doubt the border market is representative of Myanmar in
general, but it is all we will see on this trip. Too much to see and
too little time. With adequate preparation and research, we have heard
that Myanmar is actually a great place to visit. It used to be a
British colony, so their english is quite good and both the citizens
and the government welcome visitors, though for different reasons. I'm
sad to miss it.)
Border Market
We were corralled again like cattle away from the border for a while
before being released to determine our own path. This is an
unfortunate system because you become a captive audience for
aggressive tuk-tuk drivers. They creep upstream and plant themselves
along the corral, offering well-worn laminated picture signs
advertising tours to nearby monuments and temples. At times it was
difficult to squeeze past them and made for a terrible first
impression. This treatment continued as we followed the herd down a
set of steps into the border market. The only difference here was the
offer: cigarettes as opposed to tours. There was little respect for
personal space and no way to say no without relocating your person.
Eventually we cleared the most congested area at the bottom of the
steps and were able to stand unmolested for a moment to get our
bearings. If we wanted to consume, here would have been the place to
do it. There were stalls selling almost everything: sunglasses (they
were the most aggressive in calling us over with, "looking! 40
baht!"), shoes, luggage, music, foods, souvenir knick-knacks, etc. I
don't remember much, just the feeling of being overwhelmed. We
navigated our way out of the market and onto a street as my eyes swam
from looking at too many things all at once.
Malaysian Fried Noodles and the Post Office
We walked up and down this street several times before deciding on a
place to get lunch. Parts of the menu had been translated, so we had a
fighting chance. We both opted for Malaysian fried noodles, unsure of
how they differed from Pad Thai. I was even able to explain, in a mix
of English and thai, that I didn't want meat in mine (and was
successful!). We were each served three dishes: sliced cabbage and
onion with a sweet chili sauce in a small saucer, clear soup in a
small bowl and fried wide noodles on a plate. We ate the "salad"
first, in two or three bites, bit that was clearly incorrect as our
saucers were quickly replaced - I think we basically scarfed down the
catsup. This was the only noticeable gaff, however; or else they
completely wrote us off and let us do our thing. I then used the soup
and the salad as condiments, but I don't really think this was correct
either. Who knows?
After we paid we asked about post cards and the post office - we
wanted to document our excursion with a myanmar postmark! We were much
more successful using English in this pursuit and the owner gave us
excellent directions, also in english. We found the post office
easily; it was closed. We couldn't think of anything more productive
to do with our limited time in Myanmar - we had about four hours at
this point before the border closed. (Interesting note: Myanmar time
is 30 minutes behind Thai time. No clear reason as to why...) We
crossed the bridge and returned to the land of smiles, passports
thankfully awaiting our return.
Home Again, Home Again?
It was a surprisingly stressful day, punctuated by uncertainty and
trepidation. We ate an unsatisfying lunch (food consumed across the
border doesn't count) at the only "recommended" restaurant in town and
went back to the guesthouse, passing out cold for several hours.
After blinking awake, we ventured out of our hole to find food. We
were hopeful the night market would be as bustling as it had been the
night before, but it wasn't. We walked the strip of sparse food stalls
a few times before settling on...noodle soup. Big surprise. The
proprietor spoke good English and enjoying hamming with his customers,
Thai and farang. We also ordered stir-fried morning glory (a
stem-filled leafy green) and I think I found a new favorite vegetable.
We found desert a few stalls away - donuts and hot soy milk. I tried
to ask if the donuts were eaten with the soy milk, but we barely
understood the aforementioned nutty, white liquid to be soy milk, so
eating instructions fell outside our grasp. We dipped them soggy and
they were good.
Home for more sleeps - we really aren't sleeping well if we can sleep
nine hours and take a two hour nap!
11-27-10: Chiang Mai to Mai Sai
Today we left Chiang Mai, not a moment too soon. We have come to the
realization that we don't enjoy big cities. How we didn't already know
that, I'm not sure. I guess this falls into the "don't do anything
abroad that you wouldn't do at home" category, advice which we did not
heed. We prefer camping and nature in the states; we will try to do
more of that here.
realization that we don't enjoy big cities. How we didn't already know
that, I'm not sure. I guess this falls into the "don't do anything
abroad that you wouldn't do at home" category, advice which we did not
heed. We prefer camping and nature in the states; we will try to do
more of that here.
We got a quasi-late start this morning, packed up and struck out in
search of breakfast and a meal to go. Our goal was to go to Thai Foods
(that is the only thing in English on their sign) because their food
was tasty, cheap and we thought they would pack something up for us to
take-away. It was about 10:30 and it was already getting hot, so we
broke a healthy sweat on the way over there. Imagine our
disappointment when they were closed. Thankfully, we were now on the
main strip with a multitude of options. We retraced our steps and
shortly arrived at Aum Vegetarian Restaurant. We shared khao soi and
veggie fried rice, drank Thai iced tea and a banana lassi, and got two
pad thais to-go. Perfect.
Five Hours on a Bus
After breakfast, we went to the tuk-tuk farm, the curb, and negotiated
a ride to the bus station. We didn't want to pay more than we paid to
go the other way (30B/person), so we walked away when we were quoted
50/person. This quickly dropped the price to our offer and away we
went. Granted, this is all of 60 cents US, but it is nice to know and
encourage a standard price.
The bus station was straight forward. We bought tickets and the bus
left in an hour. Robert went off in search of food, but returned
empty-handed, nothing looked good. I went off in search of food and
bought Robert a Birdy coffee drink in the strongest can known to man
and some tasty looking dinner rolls. Bread seems to be a commodity
here; it is rare and special when we find it. Dinner rolls were filled
with sugary pork bits and crushed my soul.
The only wrinkle to this travel leg was that we didn't have seats
together, one in front of the other. We were willing to try it, but
the five hour ride was long enough for us to realize that sitting
together and being able to invade each others space is superior. We
were each given a water, a straw, square ritz crackers imposters and a
ritz cracker sandwich with strawberry wafers inside. Weird, but I ate
them. I used the time to read about the Mae Hong Son Loop, probably
our next adventure. Talk of small towns and forest trekking got me
excited. I also watched the in-flight Japanese movie, dubbed in Thai.
Slept. Etc. Eventually people got off and I moved to sit with Robert:
much better. It's okay if our knees touch. We feasted on pad Thai, the
epitome of thai fast food, and soon we made it to Mae Sai, border
town.
Guest House, Night Market and a Controlled Burn
We sangthaewed into town, past a Thai walmart!!! In town, there was a
huge market of food and clothes, crawling with people. I like this
place better already. The road stops at the border and we deplaned.
All we knew was that there are few guest houses here worth paying for,
the best is the farthest away along the river to the west. We just
kept walking, staying near the river, and eventually we found the
place. It is awfully far away from town, but nice and right on the
river, which forms the border with Myanmar. We got a small, well-kept
bungalow for 400. The woman was very nice and she spoke pretty good
English.
Met other travelers, americans no less. Chatted for a while. They
didn't believe that I was from texas, no accent. I quipped that Texas
educates a few of it's residents. We left to sup at the enticing night
market. We walked the strip once to get our bearings, then beelined to
our chosen stalls. I got noodles, with lots of extras, and a salad.
Robert got half a roasted chicken, noodles from another place and a
coconut sweet bread. With bounty in hand, where do we eat? We went
down a side arm of the market and found a closed stall to sit at. All
our bags of food were soon empty, bellies full.
We strolled back to the market to gawk a bit; it was only 6:30, too
early even for weary travelers. There was a show starting, complete
with raised bandstand. First was a singer, okay. Next was a female
singer, okay. Then came some traditional dancing, better. Then more
traditional dancing, ho hum - more of the same. Then - fire breathing
dancers! For such a slow starting show, it really heated up quickly!!
I tucked myself into the crowd, sitting on the floor in the front with
the three year olds, shutter clacking. Camera battery threatens to
die, but outlasts the show. We will post a fraction of the pictures
taken.
That seemed like an adequate conclusion to the evening, so we wandered
home. Robert beelines for the hawng nam and I explore the grounds a
bit, stumbling upon one of the travelers we met earlier. He recognizes
me and we chat for a while. It's always nice to talk to someone new.
Robert finds me eventually and we stay out talking for quite a while.
We even have to get jackets because the breeze over the river is
actually making me shiver! Wander home, meet up with traveler from
earlier and chat for a while until sleep. Our travel friend lives in
New Hampshire, but is taking three weeks to ride a motorcycle around
the Golden Triangle, where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. He scoffed
at my fear of motorbikes, but he teaches riding in the states, so that
is hardly fair. He told one story of meeting a deer head-on at 80mph
and walking away with a scratch (and a totaled bike). Maybe with
appropriate precautions and some training, motorbikes wouldn't be so
terrifying.
Someone seems to have broken the toilet. A handy-dandy stick fixed the...clog.
SIDEBARS:
Can't Sleep
We have been having trouble getting a restful night of sleep. Going to
sleep is never the problem, sleeping soundly is. We seem to pass out
and then toss all night. The bags under my eyes are growing and
frequently we hit a wall in the afternoon, when it feels like we
haven't slept in days. We literally took a mid-afternoon nap yesterday
(and it was amazing). That being said, we are down to three ambien,
which we would like to reserve for their original purpose of combating
jet lag, so we visited a pharmacy to see if they would sell us any. No
go, joe. It took the pharmacist a while to explain, but from what I
understood, sleep-aides are controlled in Thailand and you can only
get them from the hospital. You don't need to see a doctor per se, he
specified, but you have to tell someone you cant sleep and then you
can purchase them. We will see how we sleep tonight and go from there.
It's no fun being tired, but I don't want to need pills either.
Condensed milk
Three drinks: Thai iced tea (just "iced tea" here), iced coffee and
iced green tea. They all come with a hearty dose of condensed milk,
both within the drink and a topping. BananaCrepeMan (more correctly,
if incorrectly, named BananaRotiMan, after the Indian flatbread of
similar design) tops all of his creations with condensed milk, from
the can, usually with four pour holes lining the lip and one on the
opposite side to ensure adequate flowage. As terrible for you as it
is, it has become a staple in our diet. What will we do when we return
to the land that turns up it's nose at sickly sweet goo?
Stalked by a tuk-tuk
Robert has quipped that tuk-tuk drivers mutter in their sleep,
"tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk!" I'm not sure he is wrong. These guys (and an
occasional gal) make their living convincing walkers to renounce their
handicap and take to the streets. Occasionally, however, we enjoy
walking. This character defect has frustrated more than a few tuk-tuk
drivers. This morning we had a tuk-tuk slow to a crawl on the busy
street to offer us a ride, frustratingly this entails repeated
cat-calling, which we ignore. Persistent (I want to say "to a fault,"
but that isn't fair as he is only trying to make a living), he stalks
us down the sidewalk - maybe we didn't hear his initial offers.
Eventually he zooms off, and we relax to walk in peace, only to notice
that he has stopped just ahead, preparing an ambush. He once more
proffers his ride and once more we ignore him, experience has taught
us that acknowledgment usually just results in a harder sell or
dangerous traffic maneuvers. Satisfied that we have heard his offer,
he moves down the block to proposition fresh meat.
11-26-10: Chiang Mai
Contributing Writer (Robert):
Up around 9:30-10:00. Me to blue diamond you to try to call Amanda.
When you got to blue diamond I'm sitting with a cute blonde and we
don't remember her name. Talking and breakfast at blue diamond. You
call moo for like two hours. I wait and mail a postcard. Then over to
the night market to check out the inside mall and cameras. We ate on
the 4th floor and had to buy coupons. Then bought a new mem card for
the camera. On our way back stopped at taste of heaven for bite. Then
back to the room for a nap and back out to dinner at the royal Indian
cuisean. Then called your mom and buy a beer. A little tv and to
sleep.
Primary Author's Note: To be fair, this is not Robert's best effort.
He was hoodwinked into writing the post. Often I implore him to write
me an outline to help me remember everything that happened and often
he rises to the challenge and this time....it got published.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep: fortune sticks
You then read a piece of paper on the wall to see your fortune.
11-25-10: Doi Suthep
Today we decided to visit a nearby Wat because it is perched on a
hillside and supposed to have great views of the city below. The wat
is the second most popular pilgrimage site in Thailand, according to
our book, so it should be excellent people watching if nothing else.
hillside and supposed to have great views of the city below. The wat
is the second most popular pilgrimage site in Thailand, according to
our book, so it should be excellent people watching if nothing else.
Yesterday we scoped out the "bus station," where sangthaews going to
Doi Suthep hangout and learned the price of a ride up the mountain,
50B. We found a sangthaew offering this semi-standard rate, but the
kicker is they wait until the sangthaew is "full," 10 people minimum
the sign states before they leave. No other tourists were in sight. We
would give them 15 minutes and then leave if they still refused to
take us alone. Miraculously, 14 minutes into the wait two other
couples materialized. The driver grinned and made some crack that just
for us, he would go without a full seven people, which was apparently
his minimum, only the sign required 10. Anyways, in a split second,
our fortune changed as is apt to happen while traveling and off we
went.
The most frustrating thing about riding in a sangthaew (a truck onto
which a roof and bench seats have been welded) is that the windows are
too low for optimal viewing. You have the sensation of driving around,
but your eyes have trouble confirming this. Resultantly, Robert and I
both dislike riding in them for longer trips. This trip, however, was
about an hour and the roads climbed and wound around the mountain.
Not fun. We both felt sick and disoriented when we got to the top. In
fact, we crawled out of the sangthaew and just sat in the shade for
quite some time before trying to make any sense of our new
surroundings. I read about the wat in the guide book a little bit,
which shed light on the giant gold statue of a man nearby. He was the
monk that spearheaded a giant volunteer effort to pave the road up the
mountain to access the wat without having to hack through the jungle
for several hours.
We bought tickets to enter the wat at a stand nearby. We also ended up
with tickets for the cable car. I take this to be evidence that we
were both still a little out of it. It is well known that there is a
giant staircase to climb to get to the wat, but when I tried to tell
the woman we wanted to walk, she told us we still needed a cable car
ticket. I don't think she intentionally was trying to force the ticket
on us, but we didn't see a staircase so we went along. We took a cable
car up the mountain and it dropped us off at the top, still no sign of
a staircase. Hmm. (It wasn't until we tried to leave that we found the
GIANT staircase, but it was there all along.)
The wat was buzzing with activity. We beelined for a coffee stand in
hopes that a little caffeine would set the world right again. It
didn't really, but it was a nice slow start to our explorations. I was
quite content to walk slowly and capture everything on film, multiple
angles. Robert on the other hand, just loitered in the shade and used
his eye camera to take everything in. Expect lots of pics at the next
upload. The temple was much more photogenic than the view of the city,
which was obscured by the customary big-city smog. I did enjoy the
flower tree growing from a level below the viewpoint that came up
though a hole in the concrete floor and blossomed onto an arbor,
providing thick shade for the viewers and a million fuchsia flowers.
Another memorable feature were the numerous bells. Ringing the wat
proper, were lines of bells and it was supposedly very good luck to
ring all of them. The signs were specific, don't push the bells;
instead clang the internal ringer against the bell. I wanted a picture
of the bells with their clangers wagging after a good ringing, but I
was unsuccessful. No matter how small the aperture or how modestly I
delayed the shutter, the pictures were overexposed. Maybe inevitable
in the bright sunlight? Photographers, weigh in!
After a few laps around the outside of the temple, we ventured into
the main attraction. If you have ever seen a picture of a giant golden
chedi (upside-down ice cream cone) with a giant multi-tiered golden
umbrella next to it, this is the place. There were photographers on
hand offering to take a picture of you with said chedi and umbrella,
then photoshop in a more perfect sky and Photoshop out all the other
people. We didn't get one, but really I don't think we were offered
one either. They were targeting Thai pilgrims, not camera toting
tourists.
There were lots of cool pictures to take, but the people watching
surpassed the lens for once. Thais would buy lotus blossoms, candles
and incense, ceremoniously walk them once around the main chedi and
then present them to four main Buddha statues (not sure of the
significance of each). While kneeling in front of a Buddha image, one
could shake these cups full of sticks until one stick distinguished
itself. This stick had a number on it, which corresponded to fortune,
take the correctly numbered paper and read your fate - a much more
involved way of revealing your horoscope.
My favorite people watching experience of the day was in front of a
large gong. There were several gongs hanging throughout the complex
and I puzzled over the consistently missing gong-whackers. Then I
spied a green-shirted man and his entourage, who revealed the proper
way to play the gong. He used one hand to slowly rub the center of the
gong and a low hum, soft at first, was produced. This was definitely a
skill he had honed over years of practiced, but he cheerfully tried to
teach his compatriots; none was nearly as successful as he. When the
crowd dispersed, Robert and I tried, equally unsuccessful despite
eavesdropping on the lesson. Others opted to whack the gong three
times with a closed fist, but that seemed far too easy to garner any
significant amount of luck.
I don't want to forget to explain how this temple was initially
created. It seems a bit far-fetched and it admittedly a legion, but
the story goes... A famous Buddha relic was being given a new home
when it spontaneously duplicated itself. This clone needed a home, but
there wasn't a wat available, so a monk enshrined the relic on the
back of a holy white elephant. (Buddha's mother was barren until she
dreamt that a white elephant crawled into her womb, so white elephants
are highly revered.) For years the white elephant wandered the
countryside, eventually climbing the Doi Suthep mountain and dying at
the top. The wat was then built to permanently house the relic, which
now resides beneath the chedi.
After exhausting my desire to take pictures and my companion's
patience, we located the stairs and ceremoniously descended, feeling
like we had cheated on the way up. Robert had a rice sausage (similar
to boudan, he says) and I had a sour green mango. The woman tried to
warn me, but I didn't understand until it was too late - she had sweet
green mangoes too! Oops. I suffered through the mouth-puckering one
and will remember to get a sweet one next time, if offered.
We arranged a sangthaew to take us down the mountain because we were
getting hungry for real food. It left at three, thankfully no
extensive waiting on this end either, granted there were so many
tourists and extra sangthaews that I cant imagine having to wait long.
The trip down was brutal. I felt sick after mere moments and
progressively got worse. When we stopped at the zoo to drop other
passengers off and change sangthaews, the driver tried to explain to
me the fare and to pay the new driver. It took all of my concentration
to remain standing and not puke on his shoes. He took this for
non-comprehension and continued repeating himself until I just boarded
the new sangthaew, hopefully not too rudely. We made it back to our
stomping grounds, paid the man and dragged ourselves into a
nearby....Starbucks! We sat there for a long time, without getting
anything, just trying to readjust to this very still reality. In fact,
they came around and offered Robert a taste of some new carmel
monstrosity - I didn't lift my head off the table. Finally, Robert got
me up and moving and we made our way back to the guesthouse. We
stopped to get noodle soup and I began to feel better. This bout was
almost as bad as when we tried to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in the
Smoky Mountains.
After some rest in our room, we ventured out to make Thanksgiving
calls home! Very exciting, but I quickly realized that maybe I should
have revealed my plan prior to calling so I didnt have to leave so
many voice mails. I'll do better next time, sorry!
Dinner. We were famished after our stint at the Internet shop and
tonight we were in no mood to wander as much as we did while locating
a suitable dinner the night before. We hastily chose a cheap-enough
Indian restaurant and I started to get excited about palak paneer,
which, in my excitement, I did not order, but the mutter paneer was
equally lovely. We will most likely go back because it was such a
welcome treat, just like food from my beloved Sarovar! Also, we met a
friendly Indian man who gave us lots of advice, travel and otherwise.
He lived in Sugarland for four years, so we had a place to start. I'll
pass on his advice: 1)you think the prices at home depot are cheap,
they are not. He claimed to be able to cut prices 40% and still make a
nice profit. (he was in the flooring business.) 2) if you like to
travel, invest in a lifetime membership to continental's president's
club. He was quit amusing and we talked to him for a while. He even
gave us another veggie friendly place to try, asking if I had
committed the map to memory and repeating his description to solidify
it.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
11-23&24-10: Omissions
23rd: wandered the city of chiang Mai, nothing decent to report. Most
of the day I was grumpy and struggling with navigating this foreign
land - there are bound to be days like this.
of the day I was grumpy and struggling with navigating this foreign
land - there are bound to be days like this.
24th: much better day, but I didn't write and it is difficult to
remember details now.
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