12-09-10: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Today was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. Our plan was to
catch a bus to Chiang Mai, but we utterly and completely failed. We
got to the bus stop at 11:45; not early, but there are supposed to be
buses running all day. A bunch of people from our guest house got
motorbike taxis to catch the 10:30 bus, but we decided to walk the
nine km into Soppong.

It started as a nice walk, but again got a little brutal towards the
end. We desperately need hip-belts on our bags. I think if we had had
these, then the walk would have been quite nice. As it was our whimpy
shoulders and backs were no match for our bags. We did eventually hop
a ride, which was especially nice because it was at the bottom of a
daunting hill. We were excited to get to the bus stop in time for the
12:30 bus, but it never came. The 2:00, 3:30 and 4:00 buses also did
not appear. It was a terrible way to wait because we kept thinking
that the bus was just about to arrive. We have never experienced buses
that just did not come, at all, ever. Robert was nervous to go across
the street to use the bathroom and get some food, but no matter what
we did - no matter how unprepared for the bus's arrival we made
ourselves - nothing would trick it into coming. Remember the Dr. Suess
book Oh, the Places You'll Go!? This was exactly like the waiting
room, full of people just waiting.

Giving Up

We would have felt silly for waiting so long, but there were two young
monk boys sitting at the bus station, on their way to Pai, no less
(same direction as us). They outlasted us. We never saw a bus. No - we
saw exactly one bus going the wrong direction. At four, we decided to
walk up the road and into town proper. The one problem with catching a
ride was that they dropped us at the bus stop just outside of town.
I'm sure they would have brought us all the way into town, but at the
time, we expected the bus momentarily. There is only one main road in
there parts though, so we are sure we didn't miss the bus; we just
didn't have many food options or anyone to ask for help.

Soppong

Soppong was only more frustrating. We couldn't find anyone willing and
able to explain why the bus never showed. I asked one man in Thai
where the bus station was, but we already knew where it was - I had
hoped he would be able to speak English a little because he was
running tours, but he could not. Next I approached a man who was
driving a mini-bus, the non-ordinary bus alternative. I asked where he
was going (Chiang Mai) and how much it cost (full). Then he and his
friend laughed at me. I know they probably didn't mean to be rude
about it; laughing and smiling is the standard response to any problem
here, but I was getting frustrated and I didn't see the humor in the
least.

Hitching

Our next option was to walk back towards the out of town bus station
and try to thumb a ride. We sat there for 45 min and only saw a
handful of trucks. Where did the scads of trucks from earlier go?? One
woman on a motorbike stopped to ask us where we were trying to go,
suggesting the bus tomorrow as the buses don't run after 4pm. We
struggled telling her that we had waited all day for a bus, but none
ever came. It was nice of her to stop and try to help us though - it
was in fact the only bright part of the day. At this point we gave up
completely and walked to a guesthouse nearby (the very first one we
looked at days ago). This would do for the night.

Drinks and Dinner

We dropped our bags in the small A-frame bungalow for 450B and walked
across the street to a convenience store: two big bottles of Chang, a
bag of potato chips to share (mostly for me though), and a roll of
toilet paper. As we drank and snacked back at our guesthouse, our
moods slowly improved. Mostly I was the grumpy one and Robert was
trying to cheer me up. I don't know why I took it so hard, but I
really wanted to get back to Chiang Mai or Pai at least. Our visas are
almost up and we still have a ways to go to get to the Lao border. We
still have time, but we are cutting into our buffer day. I suppose
this is exactly the travel SNAFU that the buffer day was meant to
compensate for, we just didn't expect to hit such a large snag so
soon.

We used the internet at the guesthouse and discovered we weren't even
hitching properly. It is more polite in Thailand to wave at passing
cars until one takes pity on you than to stick your thumb out,
apparently. Now we know.

Eventually we ordered food - a veritable curry feast! Robert had fried
curry beans with pork over rice and tom kha gai soup. We tried to
order chicken and bamboo shoots for me, but I'm pretty sure we got
green curry. We also tried a local Shan dish - forgot the name, but it
was curried sliced eggplant and cilantro. It was all tasty and
entirely too much food, but it is hard to think the world is ending
when you have a full stomach so it was worth it. They even served us
on the upper floor bar area, where we could be anti-social and chill
by ourselves. Now we are back in our room and I am excited to take a
shower because they was gas heated water here, like in Mae Sai, and it
should be toasty warm. Goodnight and here's to a better tomorrow!

Two final notes:

Mini-Circus
This morning before we left Cave Lodge, there was some mild
hula-hooping and staff spinning antics. One of the younger girls who
is in the family was teaching us how to fling the hula hoop to one
another and how to change directions while spinning it on your arm. My
particular favorite was spinning it on one finger; inevitably when I
tried to get the hoop onto my finger, my other hand had to stick it's
finger out as well! Jackie was demonstrating her new skills on the
staff: contact spinning. Pictures will follow!

Separate Beds
The only room available at this guesthouse (Little Eden Guesthouse)
that we cared to afford comes with separate twin beds! It feels a lot
like summer camp to be split up. This is a first for us on this trip,
but probably not the last. Flexibility is definitely a skill.