Mmmmm.... Cobra Whisky
After the Full Moon, I staggered my way up from the islands, taking a brief shopping break in Bangkok with some new friends to prepare for the mosquitos and the cold in the north of Thailand. I randomly saw Yair again right before he bounced back to Israel and then hopped on a quick little 12 hour bus trip to Chang Mai, an ancient walled city surrounded by a moat in the north of Thailand which serves as their unofficial second capitol. Its definitely a LOT nicer than Bangkok -- no fumes, not as dirty, not as busy and a lot cheaper.
On the bus ride up I ran into Shilo and Maly, an Israeli couple that I had met at Shabbat dinner in Ko Phan gan. We ended ransacking the ridiculous night market, which is unfortunate for me because like a dummy, I packed too much stuff and now I'm lugging around a full backpack and a duffel wherever I go. The Jew Crew will know the sight of overloaded Amess well.
Unfortunately, I switched memory cards, so I don't have any pictures from Chang Mai itself -- just from the jeep tour at the end -- which is unfortunate, because I have pictures of some ridiculous temples, a video of a buddhist ceremony and a video of a monk blessing me.
What I DO have (and this is getting ahead of myself a little bit, but what can you do) is a pretty tight video of me offroading through a river crossing and starting an offroad trail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWtQ_oagF2c -- I actually had meant to upload a different one, which actually showed the offroading and the ridiculous hills and rocks and whatever that we tore through, but I goofed... and anyways, beggars can't be choosers. The dude sitting next to me in the front seat is Menachem -- he owns a dive school in Eilat, real chill guy and an ANIMAL on the offroads -- no respect or regard for any object in his way. Awesome. The girl making scary faces is Maly, and the Academy Award nominated cameraman is none other than Shilo himself.
I also took a class in Thai style cooking --- we made 6 different dishes in one day, and you know me: I ate every single one of them, to the last drop. Mmmm. Sticky rice with Mango, Sweet and Sour Vegetables, Curry Chicken, Coconut Milk Soup, Chicken with Cashew nuts... some other stuff, I can't even think right now, its making me too hungry.
I spent Shabbat evening at the Chabad center -- theres nothing nicer than chilling with 300+ Jews in the middle of nowhere (Jewishly speaking) and then went out on the jeep trek with Maly and Shilo. The first day was siiiiiick -- first we went to a snake show, where this dude (who clearly was born without a self-preservation instinct, and was missing two fingers to prove it) spent a good hour teasing, prodding, wrestling and, truth being stranger than fiction, kissing snakes ranging from cobras to pythons to watersnakes.
Serious chokehold-- he's got my neck, I've got his head. I asked for a truce, we called it a draw and then I made him into a belt. Seriously.
Then we hustled off to an elephant show where elephants showed off their dance moves, painting abilities, basketball/soccer abilities and other talents, all pretty impressive. I didn't enjoy this as much as the snake show, but only because while I have no sympathy for snakes, I love elephants, and while they seemed well-treated, it seemed a little sad that they had to perform tricks for us. A ridiculous offroad session ended the first day quite nicely.
The second day started with some river rafting (we "won" starting last but finishing first) we checked out some indigenous tribespeople and then went to a monkey temple.
My Ruthie Substitute -- a member of the long necked Karen tribe. No, I don't know if they give neck or whatever they call it. I didn't ask.
Greedy monkey
I mean, not that theres really any other kind, but this monkey was one of the greediest. Hence, my one of my favorites. But not THE favorite. Not fat enough. The monkeys at this Wat (Buddhist temple) were some of the fattest and greediest on this side of the Atlantic. They would circle around behind you and try to steal shit out of your pockets (food or anything else they could greedy) and they'd beat and smack each other around to get at food. Needless to say, I approved.
Unfortunately, the monkeys got overgreedy and bit this girl (on her birthday, which stank) so we just chilled while she went to the hospital and the second day wasn't as exciting as the first. That night though, after checking out the night market...
Rastaman Vibrations in Chang Rai
we met this guy and his crew as we were randomly strolling through the city at night. Him and his crew were drinking and playing Thai reggae music, which is not half bad. One thing led to another and we ended up chilling with them at their local bar -- Rasta Bar. Go figure. I mean really, what are the chances?
The last day was relaxed and chill -- we started out at some waterfalls before driving to the Golden Triangle juncture of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
Giant gold Buddha at the Golden Triangle
We checked out a Laos village (its pronounced without the "s" by the way) before cruising down the Mekong river and finally heading home/
Sunset over the Mekong River, looking at Thailand from Laos
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