Paddies, Prayers, and Paradise

I thought I'd better put in a couple of pictures of my own from the last entry now that I have them. Ayutthaya was the ancient capital of Siam and the ruins are very cool to wander around.

I've been trying to work on getting more artistic shots of places and I thought this one turned out alright.

This was the day we rented bicycles and Trista and I tried to race the elephants. (We won!)

We finally got out of the big dirty city of Bangkok and took a night train up north to Chiang Mai. Clay decided to sit by the monks before seeing the sign that said "Reserved for disabled people and monks." I don't think foreigners count as disabled people but the monks didn't mind.

We made it to Chiang Mai after a 14 hour overnight train ride in a sleeper car. We didn't sleep as well as we should have because Clay realized he had left his iphone charging in the wall back in Bangkok. As soon as we arrived we called the hotel and they held it for him until he came back. It was a lucky way to learn the important lesson of keeping a tight watch on your valuables.

We found a place to stay and then booked an overnight trek into the mountain villages for the next day. We were quite pleased when we secretly discovered we had paid less than everybody else (it pays to shop around among the many travel agencies). We didn't trek very long before we reached the remote Karen tribe village where we would be staying the night.

We had dinner and a campfire and of course got the chance to buy some jewelry from the women (one of their few sources of income) and then it was off to bed. There is no electricity in the village so it got dark fast and then we all shared the same alarm clock . . . . .

The next day we trekked along the rice paddies further into the mountains . It was so beautiful to see in the morning.

It's rice harvest season so all the villagers are out working. Some cut the rice stalks down with a sickle while others slap the stalks on a piece of wood to get the seeds off. Our guide let some of us try it but nobody could do it as well as these women and children.

The beauty of the rice paddies was incredible, and one of my favorite parts of the trek.

Unfortunatly it was Clay and Trista's least favorite part because of the leeches. Everytime we stopped or brushed up against certain plants they would attach to the skin and start sucking. I was glad for my long pants and tennis shoes that day.

We made it down the mountain after successfully getting rid of all the leeches and waited with excitement for the elephant ride. Last time I was in Thailand I rode on the neck of the elephant so I volunteered to do it again. Once he knew we had a sack of bananas to feed him with, this elephant wouldn't leave me alone. Every 30 seconds I felt his suction cup nose worming it's way around my hands sniffing for something to eat. Fabiola (from Germany) and I ran out of bananas really fast. After the ride we went down the river and got on bamboo rafts. Our guide had one English phrase he used a lot - "No wet, no fun!" He pushed Clay in and we got back at him by capsizing the raft when he wasn't looking. (We couldn't take cameras so this picture actually isn't mine - sorry)It was a great trek and we got back to Chiang Mai tired and ready for a shower. The next day we hired a guy to take us to my school where I'll be doing the CELTA course in January. I left my extra luggage and got to talk to some girls who were in the middle of their course. It looks like a peaceful place and I'm glad I chose the reletive coolness of the mountains to do my course. We also paid the driver to take us up to the temple of Doi Suthep. This temple houses some Buddhist relics but also has a great view of Chiang Mai.

In one little room we found monks blessing the people so we went in and knelt down. Then the monks tied white string around our wrists to bless us to have a safe journey. Some believe that cutting the string off brings bad luck - it must fall off naturally.

The day after that was Sunday so we walked to church. Luckily we had met some members in Bangkok who told us where it was. They had headsets that the missionaries translated into so the English speaking members could understand.

Before we left we looked online and found a cheap flight to Bangkok so we didn't have to do a night train since we would already be doing a night bus down to the southern islands. (A flight all the way down to the islands was a bit out of our price range.) So after an hour flight we retrieved Clay's iphone and got on the bus. Early in the morning we were dropped off at a pier where we took another hour and a half catamaran ride out to the island of Koh Tao. The island is famous for SCUBA diving and snorkelling so Clay and Trista are getting PADI certified. Since SCUBA diving for a clausterphobic person is just torture, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself on the surface. They even let me hop on the boat with the divers for free on the day they do shallow dives.

It's been great so far and we still have another two weeks of island hopping to go!