This is going to have to be a long post as I never updated you all on my trip north because I was slowly dying instead. Then I'll tell you about how I slowly died.
Ok so we ended up flying to Chiangmai to cut down travel time. Upon landing there it was immediately a thousand times more relaxed than Bangkok, which doesn't take much. We got a van that cost us a $1 each but the driver knew where he was going, kind of, and was chatty and helpful. Our hostel was cute and the guy running it Klai was super helpful and friendly. People were lounging around with a cat, Lyndsy immediately took too. Hilary, Lyndsy, and I went out that evening for a cooking class while Rachel's jetlag caught up with her and she decided to stay in. The cooking class was very fun. We made curry paste, which confirmed my earlier beliefs that I will never make it on my own because of the amount on unnecessary work behind it. We also made an appetizer and a stir fry. In the beginning they had us eat this plate of raw thins that serves as good luck. It's raw ginger, onion, roasted peanuts, a chili pepper and a honey. You take the whole thing in one bite and the flavors marry and its pretty good, until you get to the second bite when you realize you have way too much chili. This is the point I started quietly weeping. From that point on the snack was no longer enjoyable.
When we got back to the hostel Rachel had made friends with, what looked like a German boy band. We were all chatting in the lounging area and one would stand up, walk out , and return fifteen minutes later with gel in his hair. At one point, one of them who wore his denim button up, dangerously low and unbuttoned asked us if American girls put a lot of work into getting ready on a daily basis like German girls. Oddly enough the Germans liked to tell us a lot about the American stereotypes they had. They were all fairly nice so I bit my tongue when they leaned towards asking us about German stereotypes. Calling someone a Nazi never made anyone any friends.
The next day, we had planned to go white water rafting but we found out after waiting for them to come pick us up that we were to have paid in advanced, which we didn't. We then decided we would rent motorbikes and drive up to this temple everyone told us we have to see. This day will fondly burn into my memory like an exhaust pipe.Hilary, Lyndsy and I trying to ride bikes. We tried to get the hang of it, just riding on backgrounds, but they were narrow and crowded and I drove into a ditch pretty quickly. Hilary drove into a convenience store and then very very slowly proceeded to fall over. Everyone involved and watching thought this was hilarious. I became Zoolander and was unable to turn left so through an intersection I flew into the other lane and came within inches of ramming a parked TukTuk, with the dismayed driver trying to snooze in the front. This was not an unpopular intersection and a group of 12 to 14 year old monks seemed only slightly amused, but more panicked by my driving abilities or lack there of. After a two hour conquest to find gas we set off for this temple, which was up a steep curving road, built for people who know how and enjoy riding motorcycles. It was incredibly fun and deathly scary. As I've found most things worth doing are terrifying at one point or another.
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| View of Chiangmai |
The next day Rachel and Lynsdy went to an Elephant Park and Hilary and I took to the bikes again and went back up the same mountain to see some waterfalls. It was beautiful. Then we found lunch in the city and went back in time for the girls to be arriving back. We ate and played some drinking games with a new boyband of British dudes...and girls.
The next day we left on a very long journey to Chiang Rai. Though long, the drive was stunning. A greenery through the jungle. We stopped at the temple for only a half hour, but I'm glad we got to walk around and see it because it's so interesting. Statues carves within it make it look like a entrance to hell or something.
After the stop we continued to the golden triangle which is where Laos Myanmar and Thailand touch . It was gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn't get great pictures cause we were driving the whole time. Made me pay attention a bit more though, just looking around how beautiful the country side is. When you ask student's " what do you think is beautiful, what do you think is amazing. Thailand is amazing, Thailand is beautiful. Damn right it is.
Anyways, somewhere among all my crazy adventures, I got bitten by a particular mosquito carrying Dengue fever. If you're reading this you probably don't know shit about Dengue Fever. Neither did I. Just a scary word, travelers here about other things we never actually expect to happen to us. But as my friend put it, " dengue is a virus so the treatment I guess is lie there and suffer"for this reason there's not any quirky funny stories to really go alone with this hospital visit. My friends mom had me admitted so she handled everything I just got to lay there and be sick. Had a fever for a week, sweat a fair amount, had to pee in a bottle a lot, watched a lot of HBO, started reading First They Killed my Father, and slept more than a hibernating bear. Funniest part is my male friend sent this picture to my mom. My mom responded something along the lines of " your boobs look huge, are those what the IV is pumping fluids into?"
