Our fascination with Thailand is still as high as it was two weeks ago. Two nights ago, I shared the sidewalk with a baby elephant. Hmmm... I would love to see a Canadian walk his moose on a beautiful cool evening. Later that same evening, I saw someone riding a bigger elephant while crossing the street... Actually, withdraw my request of seeing a Canuck walking a moose – a moose on the road is never a good thing :) Although it was funny at first I can see how this is also a bad thing: en elephant belongs in the woods and in the wild. The trainers of the baby elephant were going around trying to sell food for us to feed their “pet”. We didn’t want to encourage their business.
But the Thais impress me everyday, nothing is impossible here. For example, when we arrived in Kanchanaburi last week, a rickshaw driver offered us a ride. At the time we did not know what means of transportation he had, we simply bargained hard for the best price. I was pretty impressed with myself for making him drop 10 Baht ($0.32). He then lead us to his pimped up ride, a very modest and SMALL rickshaw. The seat was big enough for one person. Gen & I looked at each other and wonder how the heck is this scrawny 50+ year old man going to fit us both on the narrow seat, plus our big backpacks? Did I mentioned we weight about 350+ pounds total with the bags? Then he said pointing to his calves: “very strong!” Ha ha ha! I thought: “ok, but how are we gonna fit on your bike?”. Well, Thailand = creativity = there is always a way. He wedged a wooden stick behind the bike, proceeded to hook both our bags onto the stick, then asked us to have a seat. Wow! We barely fit on the seat but that was beside the point. Needless to say, the 3km ride was a long one. I felt horrible for paying him 32 cents less for the fare! Creating forward momentum was difficult after a red light :) He worked so hard for his 64 cents fare.
Watching the Thai in their daily life I found a new philosophy: forget what you know, forget what you were taught was not possible, they are only limitations and boundaries to your imagination and what you can possibly achieve. Keep an open mind and you’ll find new ways.
After Bangkok, we left Bangkok and headed west to Kanchanaburi. We visited the Erawan National Park where the seven-tier water falls was the main attraction. We hiked up to the top and enjoyed a fun swim. It was a hot day so we stayed in the water a loooooong time. Some of the pictures I took turned out quite nice. But swimming in the fall was a little bit of a challenge because if you stand still long enough, the fish will come and nibble on your feet. This sends a very ticklish feeling on our feet and we couldn’t keep a straight face. I actually panicked a little when I saw a big group of fish heading our way.
After Kanchanaburi, we did the milk run by bus to Sukhothai, we wanted to visit the ruins. The ruins were spectacular. They were spread out so we rented a bicycle to help us cut down the walking time between the various structures and statues. It was a very fun and relaxing day. Towards the end, we were approached by a “monk”. He was posing as a monk to scam people. He was pretty smooth because we believed him enough to follow him in the backroom where he had altars and a Buddha shrine. When things got too fishy, we got out of there and we were fine. But I think things could have gone really bad had he have a crew working with him... I think we got lucky. Shame on him for posing as a monk.
We stayed at a beautiful place in Sukhothai. If you ever visit this town, book at the Sila Resort. The rates were awesome and the rooms are splendid. The staff is very professional. The receptionist is a beautiful Thai lady and had the brightest and most amazing smile! The best of Thailand so far.
Currently we are in Chiang Mai, a province way in the north of Thailand. It’s nice here. I enjoyed and appreciate the cool weather here. I actually shivered the other day because I thought it was cold (but the mercury was really at 22 degrees!). We haven’t visited much yet because Gen and I are too busy planning our trip to Laos and Cambodia in two weeks. But I should get more visiting in tomorrow.
I am very jealous of you guys at home. We get no Olympic Games coverage here. I was able to catch some of the action the other day but it was very short. Please cheer extra hard for Gen and I. Hang in there guys, spring is just around the corner :)
