We are now in Chiang Khong and we have experienced so much since our last entry: a Thai dinner and dance show in Chiang Mai, trekking into the jungle with a quirky group, elephant rides, bamboo rafting and so much more! We were happy to get out of the chaos of Bangkok and head north to Chiang Mai--which was a uniquely beautiful and charming city, but far less hectic. The center of the city is walled and surrounded by a moat with several bars and restaurants lining it. Our first day we went up to a temple (wat) on the top of a mountain overlooking the city and walked up 1,000 stairs in the heat--TONS O FUN! That night we went to the cultural center for an authentic Thai meal and dance show that felt kinda like a Thai luau.
The next morning we were picked up by a tour guide who thought we were going on the 2 night, 3 day trek, but one night in the wilderness is more than enough (and what we signed up for). Soooo... the Thai tour guides called us "city girls" over and over and laughed until we were finally put in the right trek group. We LOVED our trek group: a 40 something complaining German man named Joe, a hilarious dutch couple, 3 Chinese girls (only one spoke a bit of English) and a 4 foot nothing guide named Ray. We were an assortment of mixed nuts to say the least. We hiked for about 4 hours and stopped to swim in waterfalls and meet local tribes people along the way before we arrived at sunset in our beautiful village, tucked against a hillside. It was as if we were on the set of Tropic Thunder arriving in our camp... rice fields, bungalows, a makeshift bar made out of tree stumps, and all the Chang beer you can drink by the campfire. Aeound 10 pm, after all of us were tired from the day and had a good Chang buzz going--the WEIRDEST THING HAPPENED. A guy named Boo showed up out of the dark of night on a motorcycle with a bottle of moonshine and a buffalo hat on his head(yep, horns and all). It was completely surreal why he was there and dressed that way. He was one of the most interesting and outright insane people we have ever met in our entire lives and we will save the rest for the pictures.
SIDE NOTE: every single dog in Thailand looks like a coyote with rabbies and huge nipples and they follow you everywhere. SO GROSS!!!!!!!
The next morning we all woke up to the ULTRA annoying sound of roosters cockadoodle-doodling into our hungover ears. That day we went bamboo rafting down a river and then became one with the elephants (chang). Megan was brave enough to ride one on its neck instead on the seat and got slobbered on quite a bit. Our elephant also had indigestion.
Once the trek was over, we toured the night markets and shopped in Chiang Mai and topped the night off with another Thai massage (much needed).
If you ever decide to tour Thailand, you will find that every single white male there has a little Thai woman on his arm (or ladyboy). It is pretty amazing.
We took an all day bus to the little northern border town of Chiang Khong on the Mekong river and will be boarding our 2 day slow boat tomorrow that will take us into the heart of Laos. Just when we started to really master some Thai language, we will be learning a new one. We will do another post after we "slow boat it" and have a bazillion pictures to share as well.
Off to dinner at the guesthouse now...
Chandra koon! (WE LOVE YOU!),
Bunny & Boots
