Tami and Pat Travel Adventures

Gallery: Golden Triangle; White Temple

tami-pat — Sat, 6 Dec 2008 17:01:00 GMT

The Golden Triangle

tami-pat — Sat, 6 Dec 2008 16:11:00 GMT

Thankyou for your comments and saying hi everyone! It's really, really nice to hear from you and it's fun to come online and see peoples responses :)

Pat and I have ended up staying longer in Chiang Mai than originally planned. Partly due to lack of trains out of the city. They were all full because so many people got stranded in Thailand and are now able to get out through Bangkok again, oh shucks right? Of all places to be stranded... And partly because there is so much to do around the area.

Our latest trip out of the city took us to Chaing Rai, the smaller, more laid back version of Chiang Mai. Along the way we stopped at the White Temple. One of the most popular in Thailand. Easy to see why, it is so different. It is entirely white, with shards of mirrors embedded all over the structure. Its art around the temple is strange in a way that you don't expect to see violent depictions in the carvings and murals. The entrance is a Dragon's mouth that you enter, and at the base, before a bridge are a pond with hundreds of carved stone hands reaching and grasping out of the ground, like it is coming out of the Dragons mouth. And the mural on the inside wall of the temple depicts sky, the heavens, and futuristic rockets, pics painted and hidden within the mural of odds and ends like a cell phone, Superman, things out of Star Wars, Neo from the Matrix, and some man standing in a g-string, bent over, and giving you the finger. Not at all what I expected to see. Inside a temple.

We followed further up north to the Golden Triangle, which is where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, or is it Burma, I can never remember, meet. The countries converge in a river, and in the center, there is a triangle island, the 'Golden Triange'. This dot of land is no mans land. It belongs to no one and is completely free. Apparently, you can still get opium here because there is no law. But, if you bring it back, then of course, you get busted. So, smoke it there! Pat and I sat on steps to the riverbank and looked across at Laos. We could've swam it. We also visited a golden Buddha statue that was enormous. It was beautiful and the temple grounds around it amazing. The entire hours long grueling ride up there was worth it.

Finally, we went as far the Myanmar border, where we chose not to cross over just to get our visas stamped because the border town we were in was so fun to walk around in. There were literally hundreds of stalls of Chinese wares, Burmese wares, of course Thai, and a conglomerate of people roasting chestnuts in woks with coals, carts of pomegranates, tangerines, nuts, noodles, you name it. And among all this hundreds of the protesters like we had seen on the news came riding there bikes throught the streets, all donned in yellow. Quite a sight to see.

Just a side note on the protesters, in talking to some of our guides, mostly in the village we had stayed overnight in, we were told that about 35% of the people don't like the prime minister and government, and 65% do. The guy that was telling us about this was one of the 65% and the village we stayed in that was poor, was his home. We had gone through several villages that the current prime minister had installed solar panels in to bring electricity to them. And his industry was tourism and he was most upset about the effect the protest would have on people coming to visit Thailand and therefore supply his income. So, of course, we were getting one side of it. But Pat and I couldn't help but talk about the differences, first off, how peaceful the protest had been generally, second, that they actually were able to get the prime minister banned from politics for 5 years, and third, that the airport and areas they protested against were unharmed, unvandalized, just dirty. In comparison, in the states, masses of people probably wouldn't make it to, say LAX before army would be called in, people arrested, maybe tear- gassed, and mob mentality would very possibly ended up in looting, vandalism, violence, and President Bush absolutely would not have stepped down.

It's interesting to talk about anyway over dinner. Thai food, and Singha of course. I like my Singha.

Take care everyone, sorry for rambling...

We went further north

Trekking in Thailand

tami-pat — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 22:46:00 GMT

Nov. 29 Saturday

It is Sunday morning our time as we headed out for our two day trek. The open air pickup truck came to fetch us at our hotel and carried with it our two trekking buddies, one of whom was maybe still drunk. They ended up being great guys to hike around with and I have to say, I'm warming up to meeting new people traveling around. Everyone has got a story and place on where they're going and where they have been. This area has been a real hub for backpackers. Anyhow, feeling worse than Pat or I, the trek seemed easy for them than Pat or I. hahaha. Damn 20yr olds recover so fast! But not alot better than us I have to say.

We started off with an elephant ride around the mountainside and Pat and I had an unruly beast named something like Kujo. Not at all fitting this slow, ambling mound of an animal. We fed him a few bushels of sugarcane and bananas and he still didn't want to mind the mahout, his master, when he decided he would much rather go up the hillside to tear away at some bush or unfortunate tree. If I understood right, he eats about 1100kg of food every day! Anyway, that was great fun and they are graceful creatures as they go lumbering about with us on their backsides. The guide hopped off to take pics of us and Alexi and Robert, our trekking mates. I've gotta say I didn't like that and it was a verry vulnerable feeling to me to be left alone with this guy. Pat just laughed and laughed at me. Bastard.

After that, we trekked for a couple hours, upwards, took a couple breaks along a waterfall and whatnot to rest. Ending up in a Karen village, we stayed with a family that had a son and daughter, ages 8 and 5. We had our own hut on stilts for our home for the night. Pat and I took a walk to check out the village. The huts and homes for these people dotted the hillside of this mountain and the scenery was stunning, growing their own crops and just being so high up amongst all the greenery. Amazing. We found their school, a small institution with all the hallmarks of an elementary school in the states. Cafeteria, theirs' outdoors, classrooms, playground for recess, and a group of elementary and middle-school aged kids playing volleyball. They invited us to play, so we did!

The night was uneventful, but a really grubbing dinner, campfire, and bed. the amazing-ness I was speaking of earlier dissipated somewhere in the middle of the night because it was bitterly cold. It was 14C, and I don't think any of us got much sleep. We had sleeping bags and all, but the huts were fashioned out of boards that were not fastened together without gaps. NO insulation whatsoever. Pat came down with a fever and some bug in his stomach we think he'd been fighting for a couple of days. So he felt like real shit. We trekked a couple more hours after our 'american' breakfast; hard boiled eggs and toast. I'm not complaining I had coffee and was pretty happy. We concluded our trip with a tranquil bamboo raft ride down a beautiful, picturesque river.

All in all, this has been my favorite thing we've done so far.

Hill Tribes visit

tami-pat — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 22:18:00 GMT

Nov. 28 Friday

We've been in Chiang Mai a few days now and so far have been mainly in and around the city. We've been trying out different Thai spots to eat trying to get authentic Thai food they haven't toned down for the foreigners. Pat likes to have beads of sweat forming on his head. If he's sweating profusely above his eyes, I know he's happy with the food. When we want a break, it's pizza! Believe it or not, they are a ton of Italian fare to have had. It seems the next common type of food. We've been to the night bazaar every night nearly because that's the best people watching and there is stall after stall of goods to browse through. Knock off Tiffany jewelry, watches, knock off North Face backpacks, pretty much you name it. I've noticed though, the souvenirs are starting to all look alike and I'll soon start searching for places where the locals buy their wares.

Today was our first day to get out of the city and do some exploring. We visited five hillside tribes. The first being Burmese refugees and the others being of Chinese, Tibetan, and more Burmese refuge villages. Though these tours are common and they get many visitors, we were often the only tourists visiting their village at that moment.

The long neck tribes were the most outwardly different village we visited, and the saddest. In the other villages, they sure didn't have much, by western standards, but they were happy, smiling, and engaging. And, I was happy to contribute and buy some souvenirs!

Let me start by saying, a well-intentioned friend showed me to and article from National Geographic.com about the Paudang tribes, or long-necks, as they're called here. Starting at age 5 or 6, the girls begin wearing brass rings around their neck and continue to add rings until the age of 30. The assumption is the longer the neck, and more brass rings they adorn, the more beautiful they are. The reality is that the rings actually put pressure on the collar bone, sometimes crushing it and the top few ribs. Pushing the bones on top of one another and thereby creating the 'longer neck' appearance. So my view of them being sad and unhappy may be stained by my preconceived idea of how they must feel. While the article also said they partly continued this custom because it brought tourists, and therefore money, to them, I asked and also found out that the government pays them a sum to let tourists tour their village and they keep the money they make from whatever they sell, it is illegal to continue this practice among the children being born etc. Another assumption that their necks would snap, and their heads flop over onto their body if they removed the rings is not true. Although their necks and upper chest become extremely vulnerable to even the slightest injury that would cause paralysis or death. When visiting their village, I felt subdued and it seemed the children were weary of us,and the women shy and maybe guarded. Again, maybe my perception was clouded, but I would have gone on a tour that didn't visit this tribe if I could have found it.

That's the scoop on that. We visited an orchid farm, and a tiger kingdom and got to play with 4 month old tigers in their pen. They are not small. Don't be fooled by their age. But they were sweet, soft, and playful like kittens. It was kind of a long day so we went out for, what else, Thai food and Singha and called it a night.

Thanksgiving Day - Chiang Mai

tami-pat — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 14:10:00 GMT

Nov. 27

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We spent our day today walking around the city. I found a great little coffee shop to sit outside and sip a cold capp and people watch. There is alot of bustle and activity and I dont tire of watching the monks pass by, or checking out who else is out touring around in a tuk tuk. We, of course, went to a couple markets, and just took it easy. As it is Thanksgiving, we deciding to take our cooking course today. We did an evening class so as to not spend all day indoors. As it is, the instructor picked us up at our hotel and took us out quite a ways out of the city, as we were wondering where we were, it was just Pat and I, we finally stopped at her house. She instructs in an outdoor kitchen fashioned with different gas stations with woks at each one and a central table for eating what we make. So, we made a Tom Yum soup, green chicken curry, pad thai, chicken cashew nut, and finished off with mango with sweet coconut rice. The last, Nui made for my birthday the first time I had met her. Pretty damn good. Nui's and my cooking. I made the best chicken cashew nut I've ever had. She made sure to give a certificate that we 'passed', although I'm no sure how you could bomb it, and sent us away with cookbooks. Anyway, it was a good time and Pat and I both talked about what we were thankful for. Despite not being with our families, this is my favorite holiday, we made it nice and it was sweet to spend with just eachother.

Gallery: Phuket and Chiang Mai

tami-pat — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:54:00 GMT

News from Thailand

tami-pat — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Sawadee ha everyone! Hello..... Thought I'd drop a note to say hello and we've been watching the news first yesterday about protesters in Bangkok that have shut down the international airport, which we made it out of yesterday before the protests began, and then today about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. It's a shame re the terrorist activity, when will this stop? The protesters may have good reason, I don't know enough about what's going on to say, but it has been peaceful from accounts here. We flew out of the airport at 7:30 pm, so before it was swamped and flights were grounded. But we are good and happy here in Chiang Mai. And from now until we leave we are using trains and buses.

This city has such a good feel and aura about it. There's so much activity and bustle, but everyone we've met, Thai wise, has been happy, smiling, laughing. It's just a chill atmosphere, somehow even with tons of traffic, tourists, tuk tuks, markets and the like. We have decided to tell people we are from Canada because we have had just a little cold- shouldering from Europeans and one Jewish girl from Israel who looked at us like we stank and hadn't bathed in a couple days. And with stuff going on the news, just in case, eh?

So, we have been busy getting massages, about 200baht per hour, or 6 bucks, and toured a few of the many temples here. I was enthralled with the dozens of Buddhist monks meandering around the temple grounds, like it was nothing! Yeah, yeah, I know to them their walking around is normal, but I wanted to follow them, pull up a patch of earth where they were sitting and bask in the glow of their bright orange robes content to listent o them chat and imagine how they are talking about what is wrong with the world that we have terrorists and mayhem bourne from such anger and hatred. Realistically, they would probably be thinking 'what is wrong with this white girl sitting here looking at us stupidly'? So, tonight, we are revisiting a temple where they let us chat up a monk. I have a list of questions.

Phuket, also was a nice time. We were so busy relaxing and playing in the ocean waves, getting massages, that I couldn't bother to email sooner. The only real touristy thing we did was take a boat trip to the James Bond island where scenes from two of the movies was filmed. And with good reason. It was easily some of the most beautiful water and landscape I have seen. Hundreds of fists and fingers of land jutting out of the water covered in green foliage and took a kayak paddle through some caves narrow enough you had to lay down to avoid hitting your head onthe way in until it opened up inside and you felt as if you were in a little pocket of shangrila. Absolutely beautiful. Funny story though, on the boat with us were among many, a couple men from Kuwait we talked alot with, another couple from France, and a group of huge, buff, four men from Austria. They, of course, sounded like Arnold Schwarzen-however you spell that- and were a little intimidated initially just by their sheer size. So, the Hanz and Franz guys turned out to be so fun, laughing, swimming, and all around good natured, great fun to be touring with, guys. On our way back, two of the guys, sans alcohol, got up in front of everyone, and danced for us. It was hilarious watching these huge guys vogue, try a little break dancing, and in all seriousness just enjoyed dancing. It wasn't even for our entertainment, they just wanted to dance. I told Pat, 'I want to go out with THose guys!' We hadn't witnessed something so funny and out of character seeming that it was like watching a live show of Saturday Night Live. Anyway, will write again soon, I'm rambling now and need some food. Take care, and don't worry all is good here and we are far removed from unrest in the country. Cheers, Love, Tami and Pat

Gallery: India

tami-pat — Tue, 3 Jan 2006 11:32:00 GMT

Bit from Bangalore

tami-pat — Tue, 3 Jan 2006 11:20:00 GMT

Itinerary: Samarkha and Ahmadabad- Bangalore- Goa- Ahmadabad again- Rajasthan- New Delhi- Agra (Taj Mahal)- Ahmadabad- home....

Excerpt from journal and email sent to family and friends:

Hi Everyone!

We got here ok, a little worse for the wear, but Pat's family just took us in and are taking really good care of us! We're coming to you from Bangalore now and are off on our own. We couldn't have done it any better so far. Had we not had the two days to acclimate with Pat's family showing us the ins and outs, we'd be utterly lost! By ins and outs, I mean how the "toilet system" works here, and showering etc. We shower with a filled bucket of boiling water from the stove, and temper it down with cool water and use a cup to pour the water over us! It's adventurous, somehow fun, and I don't mind it at all. However, the non-western toilets, aka, the dark hole in the ground, are harder to come to terms with! Grin. Got to use a flushing toilet today the first time at the hotel. Oh, for the finer things in life.

My first impression was that India in whole is intoxicating and assaulting on the senses. And it seems that it's essence is a dichotomy of opposites. The smog, which you can see in the digital photos- it looks like rain, but it's dirt- and the camel dung on the sidewalks, that I've already stepped in, and all the crowds, are overwhelming. The women in saris and choli's, seemingly no two alike, are brilliantly colored in comparison to the grey and browns of the landscape and are utterly beautiful. The constant sense of poverty is infiltrated by the alluring rich aromas of food cooking outdoors, indoors, and in streetside stalls.

I knew I was in for a one of a kind culture shock when I saw a shepherd roadside, wearing a robe and carrying a curved staff and truly tending a flock of sheep while our driver shepherded us along the freeway to the city. The city being a whole conglomerate of the bustle and business of women carrying brass, huge jugs on their heads, baskets of sticks and kindling, or laundry stacked high on their crown. The camels pulling carts down the street next to the cars and rickshaws, the colors, the temples, these are a sample of the intoxicating parts!!! OH, the cows! The cows have the right of way, but the people and cows all live harmoniously! It's hilarious!!

The food is unbelievably delicious. I'm encouraging Pat to at least find his ethnic roots in the cooking here! I learned to make some roti, Indian flat bread, and learned to speak some Gujarati. Everyone keeps talking to me, and I don't understand a damn thing, but they're unphased by that, so I figure I'd better learn some of it. Pat's family is wonderful and I know we'll be back. The first two days, Pat and I have been taken all around to different kin folk and are kind of "shown off". Please, Pat is fluent, even if he says he's not. He's with his people now!!! LOL I keep giving him a bad time, but there is something very endearing that he is seeing his homeland for the first time and he says that he understands about his family a little better now. I think it makes him feel good. And that makes me feel soooooooooo good!