Monday, November 3 9:12 pm Thailand / 7:12 am US
We left the Lisu village this morning and left for Thaton. First we drove to the Chiang Dao Cave shrine and, on the way, ate sticky rice with coconut milk and beans cooked in a stick of bamboo. The cave was pretty interesting as it's natural (~5 million years old) and the Burmese put many Buddha images within it. 1.5 hours into the journey, we had lunch at a roadside cafe. All of a sudden, we heard a car beeping and then a thump. Ryan turned around and saw that one of the stray dogs got hit by a car and was pulled underneath it. The dog got up and ran off, but, 10 minutes later, a man carried him away as he had died. Everywhere we've been we have seen lots of stray dogs and cats. But the people in Thailand take care of them. Phong and Nok both told us that people often leave their dogs and cats at Buddhist temples since the monks will take care of them. Phong was a monk for several years and he said that he often had to feed 20 dogs a day! And a woman who lived near the temple would make tuna and rice daily for the dogs.
For lunch, another version of Pad thai; chicken with cashews; and a sour & spicy fish soup (very yummy and we'll have to try to find it in the States).
We then saw 2 more Wats along the way and finally arrived in Thaton, a very small fishing town without tourists. It is perfect for us to relax finally. Our bungalow is on the riverband and we have a porch that overlooks the Mekong river. Today will be our first day of just relaxing and sleeping in (thanks to us doing laundry and needing to make sure that our clothes are dry before we leave Thaton).
Oh yeah, remember the dragonfruit (red and horned)? Well, we got to try it tonight and it's good. Looks like a beet but tastes sorta like sweet papaya. And we tried some Thai-Chinese medicine that smelled and tasted like dried plum. Phong has been feeling sick and he said that medicine helps him to breathe. Ryan currently has a sinus infection and he tried to medicine to see if it helps. As for me, I tried it because Phong told me to. We'll see how we react to the medicine.
