Sometimes s*** happens. When Laura said she wanted to come with me to Everest, I was excited about the possibility. I encouraged her to meet me in Bangkok, but didn’t think that much more about it. I was a little worried about having a traveling companion because I had really enjoyed traveling by myself this whole time, able to do whatever whenever. But since I had been traveling alone, and she had been traveling alone, I figured it could be fun for a while, and if it didn’t work out we could both go our separate ways. What I didn’t think about was what it not working out would be like…Times were good with Laura for the first week or so, but the relationship quickly went past where I had expected it to go (Mostly my fault I am afraid…but with a fair amount on her side). I suddenly lost the elated feeling that had been buoying me up while I was traveling. Through no fault of her own, Laura had become and anchor, pulling me back down to Earth. As open as she was to doing anything and everything, the most free bird is the one who flies alone. I lost the spark of the relationship almost as fast as it had developed. It is just not the time for me to be in a relationship of any kind right now, and it was stupid of me to attempt one.

Other than the above, the trek was, as everything has been so far, amazing. We hiked decent distances every day, sometimes 1000 feet up in a few hours (the two steepest dubbed “Oh My Buddha” and “Oh My God” by the guide). The pictures don’t do it justice. The day involved riding elephants and hiking to our camp. The first night we stayed with a hill tribe on the top of a mountain and hung out on a bamboo porch on the side of a bamboo house listening to Thais sing American songs and drinking Chiang Beer.The next night we hiked to a jungle hut next to a river, hitting two water falls on the way. The sound of the water, coupled with the chilly night mountain air made for one of the best night’s sleep I have gotten in quite a while. Day three found us donning life jackets and pink helmets as we got into a raft to hit some whitewater, followed by 45 minutes on a rectangular bamboo raft that I got to pole down the river.

Cows and Clouds

Check out the bend in his knee… that is how steep this was.

Very cool!

Last post for 3 or 4 days. We are going trekking to ride elephants in the jungle!

Today I rented a motorbike again and took off into the countryside again. Laura had to do some work this morning, so I went of by myself and made my way up into the mountains to Wat Doi Suthep, one of the largest temples around. It is on the side of a mountain, and overlooks Chiang Mai. Walking up to it means burning your legs out on 306 steps that are bordered by handrails made from the backs of two dragons – which extend the whole way to the bottom of the stair case.

The mountains here really remind me of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge area. They even smell the same. I really enjoyed simply cruising on the curvy, banked roads for a few hours after feeling locked up and claustrophobic in Bangkok for so long. I came back down the mountain to pick up Laura and we went exploring in the other direction, but it was all city, so I turned around and we went back up the mountain to the Wat. The bike was really weak, so with two people on it I had to kick it into 2nd gear (and one time 1st gear) to get it to go up some of the hills. Kind of scary.

We came back and met up with Rich Jackson, former college roommate of my uncle Michael’s, now doing missionary work in Asia with his wife, Teresa, and his three children. Rich and Teresa took us to a place called “The Duke’s” which was an American restaurant. I got a juicy hamburger and Laura got a pizza. The hamburger was incredible after 2 months of street food and Thai cooking. The company was great as well. I keep forgetting that Christmas is soon, but Teresa gave me a tin of sweets wrapped with a ribbon and a stocking card, so I got one present for Christmas! We sat and talked about their work, life in Thailand, and – interestingly comforting – my extended family. Since all of you (meaning extended family) will be getting together pretty soon if you haven’t already for the Christmas Party, it was good to reminisce.

Tomorrow we are going trekking for three days, so there will be a little break in the blog. Should have some great stories when we get back. We are supposed to whitewater raft, ride elephants, and float down a river on bamboo flats…

Soap Flowers

306 Steps up to the temple

View of Chiang Mai from top of the mountain

Traveling many hours in Thailand is usually a taxing experience that wears down even the most hardened of travelers (which I am not). This trip was different. We were so sick of being sick and hot in Bangkok, that we opted to pay a little extra for an air-con sleeper train for the 14 hour trip to Chaing Mai. We had bottom bunks that were large, comfortable and dark. The train is set up so that there are large seats facing each other with a table between them during the day, and at about 10:00pm they change them to beds. During dinner we met up with a Dutch couple who were sitting right across from us and spent the whole night drinking and playing poker with them.

I woke up at about 6:00am and watched the sun rise over the mountains through the windows of my bunk. It was relaxing to just sit in bed on a moving train, seeing the terrain flash by and not have to worry about anything.

This morning we all got off and made our way into the city where we walked for a while to find a guest house. We hit several, and settled on one that is cheaper than the room in Bangkok, but has a balcony, its own bathroom and some furniture!

Laura and I did some laundry, hung it up to dry, and met up with the Dutch couple to get breakfast. There is free wireless here so we won’t have to worry about that. I have been in contact with my father’s friend and am meeting up with him for dinner tomorrow night. It will be great to finally meet him, as we have been emailing back and forth since before I even left on this trip.

We are going to try a trek soon, and then we don’t know exactly what we will do. Probably head to Pai, which is a small town near here, or go into Laos and spend New Years and Christmas there. I have to leave Thailand by Jan. 1, so we do have somewhat of a time frame.

The Dutch Couple (Their names are impossible to pronounce, much less write…)

Laura and I were hanging out with some French guys and talking about the “Americanization” of the world and how people are getting fatter and fatter in the developed countries, and how it is disgusting. It was an interesting conversation, but it was one of those that doesn’t really go anywhere. They had recently gone on a trek in Chaing Mai, and we thought that sounded like a good idea, so we are getting on a train tonight (probably while you are reading this) and heading north to that area to hike in the mountains, make bamboo rafts and take them down the river and ride elephants.

We are so tired of Bangkok that we can think of nothing else but getting out of here.  Next post will be from the mountain city of Chaing Mai. We are going to meet up with one of my father’s friends for lunch or dinner one night before we go off to trek.

Laura recently arrived here in Bangkok, and I met her at the airport. Her flight was delayed, so I got to spend some time people watching, and was practically laughing out loud by the time she came around the corner. Almost every single person had the same reaction as they came out of the low, dimly lit customs area into the cavernous, full plate glass windowed terminal greeting area. Their gaze slowly drifted up to the top of the terminal, leaving their chin hanging slack below, and their eyes took on an unfocused “I’m so lost right now, help me God” look. Laura took on the same expression before I walked up and we headed out to the bus that would take us back to Kao San Road. We got settled in, and went out to do some shopping for Laura, because she needed a backpack and many other little things.

I had forgotten how Bangkok makes you feel when you first arrive and was going along like I always do, but Laura was looking at everything, taking it all in. I finally got the point and slowed down. That night we met up with about 30 other couch surfers for a birthday party that ended up going pretty late.

Today, we set out to do some sightseeing, and either because we were tired, hungry, caught unawares, or simply distracted by each other, we got scammed. I knew that this scam was in existence, but it was so flawlessly executed that I did not even catch on until it was too late. We were going to see the Grand Palace, and on the way met a guy who was getting food at a stall who told us it was a special day where admission was free to several temples. He mentioned that government tuk tuks were cheap today because the government helped pay for their gas to promote tourism to the temples. He also mentioned that there was an export market that had a big sale going on and if we had time, we should stop by it. We jumped in a Tuk tuk, which took us to a few temples, and at one of them, we met a guy who was praying. He started talking to us and mentioned that he was in town to see the lucky Buddha, where we were, and that he was getting married and had just gotten two suits at: the export market. He then left us without any pressure, so we had two separate references for this market. Surprise surprise. The tuk tuk then took us to the export mart (because we asked him to) which was just a big tailoring house. I had been planning on getting a suit anyway, so this was not a big problem for me. We went in, and we both got suckered into paying way more than I should have for two suits, a shirt and an overcoat. Less than the states, but expensive for here. Good news, I don’t have to buy a suit again for a looooong time and I will have a custom tailored cashmere suit. Bad news, I don’t even need to wear a suit in the near future and I feel retarded! Whatever, we learned our lesson and won’t be taken again anytime soon (or ever hopefully!) We have tried not to think about it, but damn… we are smarter than that and it pisses us off that we went that smoothly.

We just bought our tickets to go to Chang Mai in the north of Thailand, where we will go trekking before we cross into Laos to take a slow boat down the Mekong river. It is so hot and humid here that we cannot wait to get up where the weather is cooler, but we would not mind the heat if we were on a beach, so that is always an option too. Who know right? Plans change all the time… the only sure thing is that we are on an overnight sleeper train to Chang Mai on Saturday night.

More later,
-Ben

Standing Buddha

Temple Candles

The past few days have been incredibly busy. I found out the other day that I will no longer be teaching because the school I was going to teach at does not have a form that I need to get the work visa in Thailand. This was a bummer, but I should be able to get money back for my flight, so it isn’t the end of the world.

This means that my time frame is now skewed a little bit. I was planning on meeting Laura on Jan 5th to go to Everest base camp, but if she can meet up before that, then That is what will happen.

Yesterday was “H.M. The King’s Birthday” which is like 4th of July, New Years Eve, and every other holiday combined into one. Millions of Thais were dressed in yellow, which is the king’s color, and were swarming Bangkok because there was no work. I met up with some fellow couch surfers and 14 of us traipsed across the city to Chinatown, the Grand Palace, and some temples. We got to see the king in his car drive by, and a bunch of fireworks and parades. It is the biggest holiday of the year. My pictures do not do it justice, but swimming in a sea of yellow was a pretty cool experience. The crowds were clogging streets, parks, stores, etc… At one point we all got split up and locked in an unmovable mass of people. Amazingly, at the end of the night we all met up again after four hours of chaos.

Today I met up with Pete, a 40 something year old couch surfer from yesterday, and we had some drinks while I gave him pointers on Laos, because he is taking the night bus up there tonight.

Still trying to figure out what I am doing, it is between heading overland to Katmandu, or going through Cambodia and Vietnam.

The King’s Car

Paying respect at a temple

Sea of Yellow

Couch Surfers!