The Sisters Murphy+

Sisters Murphy+ do Thailand

Here are some of the photos, just from my camera. There are tons more!

Okay, okay, quit your bellyaching, here I am. A long overdue and apparently longed-for blog awaits you.

This past weekend my colleagues, 80 wannabe English-speakers, and I went to “where dreams come true” for English Camp. No, not Disney World, Rai Fun Ben Jing, or literally the place where dreams are real. In traditional Thai style, the buses stopped every forty minutes to refuel…the chips and meatballs on a stick, I mean. Also in traditional Thai style, we wasted absurd amounts of paper, plastic bags, water bottles, electricity and gas in a not surprising but still hypocritical slap in the face to our theme: let’s go green. No joke, one morning all 100 of us piled on two buses to ride what was probably a quarter mile, if that. We did, though, honor the theme with group names that included green fairy, green queen, green oil and green head. Moreover, yours truly graced the stage in the teachers’ skit as Snow Green. Besides the environmental destruction, camp was super fun. My time was spent secretly gambling with my colleagues (I came out of the weekend +11 baht or 35-ish cents), not-so-secretly posing for photos on every apparatus, in front of every tree, and in every pose you can imagine and then some, and running a game station at which the students attempted to match information to a particular country. For example, Doraemon (cat-like robot cartoon) belongs with sushi, Tokyo, and other things Japanese. No one missed that one, but Nelson Mandela certainly threw a couple kids for a loop. Perhaps the most fun was the karaoke…watching it, of course. Singing in public is not my bag, baby, but if I am ever asked why I live in Thailand, my video footage of the karaoke extravaganza should stifle all curiosity.

Now, what you have all been waiting for: the blog about my sisters’ visit. I sort of wish I had juicy stories of hair-pulling and head-turning, ear-bursting screaming matches in public places, but actually we got along shockingly well. Who knew it was the addition of parental figures that made the sibling combo volatile? Or maybe we are a few years older, a little wiser, and were definitely happy to be reunited in this wonderful place.

The adventure began in Bangkok. I scooped the girls from the airport, shocked them with my Thai language abilities (I have the vocabulary of an 18 month old now, and no grammatical structure to back it), and brought them back to our funky little hostel in Nana, the part of Bangkok that comes alive at night, if you know what I mean. We celebrated the start of the journey with the drink at this point in the journey known as Thai Whiskey. Caitlin loved it and continued to drink it for the remainder of the trip until she found out that it is actually rum, at which time she refused to drink it again because she does not like rum. (…?)

Days 2, 3, and 4 were spent in Chiang Mai. We toured Wat Suan Dok, braved the gut-wrenching songtaew ride up the mountain to Wat Doi Sutep, cooked 21 Thai meals at a wonderful cooking class, did more than some shopping at the night market, and made friends with elephants at Elephant Nature Park, which is one of the only humane elephant parks in Thailand. Side note, if you ever find yourself in this country, please don’t ride an elephant. I will educate you all on the issue at another time. At the park we got to feed the elephants and bathe them in the stream.

Pai was next on the agenda. On a really un-Christmassy Christmas morning, we made the windy journey. Even though Pai was much more crowded than when I was there in September, it still retained its charm and I think it won over the hearts of Sha, Cait and Jessica. After a hotel mess-up probably caused by my faulty Thai, we ended up staying in no-fuss straw huts on the river and we could not have been happier. In town, we were regulars at All About Coffee and the shops full of creative merchandise never seemed to get old. One day we biked to Pai Hotsprings where Shannon prepared us some boiled eggs in the 80 degree Celsius water. The next day we went around Pai on motorbikes seeing sights like Coffee in Love (a coffee shop made famous by a Thai movie and now probably the most visited place in Pai for Thai tourists), some cool waterfalls, the WWII memorial bridge and the Pai (reverse) Canyon. And in what will probably become as infamous as the Peter’s Family “Mokawk Reunion”, a major hair change occurred on the trip. Yes, Shannon has officially moved ahead of Caitlin in the ranks of coolest sister. Shannon Catherine Formerly Straight Edge Murphy has dreadlocks.

After a harrowing return journey to Chiang Mai, a flight to Phuket, a really shisty airport cab situation, a big boat ride, a long-tail boat ride and a fairly good hike with our luggage, we arrived at our next hotel in Ton Sai. I just made the journey sound much worse than it was, and trust me, most people would walk across hot coals to be in a place like this. Ton Sai is a beach a short but rather treacherous walk (especially done after dark with flip flops on, right Sha?) from the slightly more famous Rai Leh. Ton Sai is known as the more low-key, backpacker- and rockclimber-friendly side of the stunning peninsula. This is when you google image “Rai Leh” or “Railay.” I do have some photos and when combined with the ones Jessica took, we have a great collection for your viewing pleasure. Most of the camera was devoted to Shannon’s lover, Ben, a monkey that Shannon probably still misses. I think they were soulmates. Ton Sai was a wonderful, laid back place and our afternoon spent kayaking was one of the trip’s highlights.


To be candid, New Years Eve day deserves a blog entry of its own. I know your eyes are getting tired by now, so I will try to condense it. Basically we had plans to go to Koh Phi Phi to check out what all the fuss is about. Upon arrival, the hotel people tried to put us in this sketchy alleyway that was managed by the same company and we were not having it. After walking around the entire island, unsuccessfully begging hotels to remove their compulsory 1700 baht New Year’s Eve dinner, and discovering that there wasn’t anywhere else, we thought our problems were solved when we saw an advertisement for a camping trip to Maya beach (made famous in the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach.) Well, that fell through, and the spring-breaky-ness of the place was overwhelming anyways. We wanted out, which was good because we did not have much choice but to board the ferry back to where we came from (for the same 450 baht! Ouch!) and settle for a wasted day.

We could not go back to Ton Sai so we set up shop on the not as glamorous marsh side of Rai Leh (the East) which is a short walk to the more spectacular west side. Happy to be back, we got some great drinks on the beach, almost got hit by crazy fireworks and brought in 2010 trying to avoid creepy Scandinavian men. A good low-key ending to a rather hectic day that almost sent me over the edge.

Back in Rai Leh, we went rock climbing one day and Shannon scampered up the cliffs like it was no big deal. I was fine at first, even got to the top on my first two attempts… until my limbs gave out like a weak old granny and I could not lift my own body weight to save my life. I had to beg the man belaying me to let me come down. Jess was certainly much more graceful than I was. There was no flailing about on her part. We have about 293,903,655 photos thanks to Caitlin who did not climb but showed up to be the photographer. You could probably line all the photos up like a flipbook if you are interested.

On our last day in paradise, sisters Murphy left our less-inclined pseudo-sister for a crazy adventure. On what was supposed to be a hike, we found ourselves using ropes to navigate our way up and over a steep mountain and down the other side, working our way through narrow crevices of a gorge. The trek was really fun and the end result was spectacular: a lagoon of crystal blue water surrounded 360 degrees by cliffs (hence the rope trail, the only way in). Definitely a highlight.

I parted ways with my sisters in Krabi town, headed back to Khon Kaen to teach for four days while the other three scuba dove, jumped off rocks into the ocean, played with dogs named Julian, continued to eat delicious Thai cuisine, and had an all around relaxing time on Koh Tao.

I joined them again for the weekend in Bangkok. They had already seen the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha by the time I arrived, so we did some normal Bangkoky stuff like a boat ride on the Choa Praya, Wat Arun, and, obviously, a cabaret show. The ladyboys were enthusiastic, talented, and beautiful and we have the photos to prove it.

After a day of intense shopping at Chatuchak market where Neuki came to meet us (it was so wonderful to introduce my sisters to my best Thai pal) and a parting meal, we sent Shannon and Jess on their merry way. Not a dry eye in the house… I mean not on Shannon’s face at least. I just hope she was sad to leave me and Thailand and not just Ben the monkey.

Sunday, Caitlin and I came back to Khon Kaen and she lived my life with me for the week. She came to class with me, we saw a movie, we ate delicious food, she watched me try to learn Thai, met my friends, etc. Perhaps Cait can provide more details about this part, but my fingers hurt and its bed time. Thank you for reading.

Oh, by the way, as of right now I am 90% sure I am coming back for round 2 of teaching in Khon Kaen next year. Some things are still up in the air, but if the plan sticks, I should be landing in America for 6-ish weeks in April and May and I hope all of you will get on my social calendar. Love and miss you all!

Thanksgiving and not a cornucopia in sight!

Thanksgiving came and went. No one cares about the Pilgrims here, except us farangs. So we ate a fabulous meal at the Pullman Hotel where I wasted no stomach room on turkey, but filled it to the brim with the pasta bar, salad (a rare commodity here) and dessert after delicious dessert.

Apparently I say annoying a lot. My coworkers pointed it out and now it annoys me how much I say it. Not only because it’s a boring token word, but also because it must mean I am complaining a lot, and I really do not have much reason to complain these days. Neuki taught me a word for annoying in Thai which is guwan deen, but she failed to tell me that it is not a direct translation. I found out after I said it in class that it is not exactly G-rated.

So I went to Cambodia and it was great. I traveled from Thailand with the help of a new Cambodian friend appropriately named Mom. She helped me dodge the overzealous tuktuk touts at the border, took me to a hotel, to dinner, and literally fed me dessert with her own spoon. Mom and I parted ways in the beach town of Sihanoukville, though I had already met some Canadian pals and had quite the adventurous bus ride. A crazy drunk Italian Mario-brothers-look-alike attempted to hijack our bus wielding a small knife, after threatening to pee on the head of the driver when he failed to pull over promptly for the guy to relieve himself on the side of the road. We did eventually pull over and got a really nice moonshot of crazyman as he unnecessarily dropped his pants to his ankles. It was not until the rest stop that the attempted hijacking occurred. (Luckily, I was off the bus and got to watch from the sidelines). We left the guy at the rest stop and he chased our bus with his knife threatening to find us and cut certain body parts off. Anyways, I got along with the Canadians really well except that one guy doesn’t believe in human-induced global warming and littered on the beach just because there was already trash on it. Let’s just say, I had a word with him.

For those of you who are not aware, there was a genocide in Cambodia in the late 70s and I spent two days in Phnom Penh visiting Tuol Sleng or S-21, a former school converted to a prison and torture chamber, as well as the Killing Fields where thousands of people were executed by the Khmer Rouge in their attempt to rid the country of educated people and their families. I had just finished reading First They Killed My Father which is a book written by a survivor of the genocide and I was really glad to have the book to provide me with a background to the horrific story. No one really knows how many people were killed, but at least one million, so many that everyone in the country knows someone who was killed. Despite this incredibly recent tragedy, Cambodian people are the friendliest people I have encountered since the African village. On the whole, they speak pretty good English and although there is some petty crime I found everyone to be incredibly kind, from Mom to the questionably intoxicated tuk-tuk driver that drove Mere and I around the Angkor Wat Complex. Ah, Angkor Wat. There is really nothing more to say than Go. Just go. Sunrise over Angkor Wat. I checked that off my life list, but somehow seeing it again is back on the list. Is that allowed? Greedy? I knew I would love that temple, but I had no idea how amazing the rest would be. Mere and I spent two days exploring the ruins and it was incredible. Each temple had something unique to offer and some were downright mind-blowing. Have you seen Tomb Raider? Guess where it was filmed? Angkor Wat aside, Cambodia is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Rice paddies and palm trees as far as the eye can see.

So now I have been back in Khon Kaen more than a month. Teaching is frustrating because of the book that was chosen, a regrettable mistake in the Language Institute, but one that cannot be changed without incurring huge financial kickback. It is above the level of comprehension of even my best students. I supposedly teach six sections of the same course but in reality teaching 20 Radiology students who come prepared and already understand some English is radically different from teaching 45 Engineers, 42 of which are male, at 4:00 to 5:30 in the afternoon. They pretty much eat me for a pre-dinner snack, refusing to do anything I ask. But, I still love the students and just when I am about to give up, we have a class that seems like a breakthrough, even if all I do is get them to participate in a silly game.

The weather has really cooled off. Since I am used to South Bend, I thought I would never say that I am cold here. I went so far as to bet Alison that I could go the whole winter without saying it is or I am cold. Well, I lost the bet already. In looking for an excuse as to why I did not want to go to the dance bar, I said I was too tired and cold to go. Shoot. I guess it might have dipped into the 50s the other night and it feels much colder to my body! I bet 50 would feel absolutely balmy to some of you right now. During the day it is always in the 70s with a cool breeze and a bright sun like those once in a while days at ND where everyone crowds on the quads and throws Frisbees. Let me tell you though, my internal calendar is really confused about Thanksgiving.

I am learning to read and write Thai! Haha, it is pretty hilarious, but I know all the basics. It is proving to be difficult, but I guess not as bad as I thought. It is really rewarding and gives me another perspective on language altogether. The more I learn, the more complicated the language becomes and I realize how royally I have been slash still am screwing it up. Let me just say that the word for far is glaai, said with a falling tone, and the word for close is glai, said with a low tone. Really? Really? Come on!

Neuki moves on Monday and that is going to be a major bummer, but Cait, Jess, and Sha arrive on December 21st which will be here in a jiffy and for that I am so thankful! <3

Photos of the Trip

Midterm Break in 200

There is the link to my web album. There are plenty more amazing photos, especially because Jess took some too (more of which I am in so they are obviously great)...but they will have to wait.

Blog about Cambodia soon.

"The thing that annoyed me most on this trip is my haircut..and Vietnam."-Jess

Partly it was our fault, poor planning and decision-making (or lack there of). Partly it was luck (or lack there of again.) I am not writing off the whole country, much more of which I'd still love to see, but our time in Northern Vietnam didn't quite live up to the high hopes I had.

Despite some of the sights being closed on Mondays, Jess and I filled our first full day in Hanoi. We got scammed by multiple cab drivers, visited the Temple of Literature, dined for a good cause at Koto, and saw the changing of the guards at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum (very odd since Ho's bod is in Russia for it's yearly visit with his similarly-preserved comrades, Lenin and Stalin). Back near our hotel in the Old Quarter, we checked out Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem lake, St. Joseph's Cathedral and dined again at an Indian restaurant we now call "Rat Kitchen." Guess why?...Yup, a rat ran plumb through the restaurant while we waited for our food. On the subject of food, to my surprise, we did not like the Vietnamese food much. We probably just did not know what to order (and they specialize in meats, which we were not eating) but it was not up to par with Vietnamese I've eaten outside of Vietnam. Actually, it was so disappointing that Jess and I returned to Rat Kitchen a second time. Can you imagine? We figured rats must just be everywhere if they were in that seemingly-clean place. Hypothesis confirmed. We saw two rats in the airport on our way out!

I'd been sold on Halong Bay since seeing a stamp-sized add on the side of my facebook page. Cheesy, but I'm sure the Google image would do the trick for you too. And, don't get me wrong, it is incredibly gorgeous. But we got unlucky (or all the photos on Google are photoshopped) because the sky was a hazy gray the whole time which really fogged up our view. Maybe nearby China was wafting over some factory air. But that, combined with the trash floating in the sometimes oily water, did not exactly add to the bay's beauty, which we had predicted would be astounding enough to keep us occupied looking around so that the boat (referred to as a junk, which it was) did not matter much. Disregarding previous warnings in order to save a couple lousy bucks, we went with the cheapie 3-day tour. Oooooops. You get what you pay for. It felt more like a school field trip than a vacation. Lots of busing around, loads of hurry up and wait coupled with terrible food and customer service.. not that Jess and I were expecting royal treatment, but it was downright b-a-d. At the end, my passport was held for ransom by one of the guides because I was refusing to pay for a beer that was mistakenly added to our tally. He really sent me over the edge in a country where public outbursts are frowned upon. Straw that broke this camel's back. I feel like I am making it sound awful so insert here warm thoughts of me knowing how lucky I am. And, we did have a good group: Some Germans who loved PDA (I just ran into them in Cambodia to show how the SE Asian backpacker scene is a small world), a Belgian on his last 3 weeks of a year- long world-tour (in Belgium, you can take a "career break" during which the government pays you to do roughly whatever you want!!??!?) four Brits on the beginning of their year-long trip, a Korean mother and daughter, and the strangest woman I've encountered in a while and her friend Gary who called her "Mama" and excused her behavior saying, "Mama not right in the head. Mama need medicine."

After Halong, with the literal and figurative bad taste lingering in our mouths, we made the very last-minute decision not to head South to Hue and Hoi An like we had planned. I feel like I need to justify our reasoning, which leads me to believe I feel some regret, but money, time, and monsoons were factors.So, we spent a non-Monday in Hanoi seeing Museums (Museum of Ethnology and Hoa Lo Prison where McCain was held as a POW... I am certainly not saying it was a day at the spa, but it looked better than how the French had previously treated the Vietnamese inmates there) and headed to Ninh Binh.

As a place to escape crazy Hanoi, the city of Ninh Binh did not thrill us, and Jess was overly peeved about these little bugs falling from the ceiling at our hotel's restaurant, but just outside the city we found some gems. We biked to Tam Coc where someone rowed us down a river through beautiful rice paddies and cliffs reminiscent of Halong Bay. We also biked to Bich Dong (yes, you read correctly), a temple in a cave that we were allowed to enter despite being in shorts. Whew, it would have been a lot of stairs for a rejection. We ate lunch at a place that served dog, cat and goat penis, all of which you have to order a day in advance... Shoot! What lack of foresight.

We spent the next day in Cuc Phuong National Park which features a really old tree and an ancient tomb in a cave. Our day began with a very rainy tour of the primate rescue center. As we walked along the mud path to get there clad in our mildewy ponchos Jess goes, "Bear, I am worried about the rest of our trip in Vietnam." Literally one second later, extremely loud thunder boomed, echoing Jess's hesitation with ominous and hilarious timing. The oh-so-anticipated primate tour lasted three minutes and the rain muffled the guide's explanation to the point of noncomprehension.Following the thunder omen and because of a monsoon coming from China, we decided to forgo our trip to Sapa, a beautiful mountain town that would surely be no fun in the rain since trekking and views draw the tourists. We threw in the towel. Doneskies with Vietnam. We left the next morning destined for Thailand and a couple days of recovery time on easily accessible Koh Samed. The mighty fine Thai meal at Ekkamai bus station in Bangkok assured us that we had finally made a right decision this time.

Though we lacked sleep due to extremely moist living conditions, our last days together were very peaceful... until we had to sprint the should-be-20-minute-walk from our guesthouse to the ferry landing through puddles of squishy mud with all Jess's stuff in tow. The boat had just pulled away when we arrived, but reversed to pick up my sweaty and frazzled cousin. I was truly sad to see her go and am really missing her. Some will be shocked to know that we did not have a single fight, and our only almost-fight was about the wad of dong we left Vietnam with, only to discover Thailand does not exchange it...figures.

I am in Cambodia now and it is a wonderful place and I have much to say, but I'll save it since life is about to slow back down and I will have plenty of time to recount my adventure. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the negativity.

The Lovely Land of Laos and a shaky beginning in Vietnam

Usually I sit down to write this blog full of excitement to share great memories and experiences that I have had. Like I said, we loved Luang Prabang after 3 hours...actually probably 3 minutes, even as we walked waaaay past our hotel with our packs on, too proud to take a tuktuk or ask for directions. But that is simply not the case in Hanoi. We hate it after 3 hours. But before I rant about Vietnam, I will recount the gloriousness of Laos and then maybe I will cool down, literally and figuratively.

Luang Prabang was simply magical. The French left their architecture, their baguettes and their crepes, the Buddhists are responsible for the temples and monks and Mother Nature provided the Mekong River and the surrounding mountains. After the French peaced, there were plenty of buildings just screaming to be turned into guesthouses and cafes and so the tourism began, but somehow, maybe because Laos is still sort of off the beaten path, it's very tasteful tourism at this point.

While in Luang Prabang, we walked the whole city on foot (it's becoming a pattern of ours to see more than we intend to due to wrong turns, poorly-scaled maps, wandering interests, etc.) tested the eateries, explored tons of wats, visited the National Museum, and climbed up hundreds of stairs to Phu Si temple to watch the sun set and get a view of the whole town. One day, we rented mountain bikes and went 15km to Tad Sae waterfall. Although I cursed the bicycles the whole way there, and while we pushed them up a giant hill on the way home because even 24 gears were not enough, and again the next day when my bottom was black and blue, the overall experience was wonderful.

Parting with the city even temporarily was difficult, but we ventured outside of LP to two different villages. After picking up many bicycles from the songtaew driver's house, hitting a chicken, and getting a flat tire, we arrived no worse for the wear in Nong Khiaw. The mountain scenery was even prettier than what we had seen before and our trip really hit a high note. Jess and I could not shut up about how great Laos is. We explored a cave which sheltered over 100 villagers while the USA dropped bombs on Loas during the Vietnam War. We could see what looked like small lakes dotting the rice paddies, but they were holes left by the bombs. That night, as Jess and I sat on the porch of our bungalow overlooking the Nam Ou, we contemplated why everyone who is able would not want to travel like we were...live out of a backpack, forget the finer things in life...until we went to bed on the equivalent of floor boards with sheets over top. I really mean it this time, THE WORLD'S MOST UNCOMFORTABLE BEDS. The next day, with stiff necks and spasming backs, we packed ourselves into a wooden boat like sardines and went an hour and a half up river to Muang Ngoi Neua. We also hiked to caves there and drank some BeerLao with some other falangs and Penny, the hilarious and talkative guesthouse owner who told long stories about former guests peepeeing the beds.When choosing Penny's place from the Lonely Planet, Jess said, "rat-free or river-view, my girl?" I went for rat-free...but we still had a view of them being grilled-up outside.

Luckily, when we returned to LP yesterday our big backpacks were still under a bench at our guesthouse where we had hidden them two days before. We checked off some last-minute things to do while in LP, did a little shopping at the handicraft market (definately the most laidback of its kind in Asia), and made sure to leave the LP cuisine scene on a high note.
Now that I wrote all that good stuff, your eyes are probably getting tired, so you can stop reading now and spare yourself the negativity.

Since entering Vietnam 4 hours ago, we have been scammed, harrassed, and almost run over many times. Additionally, we attempted to check-in to a hotel that told us they would have a room in 30 minutes. Two hours later, it still was not ready which was fine by us because by that time we had noticed that the Prince Hotel was probably just a nice-looking brothel. Furthermore, the air quality here is waaaaaay worse than in Beijing. Our new German friend told us that spending one day in Beijing is the lung-damage-equivalent of three packs of cigarettes. I think that is an exaggeration, but I want to get my lungs out of here after the must-sees which, by Murphy's Law, are all closed on Mondays, the day we planned for sighseeing in Hanoi. And lastly, gone are the days of endless choices for deliciousness so that making a decision is the hardest part of eating. Instead, we are looking for meatless options in a city that eats dogs. The squirrels in Laos made me a little sad, but I will just die if I see Fido-on-a-stick.

In other news, the conversion rate is 17,634 dong to a dollar, Notre Dame squeaks by again and Jessie Walker turns the big 2-3.

Post Script: since writing this, we have come around on Hanoi a little bit thanks to daylight hours, an upgrade in hotels, and a few good meals. ; )

Hair massacres, slow boats, and other happenings in the lives of Erin and Jess in Thailand and Laos

I'm writing this from the slow boat to Luang Prabang, Laos and indeed it is a slow boat. We boarded around 11 am and will dock around 7 or 8 this evening and then repeat the process tomorrow tacking on a couple hours for a grand total of 18.

The trip has been great and the lack of plans has been going semi-smoothly so far, knock on wood.

Jess arrived in Khon Kaen last Saturday and Neuki took me to the airport to fetch her. Naturally, we headed straight for the mall to eat suki which is Jess's second-favorite meal so far. I showed Jess a bit of my neighborhood and we had a mini planning session before she passed out. That was when we started freaking out about not having enough time in each place and we decided to leave on the night bus Sunday instead of Monday. So, with our new departure looming, we spent Sunday running errands. Jess still got to see my office, meet my Thai tutor and friend Gee, eat another delicious meal, and go back to the mall for some bowling with Neuki, Toffee and Meredith before we got on the 11 hour bus to Chiang Mai.

We arrived around 7am and immediately caught a minibus to Pai. I somehow managed to sleep for 90% of the windy journey through the mountains even after sleeping 9 of the 11 hours from KK to CM. We almost lost our lunches on that same minibus ride on the return trip which makes our sleeping feat on the way to Pai seem all the more incredible.

Pai is there-are-no-words good. It is a tiny town tucked away in the gorgeous mountains of northern Thailand. It is small enough to explore thoroughly on foot in a couple hours, but filled with coffee shops and arts and crafts shops and restaurants so that one could keep him or herself occupied doing nothing there for a while. It is becoming pretty popular with tourists and we did meet some cool ones, but I hope tourism does not ruin the magic of the place like it tends to do in Thailand. We stayed at a place called Aqua Resort and got a pretty good price since it is still low season. It is a really tranquil setting about a mile or 1.5 outside of the town. We got our fairshare of exercise since we did not rent motorbikes like most tourists, and the walks to and from town really allowed us to take in the scenery. Photos of stunning mountains and green rice paddies to follow.

Looking back, we definitely could have stayed in Pai for another day, but we opted to leave after two and a half days since we had seen the whole town, did some hiking, and gotten a good feel for the place...I hope to get back there at some point.

When we got back to Chiang Mai with no guest house reservations, the lack of Peters-planning bit us in the butt. We got stuffed in a dingy and sweltering room on the fifth floor of a stinky guesthouse with the world's most uncomfortable beds. We also had our first bad meal in Thailand that night after wandering for an hour on a quest to find an Indian food place recommended, though we are not sure why, in the Lonely Planet Guide. At least we learned our way around almost all of old Chiang Mai that first night...no better way to get to know a place than to get lost in it! I just recommend doing it in a cooler (temperature) environment and with a less cranky-if-she-has-not-eaten travel buddy.

With most of the bad luck behind us, we moved guest houses in the morning. The upgrade to Julie's brought a much nicer room with it's own bathroom and a crowd of really fun people and a helpful staff (well worth the extra 50 baht). Highlights of our stay in Chiang Mai listed in order of occurrence include:
1. Getting confused for a mother and daughter pair. If that is not funny enough... upon further investigation, I was told that I looked 41 because I have wrinkles around my eyes. Later, Jess did not deny the existence of said wrinkles but acknowledged them as laugh lines...ha ha
2. Our night out at this area referred to (I think by more people than just us) as the reggae garden.
3. Wat Suan Dok which is a temple originally built in the 1300s with a beautiful buddhist cemetery with ornate white stone graves. We sweated up a storm here and needed some refreshing so we headed to...
4. Nimmanheiman Road which is a sort of posh street with cool cafes and shops. We spent an hour playing rapido in iBerry, a quirky little ice cream shop recommended by a friend. For those of you who do not know, rapido is a card game Jess and I have been playing for ages. We are in an ongoing battle of rapido and yahtzee ("kniffel" to the Germans on our boat). After iBerry, we had amazing Thai massages, and to top off our day of indulgences, we proceeded to eat the best meal of our trip so far (yes, we have them ranked. That should not surprise you since Jess and I are into ranking systems and really into food). The place was this Thai vegetarian restaurant and we were the only customers in their trendy and serene little garden.
5. Going to this bar on the river called Brasserie to hear some of the best live music we have heard in a while. The opening band had a female singer with a ridiculous voice and the main attraction was a trio playing classic rock. The guitar player was incredibly talented and so captivating because he was a tiny Thai guy with a huge overbite that gave him the goofiest grin while he performed. It was so funny to hear such a raspy bluesy voice come out of this guy.
6. The Thai cooking course which we arranged at the time it was scheduled to begin...while we were still in bed. After Jess declined to be picked-up by car, we speedily dressed and hauled it a couple blocks on foot to discover we were the only students that day. We began with a market tour to get the ingredients and then went to the kitchen which was outside in a really shaded area. We made so many delicious things (since we do not love fish, there was a lot of chicken on the menu)... Green curry, cashew chicken, fried chicken cakes, red curry chicken baked in banana leaves, tom yam with shrimp, pad Thai, spring rolls and custard inside a pumpkin. It was all delicious and Jess is still talking about how someone cleared away the cashew chicken she was saving for later.
7. Small world experiences. My friend Mary just moved to LA to teach High school English as part of the Alliance for Catholic Education program. Think Freedom Writers. Anyways, Mary's roommate Sean, also an ACE teacher, has a girlfriend who just moved to Thailand to teach. Mary has been saying how well we would get along and encouraging us to make contact with each other via email. No need. As I sat down to write postcards, one of the few American backpackers started chatting with me and it took us about 10 seconds to realize that we had stumbled upon each-other. Her name is Lili and she had two friends with her. Jess and I had a lot of fun with them our last day in the city. I still cannot get over the coincidence.
8. Haircuts. Definitely our poorest decision to date. I have been needing one for ages and have been nervous about the language barrier in Khon Kaen and the precious mane that I had painstakingly grown out for the past two years. Needless to say, it is gone and what is left ain't pretty. I would be complaining more, but Jess had a little more trouble. First, the lady washing her hair got it so tangled that she proclaimed she could not brush it. Four people, including Jess, were needed to comb it out. Have you ever asked to brush your own hair at the salon? The Thai women are not used to foreign hair, but Jess's really threw them for a loop. After all was said and done, Jess had received quite the cut involving many, many inches of golden locks on the floor and a new layered do. It actually looks nice but it was a drastic "trim" and it might make her look a little younger. Oh, when the man guessed 41 for me, Jess got 17 and that was before the haircut. We both agree that our cuts really messed with our images, but lesson learned and it will grow back...by the time I'm 30.
9. Right before the bus to the border, we went to the Saturday walking market which was full of arts and crafts and delicious treats. It was a really good way to end our stay in Chiang Mai. Tourist-activity-wise, we did not do as much as we could have in the city which actually feels like a big town but we know it pretty well now since we explored it all on foot.

This morning, we had some meal issues, including stolen fried rice lunch boxes, inedibly fishy papaya salad and extremely expensive sticky rice that tasted like cement even before we discovered the ants steamed into it. So, besides being hungry and a little uncomfortable on the wooden benches, we are very happy. We are really looking forward to arriving in Luang Prabang, though taking in the scenery for two days on a boat is definitely a good way to see this beautiful place.

Since writing this, we made another day's journey on the boat and arrived in Luang Prabang, or Heaven. After three hours here, we are in love. It is so quaint with it's French colonial architecture and hardly any cars and it is right on the Mekong. There are lots of tourists here, but somehow it is more tasteful tourism than in Thailand. We are so excited to drink delicious coffee, eat French bread, do some trekking, and really just soak up the atmosphere for the next week.

In other news...English Camp Photos

I put up an album of photos from English Camp. I forgot to write about this terrible place we went the last day. I forget the name; it might be The Pattaya Center for Animal Cruelty. We paid to see this awful crocodile show...I am sure the crocs were on tranquilizers. There were tons of tigers and bears and zebras all in really small, smelly cages. It was the most awful place. Anything to make a buck over here.

There are also a lot of photos of students doing this Price is Right obstacle course Meredith and I made. It was pretty hysterical until it got extremely hot and we felt bad making the students do it at all.

There are not too many photos of me (disappointing, I know) but you can see me trying out some Thai poses in a couple near the end. Thai people LOVE to pose for photos and have really funny ways of doing it. I am really bad at it, but in this album you can see me trying to make half of a heart with my arms. That is a favorite one over here. Enjoy!

English Camp (the Aquarium, an obstacle course, and animal cruelty)