HUH??? Who is it??



 

Ayuthaya, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai, Thailand February 2- 17, 2010

After all of the Bangkok shenanigans we headed north to the sleepy little town of Ayuthaya to check out the antiquated ruins, sacred temples, and Wats. The ancient capital of Thailand, Ayuthaya used to be a major port and a superior trading powerhouse, but the city was unfortunately completely ransacked by the Burmese army in 1767, leaving only fragments of the once magnificent city.

What was once filled with exquisite palaces overflowing with treasures and brilliant temples celebrating worship, now remains a distant and mysterious memory. Ssshhhhh. . .  if you close your eyes and listen closely, you can see the bustling city and hear the chants of the monks whispering within the temple walls. Ayuthaya is spectacular to see, and we were lucky enough to catch the most fantastic ruins at sunset, leaving a mystical feeling to the day.

Ducky even got involved and chatted up a monk just outside the temple walls. 

We were so impressed with Ayuthaya, we decided to head north to Sukhothai, another ancient city loaded with historical sites and beautiful gardens. Brad and I have been to Sukhothai before and we both agreed that the best way to experience the ruins is by bicycle. Easy enough right? Guess again. . . When we explained this to our lovely travel companion Munah, she just stared at us with a blank expression on her face. She wearily sighed and said “ Um, guys, I don’t know how to ride a bike.” I replied “ No, Munah, I know you don’t know how to drive a moped, we will be riding bicycles, not scooters. . silly ”. She then went flush and that’s when I realized that she truly didn’t know how to ride a bicycle. Wow. What do you say to that? What else is there to say. . . “ Um. . . Let’s teach you!!!”

 

First, I would like to explain that Munah is a champ, she did better than anyone could have expected for her first time on a bike since she was six years old. However, there is much more to riding a bike than meets the eye. . . like stopping, and steering, and oh, peddling. She gave it a valiant effort but eventually decided that the best way for her to experience the ruins would be on the back of my bike! Go Team Customer! What a blast that was!

 

After a few days of “Watting” around who wouldn’t want to chill out and have some dinner at Poo Restaurant? Yummy. I’ll take the Poo covered snake bits please.

 Seriously this place was so delicious we ate there twice. Good times. Lot’s o’ Chang Beer, and plenty of Poo to go around! Enough of the ruins, let’s go to Chiang Mai!

 Since we all love Thai food so much we agreed that we should take a Thai cooking class so we can impress all of you when we come home. We opted for the full day course in Chiang Mai at a charming little place called “Baan Thai“. “Baan” lierally means "home" in Thai, and that’s exactly how we felt there. . . Right at home!

 We received the warmest welcome from these two little boys who were playing in the street. They kept smiling and saying “Sawatdee- Kap!”(Hello), which we happily replied “Sawatdee-Ka” to you!!

Thai cooking isn’t as complicated as it seems, however there are a few special ingredients that are a necessary staple in most of Thai dishes. Of course I’m not going to tell you what they are because that would give away all of the secrets that we paid a pretty penny for. However, I will say that we needed to go to the market to pick out the freshest produce and spices to start the day. No need to worry. . .no “Black Magic”(a.k.a MSG) was used in the making of any of our dishes! 

The spice man was my favorite person at the market. How cute is he?

 

They gave us menus and allowed us to choose 5 meals we would like to learn how to prepare.We all selected different dishes so we could enhance our Thai cooking experience with variety. . . but mostly so we could share the finished dishes!

 My little honey the chef! Brad’s “Chiang Mai Noodles” was the winning dish of the day! His dish was by far the favorite.. . so freaking delicious my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Go Brad!

Munah could have had a close second but she decreed that she would like to see what Pad Thai would taste like with a shit ton of shrimp paste in it. Not good. Not good at all Munah. Actually. . .borderline disgusting. But who’s keeping tabs anyway? Hehehe

 

What a wonderful experience "Baan Thai" was. We truly learned so much and can't wait to have a Thai dinner party as soon as we get home. All of you are invited, just bring some SangSum and youre in!

 

Random, but totally Pinky's.

 

You already know that we sometimes fancy a nice cold beer, so it will come as no surprise when I say that we deemed it necessary to show Munah a bit of the nightlife Chiang Mai has to offer. We settled on a Muay Thai fight to start off the festivities. The fighters actually came around after the fight and asked for tips. With mugs like that who could refuse? We were then off to a few “Lady Boy” Bars to challenge the local Lady Boys to Connect Four and Jenga.

Oh how I love me some Jenga! Sorry Brad, but I royally kicked your arse at Jenga, and I will forever remain Jenga Champion at the “Lady Boy” Bars in Thailand. I know it’s not that great of a title, but it’s mine. . . all mine! 

Feeling woozy, boozy, and like a bunch of floozies (hehe), we realized that we forgot to eat dinner. . .or did we? Who knows but it was time for a snack. I ordered Pad Thai from a local street cart and the woman promptly jumped on her scooter and drove away. Huh? We assumed that she needed to get some ingredients but that didn’t stop us from using her cart to cook up a lil’ something for ourselves. . .  now that we are pro's and all! We added tons of Black Magic and it was delicious! She wasn’t even mad when she came back. Only slightly confused, oops!

 Totally random, but totally cute.

 Totally random, but totally Scholl.

 

We spent six lovely days in Chiang Mai. Each day was filled with amazing food, awesome experiences, and plenty of spa treatments. Feeling pampered, cultured, and ultimately relaxed we realized that is was time to brave the imfamous "Road to Pai" with it's "762" curves. . . and get the heck out of dodge.

I get motion sickness. Alot. All the time. It's an annoying problem but usually Dramamine does the trick. Usually. The road to Pai truly does have 762 hair bend turns and everyone on the bus was sick. It was a gruelling four hour crawl through the mountains and when we finally reached Pai the only thing we could say was" Thank God we will never have to do that again!!". . . Little did we know. . . We were soooo wrong.

    Pai is about as charming a city that there is. It has a bohemian vibe, lots of hippies, great coffee, plenty to see and do, and our favorite: the women making hammocks. Such intricate detail, such patience. All of the hammocks are hand woven and we were so intrigued to watch them work. . . maybe we even bought a few as gifts. . .who knows??

We rented mopeds and cruised around the area to a local waterfall, a serene canyon, and an old WW2 bridge.It was the day before the Chinese New Year so we headed to a local Chinese village and were were shocked to see the adventures that awaited our wary souls there!

From the distance we could see what faintly resembeled a Ferris Wheel.  Upon closer examination we realized that it was actually a Ferris wheel, just not the likes of any we have ever seen. This contraption, I will call it for lack of a better word, was scarier than hell. It's made out of wood, yes wood, man-powered, yes man-powered Ferris Wheel. What is going on???? We just looked to our own personal braveheart Munah and said "You in??" She claimed that she wouldn't miss it for anything. She was all spunky and chivalrous until she got on and the thing was rickety and crickety. The guys were spinning them round and round like a bunch of coffee crazed carnie workers! She screamed, we laughed. She screamed louder, we laughed harder. It was awesome.

 

 Next up was archery. I nailed my target with all of 5 of my shots. . . in the neck, head and genital region. Apparantly, I'm not someone to be messed with.

Sad to leave the entertainment of the Chinese Village, but the canyon awaited us. Wow. Pretty amazing. 

Hi, my name is Sam, and I'm a dork.

The fun in Pai really begins after sunset. We met up with a group of other travellers and had a fabulous dinner, exquisite box wine, and tons of laughs.We drank to escape the reality of what awaited us at our guesthouse.

 Our guesthouse (we called it slum house), was as about as nasty as they come. We have stayed in the worst of the worst, and this one definitely fits into that category. I will only say these few briefs things about it( I don't want you puking or anything): 1) Lonely Planet needs to get their head out of their arse. 2) There was something that looked like blood or poop all over my blanket in the room.3) Bed bugs, bed bugs, and yes, more bed bugs 4) Mosquitos that seemed to be nesting in the stagant water on my bathroom floor 5) Need I say more?This is a picture of us showing Mr. Jans what we think about his slum house.

 Random, but totally puppy.

OK, here is the irony of the story. It's quite circular actually, let me explain. . . . When we arrived in Pai we were so exausted and sick from the heinous drive we just took the first guesthouse we could find. . . no questions asked. When we realized that a grave mistake had been made on our part, we decided that we would drink away our sorrows each night to help us deal with the disgustingness of where we were to sleep. The last night we celebrated the fact that we were leaving the next day to Chiang Rai. "No more creepy guesthouses", we chanted as we drank glass after glass. . . after glass of box wine. The next morning when the alarm went off at 5:45 am, our heads were spinning, yet we couldn't be happier to leave. The bus ride to Chiang Rai can't be that long, it's just over the mountain right???? Right??? When we arrived at the bus stop where we purchased our tickets the man screamed "get on. . . you're late, the bus almost left to Chiang Mai without you!"

"Um, excuse me sir, what did you say? We are going to Chang Rai, just over the mountain, we are certainly not going back to Chiang Mai". He replied in an irratated tone" Mam, bus no go to Chiang Rai from here. All buses go back to Chiang Mai, then you get bus from there to Chiang Rai"

"What!!!!!???? Are you serious???" For the love of God someone please help me. The thought of driving the freaking road with 762 curves, hungover as all hell, made my stomach turn and my eyes fill with tears. "Sir, excuse me. . .are you sure this is the only way to get to Chiang Rai from here?" He just looked at me and said "get on, we're leaving." Team Customer stared at each other with despair and disbelief. Is this is really happening? Yup. It is. It did. I threw up in a bag almost the entire 4 hour drive back to Chiang Mai. Where we then waited for 1 hour for our next 4 hour bus to Chiang Rai. It was horrendous and everytime I think of it I feel bad for those poor souls on the bus who had to smell the booze as we sweated it out whilst puking our brains out the whole way. Sorry people. Really sorry. We eventually made it to Chiang Rai, but our bodies didn't seem to want to do anything but sleep . . .

 

We only spent a day in Chiang Rai, as it was the last day of the trip for Munah. We visited the White Wat, designed by a Thai artist. It is a work in progress and he hopes to be finished with the 9 structures by 2070. It seems like an eternity but once you step foot inside you understand the magnitude of his project. Simply amazing, and creepy too.

 These hands are at the entrance of the first Wat in the complex. They eerily await you . .

Ducky was to scared to enter the creepy Wat so he stayed back and tried to make some tips by singing "Rubber Ducky, you're the one. . . " It didn't seem to work since the Thai Duckies only speak Thai, but Sabai Sabai. . . We are now ready to go to Laos!!! 

We would just like to thank Munah for her patience, understanding, and great travel vibe. We had a blast and Team Customer will certainly miss you!!!! Safe travels back home Munah!

Love from the home of the "road with 762 hair pin turns", Team Customer