Chiang Mai Oh My

After nearly 24 hours of straight traveling, with the exception of four hour delay in Bangkok at the train station, we pulled into Chiang Mai. John, our Bangkok connection, met up with us for Songkran, the Thai New Year and let us stay with him at his hotel the first night we were there. It was quite a step up from the guesthouses and hostels we had become accustomed to-pool, room service, even free shampoo. A little later, we decided to grab a bite and hit the streets to celebrate the new year with water fights. As we were leaving, John advised us to leave anything we cared about in the room or put it in a plastic bag. We soon understood why, after merely ten minutes on the street, we were all soaked from head to toe. We quickly invested in water guns, hopped on a tuk tuk, and joined in the battle. We were all as giddy as children, having buckets of ice water dumped on us, and shooting people with water guns. It was unlike any celebration we have ever been involved in, and we are trying to figure out how to bring at least a day of it back to Portland. People of all ages were lining the streets with buckets, water guns and hoses soaking everyone-paying special attention to tourists. After the first day of the celebration, John returned to Bangkok and we switched to Libra Guest House.

It was impossible for the next three days to leave the guest house dry and return that way. We decided to spend the final day of the celebration on an overnight trek. We left Libra in the morning and our trek guide, Nu, armed each of us with a squirt gun. We spent our ride to the the first stop on our trying to avoid being soaked. Our first stop on the trek was at a beautiful waterfall, and that was followed up with a stop at some hot springs that were nearly too hot to get into. After that we went on a 9k trek, stopping at some tribal villages along the way. On the trek we got soaked by rain and were relieved to arrive at our final destination-a far off Thai village, where we "showered" in the river. We ate dinner and were treated to some "happy juice"-Thai rice whiskey, and some Thai delicacies (beetles and frogs). Danielle enjoyed the beetles so much that she asked what they were seasoned in, and was irritated when the bowl was taken away from her. We ended the night singing songs like Hotel California around the campfire under a blanket of stars. The next day we were awakened early to ride elephants and ride back down the river on bamboo rafts. It was an incredible experience.

We spent the rest of our time there parousing markets and lounging by pools. We even took a cooking class so that we could learn how to bring some of our favorite cuisines home with us-we learned to make the best sticky rice and mangoes of our trip. Chiang Mai exceeded our expectations, and I don't think any of us have seen our last Songkran.

Wat's Happenin' Cambodia?

After we bid adieu to the islands, we made a quick stop in Bangkok to recoup before heading to Cambodia. Going through the border was a little more of a hassle than we expected-scams left and right. Once we made it to Siem Reap we got situated in the Ancient Angkor Guest House and planned for the following day at Angkor Wat. The next morning we were picked up by two Tuk Tuk drivers who we had made arrangements with and they drove us to the temples. We spent the entire day awestruck by the massive wats and were amazed by how well they were preserved. Our two favorites were Bayon, an eerie temple covered in faces, and Ta Phrom, used on the set of Tomb Radar because it is being taken over by jungle roots. At the temple little kids from the age they can talk to grandmothers attempt to sell their handicrafts. The kids had facts from every country memorized (capital, population, president) to entice tourists to buy their cheap bracelets, post cards and ice cold water. They were hard to turn down.

In order to get the full Angkor experience, we got a three-day pass so we were able to take in both sunset and sunrise at the temples. Sunrise was tough to get up for, but definitely worth it. Although the city of Siem Reap was touristy, we enjoyed its culture and restaurants. By this time, we were definitely ready to have some western food in our bellies. Before we knew it, we had been there for a week and were off to Chiang Mai.

Ko Tao

Turtle Island

A short ferry ride from Ko Phangan brought us to our last stop in southern Thailand... Ko Tao. We quickly signed up for a PADI Scuba Diving certification class at Ban's Diving Resort, and were excited to find that we also got free accomodation with the course. For the next week, Rachel, Molly and Beth completed nine dives. The first day was 4 hours in a classroom-we weren't expecting to return to school so soon. Our charismatic and slightly vulger English dive instructor made the experience that much better with his sheer enthusiasm for diving and his zest for life. He became a big fan of the "American Girls" during the course of the week. Day two was spent in the pool, learning the basics like how to breath through a regulator, remove our masks under water, remain neutrally buoyant while maintaining proper scuba swimming form and assist a buddy if their air was out. Rachel's form was perfect-the instructor told the class to watch her because her kicks were long and straight "like daggars." Our favorite dive was the night dive, where we felt like we were tink and peter pan with our hands moving through the water creating pixie dust-like bubbles. You'd think it would be scary to shut off your flashlight in pitch black water, but it was the most incredible experience and we can't wait to do it again. At the end of the week we finally celebrated Rachel's birthday with dinner out, where Carrington (UofO friend) happened to walk by and spot us. We all headed to a Muay Thai fight in the jungle afterwards, where our dive instructor was oddly enough the emcee. We watched several fights, ranging from 7 years old to mid-twenties. We enjoyed it much more than we'd expected and had fun hanging out with Carrington and drinking Chang to celebrate Rachel's 23rd. On our way home we grabbed our last thai pancake from our favorite pancake maker, who did some pretty cool knife tricks. Spent the next day hanging around relaxing and watching movies at a restaurant on the beach waiting to catch the night ferry back to mainland, and then a bus up to Bangkok.

Ko Phangan