After our Lahu Village experience, we joined up with a few of our massage buddies at the Malak guest house, were not only did we have a panoramic view of Chiang Mai from our Garden terrace and kitchen, but we also shared free internet on two popular computers.
I took a cooking course on our second day led by the 'Best Thai Cookery School', how can you go wrong with a name like that?
Perm, the instructor, was excellent in English and made a lot of very silly, corny jokes through the market tour and throughout the day. We learned to buy eggs (here there are 4 types, young, old, fermented, quail) and we learned to distinguish roots and vegetables as well as to decipher the difference between coconut juice, milk and cream... very cool.
We were led poooooon (means far in Thai) out of the city center in little red truck taxis and installed ourselves each at his or her own stove and cutting block. We learned 11 dishes in one day and even to cook with huge flames as you can see in the photo! It was very fun and rewarding, since the days to follow I was able to remake pad thai and panang curry at the guest house and enjoyed buying produce at the market.
Chiang Mai was a quieter stay for us. We wandered around, used internet and chatted with other travelers. There were a lot of great vegetarian and organic restaurants that we sampled for $2 per person for a meal! We watched a few movies while sipping banana shakes at the 'Okay Guest House' down the street and Cash found a place to play pool.
One day, we rented a motorbike and went outside Chiang Mai to a wonderful wood carving center, then two days later, up a steep and winding hill to Doi Suthep Wat where we plan to do a THREE WEEK meditation course in August.
Today, we are in the smaller version of Chiang Mai, called Chiang Rai and will be getting on a bus to Mai Sai, the border between Burma and Thailand. If all goes as planned, our next ten days will be spent somewhere in Burma.
To be continued. Wishing everyone well!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Beaches, Massages and Potholes
We chose to start off our venture with some relaxing in the islands of southern thailand. Ko Pha Gnan was where we found ourselves relaxing, renting a motor bike for $4 dollars a day. Our bungalo was about 10 ft from the water at night with the high tide and about 140 ft. by morning due to the low tide. We had a hammock on our front porch, a big mosquito net and a fan. Our bathroom was constantly under attack by ants and the toilet flushed after one dumps a bucket of water in it.
We explored the island on the little bike and found all sorts of roads and fun little places to check out. We went swimming here, saw waterfalls, and even had re-initiations in Reiki.
After the island we continued up north because we had booked a two week thai massage course before we left on this trip. This was up in a village about an hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai and we were able to get there with all our packs and about 9 of us in a pick up truck bed bumping along the steep and windy roads. We spent our days being woken up by roosters, pigs eating loudly out of a trough, villiagers talking and children singing. All of which we could see through the slats in our bungalow of bamboo. Not to mention the daily several bouts of the dogs fighting with one another and the mama's yelling at them. We spent our days massaging 6 hours and eating wonderful homecooked vegetarian food, reading and playing cards. It was a simple village made of huts and satillites everywhere. People lived there, worked in the fields and had many night ceremonies to celebrate good luck and ward off bad dreams. The mama's had few teeth and mouths of red from the betelnut and the babies were carried on dads and moms backs, attached by simply tied cloths.
Until next time,
Cash and Mira
We explored the island on the little bike and found all sorts of roads and fun little places to check out. We went swimming here, saw waterfalls, and even had re-initiations in Reiki.
After the island we continued up north because we had booked a two week thai massage course before we left on this trip. This was up in a village about an hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai and we were able to get there with all our packs and about 9 of us in a pick up truck bed bumping along the steep and windy roads. We spent our days being woken up by roosters, pigs eating loudly out of a trough, villiagers talking and children singing. All of which we could see through the slats in our bungalow of bamboo. Not to mention the daily several bouts of the dogs fighting with one another and the mama's yelling at them. We spent our days massaging 6 hours and eating wonderful homecooked vegetarian food, reading and playing cards. It was a simple village made of huts and satillites everywhere. People lived there, worked in the fields and had many night ceremonies to celebrate good luck and ward off bad dreams. The mama's had few teeth and mouths of red from the betelnut and the babies were carried on dads and moms backs, attached by simply tied cloths.
Until next time,
Cash and Mira
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