Chiang Mai (Ching Me)

It was a good feeling being back at the guest house after three days in the jungle. After showering, an hour relaxing with TV, and a quick look at our email accounts, we headed out to dinner with D and Ita. We opted for the Riverside, a restaurant that Jack and Kerri had been to earlier in the week, where they really enjoyed the live music (Thai band covering American/Euro hits). Jack and Kerri would be meeting us there a bit later.

The Riverside was just what we needed after three days in the jungle...Jacki, D and Ita opted for some good old Western food (baked potatoes, burgers and garlic bread). I went with Indian curry, which was okay, however I was really eyeing up the burgers. McDonald's and Burger King aside, a burger is a risky proposition in this part of the world, but D and Ita went for it, and they looked delicious...and hence our Irish friends were very pleased.

Although we sat upstairs, the band was played over the speakers (they were downstairs), and they were really good! Jack and Kerri showed up eventually, as did Thai Jack (our trek guide), so we had a few and hit the bar for some music. The Thais definitely dig their cover bands, cause this place was PACKED. So packed that Thai Jack convinced us all to go elsewhere. I was amped to get Chris a Riverside t-shirt, but we bailed so fast that I forgot. Not to worry, there will be more bars.

We piled into Thai Jack's pickup/people carrier, and headed to another place. I don't recall the name, but what I do recall is the band at this joint was just as good. We rocked out all night to the Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Nirvana, Rage, Oasis, you name it from the West, these guys killed it. Anything else I could write about the night is only speculation, but the pictures indicate that we were having a blast. I do recall D using the tuk tuk battery as his seat on the way home...which seemed to make perfect sense at 3am.

We had decided to nix a day trip to Myanmar, partly because we wanted to spend more time in Chiang Mai, and partly because it would last all day (7am-8pm), some 10 hours of which would have been in a bus (I am good on buses!). This worked out to be a good call, because we both woke up horribly hungover at 11 or so. After going to a local restaurant for breakfast -- at which we ordered toast and eggs, and wound up getting some of the grossest shit I have ever seen (we paid and left without touching it) -- we settled for some Lays chips, which did the job. We had signed up for a cooking school the previous day, and headed over that afternoon.

The headaches had subsided, and we had a lot of fun preparing Thai dishes. We opted for Pad Thai with prawns, Massaman Curry, Spring Rolls and, of course, Jacki's new favorite, Mango Sticky Rice. We wound up being the only people to attend that particular class, which was great because we had the instructor all to ourselves. She was great about telling us what we could use as substitute ingredients in the US, as surely we wouldn't easily find some of the Thai ingredients. Each dish turned out amazing. The only problem was that after the first two, I was so stuffed, it was a challenge getting the next two down.

We headed to the nighttime bazaar in the evening. It's basically a bunch of vendors lining the road, selling the same crap as in Bangkok, however they aren't so aggressive and the deals are much better. We did some bartering and scored...got eight t-shirts for about 30 bucks. I love Thailand. Picked up a good one for Ed (you'll see it soon!). I finally got to relive a banana pancake w/chocolate...I lived on those when I was here in 2002...and we called it a night.

The plan for today was to ride bikes around the city, hit the floating restaurant for lunch, and make our 2:50 train to Bangkok. Due to my upset stomach, we didn't bike; but instead walked a bit and took some pictures. As for the Floating Restaurant...I am convinced it is merely a myth. Despite having seen it on the internet, even showing our tuk tuk driver an online review with the address, and having him ask about 25 other Thais where it was, we didn't make it. We rode around for an hour or so, but to no avail. Jacki was sad, but we got some good video from the tuk tuk, which took the edge off.

(It's worth mentioning that we lost about 30 minutes in a taxi with a driver who knew only one word in English...'YES'. Unfortunately, it took some time before that became apparent. She was nice, though, and when it was obvious she didn't know where we were going -- which in hindsight is no surprise, since the place doesn't exist -- she gave us half our money back.)

We grabbed a quick lunch, and made our way to the train station. Armed with some Lays chips and Leo beer, we're on a train to Bangkok, aboard the Thailand express (for the Rush fans out there). After two hours there, we are off to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia...another 8 hours of what is sure to be multiple buses (stoked).