Northward

Yesterday (which guest house man tells me was Thursday) Sarah and I waved goodbye to Ko Samet and took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. They were out of first class cabins and second class sleeper cabins so we decided to try our luck with second class seats. It was a festival of new smells and sounds, but there were some lovely jungle views.

I'm soooo excited for all that Chiang Mai and the surrounding area holds, but it's going to be difficult deciding how to spend our time here. Today we checked in to our guest house with free wireless (woo!), walked around to get our bearings, and ate some delicious overnight bus ride recovery food. (I'm probably going to talk about food a lot throughout the trip, feel free to tune out if you're not interested :-P) I got a pumpkin curry that was just spicy enough to leaving me sweating (glowing?) but that didn't require a recovery period (as the curries have thusfar), a shockingly purple dragon fruit shake, and a...maz...ing mango sticky rice for dessert. Sarah described the sticky rice well: the perfect combination of salty, sweet, creamy, and fresh.

We've heard that the Sunday market is not to be missed, but today we walked through a couple of the markets that are held on a daily basis. The first was exclusively produce/meat/fish. The vegetables and fruits were abundant and beautiful, and there were many I'd never seen before. Umpteen different kinds of ginger, chiles, garlic, etc. The other one offered dried foods and textiles, but we didn't spend very long there because I'd become afflicted with my terrible condition.

My terrible condition: golfer's vasculitis. This is something that primarily affects people over the age of 50 (if you round to the nearest 50 that's me?) Yup. It is a lovely rash thing on your legs that according to google, is just now becoming a "legit" condition and is basically just a pain. I was mostly annoyed and not overly concerned until the woman at our guesthouse who organizes the treks learned of the situation. She was extremely helpful and told me the name of a clinic that treats patients whose bones are being eaten away and also skin conditions. She also (very generously) shared some cream that her friend's daughter uses on her skin. (I'm using it on a test spot this evening!)

It better be cured before trekking next week! (Guesthouse woman would not let me go this week :-P Probably a wise decision on her part.)

Love you all!

Bungalows....

Sarah and I have learned several things in Ko Samet (which has been absolutely lovely):

1. "Bungalow" can mean many many different things. For example, it can mean the incredibly adorable little hut with the porch and rocking chairs that overlooks the ocean. It can also mean the little box about a 15 minute walk up the mud hill with holes in the screens and a construction site next door. You neeeever know.
2. Sometimes....hotel that makes no claim of a beach view>>bungalow.
3. Dogs that live on Ko Samet are probably the happiest in the world. Their schedule consists of eating scraps people give them at the beachside cafes, Taking a nap in the shade of the unused beach umbrellas, eating lunch scraps, taking a cool down swim in the ocean, dinner scraps, and watching the sun set in a little ball in the sand.
4. Fruit is definitely still delicious.

We've spent two full days here....mostly reading on the beach. There's a hostel type thing that's popular with backpackers that serves a great breakfast. We've gone and had our daily coffee and eggs, but THIS morning I discovered the banana breakfast sandwich. They apparently bake all their own bread, so they take a couple slices of that....put some bananas and cinnamon on it, and then grill it until it's gooey goodness. I will sorely miss it. The island has been nice. It's an interesting mix of Thai people, European families, and backpackers. Also, the water is a color I don't think I've seen before. Sarah and I came to the conclusion that it's decidedly not Caribbean colored....more of a muted jade green.

Tomorrow we're taking a bus back to Bangkok and then hopefully an overnight train to Chiang Mai. We're hoping to set up shop there for awhile.

As always, miss you and hope you're all doing well :)

PS. Saltwater has taken my hair down to medium huge.

Pictures:

1. These are from the ferry ride over to Ko Samet.

2. This was our bungalow

3. This was better than the bungalow

4. Ko Samet dogs taking their morning nap

5. This house belongs to the family who rented us beach chairs each day.

6. A favorite beachfront dinner spot for both Sarah and I and the Ko Samet dogs.

7. Just a lovely rainbow :)

8. Our other favorite waterfront eatery....I wasn't very good at capturing the ambiance her at night.

Good job stomach (knock on wood and cross your fingers)

I'll go ahead and apologize now for the lack of coherence in these posts. The meter is always running and my thoughts are never collected all the way :-P

So it's been 2 days or so in Bangkok and we've eaten quite the variety of Thai food from quite the variety of vendors. So far, my digestive system is holding it's own. We found a lovely hotel (for a whopping $10/person) with an open cafe in the lobby where we've had breakfast each morning and enjoyed the breeze. The first afternoon here we went to the weekend market and decided to try our luck with some fruit (yum! yum yum yum) and a market food stall. They were out of everything except fish curry and something none of us understood. We ordered a couple of both, and after we got it....we still had absolutely no idea what that second dish was. But we survived! Yesterday we tried some bonafide street food noodle soups which were delicious and fresh....and less than $1!




Last night we went to a blues lounge near our hotel just for somthing relaxing and different. The guitar player was unreal. I'm amazed if that's the best gig he can get in Bangkok.

We've done much walking and seen a lot of Bangkok, but I think it's time to move on for now. We're heading to to Ko Samet to do some snorkeling and recouping on the beach. Also, before we leave, Sarah and I are going to get a cell phone set up....so we should be reachable soon. I'll send that number as soon as it's working.

I hope things are going well on your ends. How was everyone's weekend in Raleigh? Emily....how are Spanish classes? There were so many little dog outfit shops in Tokyo. Beulah needed all of them. Hoo....how was Cornhuskin? Andy....what are you being for halloween this year? I hear they are trying very hard to make the Franklin St. celebration much lamer.

Thank you thank you thank you to those people who helped with my car in Raleigh. I owe you big time.

PS. My hair is absolutely enormous.

Pictures:
Here are a few pictures from our first few days in Bangkok when my stomach was on such great behavior.

1. Toilets: Turns out this is actually a pretty nice one. Jacob is flushing it.


















2. Puppies at the weekend market: These puppies were heartbreaking. I'm going to pretend that the ones they don't sell get sent to Ko Samet to play on the beach all day. I don't think I could take it otherwise.


















3. Market food


















4. Street food


















5. Waterfront property is apparently not prime real estate in Bangkok. The river and canals were lined with housing like this.














6. Part of Bangkok's skyline from the top of the Golden Mount. Below this is the "golden" part of the golden mount.

Hello Bangkok!

I should learn how to say "hello" in Thai. Also how to say "thank you".

Jacob and I made it to Bangkok, and Sarah was waiting for us at our gate! We had a nice day and a half in Tokyo before arriving here. Honestly, it didn't feel that much different from being in an American city most of the time. It was like New York except we were most decidedly in the minority. We saw the Imperial Gardens, got lost in the financial district, and then had some outstanding sushi with all of the Japanese businessmen on their lunch break. The rest of the time we spent wandering around the city and dining on noodle soups.

I actually wasn't that excited about Bangkok, but I already am enjoying it much more than Tokyo. It's grittier and more colorful. I wouldn't want to stay here forever, but there's plenty of good people watching to go around and an abundance of beautiful fruit (that you can smell long before you figure out where it is).

Sorry this is short! 3 minutes left on the meter, and then we're heading to the weekend market.

Miss you all!

Pictures

1. A view of Tokyo from the Imperial Gardens on one gray and misty day (you may need to click for the full size picture). This weather turned out to be peachy compared to the buckets of rain we got the next day. My waterproof jacket lost all its waterproofing in about 5 hours :-/

2. Prefecture Trees: The most exciting part of the Imperial Gardens (Seriously. The emperor apparently has a thing for grass. Grass and rocks.) was the little section where each of Japan's prefectures was represented by a tree. The first picture is the little plot where, apparently, the cool prefectures' trees live. The lamer trees were in the plot next door. I don't know if you can see it, but above the little white sign is a stump. Poor stump prefecture.

3. Businesspeople: So many of them. Mostly men.




































4. Awesome sushi: Let me know if you can identify that pink blob beside the shrimp.