*Since I neglected to blog earlier this week, I'll give you another taste of Thailand... one of my 2003 adventures!*
After talking the
big talk about renting bikes in Bangkok
and riding up to Chiang Mai, we decided it simply wasn’t going to happen - too
expensive and too dangerous. Especially
during Songkran. The Thai New Year puts
everybody on the streets and usually with Beer Chang or Singha in their hands. Never big on planning, Colin, Trevor, Dave
and I became stranded in Ayuthua with no apparent means of getting to Chiang
Mai. This had not been part of the plan.
“We
could hitch hike?” Trevor stuck his thumb out as a tuk-tuk rattled past. It was hot pink. Nothing like the ones in Bangkok. It didn’t stop.
“Nobody’s
going to pick up four white kids,” Colin said, pointing across the street to a Ro-tii
stand. We crossed and ordered the
crepe-like treats.
“We
could split up,” Dave offered as I took a bite out of a plain one. The boys dressed theirs up with chocolate
syrup, bananas, or both.
I
wiped sticky condensed milk off my hands and licked my lips. “Now hold up.
I’m not so sure hitch hiking is wise.
And splitting up is definitely not wise.”
We
ended up not hitchhiking, due mostly to the fact I refused. We found a bus-station that wasn’t really a
bus-station on the outskirts of town.
Young men would flag down buses heading in the general direction of
where you wanted to go and you could pay to stand or sit in the aisle, as most
of the busses were already full of Thai families on holiday. We ended up paying 300 baht apiece for floor
space on a bus that would take us the rest of the way to Chiang Mai. It was midnight, we had hours left in our
journey, and the four of us were exhausted.
I soon stretched out on the dirty, smelly floor of the bus. Several Thais laughed softly behind their
hands and looked down at the faraangs laying in the aisle. In an effort to ‘save face,’ I smiled up at
them. A young man handed me his blanket,
red plaid and smelling of a campfire. I
placed it between the hot floor and my face, earning a smile when I thanked him
in his own language, careful to say “kha” at the end. Colin lay at my feet, his head resting on my
legs. Somewhere further up lay Dave and
Trevor, just as uncomfortable. After sleeping
a few hours and immediately following my being violated by a cockroach, a seat
became available. I played the girl card
and got it, but I didn’t feel too bad as the bus had cleared enough for the
boys to have seats within the hour.
We
reached the Chiang Mai bus station when the sun was just beginning to light up
the sky. We caught a tuk-tuk into town
and found a little roadside stand serving chicken skewers and fried bananas. The cheap food managed to wake us. On this, our second trip to Chiang Mai, we
had connections – friends who owned a guesthouse and a friend who rented motorcycles
named Mr. Beer. We went to visit Mr.
Beer first. Mr. Beer was a bit rotund
and always flashing his teeth when he smiled.
He reminded me of a used car salesman.
He cheated us, charging us more for being white but less for being
students in Bangkok; we weren’t “real faraangs”
and our Thammasat University ID cards opened doors and lowered prices all
across South East Asia.
Jonadda guest house and restuarant
John, an Australian, and his Thai
wife ran the guesthouse. John was
hilarious in a ‘surely you’re not serious’ kind of way. The first night he took us to the top of the guesthouse,
showing us the part of the building that would be their living quarters. As we stood on the balcony, built higher than
ordinance allows, he smoked and talked about how horribly stupid Thais are.
“My
friend has been a prostitute for five years.”
He laughed. “She does it to feed
her father. She’s a damn idiot. The man drinks it all away. They’re all damn idiots. They think they know things, think they’re so
smart but they’re stupid. Most women
are, but especially Thai women. No
offense,” he said, looking at me.
A few insulting
comments later and we were downstairs trying to figure out the room
situation. I was the one posing the
problem. I was going to have to room
with one of the guys or rather one of the guys was going to have to room with
me. This normally wouldn’t have caused
complications but Trevor and Dave, my two Mormons from Utah, were uncomfortable with the idea.
“Let’s
flip for who has to room with Tommi,” Dave suggested.
“Ouch. Shouldn’t I pick who I want to room
with?” Nobody listened to me.
“I’ll
room with her.” Colin dropped his bag
beside mine and climbed into the top bunk.
“Goodnight.”
The
next morning was the start of Songkran, the water festival. Imagine the world’s largest water fight and
you’ve got a pretty realistic picture of the Thai New Year. The reason Chiang Mai is so crowded for the
festival is because the city is surrounded by a moat. Hundreds of people line the streets with
buckets, hoses and water guns. Children
jump from ancient ruins into the murky moat water. The holiday isn’t just for children, as
truckloads of people ranging from infant to elderly laughingly douse each
other. Traffic comes to a standstill and
everyone is fair game, except for monks.
Do not wet the monks.
Being
white and on bikes made us easy targets.
We had no idea the grandiosity of the festival and had nothing to fight
back with. We were soaked within seconds. Five gallon buckets of water with baby fish
from the moat were tossed over my head.
I was a fun target because my t-shirt, when wet, did nothing to conceal
breasts that are significantly larger than most Thai women’s. The Asian men riding in the backs of trucks
kept tossing bucket loads at my chest, almost pushing me off the back of the
bike. The attention was making my guys noticeably uncomfortable. They didn’t much like to be reminded of my gender
on our expeditions. Later that evening,
when undressing for a shower, I pulled a dead fish out of my bra.
The
festival went on for days. We thought it
was only a city thing but as we traveled from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai we found
small groups of children waiting with buckets by the side of the road. We slowed for the drenchings but, because I cannot
drive a motorcycle and was riding with Trevor, I didn’t get nearly as wet as he
did. The only dry spot on him were where
my arms hung loosely around his middle.
“Does
this stupid holiday ever end?” Colin moaned as a truck full of teenagers
completely soaked our almost dry entourage when we stopped to check the map.
“We’ll
be in Burma tomorrow. They don’t
celebrate it there.”
I
was dead wrong. The Burmese met us at
the border with water guns. The water
had coloring in it, leaving snotty looking green streaks down the boys’ white
shirts. I had just about had it. When a young kid of about fourteen dumped his
entire bucket over my head, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I wasn’t exactly in the holiday spirit.
“Fuck.” I broke my abstinence from foul language and
followed the curse with “damn it all.” Even
whispered under my breath, Trevor heard my curses. He spun around and took a bucket from one of
the kids.
“You
wouldn’t dare,” I said.
He
raised an eyebrow in that “oh I wouldn’t?” way before tossing the far from
clean water over me.
I
stood glaring at him for a few moments before borrowing my own bucket and chasing
him down the dirt street. The kids
around held their stomachs and shook with the sweet sounds of laughter. White kids playing with them on their holiday
was a rarity. We walked down the street,
taking in what we would could of Burma before we had to be back at
the border. There are only day passes into the country. We dodged truckloads of water-toting Asians. “I love you,” men, young and old, shouted to
me from pick-up beds, blowing kisses and giggling as they sped away, splashing
through the mud puddles left by the festivities. “Marry me,” one boy yelled before leaving a
zig-zag pattern of green water on my shirt.
The only white
people we saw in Burma
were each other. We were such
celebrities that Burmese youths asked if they could have their picture taken
with us. As the only woman, I was even
more a rarity. Children held up their
arms for me to take them. Mothers smiled
when I did, brushing my skin with their fingertips and holding my hair in their
hands, murmuring to each other in a language I couldn’t begin to
understand. We slipped down a back road
to escape the drenchings and stumbled over four children playing in the
dirt. Two were Buddhist novices, and
their saffron colored robes hung dry and loose on their frail frames. The other two shook water from their hair and
giggled. The oldest was probably eight. The tiny monks gestured for us to follow them
and one of the other boys took my hand and pulled. They led us down dry, quiet roads, far away
from the down town insanity. They took
us to their temple, high on a hill, looking down on the city. They posed for pictures, flashed us the peace
sign, and skipped back down the hill to resume their game. They left us to marvel in the beauty of the
building and surrounding grounds.
We
soon realized that our day passes were about to end and hurried to the border, where
the Burmese got in a few more buckets before we crossed back into Mae Sai. Northern Thailand is much cooler than Bangkok, especially at
night, and I shivered against Trevor as we rode through the now quiet streets to
our guesthouse cabins. I was wet, cold,
tired and teetering on cranky. I wanted
a hot shower and my Bangkok bed and while the cabins in Mai Sai were a huge
improvement from the various guesthouses we’d stayed at a long the way, I knew
it’d be cold water and there’d be lizards in the bed I’d be sharing with Colin.
“You
look like shit… err crap,” Colin took it upon himself to tell me as I waited
for him to unlock the cabin’s door. Even
though Trevor and Dave were already in their cabin and couldn’t hear him, he
corrected himself out of habit. Both of
us had fallen into watching our language not because they’d asked us to but
because we wanted to.
“Damn
Canadians.” I stuck my tongue out at him
and rummaged through my rip-off North Face backpack from the Chatuchak Market
until I found my shower stuff. I’d
managed to jam shampoo, conditioner, body wash, a razor, toothpaste, toothbrush,
deodorant, body spray, tampons, and just-in-case-makeup all in the same Ziploc
bag. I grabbed my towel, stepped down
into the shower area and pulled the curtain dividing the two areas closed.
“Wait!”
Colin yelled as I started to peel off the wet clothes.
“What? Tell me you do not have to use the bathroom
now.” I groaned and yanked the curtain
back.
Colin
laughed and stepped down beside me.
“Nah.” He reached beside the
squat toilet and picked up the tattered roll of toilet paper. “Just didn’t want this to get wet. I think it’s the only roll we’ve got left
between the four of us. Unless you’re
holding out?”
“I
know I’ve got baby wipes and I might have a roll. I can’t remember if I left it in Nan or not. You
can check my bag. If it’s in there, give
it to Trevor and Dave.”
Colin
nodded his head and stepped out of the shower/squat area, pulling the curtain
closed behind him.
The
shower, while freezing, was a godsend.
The combining crisp smells of my cleansers put me in a better mood. Humming to myself, I stepped, wrapped in a
towel, into the other room. Colin was nowhere
to be seen. I latched the door and put
on dry, almost clean, clothes. They
smelled like elephant ass from being river-washed in Cambodia the month before so I
sprayed myself with jasmine body spray before venturing out to find the
boys. I didn’t have to go far.
“What took you so
long?” Dave called as soon as I stuck my head out of the door. They were sitting at a table in the outside
restaurant owned and operated by the same couple as the cabins we were staying
in. The restaurant was on the Nam Ruak,
the river the only thing separating us from Burma.
“Sorry.”
“Well she is the girl.” Trevor rolled his eyes then winked at me.
“Shut-up
Budge.” I sat down beside him and ordered
khai yat sai. Thai omelets come over
rice and covered in chili sauce. They’re
amazing.
Colin looked up
from his books. He was studying for the
MCATS the entire time he was in Thailand
because he was registered to take the test in Singapore in May. “It’s okay.
I’m used to it; Candace always hogs the bath back home. I just took a shower in their cabin, eh.” Trevor and Dave confirmed with quick nods. “Want a drink?” Colin raised an eyebrow along with the
corners of his lips.
I glanced at my
Mormons. I’d behaved enough for one
day. Colin held up two fingers and said
“Singha”. My omelet arrived with the
beer.
“So what’s on the
agenda for tomorrow?” I asked, wiping the sweet chili sauce out of the corners
of my lips with a rough napkin.
Trevor opened the Lonely Planet. “Well there’s this really neat place called
Doi Tung that I’d like to see.” He
passed the book over to Colin who glanced at the write-up on the area.
“It’s only twenty
or so clicks away. I say let’s do it.” He handed the book back to Trevor.
“What’s
there?” I wanted to know what made the
place so ‘neat’ as Trevor put it.
“Listen,” he began
to read, skimming over some parts. "The
main attraction at Doi Tung is getting there.
The road is winding, steep and narrow, so if you’re driving or riding a
motorcycle, take it slowly.” He glanced
up and grinned. I sighed and took a sip
of my beer.
“Oh, it gets
better,” Dave said, reading over his shoulder.
“It is not safe to trek in this area without a Thai or hill-tribe guide
simply because they might think you’re a drug dealer or USDEA agent. You may hear gunfire from time to time.” Six eyes looked at me. “What do you say, Tommi?”
I finished my beer
and nodded to the waitress for another.
“Sounds great.”
Trevor jumped up
to hug me, excited about the upcoming motorcycle trip and wondering how fast he
could get the Phantom to go on those winding, mountainous roads. “You rock.
For a girl.” He paused. “And you smell good.”
“Thanks.”
Dave wiggled his
nose in my direction and turned to Colin.
“I’m jealous. You get to sleep beside
someone who smells like flowers and I get to sleep with Budge who, well, we’ve
all smelled him lately and I think we can all agree she smells much
better.”
Our laughter
echoed down the river, in and out of Burmese shacks on one bank, and through
the rustic Thai cabins on the other.
“Well,” I said,
turning to Dave, “You’re the one who wanted to flip a coin.”