It's not about the pose.

Today was my last day in Thailand, so I reminisced about the last two weeks of calling this wonderful country my home.  It breaks my heart that the flooding has gotten increasingly worse in Bangkok basically since I was there and I can only hope that the situation improves soon.  I really am going to miss this place because I think it is so beautiful because of the sites, the people and the landscape.

Chiang Mai City (where I have spent the last week) is actually inside of a large rectangle of divided street (with my hotel being on the outside of one side), so I walked around the outside today.  Before doing that, though, I went to one of the temples I had wanted to see in the daytime, but had only seen at night.

One of the things I am definitely going to miss is all the incredible fresh fruit, so I might have had a dragonfruit smoothie for breakfast (what a miraculous color!) and a pineapple and mint one in the afternoon (I really need to start adding mint to things…so delicious).

I have been craving some serious dance studio time, but have not seen any places, so when I came across a yoga studio with drop in evening classes, I knew that was the next best option.  It was even about a five minute walk from my hotel!  Bonus!  It has been a while since I have gotten my yoga on, so I was worried I would be pretty bad, but no worries because this girl was still the most flexible one in the class (well besides the teacher, but that doesn’t count) and I remembered most of the poses.  I have never been able to do any crazy headstands or anything, though.  Maybe in another life? 

The teacher started the class with one of her favorite thoughts about the yoga practice: it’s not about the pose, it’s about your state of mind in the pose.  Alright, it may be a little out there, but  I have learned a lot about the power of a positive attitude in my own life over the last year, so it is great to have little reminders like that every once in a while.  I was curious as to how yoga in Thailand would be different from the states, but unfortunately the teacher and a majority of the students seemed to be from the U.S.  Even so, there was still something very dreamy about taking a class in a second story studio overlooking brick walls (the Thapae gate) that are 700+ years old.  It was amazing and just what I needed. 

After yoga?  Of course I drank Thai beer (I hadn’t tried it yet) and ate pad thai for my last dinner here.  There was even some Backstreet Boys (circa 1999 or so) blasting from one of the bars as I walked by.  It was if the higher powers of Chiang Mai knew it was my last night and needed to send me off with a song of epic proportions.  You are welcome for the video!

Thai Cooking Class!

Today I spent my day learning how to cook Thai food at one of the cooking schools in Chiang Mai called Baan Thai.  In total, there were 8 students: myself, couples from NYC and France, a girl from Germany, and two men from Canada and Belgium.  It was awesome hearing everyone’s travel plans since most of the group was traveling for several months and just going where they wanted to go along the way without a set plan (apparently in Belgium once you work somewhere 5 years, you get to take one year off and get paid a portion of your salary by the government for that year...mental note, move to Belgium).

Our morning started with a tour of the local market where we learned about some of the different key ingredients used in Thai cooking such as palm oil.  We also got all the fresh items we needed for our meals. 

Back at the cooking school, we started the first of five courses, which was a stir-fried dish (I made pad thai).  Everything was so well set-up and we each had our own work stations and burners.  We were able to choose between three dishes for each category, but I got to try almost everything since we shared everything with each other.  Next was the appetizer (papaya salad or som tam), then soup (chicken in coconut milk or tom kaa gai), then curry (Chiang Mai noodle with chicken or kao soy) and finally dessert (deep fried banana or gluay thod). 

To say I was full after a day of cooking would have been an understatement.  Although some of the ingredients will be difficult to get in the US (for example, their papayas are more like giant cucumbers), I am looking forward to combing some of the local Asian markets to see what I can find and at least adapting some of the ideas and methods I learned today into my cooking!



Chiang Mai Tea House

Sometimes you just need a day off and today was one of those days.  Rather than plan anything, I found the most adorable tea house I could (that served local Chiang Mai tea) and camped out there for a while.  I had high tea which was served with a sandwich, fruit, fruit cake and some delicious fruit.  Of course in typical American fashion I pulled out my laptop and worked while I enjoyed. 

Kanthoke Dinner

Last night I went to a Kanthoke dinner and show, which celebrated the culture of the Lanna tribe.  My female guide for trekking is actually Lanna, so she told me about some of the traditions I might see at the show and the food I might try.  We were greeted by a group dressed in traditional clothing and got to see several artisans and musicians on our way in. 

I was seated at a table with a lovely British couple (Rick and Lindsay).  While we enjoyed the food and dancing show, we talked about everything from traveling to diets to international accounting standards (yeah, that’s right) to American politics.  I am always a little cautious (maybe that’s not the right word, but you get the idea) when I am traveling because I feel as though the rest of the world has a certain perception about Americans not being educated about or interested in global issues.  Rick was one of those people who certainly agreed with that sentiment, so we had a nice chat about that.  Apparently only 18% of the American population owns a passport?  That seems fairly low to me even though I know there are many barriers such as vacation time, money, length of flight time, etc.

The food was good and it was great to see the dances from the traditional Lanna culture. 

Towards the end of the night, I was even asked to participate in one of the dances.  I might have been able to show them a thing or two.

After the show, I went to the Chiang Mai Walking Street right near my hotel.  Every Sunday, they close off a street and have a ton of vendors selling goods on the street (seems to be a common theme in Thailand).  I am really trying to travel light and only get things that I am absolutely in love with, so I didn’t buy a lot, but I did find the most adorable handmade aprons, so I might have bought two (yellow rose pattern + double ruffle and polka dots + lace…too adorable!).

A Little Jungle Dirt Does a Body Good

Day 1 – Embracing My Inner Jane

As hard as it might be to imagine, I spent two nights in bamboo huts in the jungle without running water or electricity (although there were several solar powered lights).  I had a similar experience two years ago in Panama when I went with a group of UW students and spent several nights at a farm several hours outside of Panama City.  Even though I don’t like camping as a recreational activity, I don’t mind it if I have an opportunity to “get off the grid” and experience something you couldn’t otherwise do.

I am pretty sure my guides for the trip (a husband and wife team) were worried for my well-being when I showed up to the meeting the night before we left in a dress and my Audrey Hepburn like sunglasses, but little did they know, I was so well prepared for the days ahead.  Granted I might have had a little help from my dad who likes to backpack and the people at REI, but still.  I had my daypack first aid kit, headlamp, Gatorade tablets, heavy duty bug spray, dry sacks, fancy “cooling” clothing that protects you from the sun (or something like that), super absorbent travel towel and even a waterproof camera with a bendable travel tripod.  I may be a little bit of a diva, but at least I am a self-contained one.  Thai jungle: bring it on.

Apparently October is one of the slower months for trekking and things have also slowed down even more because of the fear of flooding, so I was the only person on the trekking trip and got the guides all to myself.  Our day started out with a 2ish hour drive to a market where we bought everything we needed to cook while on our journey.  This market was a lot different from the other ones I had seen in that it was much more catering to the locals than the tourists, so obviously there was some very different meat happening.  Pigeon?  Buffalo placenta?  Silk worms? Chicken feet?  Komodo dragon? Any part of a cow you could possibly imagine?  You could find it all here.  It was also great to see some beautiful fruit, flowers, and spices being sold in their natural form.

We then headed to the Doi Suthep Pui National Park and our first stop, which was the Mork-Fa Waterfall for a quick swim.

We stopped for lunch along the way at one of the roadside stands and I tried guava for the first time.  I loved the way the pots were hung in the corner of the kitchen!

Our driver took us to the trailhead where we started our journey and I was thinking I was playing the part of jungle woman pretty well!  Somewhere between the first and second hour though, after slipping and falling once (it was super steep and the ground was very wet) and being handed a stick to ward off any leeches that tried to latch onto me (what did I sign myself up for?), I accepted the fact I was going to be a sweaty hot mess for the next several days and embraced my inner jungle Jane.  In my defense, the guide also fell once and none of the leeches made it past the sole of my shoe.

The tribes where we spent both nights essentially lived off the land, so as we trekked through the jungle, the guides told me a lot about how the people survive and their beliefs about their surroundings.  For example, they use tree bark for many different things, but since the sap attracts bugs that can destroy the tree, they have to burn the area where they remove bark.  I also learned that the locals believe there is a spirit living inside termite hills that can give them luck in their lives, so they pay their respects when they pass a termite hill (especially when they are heading out on a hunting trip). 

Both nights were spent at villages of Karen people.  In Thailand, there are over 20 different native languages spoken by the hilltribe people, but the Karen people represent one of the bigger populations with over 1 million Karen people in Thailand.  The first woman we met had cut three of her fingers while chopping up some bamboo to make pig food several days earlier, so the guides helped her get it wrapped up with an antiseptic wipe, breathable fingertip bandage and Neosporin from the first aid kit I brought.  It puts things into perspective when the medical care you can provide from a daypack is better than what someone has on a daily basis.

Before stopping at our house for the night we walked around the village of just over 20 houses and 120 people.  I got to see a man repairing his house with some bamboo he had just harvested as well as some weavers.

This was my home for the night!  We made dinner over the wood stove and enjoyed it under the vibrant stars in the sky.  Naturally, they put me in charge of stirring up the coconut water since I am obsessed. The guide even helped me to make up a “princess” bed (I don’t think there is a Thai word for diva) by layering a bunch of the sleeping pads they had since I was the only one in the room which normally housed about 18 people.

Day 2 – Part of the Family

The climb the day before was completely worth it when I woke up to the sight of this beautiful rice field.

The guides were up early cooking a sack lunch for the day and then toasting bread for breakfast.  The hilltribe people are known for utilizing all different types of plants and animals for what they need on a daily basis.  When your sack lunch involves softening banana leaves to serve as a container and getting wrapped up like a little package with pieces of grass, you know your lunch is going to be pretty epic.

We bid farewell to the village as we continued our trek. 

On our way, we saw some very cool things like beautiful mushrooms, fig trees, a man working in his rice field on the hill, giant beetles, lovely rice fields, termites galore, a tarantula in its hole and really big spiders.  All the interesting things in the jungle made the almost entirely uphill climb a little more bearable.

After climbing over several rivers, we finally made it to the elephant camp where we stopped for lunch.  Even in the jungle, we still have good desserts such as these amazing rice cakes with brown sugar drizzle. 

These elephants used to haul logs for the logging industry in Thailand, but when the industry collapsed, they no longer served a purpose.  Now the elephants just live in the jungle and provide rides for tourists.  A different boy in the village where we spent the second night owns each of the 5 elephants and knows their personalities very well.  When the elephants are not being used and during the night, they are set free in the jungle and then the elephant owner is in charge of finding them when they need them for rides.  They are creatures of habit, so they usually are not hard to find because they go to the same places every night.  Apparently, the elephant I rode is one of the more active ones, so the boy was tired of having to go so far to find her every time he needed her.  How adorable (well not adorable for having to find her all the time, but the idea)! <3

I am a little bit in love with her and wanted to take her home with me, but something makes me think she would probably not make it through customs.

After a quick hike, we arrived at the village where we were staying for the night.  It was about twice the size of the village where we stayed the night before with about 300 people.  When we arrived, many of the people were working on different parts of rice processing, so it was very interesting to see rice in all of its different forms.

Since the village host’s wife was away visiting her son for a couple nights, the guide cooked extra food to feed him and his kids.  In the Karen culture, there are fairly set family roles for men and women, so men usually do not cook for their families since they are the ones working in the fields all day and hunting at night several times a week to provide food for their families. 

Normally on trekking tours, the “clients” (i.e. me) are not allowed in the kitchen because it is considered to be the most private part of the house and guests should not have to make their own food.  I, however, (a little bit selfishly) wanted to help cook so that I could see how everything was made since I love to cook.  I was in charge of cutting up the vegetables and (of course) stirring up some coconut water.  As a result, rather than sitting at the table outside, the guides and I had a family dinner on the floor of the kitchen with the village host and one of his sons.  I felt honored to be considered part of the family…at least for one night!    

Day 3 – White Water Rafting with Pieces of Bamboo

The trekking route was set up so that all of the heavy hiking was done in the first two days and the third day was about an hour and a half bamboo raft ride down the river where we would be picked up by the driver.  When I heard that we would be going through rapids and saw that this was our ride to do so, I was a bit skeptical. 

It was amazing watching the captain maneuver the giant pieces of bamboo down the river, though.  He definitely knew what he was doing and kept busy during the calm times by doing some light fishing.

Obviously, I was doing my part to make sure the boat ride went smoothly by snapping plenty of pictures of my surroundings as we passed several villages and an elephant camp.

Even though there were times the boat was close to being fully submerged, it prevailed against the waves.  The rapids were not as crazy as I was thinking they would be, but I was still amazed at how some stalks of plant can float four people and camping gear down a river.

At lunch, we met members of the Akha tribe, another (very decorated) local tribe that spoke yet another language. 

On our way back to Chiang Mai, we saw a lovely elephant sanctuary (or elephant retirement home as the guide called it) and also stopped at an orchid farm.

Before we left, the guide made me sit on the “princess bench” and do a “princess pose”…don't worry I am judging myself so feel free to as well.  I would say we understood each other pretty well by the end of the journey. :)