Northern Jaunt

Don't worry everybody, we are still alive and did not get eaten by tigers! However, we did go to the Tiger Kingdom while we were in Chiang Mai. We got to pet and lie with the biggest cats we've ever seen! Some other things we enjoyed in Chiang Mai were taking a swim in the Maesi waterfalls, learning to cook authentic Thai dishes from our cooking class and walking through the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. At the Night Bazaar you could find everything from calligraphy pens to mangoes. Luke was marvelling over all of the illegal items for sale right on the street. Taser anyone?! One of our last days in Chiang Mai, we got the opportunity to go to the University with Marjorie and be "special guests" in her English class. Even though they were second year English Majors, they seemed more like young Highschool students, or even Elementary students. We played a role in the class by introducing ourselves, and answering questions that the students asked us about being young adults in Canada. We ended the class by eating brownies and making Valentines to give to each other! Who knew we would go to a University and do crafts?! After our full day of classes, we went out with Marjorie and Graham to an Italian restaurant, and then stayed the night at their house. It was a nice change to stay in a home, rather than another guesthouse. The next morning, we took a bus to Chiang Rai. We were in Chiang Rai for three days, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We rented motorbikes for a couple of days, and used them to go to the White Temple, and to the Khun Kon waterfall, which is probably 3 or 4 stories high. We stumbled upon a Thai beauty pageant, featuring some beautifully ordained Thai women... Or so we thought... Since we could not understand the announcer, we were slightly confused when we realized that these "women" had extremely low voices. When they removed their wigs, it was confirmed that they were in fact, "ladyboys". It was then that we realized that we were not at a regular festival, but a transvestival! We also enjoyed a Thai Jazz Band while we were there, and almost ended up buying a puppy to take along with us. We also took a long 2 hour trek on our motorbikes to the Golden Triangle, where we visited the Opium Museum and had a peek of Burma and Laos at the same time! After Chiang Rai, we took a long bus trip to Udon Thani, where we arrived at 12:30 a.m. and were the only "falang's" in sight! For those of you who do not know, "falang" is a word for "white person".

            In the morning, we made the jaunt to the tiny village of Ban Khon Fa Kang, where we had previously organized to WWOOF. When the directions we had to the farm led us to a deserted red dirt road and we were on the verge of finding shelter under an orchard of apples, a little Thai girl on a motorbike came to the rescue. After an unintended game of charades, Emily hopped on the motorbike with her and was brought to the house of Hajjar and Lumyai Gibran. As for Luke and Macaila, welllllll they didn't make it... Just kiddin. We all enjoyed a week on the farm of working, meditating, yoga-ing, planting, concreting, building domes-ing, eating, steaming, swimming, laughing, cards-ing, socializing, sweeping, blistering...... I think you get the point-ing. We loved the rural setting and the noises of the jungle! But most of all, the food was to die for- exquisite, juicy, flavorful, scrumptious, healthy, delicious, amazing, out of this world, .... yeah i guess it alright. :P But seriously, some of the best meals we will have eaten on this trip were probably eaten around that table. Leaving the farm felt like leaving our second family, Lumyai had resorted to calling us all her 'babies' and we felt like we had known our fellow wwoofers for much longer then just a week! We flagged down a bus that took us to a neighbouring village called Nakha, where we flagged down another bus to Nong Khai. We are staying at the Mut Mee Garden Guesthouse, which overlooks the beautiful Mae Kong River. We're all healthy and happy and looking forward to what's in store for us on the next leg of our journey! 

#tigers#doming#thailand#curry#motorcycles#meditating#sore back#hashtag