Chaing Mai to Cambodia

Thailand has been awesome and we saw a lot of the country. Last week the overnight train into Chiang Mai turned out to be a good experience. The beds were a little small, but we were blessed to have second class tickets with air conditioning. Chaing Mai turned out to be a really cool city and we did some neat things. Our group visited a missionary school, a temple, and a palace, but best of all was an elephant sanctuary where we rode elephants and saw them perform. They are really smart animals and can even paint pictures!

We also did a lot of touristy shopping at the famous night market, where I bought some artwork and other souvenirs. I went to a tailor with friends and we had suits custom fitted. I got a three-piece, gray cashmere suit with pinstripes for 6600 baht, which is about $200. I also got another shirt ($22) and pants ($30) from the same place. It's hard to find good stuff in my size and this would have easily cost a couple thousand in the US.

On a free morning I visited the Chaing Mai Zoo with some friends, and that was a neat experience. We were able to feed a lot of animals, including hippos, giraffes, elephants, and leopards, with raw meat attached to a pole. The aquarium there is the biggest in Asia, and it has the longest underwater viewing tunnel in the world. We also briefly stopped by Tiger Kingdom, where you can play with tigers and get pictures. But unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do that.

The north part of Thailand is really rural and we've pretty much road tripped the entire country by bus. Two of the trip legs were over 12 hours long, which is an uncomfortable amount of time. The bus travel didn't exactly start off on the right foot either...

As we were leaving Chaing Mai I was in the back of the bus and fell asleep smelling what I thought were the brakes. Later I woke up to people yelling and realized smoke was spreading from the back of the bus. In panic, I tried to get my seatbelt off and it took a few tries. (I was laying on my side and wrapped myself in such a way where I wouldn't roll out of my seat.) I took off toward the front of the bus and fell over on the way out, but once I got outside I realized I had taken my shoes off before I fell asleep. It turned out the air conditioning on the bus busted. It was right under me and the smoke spread through all the vents. This was scary, but looking back on this we can all laugh now. We waited near a swamp on the side of the road until another, less-comfortable bus came.

One of the professors traveling with us lived in Thailand for five years, and this is her first time back in twenty years. It has been really touching to see her reconnect with old friends and we were able to visit a couple of the small villages where she lived and worked. I loved seeing this third-world aspect of the country and we have met some really generous people. I like interacting with the villagers, especially little kids, but it is hard not being able to communicate with them.

Our trip took us along the Mekong River which is the border of Laos. Originally we were going to spend a day there, but the visas became too expensive. We were still able to take a boat along the river and we saw some of the country as we drifted through it. It was cool to see Laos even though we didn't get to physically go there.

This morning we reached the Cambodian border after an overnight bus trip. The crossing itself was fairly easy and only took about an hour. Cambodia will be a really interesting experience. It is completely different from Thailand and it feels completely third-world like India or the Middle East. There is a whole new language to learn here and the food is a lot weirder, which excites me. One thing I've noticed is bathrooms here are "water rooms". There is no shower curtain and the whole floor drains, so you can be using the toilet and sink as you shower.

Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Siem Reap, which is next to Angkor Wat. I have always wanted to go there because it looks so awesome. We have another six days in Cambodia and then we are heading home. I am excited for the last few days, but it will be good to get back home to cooler weather.

Until later! (However you say that in Cambodia...)