Alek and I wanted a ride back to our guesthouse from the nightmarket in Chiang Mai. Alek was wearing only one flipflop since the other one had broken on the way to the market. After an hour or so of wandering through the stalls of beaded jewelery, beer chang tshirts, carved wooden elephants, candy and fisherman pants and of course flip flops, we failed to find a suitable pair. Although the streets of Chiang Mai were clean, the walk was lengthy for a person with only one shoe, and so we approached one of the tuk tuk drivers who lined the streets outside the market. Most tuk tuk drivers spend their days lounging horizontally in the backseat of their vehicle calling out to anyone whose skin or attire reveals their status as tourist. "Tuk, tuk? Where you go now? You see baby tiger? I take you." Despite this annoying habit, a tuk tuk is the cheapest way to get home for a person with just one shoe, so we approached a driver, telling him we wanted to go to Tai Pae Gate. He quoted us a price of 40 baht. We only wanted to pay 30 baht and told him so. He gave us the usual customary routine of shock that we would name such a low price but after a bit of haggling back and forth, he pulled out a coin and said, "heads you pay 40, tails you pay 30." I fipped the coin and we got home for 30 baht.
I can't imagine ever spending the time at home to make such a fuss about the difference between a ride that cost $1 and $1.30USD. But that is the way in Thailand. Haggling is expected, its a way of life and the Thais know it can also be fun -- like our man with the coin who turned his business into a game of chance. And since no one really needs to get anywhere with much urgency, there is always time for a bit of haggling.
This attitude towards time also makes driving a songtheaow a profitable profession. A songtheaow is a pickup truck with a covering on the back and two benches along the sides. You get in and out via the back, which has no door. Songtheaows are sort of a cross between a bus and a taxi in that you can flag one down, tell the driver where you want to go and arrange a price like a taxi, but then once you get in, you might find that there are already other passengers or you may pick up additional passengers and go to their destination first. This makes it very difficult to know how long your trip might take.
songtheaow
In Thailand there is apparently not too much importance placed on knowing how far away your destination might be either. While in Chaign Mai, I rented a car for a day with an English couple (Lara and Dave), an American guy (Garret) and a Dutch girl (Joanna). We drove out to Doi Ithanon, the hightest point in Thailand. Along the highway a rod sign indicated, "Doi Ithanon - 84 kilometers", about 15 mintues further down the road another sign read, "Doi Ithanon - 84 kilometers". The next sign read, "45 kilometers" and 20 minutes later the sign said, "53 kilometers". Well at least we were headed in the right direction, even if we had no idea when we would get there.
I'd flown into Thailand on April 22 and landed in Bangkok. In the airport I befriended Joanna, from Holland. We decided to share a taxi and after arrival at a guesthouse, also a room. Asia has very few dorms to offer, so guesthouses and huts are the welcome alternative. Other than in Bangkok these spaces generally cost about $3-$9 US dollars -- and for this price you are getting 4 walls and a toilet of your OWN. I can now see how a $26 dorm room to share with 8 people is painful for those who travel Asia before Australia.
Bangkok is intense. Crossing the street takes a leap of faith. Street vendors sell mysterious looking food everywhere you turn. Locals speaking near perfect english approach you within 5 seconds of pulling out a map to supposedly assist you with finding your destination. But beware, they almost always have an agenda.
Joanna and I spent a 100 degree and very humid day checking out temples. Visitors to temples are required to cover their knees and shoulders-- and at the Grand Palace, to your ankles and elbows. For most Thais, dressing in pants (even jeans) and tshirts in any level of heat or humidity is normal. But somehow they don't ever appear to be sweating. Toursist walk around with sweat literally dripping off their faces and the Thais look like they are standing in an invisible box of aircon. I read in the Lonely Planet that Thais often shower 3-4 times a day and so if someone stinks on the bus, it's probably you -- or the dirty hippie next to you -- or maybe the pigs in the truck up ahead...
Anyway, the temples are gorgeous. They are often covered in gold or colorful stones. At one, there is a 45 meter "tall" buddha inside... except it is laying on its side so it is more of a 45 meter LONG buddha. At another there is an emerald buddha, which is about a thousannd years old and has been housed in many locations throughout southeast asia in that time. Making the assuming that in order to be of such importance, this buddha must be somewhat near the scale of the 45 meter buddha, I wondered how this emerald buddha was moved such long distances so long ago...until I removed my shoes and entered the emerald buddha's temple to find it was about a foot tall.
Shoes are not allowed in temples, or in some restaurants or stores. There are constantly piles of shoes outside the doors to these places. I got so used to being barefoot that on occasion I'd forget to get my shoes before continuing down the street.
After leaving Bangkok to travel on the night bus north to Chiang Mai -- where the food is amazing -- and then further up to Pai -- where I stayed in a bamboo hut, rode an elephant and a motorbike (and fell off both); I traveled back south for 2 days, through Bangkok and down to Koh Phan Ngan for the April full moon party where hoards of drunk tourists think its a good idea to jumprope with fire.
After 4 nights of barely sleeping at night, I hopped into a longtail boat to sail around the coast of Koh Phan Ngan to a beach called Haad Tien, and a yoga, spa and meditation resort called The Sanctuary. Here I would meet up again with Alek, who now had replaced her broken shoe, and Harry, with whom I'd attended the Blues and Roots festival in Australia. We spent our days doing... well, not to rub it in... but pretty much nothing. The resort was right on the beach, it was the only thing on this part of the island, which was only accessible by boat or by foot. The scenery here was perfect, the atmosphere calming and I quickly noticed that the other visitors referred to the place as "Paradise".
But it was here that I made my decision that it was time to go home. I was tired, my money was running low, and I was thinking about home alot. And so after about 10 days of internal debate, I realized that if I wasn't able to live in the moment and truly enjoy a place like "Paradise", well then there was no where else in the world that I should be at that moment, than home.
And so I went.
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