Thai Boy Team, Thai Boy Teaaaam!

The flight from Kathmandu to Bangkok was a little less than 3 hours and boy did it fly by. Muahaha
Unlike Kathmandu where I was welcomed with a necklace made of marigolds, Bangkok welcomed me with stomach cramps the size of Texas. I was curled up in a ball in the corner of the taxi cab with Josie rubbing my back while digging to the bottom of her bulging elephant sized backpack for the pink magic pills aka pepto. I tried to enjoy the new modernized scene but the billboards the size of semi trucks, endless lights, brand shiny cars, and a horizon full of skyscrapers just overwhelmed my senses and made me feel worse. Finally the taxi dropped us off at the infamous Kho Saun Road, the most touristy/backpacker filled part of Bangkok. Out I jumped, well, more like crawled to the sidewalk where I stayed until Jos scurried into the nearest guesthouse, found a cheap $5 rom and I was in bed within 10 minutes.
The next day we found the nearest salon, and I got my hair trimmed- or more like evened out, since my attempt at a self hair cut in Kenya landed me with 2 layers. One short and one long, making it look like a Kindergartner got a hold of some scissors and let loose. That evening, I bravely went where not many people go... Well, I didn't really go anywhere but rather met an Austrian speaking Spanish and eating insects, who offered me my first grasshopper. I felt like I was on Fear Factor, but not getting paid. I had to break off the legs and then the head which was the toughest bit since it has EYES and its head was connected to this long spine-like piece which made me gag a little while removing it.
"It's a french fry!" the Austrian/Spanish guy kept yelling. "Just pop it in!"
"The whole body??" I said.
"Of course, its the only way!"
And down the hatch it went.
It didnt taste like a french fry.

The next day we visited the Royal Palace. It's kind of like the Disneyland of Asian temples. So colorful and shiny. It's a pretty large complex so natually Jos and I lost eachother. I decided to plop myself down in the last place I saw her. As I was waiting, this really beautiful young Thai woman with stick straight medium brown hair and gentle eyes sat next to me and asked "is this your first time here?" I explained that it was and also my first time in Thailand. She was all smiles, until I started asking her questions. She told me that she had married an Australian and had been living in Oz for a while, helping her husband with some kind of shop when she suddenly got sick. She was back in Thailand to see the doctor, which she had done earlier that morning. Apparently the doctor delivered some bad news, as it brought her to tears just talking about it. She said she was at the temple of the Emerald Buddha to pray and receive good luck. It broke my heart. It also reminded me how precious life is and how easily and quickly it can be taken away. And how powerless we are. And how sometimes acceptance is just the right thing to practice. Especially when so many things are out of our control. I really hope the Emerald Buddha gives her the luck she needs.

Speaking of doctors, I made my own trip to the doc once we arrived in Chang Mai (northern Thailand). I have had a small tumor like growth for a couple years now. I had it checked out before I left home, and they said it shouldn't be a problem unless it grows or becomes painful. Well it had done both, so when I got to Chang Mai I headed straight to the hospital. There aren't really health clinics in Thailand so everyone goes to the hospital for their health issues. It was a very different experience than one you would get in the US..
I walked in, gave them my name and passport number and I was seeing the doctor within minutes. He recommended surgery, and said he could do it the same day for 1/10 of the price it would be in the US. Since I was little, I've been scared of anything medical, so naturally, I hesitated. I told him I'd have to talk to my parents then get back to him. But my parents were on a cruise in the Carribean with no cell phone service, of course.
Long story short, I sucked it up and did the damn thing. It was probably the most courageous thing I have done in my whole life. Doesn't sound like much, but it was really difficult for me. Even tougher than climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
I get the biopsy results back in a few days, so Jos and I are full of positivity as we await..

We rented a motorbike for the day from a place called Mike's Big Bikes. Mike was from the UK and told us all about the sex trade here. It's hard not to notice as there are plenty of old/fat white men wandering the streets with beautiful young Thai women on their arms. Mike thinks its a good thing as he says Thai woman are just able to look past the age and beauty factor and just enjoy anyone and everyone's company. He says they can look past the exterior and "really just see people as people." I understand what he's saying but they are still selling their bodies and I am sure a lot of them would prefer not to. But because they'd rather earn 100 times more money having sex than picking rice, they do it. I hear both sides and both sides must be benefiting or they wouldn't be engaging, but I still can't help but cringe when I see the many couples holding hands in the streets and bars, one their way to getting juiced up till the legs spread and the bed starts creaking.

We finally got out of Chang Mai and ended up in a small town called Pai. My friends who I climbed Kili with said I would love it, and they were exactly right. It's a super cozy town nestled in the middle of mountains and jungle, with a small river trickling around the edges. We crossed the rickety bamboo bridge with our oversized backpacks and I definitely thought we were goin in. We found these small bamboo bungalows with hammockson the porch and instantly fell in love. I finally got to run, too! Out of the city, where I didn't have to maneuver around cars and people . It was just me, some bugs, beautiful pink sunset, and a coiled black snake in the middle of the road. Dead, thank God but scary nonetheless.
Pai is super touristy, the majority of them from Thailand. There was shop after shop selling "Pai" t-shirts with differnt slogans like "Pai in the sky" and "Apple Pie" and super hip/trendy long haired hippie types everywhere. There were even super cutified VW vans lining the main street selling coffee and souvenirs out the windows.

Our favorite night in Pai started with live music and ugly caricatures. Mine had 3 chins the size of a football field and Josie's eyebrow went off her head. Then we met Tom, the guitar player from the jazz band that had been playing. He gave us some Thai lessons and beer. After the bar closed, we were whisked away on motorbikes with him and his long haired friend. Off the Bebop where we drank lots of Chang and danced to some raggae and blues. Lots of hippies, locals, and expats including the singer of the blue's band, Mojo who was from Oz and looked like Adam Sandler. We danced a lot. Tom and his long haired friend smoked a lot.Then we moved again.
I asked Tom if I could ride his manual motorcycle. I didn't tell him that I had learned when I was 8 and hadn't ridden once since then. Muahaha
There was a cop in front of us and Tom kept saying "Slow down!!" until he noticed we had a flat tire so we swung into the gas station, filled up, and were on our way to bar 3.
PS-I could so be a Harley chick. :)
At the 3rd bar, we got more beer and sat around the bonfire. More beer for us, more cigs for them. I spotted a long haired hottie, and started speaking Spanish with him. Yes, he's from Spain. We tried for a bit to talk across the table but that didn't really work, so I invited him to come sit next to me. He was great. My Spanish was even great. Liquid courage is what I call it. David practiced massage, offered me one, and silly me forgot about it a few minutes later... Oops.
Meanwhile Josie was getting friendly with another local. Jackie the drummer, who looked like a combination of Johnny Depp from Pirate's of the Carribean and the drummer from the Muppet Babies. He sat right next to her, kept putting his head on her shoulder while saying "helloooo" in a British accent. David and I took pictures so she could never forget it. :) :)
5am hit and back to our bungalow on David's motorcycle. A long embrace on the bamboo bridge and a poor effort to initiate anything on my part left me cold/shivering and ALONE in my sleeping bag next to Josie for another night. Before we went to sleep though, we couldn't help but watch the UFO's outside our bungalow.
We had spotted them the first night, and Tom gave us some clarity. "Not UFO's ... haha lanterns!" They were paper lanterns that the Thai people send into the night sky to rid themselves of bad luck. Josie and I sent our lanterns into the atmosphere the next evening and said ADIOS bad luck, HOLA Laos...

Before we left our happy little Pai town, we decided to do a rafting trip.
What made the whole trip, besides gliding down the river through absolute lush jungle with bright blue kingfisher's swooping overhead and monkey's howling in the distance were the 3 Thai men who were on the trip with us. They were hilarious! Every time there was even a slight possibility of rapids ahead, they would start bouncing up and down and yelling like girls! They called themselves the Thai Boy Team and they would push eachother into the water and told us they thought Jack Daniel's tasted like bananas. We'll never forget our little Thai Boy Teeeeam.