Wow, my week with my sister has flown by! But it has been a wonderful one. I feel like we've flitted across much of Thailand in the last few days, barely stopping to catch our breath. Spontaneity has been the name of the game for us.
Our time has been filled with some good conversations, thrilling ziplines, long - but not so long - train rides, an elephant show where they paint and play soccer, speeding around Thailand's cities on the back of a motorbike (either my sister's or motorbike taxis), and eating delicious food!
I arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday(?) and then Bitsy and I headed back to Lopburi that same afternoon. Spent that evening and the next day in Lopburi and I got to meet some of Bitsy's friends and fellow teammates and see her school - and do some shopping! - and then that night we took the night train up to Chiang Mai. That's a fairly lovely way to travel, I must say :) We stayed at a B& B called the Riverside, which was amazing! Talk about service, they picked us up at the train station at 8am and dropped us off there again when we left! Our first day, we rented a motor bike, and explored the city of Chiang Mai. Bitsy drove, of course, and I learned to pray more fervently - actually, she's amazing on the bike. there were just a few times that I got a little concerned :)
We took in the night market in the evening, and that was impressive, seeing all the slightly crazy tourists! And it wasn't even tourist season! The next day we got picked up from the hotel in a van and drove up a mountain to partake in the "flight of the gibbons!" A few hours' worth of ziplines from treetops with some newfound friends from england, the states, and of course our crazy guides and zipline instructors, who took every possible moment to make us fear for our lives :) But it was a blast! Pictures to come once I can download them.
The next day we drove out to an Elephant camp, where we joined throngs of tourists in watching the elephants perform tricks for us, slobber us with some sort of saliva, play soccer, and paint some marvelous pictures! truly! not kidding!
we got back to the hotel at noon, and headed out to find lunch. we weren't having much success, when Bitsy spotted a sign for "Bake and Bite", a foreigner's (but not tourist) eatery. We walked toward the intersection where the sign was, followed the signs directions, but did not see any Bake and Bite. Shortly, we saw another sign, pointing down another road. Followed that, found another sign! About 5 signs later, we were about to give up hope, and the streets were becoming smaller and looked like they might end soon. But we persisted, and at the very end of the road (literally!) we came across this lovely restaurant specially for ex-pats and the like, who just needed some "western" food, for once. they offered salmon sandwiches, quiche lorraine, salmon and egg wraps, and all sorts of other lovely "normal" meals. And the desserts! how about a delectable brownie with icecream?! just what my tummy had been asking for. I thought I would be fine eating thai food, but after a few days, I noticed my tummy just wasn't very happy, and I no longer eagerly anticipated the pad thai (sp?) and the cashew chicken. it could have been a combination of lots of rich food, unfamiliar, and very little exercise to balance it all out. the temperature forbids exercise!
that night, we caught a sleeper train back to lopburi, got in at 4 am and took motorbike taxi back to Bitsy's home (which again, caused me to pray fervently, as I balanced my backpack and bags and myself...) slept for 4 more hours, then off to Bitsy's church, all in Thai, and then after lunch, decided to come straight to Bangkok. that was earlier today. we've enjoyed the luxuries of the guesthome here, including A/C in every room, an exercise room - finally! lots of books, and internet :) and enjoyed a movie in the local theatre this evening! Tomorrow, we'll do a bit of shopping, and bum around bangkok till the wee hours of the morning before heading off to the airport where I catch my flight in the wee hours of the morning.
What has struck me the most is how friendly the Thai people are! I so desparately wish I could speak the language, and communicate with them! But Bitsy is amazing with her Thai, and is fully conversant in it already. The other thing that has struck me is the ridiculous humid heat. I can barely bare it, it's so hot! Lots of showers during the day and aircon wherever possible! malls and coffeeshops are lovely for that... :)
will talk more soon!
much love!
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