Oh Mai, Part 2

Tuesday
So, after a great birthday, we woke up for a relaxing day in the city with no real plans.  We did some Wat touring, where we came across these monks in deep meditation on display.  The first wat we visited had one off in a corner, and we couldn't really tell if it was a statue or a real person.  They look very realistic for a statue, but they were completely motionless and their skin almost didn't look real: probably a result of whatever intense state they need to get their metabolism into.

These are real dudes, I think...

 The next wat had eight of them sitting in the main temple, and then one out back in a smaller structure who was locked in a glass box!  I didn't feel comfortable taking his picture.  I also learned that the fat Buddha image is not actually the Buddha, but a monk.  He used to be so handsome that he was a distraction to other monks, so with Buddha's help he turned himself fat and ugly (or something like that: you can maybe read the description in the picture).

Fat monk

Cool ruins behind the wat

 After another massage, we stayed up way too late talking.

Wednesday
Had to wake up way to early to take a tour of the Chiang Rai region.  We started with a stop at the White Temple, an amazing work of art that some famous artist has been working on for years.  Some of the coolest sculptures I've ever seen, and definitely a different kind of Wat from the traditional ones.

Totally metal temple!

"The Hell Gate"

Hands reaching up to get ya!

This thing is completely made up of these little metal charms (see next pic from the bottom)

After that, we went to a "longneck village", which was mostly just a craft market run by the displaced Karen tribe from Myanmar.  These are the women who stretch their necks with brass hoops.  I was pretty underwhelmed, but I was also too tired to enjoy much of this day.  We continued to the Golden triangle, where you can see Myanmar and Laos across the river.  We took a boat tour, where we were able to get close to a casino in Myanmar and actually got off in Laos for about 20 minutes.

The Buddha is in Thailand, and the golden dome is in Laos

I went to Laos!  Who knew?   

Border crossing to Myanmar

Your intrepid traveler, at the end of the road in Thailand

Then we traveled to the northernmost point in Thailand, and the legitimate border crossing for Myanmar (where a member of our group had to cross the border to renew her visa), then back in the van for a long, bumpy ride home.  Packed it in because we were too tired to do anything that night.

Thursday
Last full day in Chiang Mai, more wats and a massage by a blind guy.  Also, the stupidest insect "museum" ever.  My favorite exhibit: a display box of old torn cloth:

I really hope you take the time to read the description of the old torn cloth (I paid money to go in this place!)

The description of log fighting beetles is pretty hot (and very scientific, I'm sure)

Went to a street market at night to do some souvenir shopping, but I wasn't really in the mood, and didn't see anything that struck my fancy.

Friday
We have to leave today, and the "vacation is over" blues are settling in.  Did some walking and got the best massage of the trip. A few hours before we had to head to the airport, we rushed over to the airline office and tried to see if we could push our flight back a day, but it was a no-go.  Tuk-tuk to the airport, back to Macau and ridiculous immigration, and a long car ride back to Dongguan.

Over the next two days before we went back to school I got disgustingly sick, so it's probably good that we left when we did.  School is back in session, and I'm trying my best to keep on top of things and have a good attitude.  Next stop: Philippines for Christmas!

Miss you all, write and send pictures.

Oh Mai, Chiang Mai

Got through the end of first quarter at school, with report cards, parent teacher conferences, and a school Halloween party.  It's been so busy with all of that at school that I've hardly had time for thinking about anything else, but I did plan a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand with one of the other teachers.  We went for the first week of November, which was our school's fall break.  Here's what I can remember of the trip.

Day 1: Friday, Nov. 2
We rushed out of school after a professional development day in a private car, went home to get our bags, and headed out to Macau to catch the plane.  One lasting lesson I've learned from this trip is NEVER, EVER try to fly out of Macau unless you have a half day to get to the airport.  The car ride took almost three hours, and that's just to the border crossing, called Gongbei.  We get there, and it's this crazy busy scrum of people going into a huge building, just nonstop rivers of people.  Inside the building, you get in line for exiting China.  I think that took about 30-40 minutes, and then I thought we were through.  We walked through a long corridor, turned a corner, and there we are at ANOTHER IMMIGRATION LINE!  This one was to get INTO Macau.  Waiting, etc, then we rushed out and got a taxi to the airport and made it with 15 minutes to spare.  We got into CM late that night, took a tuk-tuk to our hotel, and crashed for the night.

Day 2: Saturday
Woke up and had breakfast, then went walking around the city to get our bearings.  Stopped for a fish pedicure, which felt awesome:

Then we spent the rest of the day walking around, looking at temples and monuments, getting a massage, stopping for snacks and drinks, and planning for the rest of the week.

Day 3: Sunday

Got all ready to go for a tour we had booked earlier, and ended up waiting for over an hour because the tour company forgot us.  We finally got out to the countryside, down a bumpy road, to the beginning of our white water rafting adventure.  We were grouped with a bunch of Belgians, who seemed to take having to wait for us pretty well.  After a brief set of instructions we headed out.  This was a first for me, and I'm pretty sure it was a relatively tame stretch of water.  Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun.  I almost fell out once.  We were in there somewhere around 2 or 3 hours, then headed to our village "homestay".  This was a stay at a guesthouse in a small village in the mountains outside Chiang Mai.  It was nice and peaceful, we got a home cooked Thai meal, in-room massages, and had to go to bed early because the whole town was shut down by 9pm.  The village had multiple streams running through it, so the sound of rushing water was a pleasant background to everything going on.  

View from the balcony of our guest house

Day 4: Monday, International Jon-Luke Lind Day

Woke up relaxed and ready for more action, had breakfast, and we were rushed off to the tour company's office to begin our zipline journey through the jungle canopy.  This was a really fun and exciting activity, lots of different ziplines high in the trees, just the right mix of adrenaline and beautiful scenery.  We had a really funny guide, and my travel partner surprised me by getting the group to sing me happy birthday on one of the platforms.

Went back to the office for a Thai lunch, then to a waterfall, 

then back to town. After settling back in we went for a massage, then some exploring, then a night on the town starting with a Thai boxing match.

I'll post the rest of the trip later.