On the road again
Schools done and I've got some more tools in the ole belt for when I decide its time to go back to work. Or whenever the bank account starts flashing red at me telling me its time.
A couple weeks ago there was a bit of a scare of this already. I received an email for the bank saying my online banking has been frozen due to suspicious activity. I gave them a quick call to get things sorted and they informed me that there had been online transfers out of my account in the last 3 days and were just wondering if it was me since I had never done this before!!! Wow quite the news to wake up to. THANK YOU RBC! It's nice to know they are keeping an eye on things.
On somewhat of a better note, 5 weeks at school was absolutely incredible. I had a bit of commitment anxiety when we first arrived in Chiang Mai. I hadn't had to commit to anything more than 3 hours into my future for the last 3 months, so 5 weeks of school seemed to be a bit too much to swallow! The fear was short lived. A few minutes into the first day of classes I had made 10 sweet new friends.
We spent the days cramming our heads with wacky Thai massage moves, and the evenings in hip hop class, swimming in the rooftop pool at the mall or simply sipping on a few Changs!
The first couple of weekend we stuck around the city. Rode scooters thru the mountains visiting temples. We settled into a Sunday ritual of going for massage, and having mash potato balls at the Sunday walking street market.
We also continued an old tradition of "Friday night at Earls", only we stayed in at chabba house, made homemade spring rolls and drank wine!
Susy entertained herself thru the weeks by taking cooking classes. Cruising thru the mountains on day trips and having dinner on the table when I got home!!! Haha
When food wasn't prepared, we found ourselves heading to the same, hole in the wall, restaurant at the end of the street. Didn't look like much from the outside but it was by far the best food in Chiang Mai that we found. They got to know us so well that they stopped taking our order when we walked in. We had to do it Thai style, write out your order and hand it in. Usually we wrote it in English and one of the cooks would understand, but one day we thought it would be funny to write it in Thai...they had fun watching us hunch over the menu drawing their symbols like we were kindergarteners. Eventually we only ordered from the Thai menu. This had no English translation so it was always a surprise as to what you were going to get cause we had no idea what we wrote down.
Finally on the third weekend in Chiang Mai we got the itch for a change of scenery. 10 of the 11 ppl from my class hopped in a minivan and we headed to Pai after school one Friday. Susy rode up on her scooter earlier that day and met us there. Pai is a beautiful little mountain farming town. Late night partying and swims, an outdoor bed overlooking rice paddies onto the mountains, more waterfalls, hot springs...and an epic river trek (in search of a waterfall) entertained us for our short 2 day stay. Thanks to a slight hangover and the generosity of my friend, Sus allowed me to ride her bike back to the city. What a drive! 3 hours of beautiful scenery and fresh air, the perfect end to a weekend. The next 2 weeks we continued on with our routine of late night dancing at the reggae bar and Zoe's. As well as a little bit of studying as our final exams came closer. Susy and I decided to join the tourist scene for a couple of days...she did a mountain biking tour on Friday. And Saturday took us into the mountains up some pretty sketchy roads to do some rafting down grade 4 rapids! I'd like to say it was the windy mountain roads that lead to there being puke dripping from the windows of our van...but it was just our seat neighbours late night binge. Thankfully it was all fluid, not smelly! The next day was rock climbing at crazy horse bluffs. And repelling 50 m into a cave!
We wound up the course with one final night out in Chiang Mai with the TMC fam and were set to hit the road, with a plus one-Ash, on the night bus Saturday night. Only when we rocked up to the bus depot, we found every bus to be full! We snagged the last tickets for Sunday and figured we'd spoil ourselves at a fancy hotel in the city for the night. We spent our "borrowed" day in Chiang Mai lazing by our hotel pool, and watching a Thai rom com at the cinema! I haven't laughed that hard in a movie in a long time!
Once again we packed up and headed to the bus station, this time with tickets in our hands. A long journey thru the night and into the next day with a couple of transfers landed us in Vientiane, Laos. A day chilling by the river and a dance party on our terrace was what caught our attention, all in hopes a big night out for the kiwis last night with us. Our big night landed us looking for a bar that is located in the next city (not my story to share, but too funny not to mention;) lol) and 3 exhausted chicks in bed by 11!
After a teary early morn goodbye to our lil hippie, we were off to sort out our Vietnam visa. It appeared to be a lot easier than it use to be. No need to visit the embassy, and it could be done in one day! Not totally understanding the Laos money yet we thought we got a steal of a deal for next day pick up, only to later realize we paid $50. Oops, we made a better effort to learn the money in a hurry. It's 8000kip for $1 CAN so we know what it's like to be millionaires, loving it! We spent 4 relaxed days in Vientiane. Pedaling around on bicycles, visiting Wats, watching sunsets over the Mekong and playing balloon darts at the night market. Sus enjoyed a $1 bottle of Lao whiskey with a snake and scorpion in it. (NOT, I had a shot of this and the smell was enough to turn me away) I think she was secretly happy when she "accidentally" dropped the bottle in our room. Thank god we were leaving the next day, cause the lovely aroma that was now drowning our room was not so pleasant.
We arrived in Vang Vieng and the first place we were introduced to was Gary's Irish Pub....isn't that funny Ash? We found accommodation for $2.40 a night and were set to being on a more strict budget again. The days and nights became a bit of a blur here...veggin at the OtherSide watching episodes of Friends, and numerous floats down the river. A day of self-guided mountain biking to visit caves and take a dip in the infamous blue lagoon, only to find out we were not at the actual "blue lagoon", guess that explains why it was somewhat disappointing.
Sus came down with a bit of a cold, so I was off exploring on my own. I was thouroughly entertained by hiking thru rice paddies into the mountains, more cave exploring and out for one last float down the river.
After 6 days we decided it was time to move on. We made our way via mini bus to Luang Prabang. I was warned that those who get motion sickness should be well prepared for this windy 6 hour drive thru the mountains. I've learned I either have to be the driver or consume the right amount of alcohol to prevent this from happening. I didn't think the company would allow me to drive (even tho they drive on the right side of the road in Laos), and since its still sober October and 8 o'clock in the morning, I wasn't quite ready to start drinking. So I popped some pills that i found at the local mini mart and drank a lot of ginger tea! I fought the drowsy symptoms from the pills while being tossed into the 'nice' gentleman beside me for the next 6 hours. I'm happy to say I didn't get sick once, and it was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on! The mountains were magnificent with villages placed randomly atop of the hills and the rice paddies along the lower slopes were breath taking! I was too busy concentrating on the horizon to snap any photos but if you ever have the chance to do this drive, DO IT!
We've arrive in Luang Prabang in time to realize there is a festival about to take place. A good way to ring in November and celebrate the end of sober October! (or the effort made towards a sober October!)