Tuesday 1 March 2011
6:30 Board bus to Chiang Kong
8:15 Bus starts to roll backwards down hill because it can't make the turn necessary to round the steep mountain bend
13:40 Arrive at Chiang Kong bus station
13:42 Hire tuk-tuk to take us to Laos border
14:00 Depart Thailand
14:03 Take long boat ferry across river to Laos
14:30 Apply for and receive Laos visa
14:50 Enjoy a BeerLaos! and some sweet basil flavored Lays
15:15 Take long boat ferry across river back to Thailand side
15:30 RE-enter Thailand and renew visa for 60 days
15:40 Find truck taxi back to Chiang Kong bus station
16:00 Catch last local bus to Chiang Rai
18:30 Arrive at Chiang Rai bus station
18:50 Dinner at Chiang Rai Night Bazaar (veggie tempura, spring rolls, and papaya fruit shake!)
19:45 Take tuk-tuk to Chiang Rai Akha River House
20:00 Arrive and settle-in at Akha River House
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Alternate Plan: American games with Thai Children
February 27 - 28
The original plan for the day was to depart from Chiang Mai and head for Laos where we wanted to renew our visas and travel around for several days. However, as we arrived at Vichai's house returning from gardening school, Dylan began to feel ill - and it only got worse. Contemplating wether to just push through or not, we were warned and advised by Vichai to stay until Dylan felt better. He said the medicine in Laos is horrible and he didn't want to worry about us the whole time we were gone. So that was enough reason for us to stay, the last thing we want to be is stuck in a Lao hospital and also a 7 hour bus ride while nauseated with fever just doesn't sound comfortable.
The next day, Dylan didn't get much better. So, what better to do with the day while Dylan is lying sick in bed than teach Vichai's son Wich and his neighbor girl friend Mi Cheeko American games! Together we made a mini golf course out of the back yard garden, played some hangman with the simple english words they understood from school, and set-up a tent in the yard (complete with two fans and a sitting mat). After a while, Dylan joined us for some jump rope and tri-pod balance poses followed by wheel-barrow racing. After a long afternoon of fun and games we hopped on our bikes and rode to cool off at the neighborhood pool with a few rounds of sharks and minnows, which was then crashed by a bus load of Thailand teens - its the same all over the world :)
The next day Dylan's fever broke - so we declared to leave the next morning. One more day in Chiang Mai we contacted another friend of a friend that had been wanting to see us in Chiang Mai - Pensook. Pensook is a principal of a high school (we discovered a very powerful lady at the Wachawurit School). We met her at her school that afternoon. Her driver pulled up to the large, gold security gate gaurding the school drive entrance as she rolled down the window and called to us, "Elizabeth!". We hopped in and she took us to the most elegant lunch, a very fancy lunch buffet at a rather famous restaurant in Chiang Mai. It was amazing. Dylan and I didn't know what to grab first- the amazing varieties of Thai food or the tempting western food that we had not indulged in for months, and then there was the fruit display, the salad bar, and the desserts! We walked away very full and very grateful for the unexpected treat.
Tomorrow Laos!
The original plan for the day was to depart from Chiang Mai and head for Laos where we wanted to renew our visas and travel around for several days. However, as we arrived at Vichai's house returning from gardening school, Dylan began to feel ill - and it only got worse. Contemplating wether to just push through or not, we were warned and advised by Vichai to stay until Dylan felt better. He said the medicine in Laos is horrible and he didn't want to worry about us the whole time we were gone. So that was enough reason for us to stay, the last thing we want to be is stuck in a Lao hospital and also a 7 hour bus ride while nauseated with fever just doesn't sound comfortable.
The next day, Dylan didn't get much better. So, what better to do with the day while Dylan is lying sick in bed than teach Vichai's son Wich and his neighbor girl friend Mi Cheeko American games! Together we made a mini golf course out of the back yard garden, played some hangman with the simple english words they understood from school, and set-up a tent in the yard (complete with two fans and a sitting mat). After a while, Dylan joined us for some jump rope and tri-pod balance poses followed by wheel-barrow racing. After a long afternoon of fun and games we hopped on our bikes and rode to cool off at the neighborhood pool with a few rounds of sharks and minnows, which was then crashed by a bus load of Thailand teens - its the same all over the world :)
The next day Dylan's fever broke - so we declared to leave the next morning. One more day in Chiang Mai we contacted another friend of a friend that had been wanting to see us in Chiang Mai - Pensook. Pensook is a principal of a high school (we discovered a very powerful lady at the Wachawurit School). We met her at her school that afternoon. Her driver pulled up to the large, gold security gate gaurding the school drive entrance as she rolled down the window and called to us, "Elizabeth!". We hopped in and she took us to the most elegant lunch, a very fancy lunch buffet at a rather famous restaurant in Chiang Mai. It was amazing. Dylan and I didn't know what to grab first- the amazing varieties of Thai food or the tempting western food that we had not indulged in for months, and then there was the fruit display, the salad bar, and the desserts! We walked away very full and very grateful for the unexpected treat.
Tomorrow Laos!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Tropical Gardening School, somewhere in Chiang Mai province
22-26 February 2011
After our long stay with Veechai, we headed to our next destination: tropical gardening school at Dokmai garden. When we first arrived I took a quick look around and then turned back to look at Veechai, he chuckled and said This is soo fancy - too fancy for you guys..... and we felt he was right but we wanted to give it a chance so we decided to stay and check it out. After the first hour of being there I realized that although it was very fancy, I was going to learn a whole lot! Our teacher was a self proclaimed mad scientist from Sweden named Eric ( a retired professor who wanted to get away from his desk and grant writing) Dylan and I decided to stay and im really happy we did. Within the next week I was taken to National Park to search for orchids and learn native plant species of Thailand (also on this trip was a Dutch seed scientist who taught us everything there is to know about orchids), learned how to pollinate orchids, transplanted orchids, learned how to grow and cultivate bananas, cut down my own bananas (then ate some), learned how to grow and cultivate rice (which I learned in an interview, through translation, with the mother of the house who was Isan and did not speak any English but grew up on a farm cultivating rice with her family), harvested taro root, cooked taro root desert, harvested cassava root, cooked cassava root desert, tried to start fires with a magnifying glass for a cooking pit (Erics idea), found the craziest bugs I have ever seen (pics to come), learned how to make panang curry, ate some fresh stevia leaves, tried some miracle berries (they make you taste the opposite, I was eating sour fruit but it tasted sweet! Crazy!), and probably the coolest part of all....Dylan and I got to harvest cacao and learn how to make chocolate! We only got to start the process though because it takes about 10-12 days and we were only staying for a week, but I have the knowledge to do it now!
So in one big run-on sentence, that was tropical gardening school at Dokmai Garden.
After our long stay with Veechai, we headed to our next destination: tropical gardening school at Dokmai garden. When we first arrived I took a quick look around and then turned back to look at Veechai, he chuckled and said This is soo fancy - too fancy for you guys..... and we felt he was right but we wanted to give it a chance so we decided to stay and check it out. After the first hour of being there I realized that although it was very fancy, I was going to learn a whole lot! Our teacher was a self proclaimed mad scientist from Sweden named Eric ( a retired professor who wanted to get away from his desk and grant writing) Dylan and I decided to stay and im really happy we did. Within the next week I was taken to National Park to search for orchids and learn native plant species of Thailand (also on this trip was a Dutch seed scientist who taught us everything there is to know about orchids), learned how to pollinate orchids, transplanted orchids, learned how to grow and cultivate bananas, cut down my own bananas (then ate some), learned how to grow and cultivate rice (which I learned in an interview, through translation, with the mother of the house who was Isan and did not speak any English but grew up on a farm cultivating rice with her family), harvested taro root, cooked taro root desert, harvested cassava root, cooked cassava root desert, tried to start fires with a magnifying glass for a cooking pit (Erics idea), found the craziest bugs I have ever seen (pics to come), learned how to make panang curry, ate some fresh stevia leaves, tried some miracle berries (they make you taste the opposite, I was eating sour fruit but it tasted sweet! Crazy!), and probably the coolest part of all....Dylan and I got to harvest cacao and learn how to make chocolate! We only got to start the process though because it takes about 10-12 days and we were only staying for a week, but I have the knowledge to do it now!
So in one big run-on sentence, that was tropical gardening school at Dokmai Garden.
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