The Purposeful Tourist

I don't really like to think of myself as a "tourist" except every once in a while it hits me in the face that I actually am one, and I cave in and occupy that space I feel so almighty judgemental about! [hubris is a trap].

So yesterday, through a series of rather odd events, I ended up doing the tourist thing. It had its moments which will unfold here. I was due to meet a Mr Dam, who I met the day before on one of many "getting lost" walks around ChiangMai [though how one can get lost in the Old CIty is a wonder since it is laid out on a square with canals on the edges- but I did indeed get lost about 4 times which means I walked for about 2+ hours around the place]. 

Anyway, Mr Dam actually ran across Moonmuang Rd [lots of traffic] to ask if he could help me. In the course of our conversation, he offered me a trip the next day up to the waterfall [Mae Son- pronounced May-Sa] and to the Elephant Camp for a reasonable price. We made a date to meet at the end of my Street at 9 AM the next morning. Those who know me well, know I was standing at the meeting spot at 8:50.

I waited for an hour and no Mr Dam. There was however a huge bus parked near my street, and the driver and his off-sider were sitting outside the Wat [temple] waiting for the American tourists who just schlepped down the lane to learn Thai cooking. The off-sider kept asking me if I wanted her to call her Uncle, who would take me in his taxi where I wanted to go. Eventually, I accepted the offer...and to cut to the chase, ended up with a different guy who the Uncle bumped into on the street. This guy, Pan [pronounced Baan] was a real tour guide and he took me to the Waterfall and the Elephant camp...and a bit more.

The Mae Son Waterfall is composed of 10 different levels and a trail/track runs along beside it up a moderately steep hill. The falls are beautiful, and so is the Jungle surrounding them. 

One of the Falls at Mae Son-more snaps for later

The track is pretty ok with a  few challenges. I spent about an hour and 1/2 wandering around, and because it was early in the day, there were hardly any people there. It was very pleasant....when I came back down from the top, there were people setting up picnic lunches on the rocks around the falls. 

I felt a bit peckish myself, so I asked Baan if he would find us a place to eat....don't know why but I can never bring myself to make a driver wait outside while I stuff myself, so I invited him to eat with me. It always takes a bit of coersion to get them to accept, but it did happen. 

Unfortunately, he took me to the Tiger Kingdom [first offering to stop at 7/11 which I resoundingly knocked back]. They have a buffet lunch there, but the bummer is, you have to watch all these doped up Tigers llet tourists drape themselves all over them, while their mates take photos. 

I kept imagining  Madagascar like conversations [minus Chris Rock and Robin Williams who are WAY too hyped up for these dopey tigers!] The conversations went something like: "Wow, this is SO boring! Wish we were romping around in the Jungle stalking other wild animals and chomping them up. I'm sick of these people lying all over me!" 

My fave was the woman with the Dreds who had to arrange her hair across the tiger's back before she let her boyfriend take a snap.

All of this prepared me for the Elephant Camp- I thought I was going to the one where they rehabilitate elephants so they can be put back into the wild....but NO! This one was the camp where the elephants were the entertainers- rolling hula hoops around their trunks, playing soccer, throwing darts at balloons and even painting a picture with their trunks. Again with the Madagascar voices, but this time Robin and Chris were part of the conversation, because you could definitely see that some of these elephants had personalities [and I am NOT anthropromorphising ]. At the end they called me into the arena, and got two elephants to hug me and then one gave me an elephant "kiss" [anthropromorphising here] comprised of sand and elephant spit.

Kissed by a baby elephant-YUM

 Their skin is really soft which was a surprise. I couldn't help but think about what kind of life these animals have working for human entertainment instead of running around in their natural environment and being free. There is another elephant camp -an Eco one, where you learn elephant commands and wash and take care of them. 

After my day yesterday, I am more than a little sore -not just from all the walking I've done in the last couple of days, but from the rock hard bed I've been sleeping on... which means I really need to rest or I will be in pain for the rest of this trip!......where is your maintenance team when you need them??

Moving guest houses today to a cleaner one with hot water, so I can have a hot shower and use the loo without being in the line of fire from a leaking shower tap. Then the Dentist tomorrow. Hope you like the diorama from their window- it cracked me up when I saw it.

Airports and Airlines

Sometimes selecting the cheapest flight to somewhere is not really the best choice. Last night was one of those situations where I wish I had read the fine print [not even a little more carefully, just AT ALL!]. If I had I would have realised that there was a layover in Kuala Lumper of 4 hours! Meaning I spent 22 hours in transit between my house in Katoomba and Chiang Mai.

Memo to me and anyone who wants to know....DON'T fly Air Asia! Gone are the days when they provide you with blankets and drinks of water or coffee or tea, If you want to hydrate or be warm on an AIr Asia flight, you have to to pay for it!- And if you want to sit on the aisle or the window, you pay extra for that too. 

If I hadn't spent my last Aussie money on the massage chair at Sydney International, I would have been able to have a cuppa or something at 3 AM in KL airport - and yes, there were shops open at 3 AM. The choice was weird....some perfumeries, a Chocolate emporium- all shapes and sizes and of course the ubiquitous Dairy Queen/KFC/Burger King/MacDonalds- which you wouldn't catch me dead in [well, I am guessing that would be the only way I would be there-but if you are thinking about it after my demise, don't cause I will haunt you for sure].

The massage chair was worth it though. I did find a shabbier version in the upstairs "lounge" at KL, but having no money, I set off an alarm when I sat down-just to rest on something soft- which only desisted when I got up.

Would love to give you some visuals, but taking photos at the airport was on the list of forbidden activities in Malaysia, along with drug smuggling. And as it took me over an hour to connect to the free WiFi here at the Ampawan Guest House- Soi 5 Chiang Mai, I am now ready for some serious exploring- avec photos! [I am living within Cooee of two beautiful temples and the night market which is setting up at this moment]. 

Earlier I found the Dental Clinic- a 5 minute walk from the Guest House-so that's a load off my mind. Stay tuned

Packing Procrastination

I always allow about 10 or so minutes of procrastination into most of the tasks I need to accomplish in a day...but packing for a trip has always presented a dilemma far above and beyond this procrastinating plan of mine. 

In the first place, I always pack way too early for trips I go on [and like most of my gender, way too much-forgive my stereotyping] and then the night before I leave I go into a major flap because I cannot for the life of me remember what I packed and into which of the many containers I packed it in. 

So this time I made a list in my trip diary- what I packed and where I packed it...thinking to fool my sometimes scattered Gemini mind. The resulting effect is that this pile of things- which may or may not be related to what I actually want or need to take in my suitcase, has been sitting on the floor of my bedroom for a couple of weeks. It does grow a little each day, but basically has not moved into the suitcase or backpack or handbag which I plan to bring along. [I have noticed that nature of the items I pack each year changes. This year there seems to be a lot of digital devices, and the amount and different types of tablets that form a major part of my physical maintenance portfolio has alarmingly increased].

So my task over the next couple of days is to get these items into their respective containers..thank goodness I have a few more days to procrastinate. 

Now which episode of Breaking Bad was I on??

It's Only the beginning!

  

Thailand Redux [not actually]

There have been a lot of places I've wanted to visit- and there are a significant number of them that I have made it to, but Thailand has not ever been on the list.

Not for want of trying...a long long time ago in another universe I traveled with a friend to Malaysia, with the intention of going up to Thailand as well. We never made it. Somewhere slightly west of Penang, we got stuck in Omar's opium den.

After many crazy bus rides in the dead of night and wanderings around a beachfront of the Dried Shrimp factory -dumbfounded by the stars and retching from the smell we suddenly found it was time to go back to West Australia.

Since then, everyone I know practically has been to Thailand  usually for one reason: to spend a lot of time at some beach resort drinking and playing as if they were with the jet set. [not that the people I met were actually jet setters-come to think of it, I'm not really sure I know what one of those are].

Don't get me wrong, I have no negative judgement about spending your holiday on the beach with a cocktail in hand, though personally for me, I'm in it for the experience of immersing myself [as much as a tourist can] in the culture and the habits and the food.

And my cocktail days are definitely over! [which is one reason that I gave up on my fantasy of going to Cuba- definitely a "stay up late-drinking-listening to music-dancing" sort of place. I'm usually in bed by 9 at the latest. So it would be a waste for me to go.] Still the fantasy of Fidel and Che and all that gorgeous seductive Latino everything haunts me to this day [not to mention knowing I would be stepping back into the early 60's since Cuba has had economic sanctions placed on it since then].

So it was interesting that I found myself booking a trip to Thailand...not for the beach, not for the cocktail- sort of for the culture, but mostly for my teeth. At this age, the teeth- which by the way do not last as long as other bones in the body- are deteriorating.

People tell you about the rigors of getting old- you know, arthritis, incontinence, dementia- but what no one talks about much are your teeth that slowly crumble away and crack into pieces. I like eating too much to condemn myself to a life of yogurt and porridge. So I heard about this Dental Clinic in Chaing Mai who are fabulous and ever so much cheaper than our dentistry here in Australia. I'd mention the difference, but you wouldn't believe it!

So..here I am-once again- packing my bags, getting the tickets, booking the rooms and headed for a new adventure, which will hopefully put to rest the deteriorating state of my teeth and give me a holiday in the meantime.

7 more sleeps to go! Stay tuned