Stories Vol 15: Chasing Waterfalls

 

 

 

When I decided to go to Pai while in Koh Phi Phi, I thought I would be spending more than a couple days in the city. I had been told that the city was relaxed and very hippy. You essentially go there to visit waterfalls (there are heaps of them), relax in the hot springs, trek in the rain forest and do a lot of recreational drugs while sitting in hammocks. Had this been a different trip and at a different stage in my life, who knows maybe I would have partaken in the last of the listed activities. This trip however is about clearing my head and hitting refresh, a detox from all of the nights out over the past 6 years and cleanse of all life's stresses. A drug trip was not on the agenda.

 

Before heading out of Chiang Mai, Vanessa and Fleur, mentioned that they were going to a quarry in the Chiang Mai to cliff jump two days after the me leaving for Pai. Interested in joining them, I told them if they pushed it out another day I would only spend one night in Pai and two days. Tom joined in on my plan as well.

Given we only had two days in Pair, after we finished up the first night in Pai, we corralled and figured out a game plan for the following day. We decided we would leave the hostel around 8, get breakfast in town and then take the motorbikes around Pai to the different waterfalls, Tom and I also tossed around the idea of driving bikes back from Pai to Chiang Mai. We had heard that you could do this but doing it was dependent on how Tom was feeling and the weather. It is after all rainy season here in SE Asia. Having had a blast on the bike through out that first day, I wishfully prayed for good weather and Tom to get better.

When we woke up the next day we were a little slow at getting out the door. Tom having spent most of the previous day on the toilet was quite chipper. It was clear that his stomach bug was passing. Sherry was anxious to get going and Becky was still contemplating whether she would head back with Sherry, Tom and me later that day. You could tell that Becky wanted to stay a bit longer in Pai but fresh out of college and doing her first solo extended travel trip, she buckled to the group and opted to come with Tom and I to the cliff jumping. Sherry was leaving early to catch a flight to Cambodia.

 

Taking our bikes from their parked positions, we headed out for the day. Having liked the café Becky and I stopped at the previous day we went back and got breakfast. Each of us made a different selection for the food. Choosing an egg option, a veg option, a starch option and a juice option. As we sat there eating our meal we pulled out a map and contemplated routes. Tom and I, decided in an impulsive fashion to bike back to Chiang Mai and so we needed to be back at the bike rental place in Pai by 3pm. This meant we had a very very tight schedule if we were to hit more than one waterfall and the hot springs.

 

The girls pushed for a route that would minimize the distance between our first waterfall and the hot spring. The next part of the route would have us traveling back up towards the area where the hostel was, after all we needed to pick up our bags (my heifer of a pack). With a route in place, we booked it out of town. To keep Sherry, who had just been in a bad moped crash on the Thai Islands, and Becky, who was still new to the bike, comfortable we went at a slightly slower speed then you would normally take on these types of roads.

 

In all honesty, I was torn between going a fast pace and going slow to enjoy the scenic views. All of the waterfalls are tucked back in the forests and are only accessible by these narrow poorly paved roads. They kind of remind me of the paved pathways you see around lakes and in parks that are meant for cyclists, runners and walkers. For safety purposes as a new driver, it is best to take these roads with care and a watchful eye for sand and dirt on sharp turns.

 

Feeling adventurous and wanting to explore, I decided to go ahead of our caravan. I'd speed up and bolt until I could no longer see my friends in my side mirrors. At that point, I would stop and just enjoy the view of the Thai Country side. Being the photo whore I am on this trip, it did not take long for me to break out my camera.

 

One of the things I love about taking photos while traveling, is that I have a keen opportunity to capture memories that other people are making with me. There is something about capturing them in a candid moment. It isn't posed and so it perfectly illustrates the experience. The idea that this is what I can gift my travel friends is amazing to me. I hope that in 30 years they can look back at those photos of them in the moment and feel hurled back into the moment with vivid accuracy.

 

So for the rest of the day, I booked it ahead of the pack. At each bend, I would stop, whip out my camera and capture the group riding through the Thai forests while admiring the scenery. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of the pics I snapped. :)

 

 

 

The first waterfall was fantastic. You walk into the woods and up a little path. As you near the top of the first set of stone placed stairs, you see a bubbling brook. You trace the stream up to a rock face where the water just delicately glides down the side. Above it is a wooden foot bridge leading you deeper into the forest's path and hopefully an actual waterfall. The sight none the less is breath taking. It's something you would imaging out of Huck Finn.

 

 

 

I stop to take a couple of photos and then we continue on the path and across the bridge. As we hike up a slight hill on the other side, we see the image of a waterfall tucked back in a rock face surrounding three sides of a rounded square. The pool in front of the waterfall is about 30 feet below us down a sloped path.

 

 

Being the five year old I am, I bolt down it. My comrades take a few moments at the top and then quickly follow suit. As I wade through the rock ridden bottom of the pool, closer to the waterfall itself, all I can think about is the fish that exists in the Amazon that swims up your urethra, latches on and then grows. It's an irrational fear but the thought does cross my mind. 

 

For the next 15 to 20 minutes we take photos and capture the scenery. Some are silly, some are serious, the purpose is to capture the emotion of the moment. I chose to pose mid rock climb and while doing a cannon ball into the pool. I am just incredibly happy in that moment. I feel alive. I feel like the kid we all used to be before the adults and peers around us coached out our imaginative thinking and impulse to wander.

As we finish up at the first waterfall, we realize it is 12 already and that we need to book it if we are going to see anything more than the hot spring especially given the bike speed we are going. With a quick goodbye to our waterfall, we head out for the hot springs.

 

What I love about road signs in Thailand, is that the distances quoted until a location are not accurate, and especially on the side roads that lead to these hidden wonders. The time you a lot for getting to locations as a result is grossly underestimated. Because of this we were only able to briefly hit up the hot springs near the waterfall.

 

The hot springs were cool but really nothing too exciting. At that point in the day, we were all fairly wrapped up in our own thoughts and the springs served as a time for each of us to reflect. We made jokes about the lack of sanitation in the pools meant for visitors to rest in and at one point I put my foot in my mouth.

 

 

As we sat at one of the springs with our feet in the water, a couple, looking to be of Brazilian ethnicity, disrobed down to their bathing suits. The woman in a small bikini and the guy to a very small and revealing Speedo. Sherry caught me staring and laughs.

 

"What? I know it's bad, I just can't stop looking! They're really hot." I say to Sherry, not even trying to speak softly so the couple cannot hear. At this Tom's head pops up. Almost like you'd see a prairie dog do out in the wild. Rather than sit quietly, I decide to voice my thoughts. I should never do this.

 

"You know, there are just some couples that you wouldn't mind watching. You know what I mean? I'm not a voyeur or anything, but those are two really fucking hot people. How do they both have bums you could bounce a quarter off?"

 

About 30 seconds after I say this the couple begins to talk for the first time.

 

"FUCK!" I think to myself. "The girl is not Brazilian but American. The guy has an accent but speaks perfect English none the less.

 

Realizing my mistake and only slightly embarrassed by my forward commentary, I turn to my group and motion for us to continue on exploring the other springs. We lose sight of the couple and quickly explain myself. The group laughs.

 

At about 1:30, we decide to leave the springs. Tom and I have very little time left to explore and decide to break off from the girls who are taking the 5pm minivan back to Chiang Mai. We want to see another waterfall but it is at the far side of Pai. If we continue with the girls we will not be able to go fast enough in order to make it. With that the group splits. Tom and I visit the waterfall and get lost in the process. We make it back to the rental office just in time to trade the bikes in for more powerful ones and take off for Chiang Mai.

 

As I sit there in the office, my last thought is on the process in which we "educate" children. During that day I rediscovered the thrill of exploring the outdoors and it awoke a piece of my imagination that I force into dormancy each time I return to everyday life. Children naturally have this ability and yet we coach out those that hold onto it past a certain age. Why isn't it acceptable to play, to imagine and to dream as an adult? Why is it so important that we live in a "real" world?

Stories Vol 14: What Happened to Miss Wang?

 

 

Over the last 7 years, I have come to loath bus rides and road trips with out proper ventilation. As many of you read, Pai was no exception to that. I think what made this particular trip even more unpleasant, was the fact that even after it had finished we still did not know what had happened to our friend, Miss Sherry Wang.

 

Luckily, we had at least nonchalantly tossed around the idea of stopping at the popular hostel "Spicy Pai" and checking to see if they had availability online. We had been told that even though they show they are booked online, they often times have more than enough room if you just stop by the front desk and ask. Praying to the travel gods, we committed that we would head to Spicy Pai and wait for Sherry there. At the least, we would hopefully be able to log onto some WiFi and send her a message.

 

image of spicy Pai dorm room

One of the nice things about Thailand is that there is an abundance of Taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers readily at your access. Most of the time, the price for a 15 to 20 minute cab is less than $4 USD as well. However, in this instance when we were approached in Pai by the drivers, I had already spent 3 hours with intense motion sickness. Rather than get in another motor vehicle of any sort (motorbike included) I suggested we walk to the hostel where we told Sherry we'd be and get some fresh air.

 

In practice, a fresh walk sounds great to cure motion sickness but when that walk is in 90 degree weather, clear skies, sun beaming down and over 80% humidity the idea is flawed. After the first 7 minutes of Tom, Becky and I wandering through the walking paths, I start to notice that the sickness is not going away and my back is coated in a thick layer of sweat.

 

"Why the hell did I bring my Yoga Mat." I think to myself. is is the only thing that is heavy in my pack and with out it, I would be far less weighed down. However, with that said, the Yoga Mat has been my saving grace to motivating myself to work out. I'm doing two months, I can't treat it as a vacation, I have to do some type of exercise routine. Because the mat is such a hassle to remove from my pack and the tubular bag its in, I force myself to use it once its out.

 

The hostel, Spicy Pai, is about a 20 minute walk outside of town from what Vanessa and Fleur told us. All I want is to lay down with a cool ice pack on my forehead. The farther we walk away from town towards the hostel, the more and more this town reminds me of Moab, Utah. It's the same concept, some outdoor adventure hippies moved into an area and never left. They set up coffee shops, bars, activity outriggers and craft shops. The thoughts on similarities between the two distract me from my state. The cars and motorbikes wizzing by snap me back to reality, I need to maintain focus.

 

Upon arriving at the Hostel, it was clear that Sherry had not been there yet. We were worried. I get us situated in a bungalow suite for four and we hop on the hostels wifi. My first message to Sherry is simple: "So we booked the 4 person aircon bungalow at spicy Thai." In my groggy state I forgot the pleasantries of where are you and are you ok and we're worried about you. Worrying that we may have also not paid for the ride and instead stolen someone else's, I oh so bluntly message: "Also did you pay for us already for the ride to here?"

 

An hour goes by and still no response from Sherry. I reread my message and am appalled at how emotionless it is. Realizing my error, I try to correct for the lack of concern and empathy in my original messages: "Also where are you? Lol." Not my best work but I'm going to use the fact that I was still clinging to the floor for stability after the ride.

 

Over the next hour sitting in the hostel I sent message after message to Sherry. She had wandered off the night before at the bars and so I was at that point getting concerned she did not make it back to her hostel. Like my mother does when I fail to respond to a text, email, voicemail or message I trolled Facebook looking for signs of life. I sent message after message.

 

"Shit, Alex. I can't get a hold of her." I voice out loud.

 

"Did you just call him Alex?" Becky answers back.

 

"I don't think I did, sorry Alex…I mean Tom." I stumble through the names, groggy and struggling with the conversation at hand. The two of them laugh. It's clear that the ride really took it's toll.

 

Tom still in no state to leave the room, suggests that if Becky and I are still hungry we should go to town and get something to eat at a place with WiFi. He needs to wait here anyway and once Sherry arrives, they'll come to town to rent motorbikes with us.

 

Becky and I at the sounds of our stomachs growling, quickly agree. While concerned for Sherry, there was nothing we could do but wait and so we set out for town and found a nice little WiFi equipped café with Thai Food and Smoothies. It was very bohemian. We both ordered some noodles and mango smoothies. It's funny no matter where you are now, you always seem to have WiFi.

 

Our plan for the evening was to do a hike to a canyon and watch the sunset. In addition to getting in touch with Sherry, I was in charge of finding out what time the sun was going to set in order to make sure we had enough time to get there and complete the hike. So there I was, groggy and tired at the restaurant. I googled the sunset time and saw that it was at 19:05.

 

"Holy shit, It was 3pm now and that was only two hours away."

 

My thoughts were running wild given we might not have time any more to do Becky's thing. I quickly get back on Facebook and message Sherry and Tom.

 

"Hey guys, so sunset is at 5:05."

 

To my relief, Sherry responds with in minutes and the following conversation ensues:

 

 

 

With Sherry and Tom both on there way and the sunset at 19:05, Becky and I relaxed, sitting back to enjoy our smoothies. Everything had worked out ok. Soon at 5:05 we would be enjoying a peaceful sunset with our little cohort of backpackers. About 15 minutes after the messages, Tom arrives. Given its 3:30pm and the sunset is at 19:05pm, I tell them we only have and hour and a half to get bikes, find the canyon and hike the pass before the sunset.

 

The three of us wait patiently for Sherry outside the restaurant. We watch motorbiker after motorbiker, trying to identify our friend. Another 15 minutes pass and we are starting to get concerned about time. We contemplate going to get bikes but decide against it. Right as we start working out plan b scenarios, we see the outline of a biker in the far off distance. They are wobbling and seem to be going at a glacier's pace.

 

"That's gotta be Sherry." Tom giggles out loud. And sure enough we can see clearly that our friend Sherry has  finally arrived to join the original group.

 

Getting the motor bikes is a fairly simple process and only takes all of 10 minutes. Given this is my first time on any type of motorized bike, the company makes me do a brief tutorial out back in a dirt track. The instructor in the course of 30 seconds shows me how to start the engine, accelerate, break and signal. He then has me do a lap around the course.

 

Seeing how easy it is, I go for it. With my hand on the throttle I twist the right handle forward and begin accelerating off onto the track in front of me. The bike feels amazing. I sit there in disbelief and let my mind circle through all of the horror stories I had been told about the dangers of biking. I think back to second grade when Mr. Anderson, my baseball coach and friends dad, came in and told the entire grade about how he lost his leg in a motorcycle crash. With the ease at which the bikes motions come to me, all of those stories seem implausible and unlikely to happen to me.

 

I pass two Japanese girls going 5km/hour struggling with finding confidence. The instructor fine with my performance returns me to the rental shop. My group of friends are waiting patiently for me. I smile at them from a distance letting my inner 4 year old scream out with excitement.

 

Armed with bikes, the four of us head out for the canyon. Tom, the most experienced driver, leads our caravan. I try to keep pace with him through out the drive but Becky and Sherry keep trailing far behind to the point where I no longer see them in my mirror. I motion for Tom to stop. It is clear that our two friends are not quite as comfortable with the bikes at a medium speed.

 

At a slower pace, we set back out for the canyon. Stopping a couple times for pictures along the way. Every so often, I find myself cutting loose from the pack and speeding faster and faster ahead. I've never felt this feeling before, the wind…. The vistas… It's all soooo fucking amazing!!!! I get the bike up to 100km an hour at one point.

 

After 20 minutes we arrive at the Canyon and begin the hike to the top. The views as we hit the last stair become striking. There in front of us is a massive canyon valley similar to those you would see in Utah. It's breath taking. It's 4:50pm and still incredibly bright out. We decide to explore around a bit. As we get to a little peninsula and take pictures, I see a confused facial expression hit my three companions' faces.

 

"Are you sure the sunset is at 5:05pm?" Tom questions, glaring at the still very high sun.

 

"Yes, Alex. I checked it online."

 

"Did you just call him Alex?" Asks Sherry.

 

"Haha he's been doing that all day. He's been calling me Sherry too." Replies Becky.

 

"Fuck!"

 

"Wait then who is Alex." Sherry begins to question.

 

I go bright red at the line of fire. Half embarrassed by my issue with mistaking names and the other with the fact that Alex was the attractive French guy from my first night in Bangkok. Tom resembles him to an extent. Sherry knows the story of Alex and so I am reluctant to make the connection. I am not into Tom, but the resemblance is uncanny. Sherry can see I'm red and with out any further questioning, winks and in doing so notifies me that she understands.

 

In my moment of embarrassment over calling Tom by the wrong name, it hits me. The sunset is at 19:05. That is 7:05pm on the non 24 hour clock not 5:05. How the hell did I do that math wrong?

 

I look at the group and like a child having to own up to their mistake, I sheepishly announce to the group, "Soooooo, I might have made a mistake in my grogginess. Online it said the sunset was at 19:05 which I miscalculated as 5:05 instead of 7:05. So so sorry. I don't know how I did that."

 

The group ensures me that it's no big deal and with two hours to kill, we get back on our bikes and wander the near by sites. We get back at the correct time of 7:05 just in time to catch a peaceful sunset at the canyon.

 

Tired and ready for food, we head back into town and grab some street food and a burger from "Burger Queen," a local small restaurant. The food is phenomenal and puts me into a needed coma for the rest of the night.

 

The day had been packed with mistakes, discomfort and  bonding. We didn't dwell on the mistakes but rather chose to live in the moment, enjoy the good company and make more memories.

 

Stories Vol 13: The Road to Pai

The Road to Pair, One of the many windy turns

 

 

Hangovers, there a bitch. Hangovers while in a car and on road trip are an even bigger bitch. Hangovers while in the back of a mini-van hurling through a winding mountain pass are a Mother Fucking Bitch. Hangovers while in the back of a mini van hurling through a winding mountain pass for two hours at a constant zig sag are a sign from a greater power that you freaking suck at life choices.

 

I should no better by now, I am that person on the tour bus that at about an hour in, everyone looks at and thinks…" weakling, man up." Yes, I get motion sickness. What is weird though is that it only happens in buses and cars where the AC does not work efficiently enough to keep it cold and there is no fresh air. I keep retearching myself this crucial piece about me but I never learn.

 

So there we were the morning after our night out with Vanessa, Fleur and the rest of the hostel. Sherry had told us that she arranged for us to be picked up between 9 and 9:30am by the bus company that was taking us to Pai. As Becky, Tom and myself were all in the same hostel we had assumed that sherry would already be in the same van that picked us up since she had been the one to arrange for the four of us to go together.

 

After getting into the back of a truck that stopped and hostel after hostel picking up hoards of Chinese tourists we started to worry that we had gotten in the wrong vehicle. "Had we snagged someone else's ride while sitting in the hostel lobby?" We thought to ourselves. After all, the only thing that was said to us was, "you go to pai, you take truck." Figuring we'd go with the flow we just went with it.

 

20 minutes into the ride through the sitting, and one crammed pack truck later, it was clear that we were not stopping at Sherry's hostel.

 

"Maybe she'll be on a different truck and we all get dropped off at the same location and then take the same bus up to Pai." Becky chimes in.

 

The three of us exchange glances and it becomes crystal clear that we all have no fucking clue what's going on. There are three things wrong with the situation.

1. We do not know what company Sherry Arranged the bus through
2. We do not know if she paid for it
3. We do not know where Sherry is and have no way to contact her

 

Upon arriving at the bus pick up point in Chiang Mai, we look around and do not see Sherry. The drop off location is actually more like the side of a road than an actual terminal. As we exit the truck, the driver ushers us into a minivan with the rest of our group.

 

"What about Sherry you guys…" I say to the group.

 

"Maybe she caught a different one." Tom answers back.

 

"What do we do?" Becky asks.

 

We look at each other with same look we've been exchanging through out the our ride. It is a look of sheer confusion. Like children, lost with out there mom, we let ourselves be ushered into a mini van with 10 strangers with out even a fight. Most of the time, you would question the fact that our friend was not with us but Thai Travel services had been so disorganized and chaotic that you begin to become desensitized to everything and rather than fight it, you give in and hope that you'll get from point A to point B safely.

 

Karma is a bitch. That is all I can say about it. Both Tom and I knew better than to leave with out knowing exactly where Sherry was. As a result, the universe punished us. With in the first 15 minutes, Tom's stomach went from bad to "Real" Bad. As chance would have it we had to stop at a gas station and Tom lucked out. With in seconds of stopping, he threw himself out and ran for the bathroom.

 

After about 10 minutes of waiting on him, a look of concern crossed our drivers face. They know all too well the signs of Travelers sickness. You could see the calculations go through his head on how many rest stops and how far apart they were from each other. 

 

As Tom, walked back from the toilets you could see a look of immense terror on his face. Red from embarrassment and anger at himself for having consumed something the night before that gave him the bug. We would later find out, that Tom had already suffered a bout of stomach issues after eating undercooked chicken from a street vendor in Bali.

Seeing how distressed Tom was, I decided to offer up the solo window seat I had secured at the beginning of the ride. I figured, he was in rougher condition than I was and motion sickness was the last thing he needed.

 

After 45 minutes pass, all is well and I start to get excited. Normally at this point the motion sickness starts to kick in for me. It all has to do with air flow and temperature, as long as those are controlled I am completely fine. For the first time I actually think that I'm going to be ok!

 

….and then it hits. First comes the slight headache. It's not an unbearable one, just a bit of discomfort. Its like if something were to put pressure around your head at a steady pressure for an extended amount of time. Then comes the dizziness and light headed feeling.

 

"FUCK!!!" I think to myself. I try to hold it together. All we need is another sick individual in this mini van. Sitting there next to Becky in the way back of the bus, I find myself regretting the drinking the night before and secretly wanting to punch Becky for not having any bit of sickness at all. I watch her as her chipper self peers out the window at the beautiful mountain vistas. She's loving every moment of it.

 

For 30 more minutes, I hold myself together. The driver tells us we will be stopping shortly for a bathroom and coffee break. "Thank god!" I think to myself. All I want to do is breath in a waft of fresh air and lie down on the ground. My head is spinning, I'm overheated and my back is drenched in sweat. My body mistaking the motion sickness for a bug, over heats itself to kill off what ever intruder is making a muck of my system. Ihavet was tricked, there was nothing to kill off. I am left now with a slight fever and a need for air.

 

As we pull into the rest stop, I look at Tom. He's in rough shape and had asked when we were stopping 20 minutes earlier. It was clear now that he needed a bathroom. I rummage in my bag and hand him some toilet paper and seat covers (thanks Kelly for those!). He thanks me and bolts out the door.

 

15 minutes pass and Tom is still not back, the driver is now very concerned. It's clear that this was the last stop before Pai and we have an hour and a half left in our journey. I buy some mint mentos from a stand at the bathroom. Peppermint is supposed to be a natural reliever of sickness caused by motion. To my disappointment the mentos version does not work. Chalked full of sugar it just makes me nauseous.

 

I take one last big inhale of fresh air and enter the van. I know my fate looks bleak at this point. I have succumbed that the next hour and a half is going to be painful. The driver turns the ignition, and I slouch up against the stacked luggage to my right in defeat. As we round the corner of the first of many new turns, it is clear that something has changed in our driver's tactics.

 

He no longer is slowing down and gracefully taking each bend. Instead he has begun to drive like a fucking maniac. It is as if he is the bandit of a bank robbery and he has entered a car chase through the mountains with the law enforcement. Each turn is an opportunity to gain space on the tail following him.

 

As Becky and I thrash into each other with each turn, I start to realize that I need to do something or I'm going to hurl all over. While it would wipe that euphoric grin off her face, it would not be the best scenario. Ok so I should probably explain, that in any other situation I would be so excited by how child like Becky's smile was and how enamored she was with the mountain vistas but in this instance I fell victim to envy and Becky was to be my collateral damage.

 

I decide to move to the floor in between the seats in front of me. IF anything, by curling up into a ball, knees to my chest with arms wrapped around them, my hope is I can prevent my body from being thrown around during each turn. I grab for my iPod and turn on Dave Matthews, figuring that the soothing music will relax and distract me.

 

With a loud clamper we hit a pot hole, the luggage stacked chaotically behind and to the right comes falling down on me. Something hits my shoulder but I ignore it, focusing only on my breathing. After about 10 minutes I decide to look and realize I have the jam from Tom's breakfast takeaway box all down my shoulder.

 

"Son of a bitch." I think to myself. I quickly remember that its not his fault and that I'm just annoyed at how my body is feeling.  I tap Tom on the leg, smile and ask for a napkin, explaining in the process about the Jam. He apologizes and I laugh and say it's not your fault.

 

Cleaned up and even more light headed/dizzy, I decide to lay down in the minivans aisle. Sitting on the floor didn't work but maybe lying down will. As I lay there listening to Dave Matthews, I start to feel faint. The movement of van zig zagging through the mountains is taking its toll. My eyes start to become heavy and then it all goes dark.

 

What I'm told is an hour or so later, I am woken up by my hostel mates. They inform me that we are at Pai and need to get out. I quickly sit up and go white at the stark realization that my shorts are wet and I'm sitting in a puddle.

"FUCK!! FUCK! Did I pee myself?" Is the first thought that crosses my mind. I am now frantically trying to figure out what the mysterious liquid is and whether or not my motion sickness made me pee myself while passed out by sickness. My throat is dry and I grab for my water.

 

The cap is missing. Ok so I'm not sitting in pee. I'm sitting in about a quarter of a liter of water that spilled from my bottle in the midst of all of the turns. I feel stupid at jumping to my initial conclusion. I get up pack up my day bag and get off the bus.

We had arrived in Pai; wrecked and in shambles. I call this a Karmic bitch slap. All three of us had known better by this point. We've traveled in and out of multiple countries and cities. Many unfamiliar and others not so much. In this instance, we had agreed to travel as a group and help each other along. However, in a moment of confusion, rather than take the difficult path and try to converse with non English speakers to figure out what happened, we took the easy way out. As a result, we left one of our members behind. We should have questioned more and sought out clarity to where our friend was.

Stories Vol 12: The Return

"Jelly Bean….JELLLLLY BEEEEEAN!" A girl's voice calls out. Shrieking to a point of sorority girl level during a recruitment function.

 

"Jelly! Where are you, Jelly Bean!"

 

Rather than move from my spot at a hostel table to avoid the ruckus these new girls entering the hostel were making, I decided to stay at my table and write. I was in the process of document all of my thoughts on the current day's morning and afternoon with New at the Cooking School. Afraid that if I got up, I would lose my train of thought and so I focused my attention to my Surface Pro 2 perched up on the table and dove deeper into my thoughts.

 

Chiang Mai Hostel Lobby, view from where I was writing front desk is to my right



With a sudden clash, I see a bag drop aggressively to the ground 3 Ft to my left. Almost simultaneously, I hear the sound of two girls shrieking in excitement. A white blob begins bouncing towards me from where the bag dropped, I no longer could ignore my surroundings. Quickly sharpening my focus away from my computer, I see the two girls, having only enough time to open my arms for a hug.

 

In that split second, I realized that the white blob was Vanessa, the shoe designer I met in Bangkok and the other girl was Fleur, the ski instructor.

 

Bouncing in excitement, I embrace Vanessa and we wobble back and forth doing the friend hug you do when you haven't seen someone for ages.

 

"What the fuck!" I hear in a British accent. "We had no idea you were going to be here."

 

"Wait! Aren't you supposed to be in Southern Thailand or something?" I ask the girls.

 

"Meh, things changed and we might go to Malaysia now." Vanessa chimes in.

 

What I'm starting to love about SE Asia is that there are only so many hostels that you can stay at and so after enough travel, you start running into the same extended travelers again and again. This was a surprise occurrence. While we had planned to meet up in Cambodia in July, I did not expect to see them until then.

 

After the brief catchup, they checked in and shuffled there bags up to their room. Upon coming back down Fleur, in her I don't give a fuck tone, says to me, "Yo, Dude! I'm hungry, want to grab some Smoothies at Jane's?" Not sure what she's talking about but agree never the less; a smoothie always sounds good.

 

The two explain on the walk that they found this place while staying in Chiang Mai the first time. It's a quaint little café that is cohabitated by a textile designer. The mix of studio meets restaurant creates a unique ambiance. As we sit there waiting for the smoothies, I learn that it is owned by two Thai sisters, one of which grew up and studied in the states. The food options are all organic and farm fresh.

 

 

We sat there for probably a good two hours just relaxing and catching up. Vanessa recounted tails of going to Pai and visiting the Tiger Zoo which lead to a discussion about ethical tourism. The Tiger Zoo is a place where you can take pictures with a full grown adult tiger. The pamphlets advertising such an experience all note that they do not drug the Tigers, however, to many…. Myself and Fleur included, this makes absolutely no sense. There is no way you could get that close with out getting hurt if they weren't drugs. Tigers are not docile creatures. It's unfortunate but Thailand Tourism is riddled with exploitation and abuse. As a tourist it is very easy to get mislead into something that makes you uncomfortable. Even so called elephant sanctuaries can be unethically done, used as a way to get money from tourists.

 

The conversation after a while changed to a more light hearted one. The girls detail out the guys they've met, noting that nothing happened, but that it was entertaining. They ask whether I have had any luck and I explained how I got hit on by a handsome French Scuba Instructor while in Phi Phi. I told them how I wasn't really interested, my thoughts still back on home. Hitting a note with Vanessa, we did the relationship conversation dance and begin a brief conversation that is quickly transitioned off.

 

Fleur out of no where chimes in, " I have the funniest story for you."

 

"Fleur, No!" I hear Vanessa kicks in.

 

"Ok, you have to tell me now. This is clearly good."  I state; shooting a puppy dog face at Vanessa in the process.

 

"Fine, go ahead." She answers back.

 

With that Fleur begins telling the story. Apparently around the time they got back from Pai into Chiang Mai, they were both well let's say a bit "Stuffed up." The food just wasn't agreeing with them and it had been a few days since they'd had some relief. They were at the point of actual pain. To the point that they almost went to the pharmacy for actual medication.

 

At this Fleur starts laughing, she can't control it. She tries to but does not succeed. She can barely speak anything and continues to stumble through each word, giggling to a point of heaving and tears.

 

"Well fuck, your ruining it." Vanessa shouts out, disappointed that her friend can't control her giggles.

 

"Ok so we had not gone for 3 days. I was concerned and made plans to go to the pharmacy to get a laxative once we got checked into the hostel. When we got there though, all of a sudden it hit me. We had just checked into a 4 person ensuite dorm room and it hit me. I went into the room, saw two back packs clearly belonging to guys and booked it for the bathroom."

 

At  this point in the story she turns bright red. "Morgan, I took the biggest dump of my life." Suddenly Fleur shouts out…." SHE BROKE THE TOILET. Her shit was so massive it broke the toilet."

 

"NO. No that did not happen." I shake my head, laughing in disbelief.

 

"But that's not even the best part." Fleur answers back.

 

The girls go on to explain that rather than admit it to the hostel, Vanessa decided that she would let it sit for awhile until it disintegrated a bit in the water. While they were out, the guys came back and had found the broken toilet with Vanessa's present still in the bowl. They decide to go back downstairs and wait for their new roommates to return.

 

Upon getting back, the girls meet the two guys. One chiming in "I think the toilets broken." Fleur wastes 0 time chiming in that it was Vanessa and she reluctantly notifies the front desk. When the service worker gets to the room, the two guys and Fleur point to the bathroom and then to Vanessa. She was caught and shamed all at once.

 

Finishing our shakes, we get up and decide to regroup for dinner. I tell them, I was down for checking out a new place but had agreed to meet up with Tom, Sherry and Becky from the previous night. The night quickly unfolds to a dinner in which Fleur and Tom have a 45 minute conversation about powder and how they are addicted to it. And no, I'm not talking about cocaine. Fleur is a ski instructor and Tom is a snow board instructor. It was seriously like watching two computer programmers geek out about LINUX. By the time our bill comes both are apologizing for the detailed out conversation about this hill versus that hill.

 

What they failed to realize is that everyone was so exhausted that they actually in a weird way appreciated the change of pace.

 

After dinner, we stop at a 7-11 and grab some drinks to chill with at the hostel and the night rages on like any other night while traveling. Dancing, shenanigans and a run to street carts to fill our drunken bellies. Some highlights of the night are listed below:

 

• Dancing to baby got back outside a bar with Vanessa in the middle of the rain
• A group run to Tacos Bell…a Mexican themed street cart
• Walking a mile in the rain to the bars
• A drunk British bloke proclaiming his massive endowment in the middle of the street

Stories Vol 11: Cooking with New

 

Food is truly one of my passions in life. Many of you may know that I love to cook but I'm not sure many of you know why to be honest. I really didn't become passionate about it until the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I was supposed to have a job at a Starbucks but at the last minute the hiring manager canceled the offer. I needed the extra spending money and with out time to find a job for just the summer, I proposed to my parents that I cook dinner for the family 6 nights a week. In return, my parents would give me a budget for groceries and a set payment for each meal.

 

I spent the entire summer learning how to cook and making meals for the family. I fell in love with it and I think it was because I used the family recipes. As the youngest in the extended family, I never really got to know my grandparents and the generation before them. That summer each day that I used their recipes or books with their notes and anecdotes written in the margins, the more it felt like I was getting to know them. Long after they had passed, they were inspiring me with inspiration and instilling confidence that I could execute each dish.

 

 Food is amazing in that sense in that it is cultural currency. It can cross cultural, time and language barriers and in the process unite people behind one thing. One of the things that I have loved about my travels to Eastern Europe, Morocco, Asia and so many other places is that the first thing that people feel they can share with out any explanation is food. Food is where the home is in my opinion. It's comfort, it's love. It is for this reason, that I always try to take a cooking class while traveling. In the process of sharing their food, locals open up a dialogue on culture. They share stories of learning how to cook from their parents and explain different cultural nuances that you would otherwise not get.

 

 

 meal with my host family in Rural Azmizmiz, Morocco 2009
 

Isabel, a hostel worker, teaching me Portuguese cooking, 2011

All of my greatest conversations have here have been had over a meal or a local drink and so when the two girls I met in Phuket/Phi Phi recommended an all day farm visit cooking class I jumped on the chance to do it with Sherry in Chiang Mai.

 

The class began with the Teacher, a small Thai woman with long black highlighted hair picking us up at my hostel. She smiled, said her name was "NEW"…. Like "Brand New" and then ushered us into the back of a car. Sherry and I were quite confused, both of us had been out to the bar the night before and were in need of water and food. We look at each other realizing that we should have gotten up earlier in the off chance we aren't fed until mid day.

 

Sherry realizing breakfast was not happening

 

 

About a ten minute ride through the city later, we arrive at a small local market on the other side of Chiang Mai's old city district. New hops out of the truck's cab and goes around back to drop the back door to let us out. She tells us that we are going to walk through the market and she is going to teach us about the different ingredients that go into Thai cooking. Sherry and I see the stands of food and it's clear we have the same thought…fooood! However, knowing we are on a time table we decide to be polite and ignore our hunger pains.

 

New pulls us through the market, introducing herself and asking inquisitive questions in order to obtain our back story. She makes jokes about how much she loves food, and in a blunt style of English points and says, "you like food?" If she only knew I was such a fat kid at heart.

 

She continues on through the market, greeting the vendors as we stroll along. She finally stops at one and begins grabbing herbs and produce. In great detail, she explains what each one is. She has us smell them and then shows us how to identify them from each other. Sherry and I frantically take picture after picture, trying to pair each one with the description in our memories. For those interested, I have the notes I can send you when I get back home. Just let me know.

 

After the market, we hop in the back of the truck and head to the train station. At this point it is clear that we were supposed to eat beforehand. Upon entering the station, Sherry takes her last chance and asks, "are we going to eat during the cooking?" New then quickly shows us to a snack cart area and we pick up some goodies to tide us over.

View from the back of the truck

 

On the train, we continue the get to know you lexicon of questions. New tells us about her upbringing and explains how Thai Culture is rapidly changing. She makes jokes about the old ways vs. new ways. Some she is excited for and others she notes are unfortunate. She explains that she loves that women and men are in balance now but it wasn't like that before. She goes on to note for us that courting rituals have also changed. Before, boy and girl did not live together unless married, now, boy and girl will live together while dating…" very bad" she says.

 

 

One of the highlights of the train ride, was when she mid conversation, took a pen and twisted her hair into a bun with it. Sherry was in awe, a look of puzzlement crossed her face. "I need to learn how to do that," she says. New looks at us and assertively states, "I teach you." She then goes through the entire process. Sherry watches attentively as I take pictures.

 

Upon getting to the farm town, New directs us off the train and into the conductors station. She explains how the worker changes the tracks, starts and stops the trains and reads when trains are coming. The workers inside the box laugh and smile at her zealous nature.

 

Our first sight of the farm, is absolutely fantastic. It is this quaint space much more like a pavilion/open air kitchen. The walls are stucco'd and the floors are concrete. There are long picnic benches and a sprawl of open cooking ranges. I'm in love with the scenery.

  

New hands us some aprons and quickly directs us out to the farm area. She begins showing us around, pointing out the different plants, herbs and produce we saw in the market in their natural garden state. She pulls us into a little hut, leaving the door cracked for air flow. The cottage is used to grow mushrooms as fungus is killed in the light. She warns though that people have died because they try to over populate these huts with too many fungi plants. The toxins from the grow process are deadly to humans if consumed into large of quantity.

 

After a brief visit to the mushroom hut, we continue on our way through the garden. New has us identify the different leafy herbs she taught us about earlier that morning in the market. Sherry and I fail. She then has us help uproot some Thai Ginger. Sherry takes the first pass at doing it, only to be teased by the women at this Thai Farm. They hand the hoe to me and I take a go at it. I get a very small piece of the root not sure how much we need. New looks at me and shakes her head. "You take too long, we not going to eat if you do it." She frankly states. With a quick motion, she grabs the hoe from me and swiftly hacks away at the dirt and uproots a 5" wide piece of Ginger. Neither Sherry and I can contain our embarrassment and we start to laugh at our failed attempt.

 

As we continue through the farm we take pictures and play. The other farm workers are prepping the kitchen for our class. Sherry and I had chosen 6 different dishes each to make and so they needed to make sure all of the ingredients were accounted for.

 

As we entered the Kitchen, New sat us down on a ledge with some mats and a sprawl of ingredients. She told us we would need to prep everything so that we could cook. As we sat down, she detailed out what belonged to what dish.

 

First we began with a dipping sauce.Then the Appetizer of Steamed Fish:

 

 

During this one, New kept pointing at my plating of the ingredients on the steaming dish and stating. "PRESENTAAAATION!" Apparently, mine wasn't up to par with aesthetics. I'll take that, was kind of confused what we would be doing with the plate. Had I known we were going to steam and eat it off the same plate, I probably would have done it differently. Sherry's looked pretty good.

 

For our first course, Sherry choose, Chicken and Fried Basil, I chose Cashew Stir Friend Chicken:

 

              

 

 

We did two soups: I did a Chicken Coconut soup and Sherry did a chili and prawn one:

 

 

After our first three dishes, New had us take a break and took us for a bike ride through the local village. She explained that the river could not be fished due to a repopulation effort the government had made. She showed us the temple and taught us a gambling game at the local convenient store. Glued on a tag board are a bunch of different prizes with a random number above them. For ten baht, you select a random tag off of a different board, unfold it and see if your number matches any of the prizes. It was fun and different.

 

As we road, out of the village area and into the farm area, New told us stories of her youth growing up in a farm village. She confessed stories of stealing fruit and vegetables from older farmers and running rapidly/playfully through the fields to get away. She was clearly a playful trouble maker as young girl. One of my favorite stories, was her detailing out how the kids would earn money from a local shop by sitting down as a group of friends in front of the owners TV and peel garlic. They would then use the money to go by sweets from the same shop. She laughed at the oddity of this story as she recounting her childhood.

 

By the time, we got back to the kitchen, the farm workers had cleaned up the dishes and laid out the ingredients for our curry and dessert courses. Before jumping in, New had us sit down on the ledge and eat a snack of young bamboo dipped in this spicy bean and shrimp paste. It was like a salty spicy fishy black gel. Super good, but very alien to my normal diet. After a couple jokes and a bit of over eating we headed back to the cooking prep station.

 

New set out all of the different ingredients and told us how all Thai Curries have very similar ingredients. She went through about 8 of them covering and removing different spices and herbs from the spread laid out. Sherry and I like most of the day, struggled to capture each and every difference with our photos. I'll have to have New identify each one based on the pictures at a later date.

  

After the quick walk through, New had us begin prepping our curry ingredients. She broke out a pestle and mortar and had us pulverize the mixtures until they were a paste, no longer resembling the original state of the ingredients.

 

I made the Green Chicken Curry and Sherry made the Pannang Curry:

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert, I chose the fried bananas and Sherry did the Mango Sticky rice.

 

 

The batter for the bananas was freaking delicious. In the process of making it, New had me add extra coconut and palm sugar. Having never had palm sugar, I was directed to take a taste. Palm sugar is like freaking crack to me. Its sooooo good. I kept taking little spoonful's, sneaking a sweet treat each time the teacher and farm workers weren't looking. Finally one caught me, like a fat kid with their hand in the cookie jar. They pointed and made some jokes in Thai. I'm such a chub at heart.

 

The day cooking with New passed so quickly! By the time we sat down to eat our desserts and curry, we were already late heading back into Chiang Mai. We ate quickly and upon finishing we exchanged info. Sherry dated my certificate of completion for New and I did hers. I had to do three versions of it because I kept messing up the calligraphy.

 

On the ride back, Sherry and I barely talked. It was clear we had over eaten and were full. All we wanted to do was knap and prepare for the following days venture to Pai. We were exhausted. After Sherry was dropped off at her hostel, I spent the rest of the ride tweaking out over how amazing the day had been. I was eager to get back to the hostel and upload photos for my friends back home to see. That day was a fucking phenomenal day.