This is now my first official blog post from Thailand! After a 3 hour wait in Ben Gurion airport, a 3 1/2 hour flight to Kiev, Ukraine where it was 0 degrees celsius, a 9 hour flight to Bangkok, a 3 hour wait in the train station, and then a 12 hour train ride, we eventually ended up in Chiang Mai, one of the most culturally significant cities in Thailand, and our only destination in the North. Despite the sleep deprivation from such a lengthy commute, we couldn't help but be bewildered by the buzzing city as we took a cab from the train station to our first hostel, Spicythai Backpackers. The streets are swamped by motorcyclists here, edging in and out of traffic, usually carrying 2-3 passengers per bike, all without helmet. Weaving through the cars, they all look relaxed and carefree, as does everyone so far in this country. Full of smiles, polite greetings and stories and culture to share, the Thai people have proven very welcoming in the past 24 hours, and have given us culture shock from the sometimes-abrasive nature of Israelis we have become so accustomed to. There has been no trouble whatsoever in finding our destinations or getting information, and we have been surprised by the amount of English spoken here. Goose, Dan and I did not brush up on our Thai before arriving, so this ease of communication is a major comfort in such a foreign land.
The hostel we stayed in our first night was incredibly pleasant and we will be returning on Tuesday and Friday night after separate tours before taking off for Kanchanaburi on Saturday night. It is run by a nice guy who seems to be American and a few other guys, one Thai and one Scottish. There were a lot of people our age sitting around when we arrived, including an Israeli-Canadian (who made fun of our Hebrew), two other Canadians (one from Vancouver with mutual friends!), a German, a South-African, and a few Brits. After dropping our stuff off, we headed out for a bite to eat and got our first real taste of Thai food for dirt cheap prices. The food here is one of the ways we will be conserving money over the next month as so far, we haven't spent more than $5 CDN for a full meal including an appetizer, a main course, and a beverage. Despite the affordability of the cuisine, it hasn't disappointed and I'm trying new ethnic favourites at every opportunity. New smells are constantly greeting me at every corner and beckoning me to come sample. Resistance appears to be futile and I might end up leaving this country with a little bit of a gut...
The first official day of our trip started today at 9AM with pick-up from our hostel by Destiny Travel Service. We are getting toured around Chiang Mai by private car and our tour guide (who calls himself X-Man) is friendly, funny, and incredibly informative. Our first stop was at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, a temple founded in 1383 and located over 1km above sea level at the top of Doi Suthep mountain. The temple was originally a solid cement formation but they later added on gold plates, giving the temple a majestic and awe-inspiring allure. The view from the top of the mountain looks out over all of Chiang Mai and there was live music, buddhist prayer blessings, and many a buddha statue surrounding us as we walked around the tourist site. After leaving the temple, we headed to the Art & Culture museum, which originally served as a palace to the King of Chiang Mai. Inside, we toured through the separate rooms, X-Man following us and giving us little tid-bits unlisted in the museum. We learned that many of the kings whose pictures are mounted on the walls had over 100 children, and that Chiang Mai has switched hands between Myanmar, Thailand, and Great Britain over the course of its 800 year history. We got a quick lesson on how rice is grown and harvested, learned that there are different dialects of Thai in all areas of the country, with as few as 5 different ways to say "delicious" depending on where you are, and were told that Bangkok's real name is the longest name of any city or country in the world, and if written out, would take up an entire page! Our tour continued with stops at some factories for handicrafts that are popular in Chiang Mai, the first factory being one for umbrellas and fans, and the second for silver. The umbrellas created here were incredible and we got to witness some of the geniuses at work, who gave us something to remember them by with emblems on our belongings. I got a dragon (for my Zodiac sign) painted onto my wallet that now makes me smile every time I need to make a purchase. At the silver factory, we were given a quick explanation on how silver rings are made... unfortunately, the man explaining had the weirdest accent I have EVER heard in my life and we couldn't quite catch most of it. It sounded like a cross between Kiwi, Japanese, Thai and some unknown dialect, and every sentence came out sounding different. This resulted in us learning nothing about silver but getting quite a laugh from the experience instead. We ended our tour by picking up a few small gifts and then headed back to our new hotel for some great lunch and a rest.
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| Chomping down on my first cricket! |
After a few hours nap, we decided to check out the incredible Sunday Market. I thought that markets in Israel were busy and large compared to Canadian standards, but nothing prepared me for the magnitude and degree of coolness that Chiang Mai's Sunday Market provides. For those reading this in Ashdod, the market is about 100 times larger than the Ashdod shuk; for those reading in Vancouver, about 30 times the size of Granville Island! We walked along the main stretch endlessly, stopping to snack on mini-hamburgers, chocolate-covered strawberries, and pad thai, and buying ourselves some official Muay Thai boxing shorts for our course tomorrow. We found a temple along the way and took some photos, and then stopped to watch a little performance at the end of the road put on by some Thai teenagers, dancing their little hearts away. On the way back, we had our first bug-eating experience, some crunchy salted crickets. I was up for the challenge and ate a whole five of them, despite the fact that the eyes spilled sour juice into my mouth and I got wings stuck between my teeth. All in all, not something I would eat again! Finally, I stopped and treated myself to a 45 minute foot and leg massage, leaving me feeling rested and light as feather, tingling from the pressure this tiny woman was somehow able to produce on my feet! I enjoyed this experience for the grand total of 60 Baht ($2 CDN) and headed back to the hotel where I sit to write this all down for you now...
Tomorrow is a big day, plenty to do, plenty to see! I figure I will be posting on here pretty often due to the accessibility of internet and the amount of things I have to report so I'll keep you all updated. Don't forget to update me on your lives as well! I leave you with a list of cultural differences I have noticed already below:
Differences in Culture:
1. Bathrooms - The facilities in this country are not quite what we're used to living in Israel and North America, with many toilets not having a seat and being low to the ground. The bathrooms often smell pretty terrible and some charge for use. Finally, because of a poor sewage system around the country, it is expected that travelers dispose of toilet paper (for #1 or #2) in a garbage can next to the toilet rather than the toilet bowl. This seems like such a strange practice to me that I don't know if I'll ever acclimate!
2. Money - Everything is cheap! Israel was a fairly expensive country, so this is a welcome treat and means I can go sans worrying about cash flow too much for the next month. The actually currency itself is cool too, with bills mostly being in large denominations (1000 Baht = $33 CDN) and all sporting wacky colours, each bill plastered with the face of the King in his prime.
3. Shoes - It is important for many different reasons that you walk barefoot in some places in Thailand. At the temple, you must take off your shoes as a sign of respect and it is essentially one of the biggest culturally no-no's you can make to not obey this rule. At our first hostel, we also had to remove our shoes to enter, although this time it was because of sanitary issues, the Thai people believing that shoes will track in infection for those who do walk barefoot, and so an even playing field is required for all.
4. Hospitality - Just as I write this, two separate hotel workers have closed the blinds to make sure the sun didn't get in my eyes, put a fan behind me to cool my back, and brought me water to make sure I was hydrated, all without me saying a word. Our tour guide X-Man also told us not to hesitate to change our itinerary and has already offered to tag on extra stops according to our preferences for the rest of the tour, essentially allowing us to cater the tour to our interests.
5. Working Children - Many children are put to work here at a young age to help provide for the family. Although my Canadian dollar goes along way in this country, the Baht does not go quite as far for the struggling local family. On our way up to Doi Suthep, little girls were all dressed up and wearing make-up for photos with tourists... little boys played instruments outside the temple for a few spare Baht... and finally, there was a troupe of teenage girls performing some American songs at the Sunday Market to raise money for school. The work ethic here in Thailand is quite strong, and develops early.
Ciao for now,
Max
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