alone in the north
Showers are kind of useless here. You shower, then you're nasty 30 minutes later. I've definitely come to appreciate the cold shower, though... those things are amazing. Most of the places I've stayed haven't had bathtubs... there's just a shower nozzle mounted on the wall in the bathroom and a drain on the floor. I guess bathtubs are for the swanky spots?
I'm in Chiang Mai, after some troubles with transportation yesterday... turns out the railroad tracks are washed out from the flooding in central thailand, at least for another week (probably two), so the options to get from Bangkok to here were: 7 hour train ride then wait 3 hours in unknown thai city at 3 am for 4 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai, or 9 hour bus ride overnight, or 60 bucks for a 1 hour plane trip. I opted for qucikness and comfort and expensiveness.... yeah, 60 dollars isn't that much, right? Anyway. I'm here, and Jason and Becca were supposed to arrive this morning and call me, but they haven't yet so... maybe they are still in Bangkok? Who knows. I'll call them after I finish up here.
So Chaing Mai is all right. It seems like the night market is the only thing I really want to do here, though.. and I have to wait for night time to do that. So today I got my laundry done and walked all around and ate some food.. I guess it's lunchtime now, but.. well... I guess more food adventures await me. The city has a lot of Wats (buddhist temples) and, you know, street life, but not like Bangkok, and not enough to keep me involved for too long.
There are tons of places here in Chaing Mai to get trekking tours of the surrounding hill tribe areas. You pay 1600 bhat and they take you to a couple villages and on an elephant ride, and bamboo rafting.... it's all everywhere. Everyone is selling the same trip, its weird. I think I want to go to some of the smaller towns and do trekking from there, more independently, cause all this here, it just feels super commercialized, and I'm not sure how good this kind of trekking really is for the local people, or the environment. Not that any trekking is really great in terms of eco-tourism... but I guess I want to support a more independent touring company.. or some individual who will take me out a bit.
There is definitely a northern influence here, though.. in the clothes and the other things that shops sell, its all much more.. hill tribe crafty--as opposed to mass produced cheap cotton pants and stuff that's everywhere in Bangkok.. I can't believe anyone can do good business there, its all the same in every shop. Yeah, I like the clothes a lot, but I think I'll wait til I'm back here with my mom to buy anything.
Anyway, so I dont think there's much else I want to do here, so maybe I'll move on tomorrow morning. It has been kind fo weird to be by myself.. I can go wherever I want and I'm really not afraid at all.. but there is some loneliness, and I kind of wish I had someone else around to just hang out with. I met a french woman last night on the way into town from the airport, and we ended up staying at the same place and eating dinner together. She seemed a little worried about me, cause I was traveling alone. She said a woman traveling alone to asia was a very un-french thing to do.. anmd that even though she was 34 she hadn't told her father that she was alone! I guess that made me a bit more wary about being alone, here, but I really do feel safe everywhere, and that's saying a lot because I'm not the kind of person who is at ease in cities when I'm not with someone else. I think that Thai people are just really friendly and not scarry or intimidating at all. It also helps that almost anywhere you go you can find someone who speaks a little english, or even a lot of english. But, even so.. I dont think that this city is the place for me to be.. I kind of want to just go somewhere where I can hang out in a hammock and read for a few days... but the city is not that place.
yah, so... that's what's happening here. write me emails!! nitzes, I miss you!
I'm in Chiang Mai, after some troubles with transportation yesterday... turns out the railroad tracks are washed out from the flooding in central thailand, at least for another week (probably two), so the options to get from Bangkok to here were: 7 hour train ride then wait 3 hours in unknown thai city at 3 am for 4 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai, or 9 hour bus ride overnight, or 60 bucks for a 1 hour plane trip. I opted for qucikness and comfort and expensiveness.... yeah, 60 dollars isn't that much, right? Anyway. I'm here, and Jason and Becca were supposed to arrive this morning and call me, but they haven't yet so... maybe they are still in Bangkok? Who knows. I'll call them after I finish up here.
So Chaing Mai is all right. It seems like the night market is the only thing I really want to do here, though.. and I have to wait for night time to do that. So today I got my laundry done and walked all around and ate some food.. I guess it's lunchtime now, but.. well... I guess more food adventures await me. The city has a lot of Wats (buddhist temples) and, you know, street life, but not like Bangkok, and not enough to keep me involved for too long.
There are tons of places here in Chaing Mai to get trekking tours of the surrounding hill tribe areas. You pay 1600 bhat and they take you to a couple villages and on an elephant ride, and bamboo rafting.... it's all everywhere. Everyone is selling the same trip, its weird. I think I want to go to some of the smaller towns and do trekking from there, more independently, cause all this here, it just feels super commercialized, and I'm not sure how good this kind of trekking really is for the local people, or the environment. Not that any trekking is really great in terms of eco-tourism... but I guess I want to support a more independent touring company.. or some individual who will take me out a bit.
There is definitely a northern influence here, though.. in the clothes and the other things that shops sell, its all much more.. hill tribe crafty--as opposed to mass produced cheap cotton pants and stuff that's everywhere in Bangkok.. I can't believe anyone can do good business there, its all the same in every shop. Yeah, I like the clothes a lot, but I think I'll wait til I'm back here with my mom to buy anything.
Anyway, so I dont think there's much else I want to do here, so maybe I'll move on tomorrow morning. It has been kind fo weird to be by myself.. I can go wherever I want and I'm really not afraid at all.. but there is some loneliness, and I kind of wish I had someone else around to just hang out with. I met a french woman last night on the way into town from the airport, and we ended up staying at the same place and eating dinner together. She seemed a little worried about me, cause I was traveling alone. She said a woman traveling alone to asia was a very un-french thing to do.. anmd that even though she was 34 she hadn't told her father that she was alone! I guess that made me a bit more wary about being alone, here, but I really do feel safe everywhere, and that's saying a lot because I'm not the kind of person who is at ease in cities when I'm not with someone else. I think that Thai people are just really friendly and not scarry or intimidating at all. It also helps that almost anywhere you go you can find someone who speaks a little english, or even a lot of english. But, even so.. I dont think that this city is the place for me to be.. I kind of want to just go somewhere where I can hang out in a hammock and read for a few days... but the city is not that place.
yah, so... that's what's happening here. write me emails!! nitzes, I miss you!
posted by Liz @ 11:22 PM
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