Legs. All legs. Holy shit, legs. So good.
The Swan (Burmese) for dinner, then watching Thor play Loco Elvis. Or at least that’s the plan. I’m beginning to suspect Kerry and I both suffer from FOMO because with both have trouble leaving anything before we shut the fucker down.
Yep, called it. After Loco Elvis, we hit up Zoe’s, danced for a bit, then stayed up talking till two.
Woke up early, went to Blue Diamond for breakfast, massage school (back and legs) then home. We rented bikes to get out to the train station to buy tickets back to bangkok next Tuesday, way, way ahead of any need to do so.
When we got to the station though, Kerry ran to the bathroom and I tried to buy tickets. When I told he agent what I wanted, she looked at me sadly and said there was only one berth left on the train. The look of relief on the agent’s face when Kerry walked up behind me was incredible. She explained that there was plenty of room in the Women’s car on the same train, so I could take the 2nd class berth, and Kerry could take a berth in the Women’s car. Lucked out there.
Both of us were craving western food, so after purchasing tickets we had planned to head out to the university district again and score something suitably American out there. As the sun fell, we both realized it’s one thing to ride in Thailand when traffic can see you and something wholly different when it’s dark out. So we bailed on going to The Pub and instead ended up at Mad Dog Farang Food, with pizza and a meat pie, both of which exceeded expectations.
Then we actually accomplished last nights goal of getting to bed early.
Waking up in a right state barely two hours after we had gone to sleep, I couldn’t face a cold shower, so I ran down stairs and used the communal shower with hot water. Kerry, a living saint, got up soon after, then quickly grabbed us roles and a slice of raisin bread. We both took naps in the red truck that came to pick us up.
The whole day was a struggle, but we made it. Massaged the hell out of some heads, necks, and shoulders. K messaged us (how amazing is it that in the space of ten years, Facebook has gone from being non-existent to having over a billion users. I know it’s the circles I ride in, but I’m unlikely to meet anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook account who didn’t consciously make the choice), so we met everyone at Loco Elvis for a round. It wasn’t a short round, but we were in bed by midnight, at least.
We rented a couple of cruisers and biked around Chiang Mai. We got lunch out in the university district at a road side stand (Thai Spicy Salad with Fired Pork, complete with surprise shrimp, papaya salad, fried pork slurry, and sausage). Heard a couple american business men talk about how unevolved Thai business culture is, and he was every bit the douche he sounds like. After lunch we checked out a couple shops down a cute little alley and did a little window shopping. All in all, just a fun day exploring.
Originally we had agreed to take it easier that night, but the best laid plans. In summary: we made new friends, new enemies, shut down one club, pulled some strings and got into a second club for free, danced a lot and upon returning to the guest house, woke up some poor schmuck with the courtesy to yell, “shut up, asshole!” Neither of us took too kindly to that (Kerry astutely pointed out:
But at that we called it a night.
Waiting for breakfast just before going mountain biking, it occurred to me to text Mark (an avid mountain biker) to say “Hey, I’m doing your sport!” like I do just about every time I’m about to try something new. Then I thought, wait, what don’t my friends do? What could I do that they don’t already? Stuff that got crossed off the list quickly:
The only stuff I could come up with that you all don’t do on a regular basis are the kinds of thing AD&D doesn’t cover, and I hope you don’t take up as a regular hobby.
Then I started thinking about all the other stuff you guys do, like getting your Ph. Ds, MFAs, traveling and living all across the world, starting bands, making it in showbiz, saving lives, creating things that are used by millions of people every day, governing the most powerful nation on the planet. Jesus.
You guys rock. Keep that shit up.
When we left the hostel, our plan was to find road bikes Joe Best had mentioned the previous night and take a ride south across the river. Rob, you’ll be happy to learn, this trip, more than anything, has convinced me I should buy a bike. We spent about a half hour looking for the bike rental place before we stumbled upon Mountain Bike Chiang Mai, which ended up changing our entire stay here.
We had done a little research earlier and had been planning to stop by anyway, but The Fat Man (aka outfit owner) convinced us that today was the day to ride Doi Suthep. I ran across the parking lot to grab breakfast for Kerry and I, then we grabbed our gear. As we were getting kitted out, we picked out of The Fat Man’s palaver, “You guys are from California? You can ride with these two.” Thus, Aaron and David joined our crew. In the kind of logic serendipity (or if you’re feeling less starry eyed, emergence) dictates, not only were the two brothers from SF, but David lives maybe a mile from me in the mission.
After a rough ride to the top of Doi Suthep that left all of us feeling a little ill, we hopped on the bikes and started the ride. Turns out Aaron, in addition to formerly play for he San Jose Earthquakes, playing bass in The Neckbeard Boys, surfing, being a physicians assistant….is a badass on a mountain bike. Originally, Kerry and I had gone in asking for the most advanced course Mountain Bike Chiang Mai had, The Eliminator. It was a good thing The Fat Man shut it down because the ride we did, Old Smuggler’s Route (which, given the opium they used to grow in the fields we passed through, and the weed they still do, is appropriately named), kicked our ass. We all ate shit, though no one was really injured. And were it not for wagers of beer that we wouldn’t fall, our wallets wouldn’t have been touched either. Alas…
Aaron and our guide K started talking, which lead to Aaron joining the locals for Foosall following the ride. How they have the energy, I don’t know. I took a nap. After, we all met up for dinner at Loco Elvis, where Thor (which sounds much more like Tom than the dude with a hammer), was playing. The bar serves farang (sounds kinda like foreign) and has several respectable cover bands and karaoke. So we proceeded to tie one on and have a good night.
Commentor: Elaine date:2015-02-09 10:10:56
Commentor: Elaine date:2015-02-16 01:51:51
Wait, I specifically entered this as number 12 in the list. WTF?!
We spent the day bumming around the old city, checking stuff out. Brunch was at this incredible restaurant, Blue Diamomd, that wouldn’t have been out of place in Berkeley. Vegan, gluten-free baked goods, chia seeds, and avocados everywhere. After lounging there till around two two we rolled ourselves out of there and started to explore Chiang Mai.
From just getting off the train, Chiang Mai just felt better than Bangkok. The air seems cleaner, the streets less insane, the people more relaxed. I might just be imagining it, after 34 hours of uninterrupted travel, it wouldn’t be out of the question. But even the crepes were more crepe like, less fried and more like what you’d expect to see in France. This is gonna be good.
Dinner was the local dish, kow soi (just like it sounds, cow soy) is pretty much the best thing ever: crispy fried noodles on top of a green curry like soup with egg noodles. Double noodles. Tasty broth. Yesssssss. Washed it down with the best beer I’ve ever drank. Given it was a Chang, I’m fairly certain it was more to do with the circumstances, and not the PBR quality pale lager. But I enjoyed it no less.
Woke up this morning after two hours of sleep following the full moon party. Quickly, everyone packed up the gear that had slowly exploded out of our packs over the last five days, took their last showers for a while, and got on the boat out of town. It was miserably hot, be we all agreed that however bad we felt, it was infinitely better than everyone still in their neons and body paint from last night. After a two hour ferry ride (bless aircon) we were at the port that services Surat Thani, our transfer point to Bangkok, then Chiang Mai. Unbeknownst to us, Surat Thani is actually an hour away from the port, and our ticket price included a bus from the port to the train station. Unfortunately, it also meant that our group had to split up pronto. In many ways, it was a blessing, unexpected and necessarily brief. Suddenly we went from a group back to a pair.
When Kerry and I arrived at the train station, sitting there as though they were expecting us, were Becca and Kyle. They apologized for not meeting us on Koh Phangan, which we balked at, as they clearly had more important things going on (like getting engaged).
We were in different cars, so we didn’t see them on the train, but we got breakfast with them, then said our goodbyes for the time being. That accomplished it was back on the train for another 12 hours, which passed considerably more slowly than the sleeper from Surat Thani. The train attendant even passed out in a pair of seats for a while. But seeing some of the Thai countryside was pretty cool. Reminded me of something between home and Hawaii. Sugarcane, rice, and even some corn. Familiar things. But we were glad once it ended.