For our last days in Burma we returned to Yangon for a couple days. Now confident that we were going to reach the end of our Burmese days without running out of money, we headed back to the big central market for a little souvenir shopping (not the tacky kind).
Dewey and I both purchased a carved Rosewood set of 10 chopsticks (with box), beautifully made, for about $3.50 for the set. A total steal. I also bought a couple hand-carved laquerware soup bowls.
In between the 2000-odd stalls in the central market are a variety of food vendors. Some look more appetizing that others, but they are all full of character.
We once again stayed at the Motherland II hostel, since we wanted to take advantage of the free airport shuttle for our flight back to Bangkok. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a language-barrier mishap that left a sour taste in our mouths. Our party of four (Dewey, myself, Megsi & Alfonso) arrived at the hostel at about 6 in the morning and inquired whether they had room for us before we let the cab take off. They said they did so we gathered our things and headed in. Well it turns out they only had a triple room left. For four of us. But they would let us squeeze in it. The lady said she would charge us $14. I felt this was a really fair deal, and said "$14?".. "yes, $14". So we agreed and she said we were welcome to help ourselves to breakfast while we waited for the room to be ready. We dined, then sat out on the front patio chilling with fellow travelers. At some point, someone mentioned that they had to pay $10 for a dorm bed, which we all felt was a royal rip-off since a double private room costs $16 (or $8 a person). Generally double private rooms are the most expensive, and dorm beds are the cheapest. Then I did some quick math in my head and realized that $10 x 4 was $40.. and "40" sounds a lot like "14" coming from someone with poor English. I thought this couldn't possibly be, since there were four of us cramming into a triple room. But when we sent Dewey in to pay, and he gave her $14, she laughed and said "no it's $40". The logic behind this was absolutely baffling to me, and I let the lady know this. Why would we have agreed to pay $10 a piece to squeeze four people into a triple room when we could have got two private double rooms for a cheaper price? Anyways, so we said we were going to go look for a cheaper hostel, but she said we'd already eaten breakfast and that she was going to charge us $16 ($4 each) for that. So in the end, it was never going to be economical to change hostels (since we'd then have to pay for a cab to the airport) so we just stayed. But my good impression of Motherland Inn II went down the toilet.
Early on Tuesday morning we caught our Air Asia flight back to Bangkok. Flying into Bangkok you could really see the extent of the flooding in areas around Bangkok. The following are some picture I took from the plane.
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| The center of the city stayed relatively dry thanks to some flood barriers |
We arrived in Bangkok around 11 in the morning, and then spent the next 8 hours in the airport. During our last days in Yangon we had been hearing that the floods in Thailand were getting worse and worse; the municipal airport had been closed, and the rail-line connecting Bangkok and Chiang Mai (where we were headed). The buses were supposedly still running, but this could come to an end without warning if the bus stations were to flood. Considering our options, we booked a flight to Chiang Mai (from the international airport, which was still operating) in order to avoid the risk of being stuck in Bangkok. But the only reasonably-priced flight was at 7:00pm that evening (the price of flights had gone up significantly now that it was one of the only ways out of a city which was under evacuation). The first 6 or so hours of our layover went by rather easily; we found some good food, and paid for wireless access. But then the flight was delayed significantly (the flight after ours left before us), and the last couple hours just dragged on. But NokAir gave us coupons for a free soft pretzel & drink, which was nice.
Late at night we arrived in Chiang Mai and quickly hunted down a hostel. We found a quaint little hostel (Muan Baan guesthouse) with garden bar/coffee shop out front and about 6 rooms in a house behind the garden. We ended up staying 6 days, so I guess we loved it! The guesthouse employed about 4 people, two of whom we became quite good friends with; John (from B.C!) and Faang (from Chiang Mai). We enjoyed inexpensive mojito's every night and played cribbage by the garden bar. We even we bowling one night!
Next door to the hostel was a tiny road-side restaurant that served fabulous and cheap (~$1) Thai food; curries and papaya salad were the big hits.
On day two we signed up for a Thai cooking class. For about $30 we had a full-day cooking class with market tour and instruction on 6 Thai dishes.
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| Harvesting fresh oyster mushrooms in the shed behind the cooking school |
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| On our market tour; a woman prepares fresh fish... from alive to filleted in about 10 seconds. |
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| Durian fruit, of course. |
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| Spicy fish wrapped up in banana leaves (at the market) |
Our cooking instructor welcomed us with tea and this traditional welcome snack; Betel leaf packets stuffed with toasted coconut, roasted peanuts, fresh ginger, shallots, lime (with the peel), Thai green chili peppers and honey.
We each made six different dishes. I made Spring Rolls, Pad See Uw, Tom Sab Soup, Khaw Soi Curry Paste, Khaw Soi Chicken Curry and Deep Fried Bananas. Dewey made Papaya Salad, Stir Fried Chicken with Cashew Nut, Hot and Sour Prawn Soup, Massaman Curry Paste (and Massaman Chicken Curry) and Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango.
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| Dewey preps his ingredients for "Stir Fried Chicken with Cashew Nut" |
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| My "Pad See Uw" |
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| Dewey's Cashew Chicken |
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| The pre-assembled ingredients we would need to make Massaman Curry Paste (far left), Thai Red Curry Paste (middle) and Thai Green Curry Paste (right) |
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| Our instructor |
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| Dewey's Massaman Chicken Curry (one of the highlights of our course) |
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| Our instructor talks us through how to make mango sticky rice |
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| My deep fried spring rolls |
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| Dewey makes spicy Papaya salad in a large wooden mortar |
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| Mango sticky rice (delicious!) |
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| We were free to eat all the dishes we made throughout the day, and we left thoroughly stuffed |
During our time in Chiang Mai we mostly just enjoyed the casual vibe of the city, and avoided the bulk of the tourist attractions. The food was fantastic and cheap (most meals being around $1), and the people were great too.
We explored the sprawling night market, and the overwhelmingly crowded Sunday market as well.
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| A sign at the entrance of one of the Hostels on Soi 7 (one of the main tourist hostel streets) |
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| A poster of Aung San Suu Kyi displayed at a local Mexican restaurant (we figured the owner must be some interesting blend of Mexican, Burmese and Thai) |
We gathered the courage to rent a scooter again (still a little nervous after the Bali incident). This time we took our camera and documented every nick and scratch on the bike before signing the contract.
We used our stylish scooter to run back and forth to the tailor, as we had decided to have suits made (a 3-4 day process involving about 4 separate fittings). We had decided to have custom suits made while we were in Thailand because if you are ever going to think of getting a suit tailored, Thailand is the place to do it! We both had custom, cashmere-wool, four-piece suits made (Dewey got pants, a jacket and two shirts, and I got pants, skirt, jacket and a shirt) for about $200 each. Our big purchase on this trip, but a worthwhile investment. It wasn't something we could easily have done earlier in our trip because then we would have had to either carry the suits around for the rest of our trip, or ship them home, which was going to cost almost as much as the suit.
One morning we took our scooter and headed Northwest of Chiang Mai to a hill top overlooking the city with a temple. It was extremely touristy, but he view was good.
On the way back we stopped in at the Chiang Mai Zoo.
Admission was only a couple dollars, but this didn't include the aquarium or the pandas. It was still definitely worth while.
Pretty much every single morning we were in Chiang Mai we went to our favorite breakfast joint; Blue Diamond Cafe. It was such a treat to have such wonderful, fresh, healthy food every morning. They made fantastic multigrain croissants, and avocado sandwiches. We couldn't get enough after being starved for this kind of fresh, healthy food during our time in Myanmar.
We enjoyed the cleanliness and modern feel of Chiang Mai, but it definitely didn't lack culture.
It was time for me to head back to Bangkok to catch my flight home so I said a sad goodbye to Dewey in Chiang Mai (he had an extra week before he had to fly back). I checked into a dismal hostel on Khao San road, dumped my stuff in the windowless cell that I was paying $8 for, and headed out to do some "girly" things on my last day in Asia.
I had been wanting to try out a "fish spa" ever since our first stop in Thailand at the beginning of our trip, but Dewey hadn't been keen on the idea. And I can see why. It was ridiculously ticklish, and kind of bizarre. But so cool at the same time. Definitely worth a try, even if just so you can say you let a swarm of tiny fish nibble the dead skin off your feet for twenty minutes!
While there wasn't any water visible in downtown Bangkok you could see signs of the flooding everywhere. Most shops had erected some sort of water barrier in front; some made out of permanent concrete, others a little more rustic and make-shift.
On my last night in Bangkok I went for an "Urban Hike" to the downtown area for some last minute shopping, where I picked up a few gifts and some ingredients for cooking projects back home. It took me over an hour to walk to the central part of downtown, so on the way back I hailed a tuk-tuk. This turned out to be the most terrifying tuk-tuk ride ever. The driver can't have been more than fourteen years old and I swear there were times when only two of the three tricycle wheels were on the ground as he swerved in and out of traffic. I was actually scared for my life.
I had an uneventful flight home; I managed to sleep through most of the first flight, including breakfast, but then was wide awake for the trans-pacific flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. I had no idea that the flight was significantly shorter in the reverse direction (8 hours and 55 minutes versus 11 hours and 15 minutes on the way there!), so that was a nice surprise.
I arrived home (poorly dressed for the temperature) and my parents picked me up. The culture shock (and climate shock) always seems more prevalent when I return home (as opposed to when I arrive in a foreign country).
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| Home Sweet Home (Dad getting the mail on the way home from the airport; culture shock & climate shock) |
