We met our tour group, and after some trepidation, hangriness (dictionary definition: so hungry you become angry) and a few beers, we're getting on famously. We've done so much in the four days we've all been together. Sunday was our last day in Bangkok, much to Vicky's relief. We took a canal boat tour (hot), visited an enormous reclining Buddha at Wat Pho (hotter) and then head off to the Royal Palace (sweating like a beast and about to faint). All are utterly beautiful, Thailand's veneration of the Buddha and the temples that accompany that, have created a wealth of magnificence. Although I can't help the niggling doubt at the back of my mind that says "all that wealth in the temples in a country so poor"? Especially as we learn from our tour guide that the average Thai wage is $300 US dollars. A year.
We then took an overnight train - fourteen hours to Chang Mai, Northern Thailand. The bed is bigger than the one I've been sleeping in at my parents for the past few months. This has been noted. I get a bit pissed and end up smoking out of a caged window in the toilets, as per the guards instructions, It all seems slightly surreal. I have also eaten two pad Thais today (so much for getting back into skinny jeans before New York).
Monday: Chang Mai, cooking, temples and lady boys.
We arrive bleary eyed in Chang Mai. The overwhelming temptation is to go straight to bed, but there is Thai cooking to be done and temples to visit. We go to a Thai market and pick up ingredients for our cooking class. We learn how to cook Pad Thai (meaning I will eat nothing else for weeks on end when I get my hands on a kitchen), papaya salad, which I put a whole chilli in and nearly blows my head off, Tom yam soup and Thai green curry. The staff are friendly and attentive (and do the washing up - bonus) and we all have a great time. We then head off to a(nother) temple, where there are superb views over Chang Mai, chanting monks (one on his I-phone!) and lots of gold. We all get blessed by a monk, who throws water over us and ties a piece of white cotton around our wrists for luck on the journey. Then it's back to Chang Mai for the night market and SHOPPING. There are lady boys at the night market. They have amazing figures and great make-up, although I've never seen a woman wear that much make up, except on CNN. We are drawn to their cabaret like moths to a flame. They are very very good, and I have my picture taken with a couple of them. Result = they look beyond glamorous and I look like I am melting in the heat.
Tuesday and Wednesday - minibus, more temples and crossing the border into Laos.
I'm beginning to realise that the one thing I'm not going to like about this tour - the early starts. Up at the crack of dawn and into the bus for the journey to the Thai/Laos border. Via a cashew nut factory and yet another temple, this one very modern with spiderman and superman painted on the walls. Yes, really. The border crossing to Laos is by boat and I have a minor hissy getting my backpack down to the quay before we cross the beautiful Mekong river into Laos. We stay in a very basic guesthouse and have dinner overlooking the river. I get quite pissed and toddle off to the guesthouse to sleep off the beerlaos. We spend Wednesday on a boat down the Mekong river (several hours), visiting a hill tribe with the most adorable children, and the river provides amazing scenery. I shall doubtless bore you all to tears with endless photos of the river in all its finery. We're currently in a small town called Pakbeng on the bank of the Mekong. They sell croissants and nutella - hurrah for French colonialism!
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