Temples and Trekking

It has now probably been only a week since my last entry, but it seems like so much has happened. After the Scots and I left Pai, we headed to Chiang Mai for one night before heading to Chiang Rai. Our one night was definitely memorable though. We booked a cheap guesthouse and I suppose we expected something similar to our last one in Chiang Mai. This was not the case. The dorm was more or less in a wooden shack. The doors didn't really close and there were tons of holes through the floors and walls. Our thin mattresses were on the floor and soon after arriving, Jo found a lovely cluster of ants on hers. After being there for just a few hours, we discovered that the staff were quite friendly - maybe even a little crazy - and we watched them gamble while they fed us snacks. Not surprisingly, we met people in our hostel almost immediately, one Irish and two Dutch, who of course knew more people from a different hostel, and before you knew it, we had a group of ten for dinner. Funny how you come traveling alone and you almost always end up in giant groups.

White Temple, Chiang Rai

White Temple, Chiang Rai

 The next day we headed to Chiang Rai. None of us really knew what to expect (yet another place that we didn't really research ahead of time). The very first thing we were told to do was visit the white temple (I forgot to mention that we immediately met a Canadian and a Slovakian in our new hostel who told us this over hotpot). The white temple isn't like other temples. It was built by a famous Thai artist who wanted to give a contemporary twist on Thai art and culture. When you arrive, you see an intricately built, beautiful temple. There are silver mosaics on the walls, and the bridge leading to the entryway is clad with giant dragons. When you look closer though, you see the gnarly scenes and decor that the artist has created. Around the temple are trees with head sculptures hanging down and long strands of plants growing out of them made to look like guts spilling from a guillotined skull. When you look even closer, you see that the heads are famous characters like Hellboy and Batman. You then enter the temple and cross a bridge. Below you are two pools with sculpted hands reaching up at you, and the odd face screaming at you from the bottom of the pool, like you're walking over hell. Once you get into the temple, you are surrounded with detailed drawings, some of which are not yet finished. There are lighter characters worked into the drawings, like Superman, Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and Star Wars characters. Then there are darker images, such as the World Trade Centre being hit by planes, or faint images of different guns and weaponry. In the eyes of the Buddha painted at the front, you can make out the faces of George Bush and Osama Bin Laden. Despite the strange subject matter, Thai visitors were still praying. I guess a temple is a temple, end of story. Supposedly the entire project of the temple and the surrounding buildings is going to take 90 years to finish. Even in ten years time, I can only imagine that this place will just get more and more surreal and outlandish. We followed this up with a visit to the hilltribe museum. Sounds boring in theory, but came in very useful, as I'll explain later...
 The next day, after wandering the streets in search of a botanical garden, we gave up and asked for directions in a restaurant. There we met a couple, the husband from the States and the wife from Chiang Rai. They offered us a ride to the gardens, as we had somehow ended up on the other side of town, and started chatting. The man had lived in Thailand for 36 years, and spoke perfect Thai, but definitely still hung on to some American norms of life. He explained how he built his own giant home in the countryside and still wanted the luxuries of life. Just goes to show, you can take the man out of America, but you can't take the America out of the man. After walking around the gardens, we finished the night by somehow managing to go bowling (in Thailand, I know).
 Next it was time to head to Laos, and I have to say, it was the weirdest border crossing I've ever been through. We took a bus to the border town, followed by a tuktuk to the crossing. At the top of the street are shops to give you American money for your visa and passport photos. You then walk down a dirt road where you go to the Thai immigration office (low and behold, we screwed up our timing and managed to get fined for staying in the damn country one day too long). You then hop on a longboat and cross the river. You hop off, avoiding getting stuck in the mud, and walk up a hill to the Laos office, use the American money for your visa, and that's it. Slightly more rural than an American or Canadian customs officer giving you dirty looks.
 Our first destination in Laos was called Louang Namtha. It's in the North, about 20 km from the Chinese border. I think Rachel picked it out for trekking, so I figured I'd stick with the girls and see something new. After our first night here, it was time for me to split paths from the Scots and continue on my own. I had traveled with them for two months, and it felt like I'd known them for years. There's something about traveling that can turn acquaintances into practically family, and you get to know people twenty times faster than you would at home. The girls wanted to do a longer trek, but since I'm on a bit of a time crunch, I opted for two days. I ended up going with a couple - the girl from Austria and the guy from Germany. I think I really lucked out because the two were true nature lovers and wanted to take full advantage of their two days in the jungle. Our guide, Sing, had grown up in a tribal village, and knew everything about surviving in the wild. He showed us all the plants we could eat and use as medecine, and made us all walking stiks with his machete.

Sing, our guide

After hiking for about five hours, we arrived at a tribal village to spend the night. This was most definitely one of the most rewarding nights of my life. As soon as we arrived, all the kids started telling everyone that the foreigners had arrived, and we were swarmed by children wanting to play. One of the girls found some rocks and challenged me to jacks (which I apparently suck at), and none of them could get over my nose piercing. When it was time to cook dinner, we used plants we had found in the jungle to make soup, and the children gathered to help out, and show us how to prepare the local ingredients. It's pretty hilarious; you're sitting on the ground using a banana leaf to cut on, using a machete to cut up vegetables, and chickens and pigs are wandering around you the entire time. When we sat down to eat, a few of the locals who managed the property and their kids joined us. It was funny, every once and a while, a villager would pop their head around the corner, curious of what was going on. They were immediately invited to join us and eat, and our table got fuller and fuller. There were babies, mothers, and grandmothers, fathers, and teenage boys. We offered to buy our guide a beer, and before you knew it, even more people were joining us for a glass. The young adults of the village then got into their traditional clothes and danced for us. At the end, they tied strings to our wrists - meant to give you good fortune and wish away bad spirits - and fed us eggs - meant to give you strength. The whole night, I also thoroughly enjoyed playing with and making small talk with the young girls who happened to know a few words of English from school. The host family set up our sleeping area in our wooden shack - I'd say one of the nicer ones in the entire village.

Marten and Hannah making dinner with the kids

 The next morning we were woken by the roosters and by all the people working away to prepare breakfast. I forgot to mention that every meal was eaten with sticky rice which you form into balls and use as your utensil. We were off quickly for another day of hiking. Along the way, Sing picked plants to use for our lunch. When we got to our rest spot, we prepared everything using tools from the jungle. First, we made a fire (the German was thrilled to finally use flint and magnesium that he had purchased before leaving home). We then set up banana leaves and started cutting up the vegetables we had picked with the machete using bamboo as a cutting board. In the meantime, Sing had cut a long tube of bamboo, used it as a pot on the fire, and filled it with water to use as the base of our soup. We threw in the ingredients, and used a stick to mix everything inside of the bamboo. Sing then carved another tube of bamboo to make a giant dish and laid out banana leaves for plates. We poured our soup into the dish and used sticky rice (conveniently wrapped in banana leaves) to eat with it. Sing also showed us how to set up traps to catch different kinds of animals. I swear, this man could survive for a year alone in the jungle, it was amazing. The hike was definitely not a walk in the park, but despite the sweat, it was arguably the best two days I've had on my trip thus far.

Sweaty mess...

 Now I'm back in Louang Namtha resting up for the night, and getting ready to head to my next destination early tomorrow morning. Now that I'm on my own, it forces me to meet new people, and every new person has a new story, which I absolutely love. Needless to say, I'm more than anxious to see what the rest of Southeast Asia has in store for the lone traveller.