Chang Mai and Khao Lak

After Sokhuthai we had a 4 hour car ride to Chang Mai. Paul was our guide. He shared with us his in depth knowledge of rice cultivation and Thai history in general. I would call him a regurgitator, fact after fact after fact. Good stuff, picking his brain was fun. Along the way we visited a temple and stopped at an Elephant conservation center. Here they train and take care of elephants that no longer have a productive use in Thailand. Back in the day they were used as labor but with the development of modern industry they had become for the most part obsolete. Many of these camps popped up to provied a home (including national park) for the elephants to go to. We saw a little show where they did tricks and played instruments and painted....it didn't feel like a circus (as I had originally expected) as much as stuff you would train your dog to do (wish I could teach my dog to paint). After the show we got to feed the elephants corn, sugar cane and bananas. This particular place also had a hospital for elephants. Here we saw some really old elephants (sad) as well as some injured by landmines that were on the mend (also sad but good they were being cared for). There were a also a couple of baby elephants we were allowed to feed (cute little buggers). After this we explored a local food market during which Judy and I ate crickets and I ate bamboo worms. That's right we ate bugs and worms. They are considered a delicacy, had to do it. They were friend and salty and...well...I can say I did it. ...Not that that is something to brag about. Snake's blood would have been way cooler. I tried but could not find (probably better) also never found a cock fight (I asked a few times). After this we arrived at our hotel in Chang Mai. Our hotel, the Chedi, was hands down the finest hotel we have stayed in the entire time. I'm talkin 5 star resort, spa, couches on our patio, electric window shades, rain shower, spa tub, excellent food goodness. I could stay there forever. We are now spoiled and can never accept anything less (although my wallet would disagree with that assertion). A mojito, Cuban cigar and a Belgian beer later (by far the best beer I have had the entire trip, Belgian beer AM good) we headed into the city. So, turns out Chang Mai is having a little festival of their own called the Full Moon festival. This is like 4th of July and New Years and every other holiday and festival you have ever been to all wrapped together. First we watched the parade for a little bit which included marching bands, floats, the usual. Then we dove into the crowds. The big thing here was fireworks and 'lanterns'. First the fireworks, EVERYONE was lighting off fireworks. Consider here that we are close to the source, China, so they were good fireworks. There wasn't a moment where there wasn't a pop or fizz or sparkle or a ka-blamo...that's right, KA-BLAMO! Everywhere, all directions explosions and light and streamers and fountains, every firework you could imagine plus ones you never have imagined plus explosions. The other (Boom) big part (pop) of the celebration is (ka-blamo) the 'lanterns' (whistle, pop). These (pow, pow, pow) are big paper cylanders (pop, they come in all different sizes), think 8th grade science, with stuff you ignite (boom) at the bottom to creat fire (pop, pop, booom), the heat from the fire in turn (ka-blamo) heats the latern filling it with hot air (pop, pop, fizzle) which in turn creates lift and takes it into the air. Now imagine the sky filled with hundreds of these, people sending them skyward everywhere you turn (some with fireworks attached of course). So we have fireworks and lanterns, bands and parades, food and more food and tons of people everywhere celebrating. We got stopped at one point by some kids who asked to interview us for school on camera. Of course! First Question, "Have you been here before for the Full Moon Festival and what do you think of it?" Judy - "No, this is our fist time and it is quite incredible." Nick - "This is AWESOME! Where do I buy the explosives??" Second question, "Do you have anything like this back home?" Judy - "Well yes but not quite so chaotic and no laterns as it is too dry, fire in the air bad where we are from, we have strict laws against these sort of things." Nick - (appearing from nowhere with a hand full of contraband and a mouth full of fried chicken) "No way, the man is always spoiling our fun, all we get is sparklers and snakes and they come after you and give you a ticket if you try to do anything fun. The man is always tring to bring us down." Third question, "Do you think this is dangerous?" Judy -"Yes!". Nick - "Danger is my middle name!" Short and sweet, I imagine our video has been circulated around the Thai version of You Tube at this point. We purchased a lanter and made our way down by the river that cuts the city in half. There we launched our lantern and our bad fortune away into the air wondering where it will finally land. I wonder if our bad luck, carried by the lantern lands on someone elses house and becomes their bad luck...I ponder this briefly. That night we do see some land in tress fully aflame and the next day we seem them littering the street and some of the countryside we visit. We also launch a couple of Krathongs which were also widely available. I notice the guy next to us whos lantern does not have enough hot air for lift and crashes into the river (sucker, I hear that's 7 more years bad luck). We chilled on the river bank watching lantern after lanter and fireworks go off all around us up and down both banks of the river. All thru the nigh until about 5 am where there explosions. Judy did not sleep well. I on the other had happily slumbered twitching now and then muttering "ka-blamo" and "ka-pow" and "stupid man always keeping me down" in my sleep as I had blissful dreams of Thai festivals. The next day we visited another elephant camp where we rode elephants for an hour thru the jungle. I like. I've never really experienced elephants up close and I have to say they are pretty magnificant animals. Judy agrees but still thinks our yard is too small to start a camp on our own despite my please for the abandoned Thai elephant. She just doesn't seem to appreciate their deminishing value in the Thai workforce. I will keep working her on this. After the ride we took a bamboo raft a couple of kilometers down a nearby river. I inquire about the lack of monkeys, the boat guy (I can't really say he was driving as he was only shoving a stick into the water to push us along) says they Thais ate them all so they hide deep in the forest (damn, I forgot to ask about eating monkeys when we were at the marker). next we visited an orchid garden. Orchids are cool, they look like little alien faces. After that is was back home. Judy an I got Thai massages, took showers and headed out to the local night market for some grub and shopping. The next morning we got up early to give alms to some monks. You give them food, they pray for you and you both go about your business. I'd like to go into the whole monk, Bhuddhism, giving alms thing but don't have the time here, sorry. We then went to a local food market to experience daily life, ate some sticky rice with mango and took some rick shaws back to the hotel. Bummed we didn't get more time at the nice hotel we took showers, packed and headed to the airport to fly to Phuket.
Our SE Asia travels are winding to an end. We are currently in Khao Lak, just North of Phuket, lying on the beach and enjoying some downtime. The water is a nice aquamarine and the weather soothingly warm and balmy. I am of course sporting my water wings. Safety first. I would argue the water here is warmer that Hawaii but the beaches (at least where we are at) not quite as nice. our resort is surrounded by jungle and lush gardens. Life here is slow and good. We leave Wed for New Zealand. I am excited to go and Judy is excited to go back. We will first visit an old friend of Judy's before driving around the north island for a couple of days. We plan to do some Black Water Cave-ing (I'll blog on exactly what that means after we do) and checking out a festival in Coromandel and maybe even some additional beach time. We are both sad to be leave SE Asia and have both really enjoyed our experience here enough to want to come back and do more. Maybe after our next marriage :).