This post will be split up a bit as there is so much to talk about here. The first crazy experience was the trip from Laos to Thailand. Though there were no crazy bribe systems this time at the border, the over twenty-four hours to get to Chiang Mai was a rough one. I luckily met Joey right off in Luang Prabang, Laos. We were picked up by a pickup truck and sat in the bed for a bumpy forty-five minute ride to a big bus station area. Luckily Joey and I managed to find our sleeper bus.
We climbed in and then for the first time in my months in southeast asia, I had a bed completely to myself. I was so excited to be able to move and stretch out for the long trip. The road was incredibly bumpy and I remember a few times where I flew into the air above the bed. My eyes shot open as my hands and arms reached out scratching for any solid surface to grab onto. I thought I was going overboard, flying off the top bunk. I looked down to see Joey had flipped off his bottom bunk but somehow was still dead asleep so I hopped down and rolled him back in.
The trip wasn’t supposed to take that long but at some point in the middle of the night, I awoke to realize we weren’t moving this time. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but pitch black so I got worried, as we clearly weren’t at a pit stop as those had some kind of building usually. After asking the driver, I found out that due to the monsoon season and massive rains while driving, he tried to cross an overflowing bridge but was stuck due to the water pressure. He told me not to worry and we would wait for a few hours when it let up and he could keep going.
Too tired to worry I just climbed back in bed and hoped I wouldn’t wake up to a flooded or flipped bus.
After all of that craziness we did make it to the city and I was excited to be back in a country I knew much better than the other ones. I jumped off the bus with Joey who already had a hostel in mind so I decided what the heck, and we went together to the new hostel. There, we were put in a room with a couple other girls. Instantly, one of the girls hit it off with Joey and I witnessed a love story start, still not sure how long it lasted though.
That night I scheduled a trip to see some elephants at a sanctuary the next day. I will say it is a bit difficult to determine which ones are completely legit and safe. I knew the main rules were never to ride the elephants and I believe the one I found was decent though I always hope I went to the right one.
I arrived early there where they had us all change into clothing that the workers wear around the elephants, in order not to overwhelm them with new smells. We were taught how to use a machete to cut sugar cane, their favorite treat, and given space to chop enough to fill each of our baskets. I helped a nearby mother out with chopping some extra for her younger daughter.
Then we got to meet them to give them a small snack, one at a time, with plenty of space for them to leave if they wanted to. This was by far the most majestic thing I’ve done. I felt connected with this gentle being. After all the abuse many of these rescues face, they had been so gentle, curious as to who we were. Several wanted attention right off but there was an older one that after standing at a distance eventually made its way over in curiosity.
I never understood what people meant when they talked about seeing an elephant’s soul but in her eyes, there was some kind of understanding, kindness, and love. I definitely shed a few tears as she carefully took a few pieces of sugar cane, then wrapped her trunk around me as if a hug and wandered back away.
There was a mother and baby there as well, the baby loved to cause trouble we learned as we walked with them down to the river. We were advised to just let them go or come as they pleased. The baby was very mischievous; I watched as it snuck behind the thirteen year old girl from earlier and steal sugar cane from her basket, then run off when she tried to hide her basket from it. As soon as it saw the river, it ran right in, flinging water at all of us as we watched them bathe and enjoy the water and mud. Eventually we left them and headed back up to return the clothing.
It was the next day at the hostel when I met a new friend Jade. She was really cool and was traveling around Thailand as a break to be inspired to write some more. She was very friendly and we decided to explore the city together. Chiang Mai had such a different feel than the southern cities. I felt quite safe exploring there so we visited some temples who luckily had shawls and skirts out front so we didn’t have to be hot walking around. We then hit up a market for souvenirs. There is when we tried a scorpion together. We split one knowing we were unlikely to each finish a whole one.
I went first and bit off a crunchy pincher, chewing it forever as it kept crunching and I wasn’t sure I wanted to swallow it. It reminded me of my childhood, made up of lobsters so it had a very shellfish kind of taste. I was dumb and it didn’t occur to me until the first few coughs erupted from my mouth to maybe get some wifi and look up scorpion relatives. Sure enough, as the first few red bumps appeared on my face I found the scorpion is a relative to lobsters, which I had found out in my teens how allergic I had gotten to them. So with coughing and hives I grabbed some antihistamines from a nearby small 24/7 shop. We laughed our butts off as I got some ice cream and let the reaction settle down. That same night we grabbed some drinks from the mart and had fun taking pictures with these cool metal sculptures. We tried to go to a couple clubs but those were honestly pretty dead and lacking people so we danced along in the empty streets.
As the drinks flowed, I decided I would do something I’d been wanting to and get my nipples pierced. We went straight to a piercing shop that was clean and the guy said he had done them before. I whipped off my shirt and repeated, “Fuck, fuck, fuck” as Jade gawked and cringed watching it me get it done. We celebrated with more drinks and food before heading back to the hostel.
I attempted to head to Pai for a couple days as many people raved about the small town but it ended up raining, not just raining but downpouring the entire couple days. I had to miss out on quite a bit as most of the activities were outdoors and it was too difficult to drive in this kind of rain. Our hostel made up for it though as we set up a million drinking games, we had a fun competition of the fastest shotgun by country and had a running board of times each day.
When I returned, Jade was still there so we went out again together to some more markets. We found a really nice tattoo place and Jade mentioned she’d been wanting to get her first tattoo for so long. With some encouragement, we walked in and met the artist running the shop. He took down some ideas of what we wanted and we sent him some examples and planned to meet him the next day.
I ended up with an additional three tattoos he completely drew and designed himself. I thought they were beautiful and Jade got her first ever tattoo, something I’m happy to have experienced with my new friend. Unfortunately, minutes after the tattoos were done, I was giving hugs and a slightly teary goodbye as I ran to the bus station to head to Bangkok to meet with another friend from the beginning of my travels.
