*crack fingers*
ok, need to blog about my Thailand trip b4 I forget everything (which could happen Really Quickly).....

day1
arrive in Bangkok. bewildered cos everything in Thai. flight was filled with daiti and thinking about people.... (ok ok mainly about 1 person-- you know who u are).. thankfully Sumin n Kelvin seem to know what they're doing. took train to Lampong Station. got conned into taking 100baht tuktuk to Wat Phra Keow (Grand Palace). stupid place was closed, and anyways we weren't wearing shirts with sleeves and pants with legs, so couldn't have gone in. wandered the place looking for FOOD. thought that Bangkok streets shd be thronging with delicious edibles, but no where to be found. some local guy got us a tuktuk to this other temple (with a big buddha statue-- very National Geographic) and back to train station. Only 30 baht! next time will not get cheated.

day2
train arrives in Changmai. the top bunk of the sleeper train is somewhat cramped... good thing i don't take up much space.. we meet Tom, who is a friend of Kelvin's friend. he's some super high flyer who actually speaks decent english(!), has a BA in PoliSci, doing another BA in Law, working parttime at the U, volunteers as a DJ in this english radio show. he gets us a taxi up to the mountains, and we go to this Hmong village and to Wat Doi Suthrap (i think).

The village is interesting. it's pretty westernized (we see ppl wearing fake adidas trackpants on motorcycles lurking about), but there are all these other ppl wearing bright traditional costumes wandering the streets. we suspect they take turns to wear the costumes and walk ard for the tourists. the street is lined with shops selling handicrafts. saw a tiger penis for sale (the guy assured us it's real). it's pretty long. we wander further into the village to see this small waterfall cascade. the place looks like a Malaysian kampong. The temple is ok too. the 300 steps up weren't as bad as expected. got free samples of fried pork skin. crispy, crunchy, but very bad for horizontal over-acheivers. View of changmai frm the top is much touted. but come on. it just looks like a city. not too impressive. the gold-plated chedi (pagoda) is indeed very big. was more interested in the multiple-buddha-oil-offering-thinggy. so there are 7 different buddha statues, each with an oil lamp in front of them. u put some $$ into a donation box, and get to pour oil into the lamps. was wondering what the difference b/w the buddhas were, y do some get more oil than others? they are all the same buddha right? there was this 'museum' also at the temple, which also had the different statues, labelled monday-sunday. so the statues represent what Buddha does each day of the week? (one shows him meditating, one with animals knelt b4 him, one of him on a Naga throne etc) so u just pour oil on the one rep the correct day of the week? *shrug*.... mysterious. need to ask someone.... mebbe leonard will know....

went back to Changmai U (CMU)-- toilet has no toilet paper!-- Tom brings us to a guesthouse run by his fren. pretty good. only 200 baht/rm/night. got aircon but no toilet paper. apparently toilet paper is not a neccessity in Thailand. had to buy some frm 7/11.

Went to Warorot market, where Kelvin buys And Consumes some fried crickets and locusts. I refused to try any.... sometimes i regret not trying.. he sez they taste pretty good... but i remember the black oily things and am really thankful for my presence of mind. heh heh. many other stalls with all sorts of stuff. a lot of fried foods. most commonly fried banana and fried fish.

at night we visited the radio station!!! very exciting becos have never been in a recording studio b4. we got to go on air live and everything!! *beam*.... the show was to encourage Thais to speak english. people call in to request songs, and are forced to chat a little in English.

after the show we went to the night bazaar. the food court had free live Thai traditional dance performances. looks very Indonesian, except mebbe costumes and hand positions slightly different. ate 'sukiyaki'-- some chicken and kangkong and various ingredients fried with egg. pretty oily. not that good. we also had papaya salad and tom yum soup, both excellent. saw this guy selling flowers carved frm soap. really intricate, smelt good too =).... orchids were particularly beeyoutiful.

ok lah. break to sleep b4 continuing with this travel diary....