Log 30: Local bus ride, Phnom Penh, and The Khmer Rouge

Our ride came to the guest house to take us to the bus stop and once boarded we definitely knew it was the local bus. Families with small children, old ladies with plastic bags of items, men on their way to what looked like important business meetings for Cambodian standards (not exactly suits but dressed up at any rate) and we were the only two westerners on board. We were saving $2 dollars by taking a local bus instead of the VIP bus with all the tourists, but is was actually quite nice hanging with the locals even though we stuck out like a sore thumb.  The whole ride we were entertained by the Khmer pop music/music videos that played on screen up front, and the bus driver was a really suave looking dude that was loving these videos. We stopped twice for toilet stops at the Cambodian equivalent of a truck stop with squat toilets and a hole in the ground, where I couldn’t decided if I was supposed to ‘tip’ the lady standing there that was ‘attending’ the basic toilets.  By the time we reached our destination we were dropped in the middle of Phnom Penh near the central markets and were immediately swarmed with tuk-tuk and taxi offers to get us to our hotel, which we hadn’t even booked yet.  After a hold-up on a bus station bench, a consult with “the book”, and a nice tuk-tuk driver that really wanted our business and spoke English true to his little sign he held, we were off to a guesthouse we hoped had a room. We also signed up our driver, Mr. Sokhom to drive us around the next day to the sights. 

The above story is basically every transit and entrance into a city in Asia, and I think I’m finally getting used to it, instead of the small panic and rushed feeling that I have to hide in order to get to where we want to be.  It is still strange being without a car for my own transit from place to place, its also the concept of having to  be served that’s still hard to get used to.  I am DYING to cook myself a meal, make myself a juice or coffee, or even just get to where I’m going on my own and park. 

Phnom Penh is just how I remembered it, though last time I definitely remember being culture shocked for a first few days, so the amazing newness of the Cambodian lifestyle was a bit less fantastic to me but that was about it. I must say I think there are more tourists here now and the riverfront area is finished and looking quite posh, a good push for the tourism industry even if it didn’t need that much of a push.

The next morning as I headed down for breakfast, the news was on and all over it was the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, that had happened just a few hours previously. This one being much wrose than the one last September, buildings were crumpled, the cathedral steeple had fallen in, and roads in the city center were cracked wide open. Tragically, this time was during the middle of the day so people were in the city working, and its high tourist season so many more people were there. I was instantly a bit shocked and rushed upstairs to contact my friends to see if they were ok in Ashburton, as well as Christchurch. After the initial news broadcast and the e-mails there was really nothing left to do but go about my day, as there was nothing I could do. 

Mr. Sokhom picked us up and our first stop was The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, I had been before but this is not a place you don’t go to just because you’ve seen it before. During the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1978, the soldiers and leaders killed 3 million people across Cambodia in an attempt to cleanse the country of imperialism and western ideas to create a pure agrarian based society. If you were educated, an intellectual, didn’t join ‘the party, said anything against the party, etc, you were killed or sent to a prison before being tortured and forced into confessing that you were CIA or KGB.  They would also kill your whole family because they didn’t want to leave anyone capable of taking revenge in the future.  The Killing Fields is just one of the many sights around Cambodia where people were killed and buried in mass graves, but it has become a national monument to the people that perished during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. A monument has been erected with the bones and clothes from the graves they excavated housed inside. There is also a museum of sorts off to the side with more information on the evils of the regime.  We walked around the mass graves and the tree that was used to killing children in a very somber state, just trying to realize the horrors that happened here.

The next stop was Toug Slang a school in the city that was renamed S-21 and converted to a torture prison for the Khmer Rouge. The 30,000 people that were killed at The Killing Fields were all housed and tortured here first. Individual chambers were built within the school rooms, as well as the larger classrooms used as mass containment areas. Victims were tortured to get confessions of crimes against The Party, or for being a spy for the CIA or the KGB. On Liberation Day when the Vietnamese invaded to put an end to the Khmer Rouge, as the regime was also crossing into Vietnam and killing civilians by the thousands, only 8 people were found alive in S-21.  Only 4 survived to tell their story. This was another very somber place to walk around, talking was discouraged, but this was not a place that you wanted to talk or be chatty. 

We walked up to the river front area and checked out the café’s and restaurants. I found the café that my friend and I had frequented and found it to be just the same, except the bamboo trees along the edge had grown considerably. I sent a message to Amrit, the Green Peace worker from India that we met in Siem Reap, and he met us at the café for dessert and conversation.  We were headed to Vietnam the next day so we had an early night of it.

Matt gets chicken strips for dinner.... I just found it hilarious

COWS! Road side cows. They clean everything up, roadsides, rice paddies...temples

View from our guesthouse

In Cambodia you just drive where you want when you are on a motorbike

Mr. Sokham and the Amazing Tuk-Tuk

The mass graves at the Killing Fields

The skull pagoda monument at the Killing Fields commemorating the dead

One of the torture cells in the S-21 prison

Rules for prisoners at S-21

More prison cells built inside the classrooms of the school

Neon Buddha!!  The highlight of our night out

Log 29: Cambodia and Angkor Wat once again!

I had been to Cambodia 2 years ago traveling with another good friend Mike, but it was only an 11 day adventure instead of our current 3 month journey. I’m also much less naïve this time around, as that was my first exposure to Asia. Mike had planned everything and herded me from place to place, while I stared wide-eyed at my new environment with a mixture of excitement and terror not really knowing where to step and definitely not knowing how to haggle for anything.  I remember getting robbed whenever buying water and a certain box of oatmeal raisin cookies because of my ignorance of the system. Mike had told me those better be the best cookies I had ever had, as I had paid the American equivalent of $25 for 10 cookies. DOH!  I was determined to be better this time around, and on the whole I have. Matt still hasn’t gotten the hang of bartering and still gets robbed blind sometimes because he just doesn’t seem to have the patience for it.  It is still cheap but it should be even cheaper, but our western faces get us an inflated price everytime.  

Siem Reap is the same for the most part, but there are definitely more hotels, grander and newly built, some finished that were still skeletons when I had seen them in 2008.  Pub street, the main tourist center, seems livelier, and definitely a bit more expensive as the locals have caught onto the tourism traps and the money that can be made. Again, its still very cheap for the average westerner, but we backpackers budget on the fact that Asia is ridiculously cheap and like me, plan on only spending around $2000 to see 8 countries. It wouldn’t take long to eat through that in Europe or the US, but here even the cheapest backpacker can live high on the hog for that.  I have a sad feeling that one day this great place will develop itself to Western standards and lowly backpackers won’t be able to afford what they used to. Great for the country’s economy and people, but bad for young backpackers and the culture of the local people that gets lost in the mean time.

With Dean and Daisy, Matt and I hired a tuk-tuk for the day and we set out to see the infamous Angkor temple complex, the capitol of the Khmer Empire that thrived from the 9^th-12^th centuries.

 Here’s some background from the always debatable Wikipedia: The self declared Hindu God-King Jayavarman II, along with succeeding princes and kings, went on a building spree and built over 100 cities and temple complexes. The kingdom was Hindu until the middle of Kind Jayavarman’s reign who was a Mayahana Buddhist and began altering the Hindu temples to Buddhist images until the 14^th century when Theravada Buddhism became established. During war the civilization declined and was eventually abandoned by the 15^th century but Angkor Wat was still used as a Buddhist shrine. Thankfully during the Cambodian civil war, when the Khmer Rouge tortured the country and declared anything western evil, the Angkor temples were seen as valuable history of the people and were not destroyed. 

 We started with Angkor Wat the largest temple, and most reconstructed. It was an amazing expanse of sandstone built in Hindu style but with Buddhism clearly adopted into the structures and carvings through the centuries of religious changes. As it was mid-day, most of the tourists that had arrived for the famous sunrise over Angkor Wat had gone home for lunch, a nap, and a reprieve from the sun, so we had the temple more or less to ourselves with only a few groups of guided tourists breaking the silence.  We headed to 4 other temples, Angkor Tom with Bayon, the giant Buddha statue, the kings palace, and the elephant terraces, before stopping for a much needed cold drink and some shade at the tent restaurant run by our tuk-tuk drivers sister. Always related, always a bit of a kick back for bringing in the tourists, but at least we didn’t have dozens of purposefully dirtied children giving you sad eyes and asking you to by postcards, magnets, scarves, grass bracelets, or wanting to trade beads for your watch.  While we had our cold drinks, they did cut open a young coconut for us to eat the soft insides once they made a drink from the juice.  The coconuts grow wild EVERYWHERE so paying for one seems a bit silly, until you see the cleaver and the muscle that goes into opening one.  These little Asian women are tough chicas, between the coconut chopping and the mortar and pestle that’s used to make every sauce and curry these ladies have some mad muscles.

We ended our day at sunset on a mountain temple, but before there was much sunset, lots of cloud moved In as well as 100’s of tourists brought up for the viewing and we quickly decided we had enough of the crowds and people and since the sunset wasn’t even visible we made our way back to Siem Reap to clean-up and find some dinner. After supper, we talked ourselves into dessert and found a bakery with half-off pastries and ice cream so we made purchases for tomorrows breakfast at the temples and some much deserved dessert.

Daisy and Dean found a bit of cake that looked very much like a chocolate lingam and we quickly made many jokes about it.  Some background first:  Shiva, one of the three primary representations of the Hindu God, the destroyer or reproducer. Shiva is also represented by phallic symbols called lingams, and these are present in all Hindu countries as well as Buddhist cultures that used to be Hindu.  So basically there are small and large penis representations all over Asia.  A guide of Daisy and Dean’s in India liked to enunciate quite a lot and shee-vaaa lingggg- gummm was one of the more common phrases he slowed down. So as we were running around temples, we were also pointing out shee-vaaa lingggg- gummm’s everywhere and giggling. The chocolate cake lingam after a long day in the sun and a few beers was the funniest thing we’d seen in a long time. 

Our next day we did the larger loop of the temple tours, again with our trusty tuk-tuk driver Tong, and we started at 5am hoping to get Ta Prohm, the temple famously shot in the Lara Croft film, to ourselves as the day was starting.  During the drive to the temple though in just about pitch blackness, we started regretting our decision of the early start. But as we arrived and sat in stillness with the ancient ruins, a mosque in the distance calling for prayers, and birds starting to chatter, we were all content sitting and taking in the expanse of the remains of the great temple. We sat with our own thoughts in the temple, and munched on the pastries we had purchased the night before in preparation for the early morning. Just after the first rays were making the stones clear, the other tourists started arriving in mobs and the magic was broken. Still with few people around, we made our way through the galleries and chambers enjoying the feel that the jungle had taken over rule of the place for the last several hundred years. Reconstruction and restoration of the ruins is in full swing but its hard to miss the giant trees that have taken over sections of the temples and that could not be removed without causing the stones to fall with it.  We made our way around 5 more minor temples and by noon we were ready to head to Siem Reap for some lunch, a cold shower and nap.  I managed a few hours of shut-eye but awoke drenched with sweat from the heat of the day making our room an oven. I made my way down to the restaurant and joined Daisy in some chatter and cold drinks, while the men folk went off to find much needed haircuts. 

When the boys returned, we met up with another traveler, Amrit from India, that Daisy and Dean had met on the train who is working for Green Peace on a ship but has a break in his assignment and had been diving in Thailand.  We continued our chatter until the day cooled a bit and then we all headed into town and found a local restaurant on Amrit’s suggestion that was off the tourist track and much cheaper than the main street places and to be honest a much better meal. There were also amazing lemon shakes that cooled the body and mind, before we switched over to a refreshing beer.

Our next day, I signed up for a cooking class being a bit templed-out, while the rest of them went to some temples further afield.  I arrived at my class and found I was the only one signed up, I think the cooking class is a new arrival to Cambodia, unlike the well established classes in Thailand. Having private instruction I made a Mango salad, that was sweet, sour, and spicy all in one; Khmer Amok fish a curried fish dish with egg that’s AMAZING, and a pumpkin tapioca dessert with egg that was actually REALLY tasty! I had my doubts when the egg was being added but it made a sort of custard that made the tapioca a nice texture. I seem to be cooking my way across Asia but I love it! Afterward while I ate my dishes, the instructor Niang, sat and chatted with me and asked me about my life and travels. She’s my same age, single, and living in the city about 3hrs from her family. They are rice farmers and she was the only one interested in going to school and they could only afford to send one child. Her other two siblings weren’t interested in school and are helping on the farm.  She was surprised that I was a doctor and still so young, she also thought I was about 20 to start with but we soon discovered I’m a few months older than her.  She also kept telling me she eats tons, trying to be bigger and taller like me, but she can’t seem to get there. I’m getting used to the Asian comments about my size but it still threw me off guard at first. I told her how I’m quite short in my country and that my family is from a farm as well, which made her even more surprised that I went to university. 

When the gang came back from tuk-tuking around all day, we headed out for some farewell supper as we were going our separate ways the next. After a few beers, and a stop in to see the traditional Apsara dancing, we found a seat by one of the big screen TV’s on the street to watch an English football game that Dean was keen to see. It was a minor league team from his area of town in London, Leyton Orient against a more well known team Arsenal. We thought we’d only watch a bit as Leyton Orient was predicted to get annihilated but it ended up being a very exciting game with a tie 1-1 at the end. We were also instant Leyton Orient fans because we knew someone from there, therefore sending our hate out to the Arsenal team. 

After a partial nights sleep though, we were up and away via local bus to Phnom Penh to continue our travels while Daisy and Dean were off to Battambang.   

Dean and Daisy our new adoptees!

Angkor Wat

Khmer stone carvings

A kitten that decided Daisy's lap was the place to be during lunch. Also the 2nd animal of 4 to scare the bejesus outta Daisy while we traveled with them. 

The top of Angkor Wat from the mountain trek for sunset

Elephants! Ride to the top for $10US

Ta Prohm at sunrise... awesome place to be!

Tree growing on temple: Matt being silly

Tree growing on temple: Kat being silly

Lion statues... all three of them

Tree growing on temple: The JAUNT's

VERY green spider... still need to Google this one

My Khmer cooking class, Mango salad, Fish Amok

Angkor Wat

On temple steps, attemps at a CD cover for our mythical band 

Bayon 

Four windows, for peeps!!

Very steep steps down from a temple

Tuk-Tuk RIDE!

Cambodian sampler dinner, SO good!

Chocolate Liiiingum

Bayon 

Ta Prohm, used in Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie

Angkor Wat walkway, half restored, half WILD

Giant Buddha

Our gang in Siem Reap!

I finally found some real heavy feet to match my driving! A bit old but they'll do. 

Log 28: Sleeper train to Bangkok

We went back to Chiang Mai via the VIP bus and 762 turns road which made the eggs and coffee churn, but it finally settled down about hour 2 of the 3 hour journey. It dropped us right at the train station thankfully and we found some snacks for the 6 hr train ride and a quick meal before we boarded. We were both excited for the train journey as it was a first go at the ‘sleeper’ variety train ride for both of us. We found our berths, an upper and a lower, and found we had in store for us a pretty comfortable area for our 14 hr ride down to Bangkok. A/C, sheets, a little mattress, and pillow.

The train arrived in Bangkok at 7am, the biggest city we had dealt with thus far and we planned on staying near the train station for ease of getting back out of the city, but it was nowhere near the ‘typical Bangkok’ that every other tourist and backpacker sees.  Hardly any tourists unless they are using the train station, definitely local food stands with no menu’s, and if they did exist it was printed all in Thai.  The guest house we were staying in was supposed to be hard to fine, but turns out it wasn’t we just MADE it hard to find. We started out wandering in the direction and found an alley with the same name as the road the guest house was on but we quickly realized it was not an alley frequented by backpackers or travelers of any kind. After many turns and many more confused faces from locals going about their day in the back allies, some finally started saying guest house with a quizzical tone and pointed us back towards what was the main road. A very friendly and fluent English speaking woman guided us all the way there and much to our embarrassment it was just about 100m down from the crossing we took from the train station. DOH! 

Matt and I have done very well taking turns navigating, equally succeeding as well as screwing up the directions and getting us lost. Matt seems to get his bearings in cities better, so I usually end up trusting him on arrival, but so far I’ve been better with the changing currency and keeping all the zero’s straight.  In Bali, 1,000,000 rupiah was $100US and Matt ended up losing a couple 100,000 rupiah likely from getting mixed up with the zeros and not counting back the changed be got back.  It is quite hard and since our currency keeps changing every 10-15 days, it gets even more confusing.

Our guest house was a wonderful mother and son duo, who were some of the nicest people and insisted that the best breakfast was just around the corner, a traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup. “You see my son, he eat everyday, grow big and strong, you eat, you grow big and strong!” Though I want to grow big and strong someday, the prospect of eating hot soup when we were dripping with sweat at 8am wasn’t appealing so instead we found a hotel with a fruit salad and some ice coffee. Although 30min later it came right back up after taking my anti-malarial doxycycline. They say to take it with food, as I found out quickly in Sydney is very true when I had to make a vomit run from taking it on an empty stomach before breakfast.  Apparently doxycycline needs carbohydrates in the form of toast or pastry cuz it didn’t like yoghurt and fruit.  I was really sad to waste that good fruit and its never fun to worship the porcelain goddess.

In only planned on staying in Bangkok for a few days, but after just one day of sightseeing the main temples and the Grand Palace and dealing with the con artist tuk-tuk drivers, we had had quite enough. Matt ended up getting a good deal on a suit but this is how it works in Bangkok:  The tuk-tuk drivers get a kick back from the tailor shops to bring tourists to their shops, so your ride is really cheap as long as you accept stopping at 2 stores and wasting 10-15 min while the middle eastern run shops try to sell you a handmade suit or dress from them. By the end of the day I was pretty sure that this is where the middle east launders all their oil money.  We’re still questioning if the suit Matt paid for will actually show up in the post and if it will fit him and not fall apart after the first wearing.

I had had enough of the heat and trying to find the city bus we were told to get back to our guest house from the palace area, so I gave into getting a tuk-tuk driver saying he’d take us for 10 baht ($0.33US) but we had to stop at a really sketchy tailor shop where Matt had to pretend to want to buy a suit but then decline for us to get home. I had bartered down from 2 stops to 1 but it was still extremely frustrating. I was nearly about to play ‘the bitchy girlfriend’ card for us to get out of the shop, but Matt gave the queue to leave first. When asked if I wanted a custom dress made I just told the guy I was a gardener and didn’t need any fancy dresses. Before we could leave both the salesman, desperate for a sale, and the owner of the shop followed us out to the tuk-tuk still trying to talk poor Matt into another suit.  Finally on our way home, I thanked Matt for putting up with the harassment to get us home.   

Bangkok to me is just a giant, dirty, corrupt city full of con artists. I was over it within 3 hours. Our attempt at finding supper that night had us walking all over trying to find somewhere for a sit down meal. That’s not really the local style, so just as we were about to join them and eat from the street vendors, we found a restaurant where we were the only customers. Neither of us being big city people, we decided to get the train to Cambodia the next day at 5am just to get out of Bangkok. I know we weren’t in the right area to see the fun side of Bangkok and I haven’t really given Bangkok a fair chance but we still just wanted to leave and I saw no reason to waste anymore precious time dealing with these scammers.

We boarded our third class train at 5am after finding some water and pastries for breakfast, on our way to the famous border crossing into Cambodia, fraught with stories of scams and warnings about fake visas and ‘side-trips’ to fake border crossings in the middle of rice paddies.  We met several people on the train that had gone the easier route and gotten e-visa’s before getting to the border to bypass the ‘extra fees’ the officers try to make you pay but we decided to try our luck.

The first hiccup was getting from the train station to the border via tuk-tuk. “100baht, 100baht!” our driver called , still steep for the short journey but we gave in. We lied and said we already had visas so just to take us to the border, but he stopped at a ‘garage’ with signs touting ‘Welcome to Cambodia’ and ‘Tourist Visa Service of Cambodia’ and little men dressed in home-sewn uniforms that didn’t quite match.  I insisted we already had visas and just take us too the border, after a few minutes of looking annoyed the fake uniformed fellows told our driver to drive on and we made it to the border.  But not before he tried getting 100 baht per person, instead of total because we had cheated him out of his Fake Visa commission fee from the garage people. I told him he should have clarified the per person rate earlier and walked away.

 At the border there is vague labeling of where to go and where to walk, but a bus driver trying to sell his bus to get a ride to Siem Reap showed us the way thinking we’d take his bus once we got our passports stamped. We joined up with a Scottish couple and a Spaniard that had come in on a corrupt bus and had to walk a kilometer to the border because they didn’t buy their buses Cambodian visa for $35US.  We found our way through the Thai casinos in no-man’s land and finally found the visa building where we filled out the necessary paperwork and were asked to pay the $20US cash and also 100 baht fee ‘for a fast and no hassle’ visa.  After our guide book specifically told us about this scam and signs on the Thailand side saying not to accept any extra fees for a visa, I was ready to deny the request.  I gave him a big smile and bravely asked him if he was sure I had to pay more, and that I thought he was joking with me.  He eventually smiled back and just took the US cash and told me to sit down and wait with the other. 100 Thai baht is just over $3US, affordable for me, but it was more the principle of the thing and the fact I was being conned. Most tourists, nervous enough going through a land crossing, will pay the nominal fee in the hopes of just getting through without a hassle.  But again, that wasn’t the point.  I decided to use my blonde hair and ‘charming smile’ I’ve been told I have, to get past the scam. I was just lucky it worked, for myself and Matt who was standing behind me.

Finally over the border, with our new visa and our entrance stamp, we found the ‘free shuttle’ that takes you to the bus terminal in the middle of nowhere so you are forced to get one of their taxi’s or buses to Siem Reap. One company has a monopoly on the taxi’s and buses, and they scare away any other taxi’s or buses that try to pick up tourists.  Some people get suckered AT the border into a taxi working for that company to get to the terminal but our invaluable guide book warned us of that too. At the terminal we took the cheap, slow, bus offer and met two traveling couples also on their way to Siem Reap.  On arrival we took their ‘free’ tuk-tuk included in our bus fare to find a guest house with one of the couples, Dean and Daisy, but after being asked for a tip from our free tuk-tuk we decided to stay at the first place he took us too. Quite exhausted from our adventure and ready for a cold shower we checked in then went into town with our new friends for dinner and several well deserved beers for $.50 a pop. Its cheaper to drink alcohol than anything else, even water sometimes. 

Log 27: Chiang Mai to Pai

The day had come to leave Chiang Mai and head north for a few days to a village called Pai, a hippie haven that sprang to life ironically back in the 60’s and 70’s where a few of the residents checked out about that time and are still there.  We were trying to decide between Chiang Rai and Pai and after a few positive recommendations we chose Pai.  We booked a minibus and after we were picked up from our hotel in the cab, that are literally covered pick-up trucks with seats in the bed, we all piled into the minibus and made ready for the curvaceous journey along the Pai road, known for its 762 curves up a mountain road.  We met a couple of retired Canadian teachers that were traveling through winter and had rented a house in Pai for a month. Dave and Maseko gave us the heads up on where to eat, what to see, and what to expect to pay for accommodation. They also kept us from sitting in the back of the bus where it was inevitable to get car sick from the curves.  Our stomachs still churned a bit on the journey but the kind that could be coped with.

We booked a little hut for two nights and ventured out to find a drink, along the way we found Dave and Maseko having a coffee and they invited us over to join them.  After coffee, we walked around the village seeing the shops and massage parlors, Foot therapy fish tanks, and book stores. I found a massage place that two German ladies exited and gave raving reviews for so I left Matt to wander and I went in for an hour long oil massage for $6.50 US.  SCORE!!  Sitting on a cloud of relaxation I wandered through the village, bought an ice cream, and found a book store to browse trying to find my next read.  I finally headed back to our hut to meet Matt.  We headed into the village center for the evening to find a street market on with street food galore, which we sampled quite happily.  We managed to stuff ourselves, with strawberries, fried chicken, sticky rice and garlic pork, BBQ’d corn that Matt had been eyeing up in 3 countries now, some kind of grilled rice pancake, and some homemade doughnut and fried sweets for dessert. All for about $6 US dollars each, I LOVE street markets!

Our second day in Pai, we had a lie in and then found some lunch and coffee around 11, after which we decided we’d passed enough of these foot therapy fish tanks that we needed to try them out ourselves. So for 30min, we sat with our feet and lower legs suspended in a fish tank with hundreds of little sucker like fish eating the dead skin away. It tickled and felt strange, but mostly it felt like a 1000 little fish giving you kisses on your feet. We could physically feel the larger ones eating their way across your foot but it didn’t hurt by any means. We had silky smooth feet afterward but I still had my calluses for walking, phew!  Matt went off to brave a massage and I headed back to the hut to relax. That night the market was on again with even more booths, and along the way we found our friends Dave and Masako just as we were off to find the Curry Shack they had suggested for dinner. We walked around the market for a bit, sampled a deep fried bread with sweet black bean in the middle, then headed over to the Curry Shack for their famous masaman curry. It turned out to be the place to be as there were 9 people already waiting and it wasn’t even open yet. There was a small traditional Thai looking kitchen with just a young couple running the show and their 2 yr old daughter running around entertaining the guests with her bubble blowing abilities. The kitchens bamboo ceiling extended out over a seating area that would have held no more than 15 people but it was some GREAT curry!  The best part was ordering by writing your own receipt with prices listed and added up, and handing it to the couple in the kitchen.  Dave and Masako showed up and joined us for dinner as they couldn’t resist the curry either. Dave showed me how to make a proper shandy beer with sprite and Singha beer, while we tried to get across to them in a polite way that we weren’t actually a couple as they assumed and kept mentioning. They said their goodnights and headed off to bed as we headed back to the market for dessert and some pie at a recommended restaurant known for their desserts. By that point we were rolling ourselves back to our hut filled to overflowing and ready for sleep it off and perhaps go without breakfast in the morning. 

By morning we had digested properly and thought food was still an option for the coming future, but I still tentatively ordered breakfast of eggs and coffee. We surprisingly met Dave and Masako where we chose to get breakfast, but maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised as small of a village as it was.  We chatted over coffee and I introduced them to the Johnny Possum Band, upon their request, with the bad garage recording I had of one of our tunes, as well as the Irish session at the Irishman, and we exchanged e-mail addresses and they were sad to see their ‘adopted grandkids’ leave. They were heading back to Canada in a few more days anyway but we promised to keep in touch. 

Hut in Pai

Bamboo bridge across the river in Pai

Fish therapy for feet!

Hill-tribe kids playing at the street market

Our amazing desert!

Streets of Pai

Dave and Masako our Pai guides

Night market in Pai

garlic pork and purple sticky rice!

rice fritter? AMAZING whatever it was

After 4 countries, Matt finally got his corn

pub with music and cool lanterns

cofffeeeeeee....

Fish eating my feet