Mid Semester Couplecation: Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand

By Matt

Once we cleared customs in Chiang Khong, we located the bus station and hopped on a local bus headed for Chiang Rai, the northernmost province in Thailand.  The city of Chiang Rai itself is a bit dumpy, but for some reason I didn’t mind it.  There were some tourists around, but this had a refreshing feel of being in a foreign country, and our foreign country at that.  Our adventures in Chiang Rai included a ½ day outdoor rock climbing and zip-lining, a private cooking course, visiting an uber-sweet all white temple, and relaxing at the Le Meridian for 3 days, just outside of town as seen here:  

The rock climbing and zip-lining experience is worth a few words.  Our hosts Dave (60 year old quirky expat) and Noi (means “little”, his very new and very non-English speaking assistant) were waiting patiently for our arrival as we were the only 2 customers that day at the relatively new rock climbing, er, gym.  Dave had secured some ropes to a sheer limestone cliff, confirmed we could tie a rope in a double knot and let us at it.  Dave disappeared every time Shelly finished a climb and let Noi (Dave said he needed more experience with the ropes) do the belaying while a nervous Matt went vertical.

After a few hair climbs, Dave asked if we’d like to go for a hike.  We obliged and set up, directly up, a side of the adjoining mountain.  After about 10 minutes of not-so-quiet cursing because of the constant sliding backwards, brutal heat, and mosquitoes, I threw up my hands and told Shelly I was going back down, immediately, and she could come.  Dave and Noi had already disappeared so we worked our way back down carefully.  Once down, we ran into Noi sleeping in a hammock - he had already ascended and descended the mountain.

Noi pointing the way to certain death

To finish off the day, Dave rigged us up on the new 160m zip-line.  He informed us politely that they usually had 3 people supervise this, but that 2 would have to suffice.  And Noi has never done this either.  After securing ourselves, Dave ran back to the clearing where we would eventually arrive at the end of the zip line.  About 10m before the end of the zip line is a retention pond, which would be a bad place to come to a stop in case, say, the momentum of the zip line took you backwards after going the full distance.  Noi was unaware it was his job to catch and hold onto me at the end of my run.  Shelly had never experienced the joy of zip lining - and associated rope burn - and thoroughly enjoyed her run.  Dave caught her.  I came to a stop at the end of the rope and started to slide backwards.  And backwards more.  Noi gave me a pondering look as I passed by him and held out my hand.  Dave tells Noi in broken Thai to run after me.  Noi starts laughing and slowly jogs after me while saying “mai ben rai, mai ben rai”, which means “no worries, or nevermind".  I came to rest just over the retention poind and Dave finally retrieves me with a large hook. 

 Our private cooking course with Suwannee couldn’t have been better.  We lucked out as the class can be up to 10 people, but no one had signed up for our selected day.  Suwannee picked us up and took us to the local market to select all the ingredients we would need for our customized menu.  We spent about 6 hours with her at the market, cooking, and eating all for the low, low price of $30 each.  Our menu was Tom Ka Gai (Coconut Milk soup w/ chicken), Gang Daeng Gai (Red curry chicken), another stir-fry dish I can’t remember the name of, and a dessert that resembled blue play-doh balls poured with coconut milk.  Strange sounding, but very, very good.

What you can't see here are the two birds that we've released from their bamboo cage.  This gives us good merit for the day

Would you like chilis...or chilis?

Last but not least is the temple of Wat Rong Khun, an all-white Buddhist and Hindu temple.  Inside and out are references to modern culture.  Pictures weren't allowed inside, but there are murals dedicated to Hollywood films like Spiderman, Batman, and The Matrix in addition to the normal wares of a Buddhist temple.

 

After a full 3 weeks of traveling, it was time to return to Bangkok (we opted for the 1 hour plane ride versus the 20 hour re-routed buses due to the flooding in central Thailand) and start up the 2^nd semester on November 1st, together at the same school this time!