The Rest of Thailand (SE Asia Part II)

The Thai boxing that we went to in Chiang Mai was a lot different than I expected, mostly because it was little boys boxing against eachother, and I expected it to be Thai men. Also, the ring was in this concrete area with white plastic chairs surrounding it, and the chairs were basically just there for the Westerners and their cameras. The Thai men in the audience (there were no Thai women) stood on either side of the ring, about 10 people deep, all squashed together and spent the time yelling and cheering and coaching from their spots. I really enjoyed watching the rituals the boxers had as they "warmed up" and after the initial shock of its brutality, I started to really get into it, choosing a color to cheer for each time. In the end, I guess it's not rougher than football and rugby, but it is harder to watch because they are just purposely punching and kicking eachother instead of having the purpose of getting a ball to go somewhere.

The next day we took vans up to the border of Thailand and Laos. At our mid-morning stop we stopped at a place called Condoms and Cabbages. Which receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation for AIDS and safe sex education. We got coffee there and walked around the area (they also grow vegies, and distribute those with the safe sex education). Where we stopped for lunch we met up with the woman who organized our Laos visas (we gave her our passports and 40 US dollars and a form filled out and then she took them to the border to get them ready for our arrival). We got to Chiang Khong around 4 (where we were staying for the night). The place we stayed at was really nice; it reminded me of a summer camp/ summer lodge on a lake in New Hampshire, expect this overlooked the Mekong with Laos on the other side. Seeking food for our boat trip the next day, Leia, Lynda, and I walked to the main street where we tried to dodge the kids throwing water everywhere. (The past week was Thai and Laos New Years...which consisted of standing on the side of the road and pouring water on those passing by...for good luck). We came back with some snacks, soaking wet, but whatever, it didnt really matter since it's so hot here! (My only concern was for my camera, which did get wet when a man poured much more water than normal down my back...I was not happy about that, but my camera was fine after I gave it a little break) That night we had a family style dinner cooked for us by the lady that runs the guesthouse, we talked about the boat trip to Laos and what was to come, and then some of us played cards. It is always interesting to play cards with people who know the same game but play by different rules, (Especially for someone like me!) in this case we began playing a game that resembled "Hearts" but was not really taught that way, and then after a couple hands Lynda realized she explained it wrong, and then when me and Sean explained the way we normally play, she agreed that our way was the correct way, so we played that for a while longer. The laughs in the process of getting there were so worth it though, so that was good. After cards we went to bed, but I barely slept, thanks to the fact that we spent the whole day being inactive in the car, it was really hot in our rooms, and then the rooster (they are everywhere here) started making its noise at like 330 in the morning, and my ear plugs were useless to that noise! That was ok though because the next day we spent on the boat travelling down the Mekong in Laos (more on that in the next post...)