We are the people who rule the world

“We lived an adventure

Love in the Summer

Followed the sun till night

Reminiscing other times of life

For each every other

The feeling was stronger

We are the people that rule the world.”

-Empire of the Sun

Greetings and salutations! Started off this post with some lyrics to the song We Are The People by an Australian band called Empire of the Sun that I absolutely cannot get out of my head.  Nearly every traveler I have met from England to New Zealand loves this band.  Apparently America (or maybe just me) are way behind, but they are real awesome.

I am writing this from Chiang Mai and once again quite a bit has happened since I last wrote. New firsts: elephant riding, sleeping in a bamboo hut, and white water rafting.

Backing up just a bit…Will and I caught the bus from Khao Sok to Surat Thani which is nothing more than a pass-through town. Apparently no other tourists bother to leave the train station as we were the only whities in the place. To make matters funnier Thais have no problem staring, pointing, and laughing at the passing through “farang.” I find it hysterical and good-natured…just another fascinating nuance into the Thai psyche. From Surat Thani we caught the night train (11 hours) to Kanchanaburi, where the famous Death Railway is located (there’s a movie about it called The Bridge on the River Kwai if anyone is interested in it’s place in history).

We rented bikes ($1 for the day ) and set out through the countryside to a Buddhist temple located in a cave. We lucked out and got to watch monks meditating. I had missed biking quite a bit as well so it was nice to get back on the pedals. After a night in Kanchanaburi we ended up in Bangkok for a few hours where I had to buy a new camera (mine broke) and also got to meet up with Mischa, the New Yorker who has lived in Bangkok the past 9 years and was my first friend in Thailand. I caught the 11pm night bus to Chiang Mai. Two overnight journeys totaling more than 20 hours in three days took its toll and I got off my bus in Chiang Mai in a pissy attitude. I soon cheered up when I arrived at my hostel, Spicythai Backpacker.

It is one of the coolest hostels I have ever stayed at and met people instantly. I decided to sign up with two English guys, Tom and Alex, for a 3 day jungle trek for the following day and set off for the Chiang Mai Zoo. Surprisingly, the zoo was quite impressive, filled with elephants (of course), hippos, pandas, meerkats, etc. I got to touch my first elephant at the zoo which was just plain weird- they are rougher than I had even imagined. Watching them use their trunks is actually quite trippy and almost seems fake. After a night of drinking games and Chatrouletting (have we really come to this?), I went to bed excited for the trek.

I had ridiculously high expectations for this trek. Everyone along the way had told me just how amazing it was. Simply put, I was blown away. There were 14 of us representing the countries of England, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Sweden, and of course-USA. When I said earlier that relationships get put into hyperdrive when traveling, you can imagine what it would be like when a group of 14 spend 3 days with each other in the jungle with none of the comforts of the western world. Our group was spectacular.

Trekking through the jungle was incredible as well- hopping on rocks over forging rivers, skimming the perimeter of cabbage fields that seemingly never ended, wading into refreshing yet powerful waterfalls, crossing swinging, rickety bridges that reminded me of Shrek, rafting through raging white waters, relaxing on a bamboo raft, riding on an elephant, and sleeping in the middle of the mountains on bamboo beds surrounded by frustrating chickens and adorable puppies.  My unreasonably high expectations were met and exceeded.

So I am now back in Chiang Mai…

Tom, Alex, and I got back around 5 and reunited with several people we hung out with before we left. Even though I was so tired I wanted to pass out, I ended up going to the Sunday night market which was absolutely incredible and had the most amazing selection of food I have ever seen.  Everything is so cheap, it is hard not to overindulge.

We ended up coming back to the hostel and playing more drinking games in a real large group…about 12 of us.  One particular game called Paranoia was interesting if not an odd game to play with people you have just met. The game goes in a circle and one person whispers a question to the next along the lines of “Who do you think has had the most one night stands?” or “Who do you think has the most unkempt private parts?” The person had to answer and if you are the lucky one who is guessed you can drink to find out what the question was. Good times. We ended up going to a Thai bar which was amazing as well. A Thai band was playing local songs as well as Western songs by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and of course, the perennial Thai favorite- Kings of Leon. It all got quite out of hand (Sangsom will do that) as we all jumped on stage at one point and played games of licky-backy (which I shall not discuss on this blog).

The night gets a tad blurry and somehow we end up at another larger Thai club where we are all getting treated like celebrities. Free drinks getting thrown at us, dancing on tables, the works.  There were maybe 1000 people and a band playing once again. The lead singer stepped up and for some drunken unknown reason I decided to throw up the Jay-Z Hova symbol. The singer noticed me and started throwing it up himself which was hysterical.

These are the DJ’s at the first place- sporting the hipster scene shades.

And this is the band that now supports HOVA

The night appropriately concluded with spicy chilis, funny Thais, and incredibly dangerous tuk tuk rides.

I need to stop writing now…thanks for reading if you got this far!

Leave comments, questions, or requests!

Advertisement