We're going places, baby!

One of the best things about traveling is the different forms of transportation. For example, I rode to this coffee shop on a motorbike taxi! Thailand has SO MANY quirky options. I'm always just tickled to take a tuk-tuk.

Let's see what we've got here:

1. Tuk-tuks! Tuk-tuks are practically the official vehicle of Thailand. (If you haven't seen one, it's basically a motorcycle that has been retrofitted to have a back seat. The driver is in the middle and a covered bench seat straddles the back wheel, and two wheels on either side were added so that it won't fall over, dumping it's cargo into the swarm of traffic in Bangkok.) It's open-air and loud, hence where (I'm assuming) it got its name. They're relatively agile in traffic, which means you can sometimes get places quicker. Not good for long-long distances, unless you've got time to kill. Good for stealing tipsy kisses as you tend to smush into any companion with you in the back. Or, at least, I did ;)

2. Open-backed trucks. This is the preferred method of travel in Chiang Mai. I've seen a few in Bangkok, but they seem to be half of the car fleet in CM. It's a truck with a covered (and occasionally tricked-out!) bed, with benches down the sides, over the wheel wells. Oh, and there isn't a tailgate, so hang on! Ten people can fit in one of these, and the driver can stop to pick up more people at anytime during the route. As with almost all transport in Thailand, negotiate your price before you get on/in. We rode a couple of these up to Wat Doi Suthep. Take one to the zoo, and then there's another line waiting to ferry people up the mountain to the temple. It's an established routine, and we haggled hard on the price but couldn't get them to budge - they got smart and printed signs with pricing for individuals, or if you can get a group of 10 they'll cut you a deal (you can band together with other temple-goers).

3. Moto-taxis. Literally a motorcycle taxi! Negotiate a price and hop on. I've seen girls sitting side-saddle if wearing a skirt, so don't let that stop you! Good for one person. Bad for more than one person. Very fun! (Just don't tell your mother that you don't get a helmet.) (Hi, mom!) (Calm down, it was only four blocks and we only drove on the wrong side of the road twice!) In Bangkok the drivers wear orange vests and hang out at popular street corners. Motorbikes are awesome in the cities because they don't wait I traffic at lights, they weave their way to the front of the line and then take off ten seconds before the light changes. Good if you're in a hurry!

4. Water buses. There are 15+ docks along the river through Bangkok that serve as stops for the public water bus system (I think this might also be called water taxi, but it's much more like a bus). It costs 15 baht, or about 50 cents to go as far as you want. These boats are loooong and hold a lot of people. There are seats and benches, but stand at the railing and you can get a poorman's tour of the sights. I rode this today from Khaosan Road (sp?) down to the main dock without issue, but had to switch to the south route to get to my final destination and that boat was no where to be seen for a good 20 minutes. (I wound up befriending a couple of Australians who were staying at the Chatrium Hotel - close enough to the stop I wanted - which runs a free water shuttle from the Central Pier to the hotel, and hitchhiked with them. So if you're in a pinch, I'd say go for it.)

5. River ferries. Operate in tandem but independently from the water buses. These boats just hop from one bank to the other, back and forth all day long. Sometimes they are at the same piers, but more often than not they're separate. To get to a pier, take the smallest possible alley that will get you from the street to the water. Bonus points if it's somewhere that looks like you shouldn't be there. 

6. Regular taxis. Negotiate your price first or insist they run the meter. Cab drivers seem to be really honest, compared to other places we've been. One company's cars are painted pink! 

7. The Skytrain. This has an official acronym but I don't know what it is or what it stands for (that's what Britton is for in my life.) It works like mass transit. You pay a rate based on your destination, and I never tried to get off at a different stop, so I can't vouch for sure that you'd be ok, but my thought would be that as long as you exit before your original plan you'd be fine (but maybe not after, as that would potentially cost more). This is also a good way to see the city without paying a fortune since it's above everything.

8. Subway. There is a subway. I didn't use it. Guess I didn't need it? 

9. There are regular buses, too, but I don't speak Thai. So I don't know the routes. I'm sorry. :( I'll try to learn Thai next time I come to Thailand. Anthropology-major fail. 

I don't have pics of all of those because we used Britton's phone for photos. So here's a too-dark photo of Bangkok's 2013 Car Free day logo!

Chiang Mai cooking class: OMG YUM

Before you ask: yes. I will gladly attempt to cook the following dishes again for you, and Britton will, too! (That's right - you read "Britton" and "cook" in the same sentence!)

A cooking class in Chiang Mai was highly recommended by several people before we left for Thailand, so I signed us up for an all-day class at Baan Thai Cookery School. 

This - so far - has been the highlight of our trip! Between the two of us we learned how to cook 10 dishes, and we got to keep a cookbook that explains the ingredients and has all the recipes, plus the recipes for several other dishes we didn't make. 

The school is a cute, open-air building tucked in a very backpacker-friendly part of Chiang Mai. Britton and I now affectionately refer to this area as Gringoland because it reminds us so much of Quito's Plaza Fosch (which is unofficially called Gringolandia).

The instructors were all about our age, and super nice. We sat on the floor at a table with seven classmates from around the world: Maryland, South Africa, Holland, Brazil, and Melbourne, Australia. Everyone was very friendly and eager to learn, like us!

First we walked a few blocks to a fruit/veggie market to learn about the ingredients. We got to smell and touch three different kinds of eggplant, none of which I've seen in the states; three kinds of basil, all of which I knew by different names; three kinds of ginger, only one of which I recognized; two floppy types of mushrooms; raw tumeric, which is supposed to be a natural relief from mosquito bites (must buy in bulk when I get home!); plus lemon grass, limes, and lots of little, spicy peppers. And mango! 

While at the market we got a smoothie, and boy do I feel American saying this next sentence, but: I was amazed at how much fruit went in to this smoothie. One-and-a-half bananas, half a papaya, and the juice of at least a dozen little oranges.  And then ice, and then blend. No yogurt, no protein powder, no nothin' except fruit and ice. So fresh! So yummy! So simple!

We made our way back to the school, ingredients in tow, and "suited up!" in aprons and handkerchiefs. 

First dish: Stir Fry

Ellen: Pad Thai!

Britton: Cashews with chicken

Second dish:

Ellen: (spicy!) papaya salad

Britton: (not spicy!) spring rolls

Third dish: Soups

E: Seafood in coconut milk

B: Chicken in coconut milk

Fourth dish: Curry!

E: Green curry

B: Panaeng curry

Fifth dish: dessert!

E: mango w/ sticky rice (aka, mango over rice cooked in ALL THE SUGAR)

B: deep-fried banana

So... Who's coming over for dinner and photos? :)

Elephants!

Ten things I learned about elephants while at Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

1) Trunks have up to 140,000 muscles in them, primarily used for insisting you give him that watermelon. 

2) An elephant that looks pregnant might just be fat. 

3) In unnatural situations (I.e, forced breeding), a female's hip can be broken during mating. 

4) Elephants have a more developed brain (frontal cortex?) that can experience emotions like humans or dolphins do. 

5) A four-year-old elephant whose mom just had a baby will act out, similar to a human four-year-old (I may know one that fits this description...) :)

6) In the wild, elephants travel in family herds. When several unrelated elephants are in the same place, they'll form their own family. Sounds like college!

7) Elephants loooove the water. But they don't actually need to be scrubbed for 20 minutes by tourists. 

8) When an elephant moves, you move. 

9) At 5 weeks old a baby elephant is strong enough (or big enough) to push a grown man around, and its mother is hungry and pushes the little bugger out of the way to eat. 

10) There are only 2,500-4,500 Asian elephants left in the wild. And many being mistreated. And many being saved. Be nice to elephants!

Thailand: the first 48

In one word: challenging. In two words: challenging & great.

Challenging because I do not speak one word of Thai. And granted, I knew this going in, and many people here know some English. But a few of the things we've needed to accomplish have been just slightly more difficult because we didn't know Thai, or the person we were talking to didn't know enough English. For example, ordering food has been a series of pointing and hoping and using Britton's phone, where he had the genius idea to find photos of common foods - egg, chicken, pork, etc. - so we could point to those in moments of confusion. 

Giving directions to our lodging is a feat. We have addresses written down (in English) but can't help with directions much since we don't know how to do anything but point and tap and say things in English. Luckily drivers have been very patient and/or knowledgeable about where they are going. While we were scanning for the hostel street, the tuk-tuk driver had the good mind to slow down AND drive on the left side of the road. Which is the correct side over here. But still was very strange at the time. :) 

The great parts, however, are really great. I arrived in Bangkok very late Saturday - around 11:30 - and the next morning we had to be back at the airport by 8am to get to Chiang Mai. Our host, Mac, is a US ex-pat, and has been wonderful, if a little on the chatty side. He gave us great concil on taking a taxi instead of trying to navigate the skytrain, and his wife (who I haven't met but have spoken to on the phone) arranged for one to meet us at the house at 7:30. 

Breakfast was procured from a small  stand in a busy alley around the corner from the 7-11 (which isn't difficult to do - 7-11s are everywhere!). The original woman we were going to buy from wasn't set up yet, so she motioned us over to her neighbor, who pointed at things and we pointed at things and then we got some food. Rice, fried chicken breast (the delicious kind, not the KFC kind), and a bag - yes, bag - of soup for 30baht, or about $1usd. We are LOVING the prices here!

We got to the airport just fine and on to our flight to Chiang Mai no issues. And as we disembarked from the airplane it hit me: the hot, humid mountain breeze. Which is when I realized I will be hot and humid and sweaty and sticky for the next eight days of my life. 

Such a great challenge. 

Chicken, rice, cucumber, cilantro, fish sauce(?) plus soup (not pictured) for $1.

What does it all meeeeeaaan??? (Sorry it's sideways - I'm typing on a phone!)