Let’s see, three days later? More days later and I’m now the proud owner of some Myanmar whisky. I have yet to try it, but the night is still young. What else am I the proud owner of? Many, many things. For example, I’m currently the proud owner of a wonderful weeping, second degree burn on my shin. The best part is all the new friends I’ve made with the flies that keep landing on it and nibbling and shitting (I imagine). I have yet to develop the tolerance necessary not to freak out every time they land on the wound. How did I acquire such a beateous masterpiece? As all tourists in a foreign country where motor bikes are king. As my friend and I returned from a wonderful trip up to Erawan falls, we stopped at a night market. As I’ve been ultra cautious about not touching the hot metal muffler on the bike I’m riding, this has left little room for me to pay attention to the neighboring bike’s muffler. And lo and behold, me has burn on shin. It’s pretty nasty looking, I went to the pharmacist and put my leg up on the counter as best I could and had the Thai couple next to me laugh as they recognized the, “Thailand Tattoo,” I had acquired so early on in my trip.
After a rewarding day of road side stands and markets and chatting it up with the locals– or, rather, having the locals laugh at us as we try to speak Thai, my newly found travel buddy and I decided to get Thai massages. Six dollars for some sweet, sweet awesome after a rigorous hike in the humidity. It was a nice way to end scraping my ass on a natural water slide and wondering if I just opened the doors to some jungle infection. Hmmm..
The next day we decided to head out to Sangchanaburi. There wasn’t much listed on the locale, which is just as well. Turns out us two make about 12 of the 10 white people we’ve seen here. The mosly Burmese (Mon, Karan, and another ethnic group) makes for an entirely different Thailand. The food is different, there are no white people (rad) so we’ve been able to interact with some of the locals.
While the first night found us almost without a place and crashing on a bed with a man we met on the bus (one of the older women in the tour group ratted us out, so we couldn’t hitch on for the free stay), the hotel manager offerred up a home stay with his mother for us to take. So far it’s been pretty incredible. She speaks really good English and is hilarious as she takes care of her grandchildren, “She’s being a naughty, naughty girl,” but also provides us the opportunity to actually be in a Thai household.
Yesterday after checking out this Baan Urak (?) stand where clothes were sold, the woman working there took us up to see where the clothes were made. Apparently, the fabric for the clothes is made from string that is dyed there, then loomed by others, and then sewn into clothing. It’s an incredible project to provide housing and jobs for the Burmese refugees escaping the less than just government. I bought a shawl so I can cover up and not show my immodest shoulders.
The day was hot and I didn’t sleep well the night before, so every step seemed to require way too much effort. We decided to wake up early the next day to see the opening of the local market. It was great to ride the motorbike up and see all the children going to school as we made our way to go watch the market open up.
After we got our fill of breakfast it was time to head to the Burmese border. Much to our already expected disappointment, since we knew the border had been closed earlier, we were not able to get across. All this time spent with Burmese people and seeing the country has made me get the urge. Maybe the Myanmar whiskey we were able to get will quell this. Or maybe I’ll head there after Laos.
Seeing as we weren’t hungry for the Burmese chicken noodle soup we were instructed was the most delicious in Thailand, we headed out to a waterfall and hiked around. No one was at the park, so we had a free reign of jungle trekking for a Valentine’s Day adventure. After a long hike, some jungle sex later, we headed back to the border. The soup was phenomenal.
We head home and head to the market to pick up some fruit to give as alms to the monks that pass in the morning. I can’t wait to see it. I bought a banana bunch that I think my friend will have to pass on, being as I’m a woman and I’m not sure the protocol on approaching monks. I definitely have to give my penance after they saved my ass a week before.
A lot to recount and details I’m forgetting, but I think this shall suffice for now. Tomorrow I head back to Kanchanaburi, hopefully see some Tiger cubs and then head South to the full moon party and ocean beaches. Ah, yes.
