There is not always a reason for doing the things that we do, but today there is a reason. That reason will become clear in about two posts time I predict, the reason why I've selected Uthai Thani as the midpoint between Sriracha in the south and Chiang Mai to the north. You can't miss it.
Where am I? Currently, this writing comes to you from McDonald's outdoor cafe. Why would I choose the classic yellow and red fast food eatery as a conducive hide out for good writing? Two reasons. I really hate admit the first one; McDonald's is the only consistent and cheap cup of good coffee found anywhere in my travels. I don't think I would eat here, not willingly. The second reason: it is now 1:29 in the morning.
Can't not sleep. That is not the issue. Lately I've had some of the best sleep Ive had in seven months. No, what is keeping me up is something worse - it is the inconvenience of interrupted travel plans. I was supposed to be on a train back to Uthai Thani righ now, sleeping like a baby waiting till tomorrow afternoon where I would disembark at my station. Rather unfortunately, I am stuck here, waiting. And so, I'll write. No inspirational Chuck Norris film to spark my motivation, no glancing at my posts on a friend's phone, this one is coming to you straight from a weary mind who's consciousness is somehow present enough to type and string together a passable sentence while at the same time being tired enough to relinquish most any sequitur line of thought to an indescribable form of auto-pilot consciousness.
The story.
Once apart from the town of Sri Acha, once the completion of my non-religious pilgrimage was complete, we had only one place to go. Per our verbal agreement, Chris was to meet us in Chiang Main in a ten days time.
I can never tell if the IKEA ice cream and other snacks are so good because of the way that they taste or because they in fact so cheap that the flavor is compromised by my psyche. Seriously, 7 baht for some soft serve ice cream?! Jackpot!
So north we headed, until we met this woman, Thum. She was willing to grace Rajiv and I with a very comfortable place to live for a few days to let the rain pass. And, being in the south of Bangkok had its certain advantages. Per example, here we are enjoying ice cream from the famously cheap IKEA food courts. Ahhhh, to be in the comfort of western civilization again.
The three days we spent with Thum were over quickly. I blame the excellent food. You see, every time I or Rajiv would get up from out chairs, any time we would move or blink our eyes, Thum's aunt was ready to ask us if we were hungry. "Well, no," I began to say. I mean, you just fed us not more than three hours ago, remember? (I said this to myself). "uhhhhh, sure, I could eat," I said out loud. Don't want to be rude, ya know. I don't have to say it, but all the food that I took in out of respect ended up putting me in a sort of induced food coma. Hey, I'm not complaining!
And you wouldn't complain either with home cooked food like this! More awesome food. This was a favorite of mine. I love shrimp!
Here Rajiv and I are, saying our good buys to Thum and her aunt (pictured above). What a sweet and loving family, we wish we could have stayed longer, but I believe Chris was already ahead of us at this point and we had to carry on.
OK, here we have one of my favorite meals in all of Asia. Its not a specific meal that you can see on a menu, its more of a type of meal - the all you can eat veggie platter! You've seen it before, now experience it for yourself. We did not order what you see here. We ordered the very small plate of noodles off screen (the only thing they sell) and loaded up on all this greatness. "Its like getting a B12 shot!"
Photo by Rajiv. I don't remember this one. All the same, its hard to pull off a mug into the camera lens with a Popsicle in your right hand. Point!
This is another one of my favorite pictures. You know, there are just things you can do in Thailand (or other parts of Asia for that matter) that you cant do anywhere else, like lean for a photo against a five hundred year old structure without having to pay an entrance fee, without having an underpaid overweight pseudo security guard yell at you. Lets see how far we can take this...
...So not just lean up against, but climb! And what a climb. You can feel yourself going back in time.
Cool ruin brick patterns.
And here I am again. You'll see that my right arm is covered. Story is that I was rolling around with this gifted jersey that I hated wearing. I didn't want to get rid of it or through it away or carry it with me any longer. I most definitely did not want to spend the money to send it home. So I decided to cut off the sleeves, re-sew the elastic around the top ends, and vuala! Two new arm sun guards! As we head north, I wear one guard on my left - because of the strong early morning sun to my left.
Finally, finally, we arrived in the town of Uthai Thani. Not that the village is something I was really looking forward to. Uthai Thani is not big, or centrally located, or even marked by a famous touristic landmark. There are no elephant rides here, no great mountains to see or nature to bask in. Instead, the reason for our visit was two Americans we met the day before.
Hailing from New Orleans, we met the married couple in one of our rare bar outings (no I am not kidding. Though Raj likes to drink as much as I do, making a bar appearance in cycling spandex is not as sexy as one might think. Nor is riding the next day with a nasty hangover). We all got to talking, and guess what. Nick and Harmony lived only a hundred km north in a little town called Uthai Thani. So, defenseless against their southern hospitality, we agreed to meet them at their home.
Now, this is not the sort of story where the beginning sounds promising but by the end I am thankful to just be alive with all my money and passport. No. This is the kind of story that kindles the pride of my American nationality. Nick and Harmony invited us in like almost every other host we've come across, but that's about all the similarity to them they posses. Living in a proper house, with a dog (!), eating western food, watching American football, grilling BBQ, drinking canned beer, and most importantly, owning a whole proper kitchen. They've been teaching in Thailand for five years and they have perfected (as much as anyone can) the art of living like home, abroad. Throw in a nice paycheck, a cheap labor force to do the maid work and laundry, and the life ain't so bad.
Inside the mirror temple. Obviously tourists but that does not stop the people from coming to pray here, obviously.
You cant tell from this far off, but that is not a real monk in the background. He is actually a man made from wax, or something. Fooled me. I thought the man was meditating inside of a glass box. Wrong.
Its the open artwork and sculptures that remind me that I am far away from home now. Come on, you know you've never seen three war clad men riding a golden elephant in Golden Gate Park.
American football and Holland beer! The game might have been pre-season but the drinking was all pro. All, pro.
Melt my heart with melted cheese and sour cream. Nachos! F**king home made nachos in Thailand! Words cannot seriously describe how happy this moment made me.
We ended up staying a few day with Nick and Harmony more than we "needed" to. Chris was off schedule and so we had some days to burn. So what if Uthai Thani town is small; Nick and Harmony made up for it in a HUGE way.
That's all for now. The coffee in my McDonald's cup is out and though it is in the middle of two o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday, there are still lots of people out! Unfortunately they don't start free refills until its already time for me to get on my way. Maybe an apple pie? Wait no, I'm not at Nick and Harmony's anymore, they don't have apple pie at McDonald's here. Hmm, I'll have to settle for sweet purple yam.
Love, always.
-A
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