Friends, Food, Fireworks, Tigers... and the Best Festivals Ever - Chiang Mai 11/13-11/18/13

I was going to write an entire post about this rad street food tour I did last Wednesday, but I woke up the next morning with food poisoning... so harumph, it only gets a mention for shock value. It's hard to not speculate which specific dish poisoned me when you peek at the beautiful item on the left (and below).

This is not a photogenic or attractive dish at all, with the star being the gelatinous brown/black pieces. It wasn't a part of the planned tour, but a woman in the group asked "What's that pink [shelled] egg?" and suddenly it was on the menu. This, folks, is known as a preserved or century egg.

I'm glad I didn't have a chance to read about it before I chowed down, because it actually tasted good. Just imagine a more flavorful hardboiled egg and try to IGNORE THE HORRIFYING COLOR. Anyway, I had many other questionably safe items that night involving barely cooked eggs and fun meats like liver, intestine and stomach. I decided to try to push myself and I guess I paid the price, but it's not going to stop me moving forward.

Thankfully I felt better about 24 hours later, because my friends Chris and Alison were in town on a pit stop for their honeymoon! I tried to not monopolize their time, but secretly told myself their trip here was to see ME! Yay, MY first visitors :) and they luckily picked the perfect dates that overlapped two amazing holidays.

But before the party, comes the hard work. Hanging out with tigers. We spent a few hours on Saturday morning petting, hugging and laying on tigers of all ages at Tiger Kingdom. We got a CD of "professional" photos, but as none of us has a CD drive here, these will have to do for now.

I have to admit I'm still on the fence if I'm a bad person because I did this - I'm glad to have had the experience, but the animal lover in me knows I supported the exploitation of tigers. I can report, however, that the tigers definitely did not seem drugged, and were very active and playful with each other. But refrained from eating us alive.

After a cat nap (or TIGER NAP, heyooo), we went to check out Loi Krathong and Yi Peng, which are Thai festivals that have skyrocketed in popularity with tourists in Chiang Mai over the past few years. They are marked by the plethora of gigantic sky lanterns in the sky, as well as krathongs (small decorative floats) that are sent down the river.

The peak of the festivals is the night of the full moon, but we weren't sure of this so went out all three nights.

I've read a few different explanations of the purpose of the lanterns and krathongs, but I think it comes down to paying respects to Buddha, while letting go of things that pain you, or asking for forgiveness for any wrongdoings.

That first night we went to a recommended restaurant called Riverside, which provided an awesome vantage point for the start of the festivities. We then ventured to the river for Alison and Chris to set off their first sky lantern. A very sweet thing to do on your honeymoon if you ask me. :)

Unfortunately none of our cameras did a very good job of capturing the lanterns.. but honestly I don't think there is any way to really capture the experience with pictures. It's something that you almost don't even believe with your own eyes.

We ended up running into a large parade and I set off a lantern for a friend, then parted ways at Thapae Gate as Chris and Alison had a day of playing with elephants ahead of them.

Krathongs

Lantern for Kevin's family.. I wrote upside down :/ but hopefully it's the thought that counts. :)

These things get hot!

View from Xanadu rooftop bar at Furama hotel.
Those aren't stars, those are lanterns.

We met up again the next night at a rooftop bar (another great recommendation - thanks Jesse :) with a view of Chiang Mai. Peering out into the city it was clear that there were many more lanterns in the sky than the previous night, which was a hard thing to comprehend. After eating and taking some pictures, we headed back to the Walking Street Market, ate some street food, checked out the temples and gazed at more lanterns.

I went home and stared off my deck for a good hour because I've never seen something so beautiful in my life. I had a perfect view of hundreds of lanterns dancing through the sky at the mercy of the wind.

The following morning we were picked up for a cooking class - something I will try to do at every destination.

We started at a local market where they showed us Thai ingredient staples and then drove us to the school, where we cooked seven courses. We got to choose from about 5 dishes for each course, so each of us choose a different recipe in order to sample as much as possible.

I was full after course 2, so it was a day that I felt needed many naps, but it was definitely worth the effort and subsequent bloating. Chris and Alison now have beautiful recipes that will be fantastic for the Seattle winter. The recipes in general are very simple, but delicious, maybe with the exception of making red curry from scratch.

Go Alison go!

I made khao soi!

Our bellies too full for dinner, we headed back to Thapae Gate and ran into another parade. I think there was a parade every night - in previous nights we had also seen a pageant, and we surmised that this parade was to show off the winners.

We realized we still had not let off a krathong into the river, and started to head in that direction. We ducked into a bar for a quick drink, where they gave us a lantern and multiple fireworks for free.

I don't know about you, but giving me free combustibles with my beer is a great way to make a happy customer. Then... the rain came. Most of my storm experiences in Thailand have come and gone quickly, but this one stuck around and interfered with our krathong plans. But that's OK, because we still had a great time playing pyromaniacs and throwing fireworks into the street.

We got into one last tuk tuk and said our goodbyes. It was so nice to have a little piece of home for a few days in Thailand, and I hope they have a great rest of their honeymoon.

I for one was so impressed by Yi Peng/Loi Krathong that I have already started to dream up future plans around it, like bringing Darryl and my family here. This also includes end of life plans, as I can't imagine a better farewell than having my ashes carried away attached to a blazing sky lantern, in the midst of a stunning and symbolic Buddhist festival.

Click for the full set of Tiger Kingdom, cooking and festival photos.

-Erin

Timeless Ko Lanta

I spent the last week on a beautiful island off the coast of Krabi called Ko Lanta.

Time is a strange thing on Lanta. The days seem to stretch into each other endlessly, but my week was also over before I knew it. If I asked anyone how long they had been on the island, it always took some hard thinking to really pinpoint what day it was and how far into their journey they were.

Ignore my poor plating... I added the sauce way too early!

When I arrived, I made my way to Oasis Yoga and felt at home, even though I am a quite inexperienced student. I feel short of my five class goal, but as noted... time gets away from you on Lanta.

The first five nights I stayed at Time For Lime, which had amazing bungalows and a beachfront restaurant/cooking school. I am so glad I did the cooking class - all proceeds from the class, and from my understanding the restaurant/bungalows go back to Lanta Animal Welfare, which is run by Time's owner, Junie.

The food was delicious, and I learned a lot - for example, Thai curry is different than Indian curry because they use fresh ingredients to make it instead of dry spices. I also learned that the level of spiciness of curry can be tailored to your tastes (mine - timid, Darryl's - not) and as a result, I have a newfound love of red curry.

Fresh, simple ingredients are such a delight to photograph

What my plate should have looked like

The next day, a very kind woman I met at Soi Dog (Kajta), who coincidentally lives on Lanta, welcomed me along to her family's Sunday ritual at Somewhere Else - a confusing name to an outsider, but it's a restaurant with beachside salas and epic relaxation. Katja and her family are from Sweden and she is the reason I ended up at Oasis Yoga. Two other very sweet girls, Jana and Gen, who I met at cooking class joined as well.

Jana/Gen extended their hospitality into next day, when we rented scooters and explored the island. We managed to escape our explorations unscathed, which I can't say for everybody I met on the island.

The next day my new friends made their way to Bangkok, and I packed up my belongings. At no fault of Time For Lime's, there was a bar nearby that had ridiculously loud bass playing at all hours, so I couldn't sleep (sign #1 that I am old). I irrationally decided it was a good time to move into a treehouse hostel, called Chill Out House, thinking I was staying at one of the bungalows behind the hostel.

It turned out I booked a private room in the main hostel.. At this point I came to realize how old and out of place I felt.

All signs pointed to awesomeness, or so I thought

I think I'm generally an outgoing person, but I just didn't feel like I fit in. Almost everyone was in their early 20s and while I tried to connect, I couldn't seem to succeed, outside of with a handful of people who extended themselves to me. I didn't have an issue with younger people at any other point in this trip, but this just felt more insular for whatever reason, which was possibly all made up in my head.

I moved into the bungalow (that I thought I initially had booked) for the next two nights and continued to try to make friends. I decided it was OK to continue to branch out on my own and made a trip Lanta Animal Welfare.

It was so nice to see their operation and all the volunteers (who have to make a month minimum commitment and live on site) caring for the animals. I tried my hardest to not fall in love, but it's impossible. I even watched a live sterilization!

For my last full day on Lanta, I signed up for a 4 island boat tour, and while the snorkeling wasn't as impressive as my first outing, there were other parts that more than made up for it.

The first place I was really excited for was Emerald Cave. So.. it was really cool..

but OH MY GOD, the water there was teeming with thousands of jellyfish eggs, which was a huge issue because A) I do not like being in close proximity of jellyfish, which is probably why I've never explored becoming an expert diver and B) I had no idea if they could hurt me. I later found out they are harmless, but I don't think that would have made the temporary nightmare any better.

I made it about halfway into the cave, had a secret panic attack, and swam like hell back to the boat.

ohmygod get me out

Why am I such a baby

I'm sure some of you will be like "Oh cool, jellyfish babies, that's harmless," but there were so many I was hitting at least 5-10 with every swim stroke.

Emerald Cave - 1, Erin - 0.

I did not share my panic or fear with anyone on the boat, and another woman made me fill silly as she picked the eggs up out of the water and squished and played with them. Ugh.

Then we made it to our last destination and my favorite place - a place I want to take Darryl to when he comes to visit, even though there is probably nothing to do besides snorkel, eat and drink.. but that sounds like a great place to catch up.

It's called Ko Ngai; there are no roads on the island, and it is picture perfect. Also because it is only accessible by smaller boats, it's not as touristy.

Again, this is the Thailand I have seen in my dreams.

In reflection, I made some great new friends on Lanta, but also at a point felt completely awkward and like I didn't belong. Even on a beautiful island, away from everything, you can feel doubts and miss home horribly. These are all feelings I have to look at as necessary - as one lovely person pointed out to me, it's a good sign to miss home/friends/family, because it means you have something nice to go back to.

Full set of photos here.

**Edit, I forgot to note an amazing trivia night I went to with Jana and Gen on Monday night at the Irish Embassy (yes, that's the name of the bar). We were impressed that we managed to come in 6th place, Jana was not as impressed that her 3 ciders cost 660baht.

-Erin