al gore + ch II = banana splits

first of all, let us all praise the interweb. al gore's greatest invention. when we arrived in bangkok, we had to take the first place we could find with an available bed. that turned out to be the charming CH II guesthouse (there is a prize for whoever figures out what the CH stands for. we were thinking it's 'crappy hotel'). we slept in these beds for one night and did our laundry. we stayed up late drinking beer and typing the last blog entry (hence the slightly drunken ranting about the monkey) so we wouldn't have to sleep there for very long. but lucy saved the day with one brilliant suggestion: priceline. and that's how we ended up in the fancy-schmancy holiday inn the very next day. they accepted our bid of $40 per room. we ordered banana splits. we had robes and a pool. it was fabulous. thus were we able to enjoy our stay in bangkok. thank you al gore.

the chatuchak weekend market is famous for it's size, (it's a real life maze of stalls) and for the number of things one can purchase. go ahead, think of something. anything. you can get it there. a whole city block of tough thai rocker boys selling levi's, new, vintage and beyond filthy. old men hawking pets like squirrels and snakes. used sneakers, new sneakers, plants, electronics, bathmats in any shape, ashtrays in the shape of an erect penis, king of thailand clocks, so much delicious food, cosmetics, souvenirs, herbal hair oil (sold by the barry white of thailand, looks just like him) and more. haggling for good prices and sometimes overwhelmed, we got happily lost many times. it's a miracle we ever found our way out. we don't have a lot of pictures, cause it was a
challenge to get through the crowds and take a camera out. mad pickpockets too. oh well. just look at that holiday inn picture again. you know it's funny.

after a quick 'lay-by-the-pool-and-drink-tea-and-read-the-paper', we headed to chinatown for some peking duck. yup. a whole duck. lucy taught us how to do it. she's our food coach. she gently urges us on when we can't stuff any more into our stomachs. reminds us that we don't need to know exactly what it is before we eat it. says thing like, "it's okay if you need to take a break, just breathe and there'll be more room in a minute." she's very supportive. she's the one who got mari and corey to eat a traditional indian betel leaf. for corey, it was a lesson in gracious spitting.

bangkok chinatown is, well, a lot like new york chinatown, only a little bit more intense. on most streets in thailand, the motorbikes park on the sidewalk, pedestrians walk in and out of traffic. it creates a school-of-fish-type fluidity that looks sketchy at first, but someone's always paying attention (so far). chinatown is no different. except there's ten times more motorbikes and food stalls on the sidewalks and ten times for traffic in the street: taxis, cars, tuk-tuks, songthaew (the thai version of a bus), bikes, scooters, you name it. it was pretty impressive. and in case you need some snake venom sacks or bear gall bladders, you can get them there. delicious.

from bangkok, we got on the bus (yay! another bus!) to sukhothai, the former capital of the former siam. we took a songthaew to the 'new city' to check into our guesthouse. the lovely lotus village. how beautiful is the lotus village? how inexpensive was our whole teak house on stilts above a lotus pond filled with fish and flowers? how close is the massage spa across the path? how delicious is the breakfast? very very very. very on all counts. we stayed for three arts + craft-filled nights. lucy and corey stayed up into the wee hours rocking the color pencils and gluestick. mmmhmm.

the 'old city' is a historic park, filled with a million ruined wats, buddha statues and tourists on bicycles. look, here are some examples: we rode around all day, ate some food we hadn't had before, including that bug that tara ate. she said it was like a puff of air, no big deal. still. it's a bug. there was a parade that day, honoring the ancient king of siam, but we didn't hang out because we saw how badly treated the parade elephants were. it was bad. if i were an elephant, and a tiny man hit me in the face with a hammer, i might kill him. death before hammers in the face. we split that scene and got a massage back at our guesthouse.

despite the elephant incident, sukhothai was cool, we recommend it. but that didn't stop us from getting on another bus and heading north to chiang mai, the famous cultural province of thailand. there are many tribal groups concentrated in this area, which has served as a trading hub for centuries. lots of crafts like weaving,
leatherwork, ceramics and metalwork. the traffic is fierce, the air quality is, well, dusty. we might rock the facemask (it's all the rage). the first place we stayed (last night) is located on a very busy street that echoes the chinatown pedestrian plight. but let's talk for a moment about our luck with housing, shall we? chiang mai is in the throes of a giant flower festival that sees thousands of visitors from all over thailand and the world. word had it from all the farong, and indeed every place we tried to check into confirmed, there's no room available. anywhere. but we have the ju-ju. we found two cheap, clean rooms on a tiny lane, away from all the madness, but close enough to the most delicious papaya salad stall of life. so good. aroy mak (that means real delicious).

tara and mari found some cool stuff at the night bazaar in chiang mai. local artists selling beautiful screenprints and boxes. lucy and corey ate some dried fruit, some salty strawberries, saw a pig on a stake in a plastic bag and headed for the sake bar.
that's right. if there's a sake bar in thailand, we'll find it. and now, we're off to the insect musem to see some prehistoric bugs. then we might go fishing. who knows.

ever your servants on the interweb, corey + lucy for matacodotcom

p.s.- this is the toughest scooter ever. a school teacher was driving it.