asia
Hello Asia!
Hello Lovelies,
After months of anticipation, Andrew and I have finally begun our Asian Adventure!
For the first three days, we’ve been exploring Thailand. I don’t think either of us have had this much fun in such a short pace of time, in our whole lives! To paint a picture, I’m just going to string a whole bunch of words together separated by commas: Vibey nights, Thai massages, afternoon swims, night markets, cabaret shows, night trains, cooking classes, tuk tuk rides, Chang beers, temples, new friends, power naps, bargain buys, coffee stops and delicious buffet breakfasts to wake up jet-lagged for.
It’s been crazy fun; “welcome to the madness” kind of stuff. Rather hard to explain, really. So here’s a message I sent to my mom, where I tried to convey the dazzling city and its effect on me.
..
We spent one night in Bangkok, luckily none of the activities from The Hangover 2 occurred, but a walk down The Strip gave us an idea of what could happen on a wild night out. We had a ‘family dinner’ which means our Contiki group all got together and had a meal, followed by dancing at a pub and then a rainy walk home, which washed away the humidity, alongside fast food stalls selling scorpions.
This short time spent wandering the capital, gave us a snapshot into Eastern-city life. In just 24 hours, we got to understand why people come here. It’s the friendliness of the folk, their open-mindedness and the amazing food that makes the city so unique.
Our second night was spent on a 14-hour overnight train. This gave us time to get to know the other Contiki travellers and try more local cuisine, served to us in plastic bowls, as we travelled 800km up north.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 8am the next morning. Although my face looked somewhat swolen from tiredness, I cheered up when we saw our hotel room with a proper bed. I’m not fussy, I don’t mind roughing it. But after such a long journey from South Africa followed by a couple late nights, I was pooped. But there was no time for sleep, as we headed off to a temple, got blessed by a Buddhist monk and got our fortune told. You might be pleased to know, Andrew and I have good fortunes. Afterwards, a bit of mediation at the temple’s meditation centre helped with the lack of shut eye.
The next activity was a Thai cooking class alongside a rice field, setting a glorious backdrop for our chefing. The cooking teacher could’ve been a stand up comedian he was so entertaining. We all had a lot of fun and learnt to make delicious Thai food whilst watching the sun set and sipping Chang beer.
That night we chose to watch a Lady Boy Show. If you don’t know what a lady boy is, don’t worry, I didn’t either. Look it up or carry on reading my short explanation. A lady boy is a boy or man who decides that he wants to become a woman. Lady boys are very common in Thailand and are openly accepted. They often take the female pill to stop themselves from developing manly features and usually take on the body shape and voice of a lady. They do not look exactly like transvestites because you can hardly tell they aren’t women. Anyway, we watched a cabaret show with an all lady boy cast and it was very interesting. Andrew felt a bit uncomfortable at first but then got into it. The show was a whole lot of fun and you could tell the lady boys really enjoyed the crowd. Apparently a lot of them are quite insecure, you can imagine why, so I made an effort to tell them they looked beautiful after the show, because they really did and thanked them for sharing.
The next morning we set off to Chiang Rai where we got to meet the Hilltribe people. The women wear coils around their necks. You’ve probably seen them in National Geographic. They showed us their dwellings and performed some music. It was very special to be given a glimpse into their heavily cultural yet simple lives, high up on the edge of Thailand.
As I write this on the bus back to the hotel, it has started pouring with rain. There is usually a thunder storm in the afternoons. We are headed to an evening market for some food and then we are having our first Contiki dress up party! The theme is Shit Shirt Sundays. Those of you who are from Australia should understand the phrase. For the rest of us, it means your shittiest shirt that you’d only wear around the house on a Sunday. Andrew and I have bought some rather shitty shirts. Pics to follow!
Bye for now! xx
Theo
P.S. For daily updates, follow our Contiki journey on Twitter/ Instagram: and live on Snapchat: theodoralee
No comments
by
