Mae Sot and My 22nd Birthday

We took a trip to Mae Sot from Sunday the 11th to Wednesday the 15th to get a change of scenery and learn some things about teaching. The six hour bus ride to Mae Sot was uneventful but beautiful. We met some really great people while we were there. I am officially a fan of Canada, or Canadians rather. Never been to Canada but the folks we met, lets say their names are Milly and Willy, were particularly rad. I would love to go sometime. To Canada that is. But back to Thailand. Mae Sot borders Burma so naturally there are many Burmese folks around town and lots of great Burmese food such as tea leaf salad, consisting of fermented tea leaves, soy beans, tomatoes, onions, spices and other crunchy beans and nuts. The temperature was a solid 10 degrees cooler than Chiang Mai as its located right on the other side of a seriously crag-y mountain range. An incredible climbing location it seemed to be, if you could make your way through the thick jungles.

A quick shot from the bus

Timing was on our side as we were fortunate enough to stumble into my birthday two days post arrival at an exciting trivia night with Milly and Willy amongst many new friends at a local gathering point. We heard a lot of shouts of frustration at the Question Master's choice of obscure Lord of the Rings questions ("lonely adolescence!" was the most choice phrase by one group). Milly, Willy, Julia and I, team Cheetah Electric Eel, ended up at 12th or 13th place out of maybe 15 (two teams left early), assuming our LOTR background was our downfall. Nevertheless, this had to be the most fair trivia night I've been a part of since the birth of Blackberries and iPhones. A great start to the birthday!

The Cheetah Electric Eels

The bus ride from Mae Sot to Chiang Mai was tougher than its opposite. Though we were on a first class bus, the Thai music blared for the first three hours and a Thai-dubbed Western flick blared for the next few hours, followed by Thai sitcoms. The bus broke down on a mountain with an hour and a half left, and though another came in about thirty minutes, there was only room for ten. Obviously we weren't quick enough to pick up on this. Welcome to Thailand. That didn't matter though, because a few minutes later a birthday wish came true and the most high class bus on which I've ever rode picked us up with fully reclining seats with leg props and everything. Plus, our bus attendant, an incredibly nice transvestite whose ability to run in stilettos rivals that of Beyonce, fed us delicious snacks and water the rest of the quiet ride.

Once back in Chiang Mai, I got a Thai massage, courtesy of Julia, at a place near our apartment. Anything that was uncomfortable in the bus disappeared. We met my host brother and sister as well as five Thai friends at the Lemon Tree and ate Boo Pad Poong Ca-ree (crab sauteed with yellow curry, onions and lot of other incredible things), steamed snake head fish, orange curry, fried veggies in oyster sauce, and something that resembled scrapple but in a salad. All this was topped off with a cake selection I've never seen on any birthday before. Julia got a bakery to put slices of differently flavored cakes together to make a perfectly round huge cake. A plethora of choices and a plethora of birthday miracles. I had chocolate and mocha and butterscotch. Hot dang it was too good!

Dinner with the folks. Julia's taking the pic

Twas a tasty diverse cake

After dinner we met up with some Coloradans at a place called the Monkey Club, which is cool for those of us who really were in monkey clubs in elementary/middle schools, right? Right?!? Pretty standard Thai late night place with two or three different rooms, all of which too loud to hear yourself think. However, the Coloradans were jolly with cheer, as expected, and it wrapped up a spectacularly unique birthday! A big shout out to my moms and pops for the birthday card and sending me my new bank card. Also to our dogs Dixie and Hunny for the humorous card they sent. The birthday cards are on my only table and the credit card is in a new wallet (it's only temporary till I can find a wallet with a rope on it).

This is way behind, so I'll leave it here to be caught up later in between teachin' Anglish!