This weekend has been great. I decided to take advantage of my one night off and head to Chiang Mai for a bit. It is 3 to 3.5 hours away depending on the bus, so an overnight stay ends up being a pretty quick trip when you factor in travel time. However, I was determined to make something of this birthday weekend. I decided to go to Chiang Mai, get away from the lovely little angels here, and see a few friends I haven't seen since I've been back. Well, my plans got thwarted for the better! I love when that happens.
One of the girls who works here with me, Crystal, had a friend in town who was planning on doing the "Flight of the Gibbon" tour. It is basically a series of zip-lines through the jungle for 3-5 kilometers when all is said and done. Anyway, he didn't want to do it by himself, and Crystal wasn't able to go with him because she had to work, so he asked if I would go with him, expenses paid. "Um, yeah!" was my approximate response. It's about $100 per person to go, which is A LOT of money here. That's one month's rent and food for me! So, I graciously accepted his generosity and headed off to Chiang Mai the next day.
It was kind of funny spending the day with a near-total stranger, but we had a lovely time. We joked about being "friends for a day". My friend-for-a-day, Shane, and I had fun practicing speaking like the other, as he was from Australia and I am from America. I practiced my Aussie and he practiced his American, which sounded more like a southern drawl.
Our Flight of the Gibbon went off famously, at least in my opinion. There's nothing like being out in the middle of the jungle and zip-lining through the canopy of rich greenery. I can check that one off my list of "things to do before I die". Now I just need to go sky diving, bungee jumping, backpacking through Europe, gondola riding through the canals of Venice, graduate, become a teacher, start a children's home, get married and have kids, not necessarily all in that order.
I smile as I think about my future. I realize I am a incessant optimist by and large, but I can't help but believe that some really good things are to come.
Anyway, back to this weekend. While we were in the jungle, we saw the most incredible thing: a family of three gibbons!! We had just been talking about how rare it is for people on these tours to see any gibbons, even though that is the tour's namesake. Then, out of the blue, the tour guide directed our attention to the treetops where a momma gibbon was holding her baby! I was awe-struck as I saw these two gibbons just hanging out among the branches. Then, someone spotted another one! I think it was the daddy gibbon, dangling from a branch like a towel hanging out to dry, without a care in the world.
Later we hiked up a beautiful waterfall, ate some dinner, then met up with a Thai friend of mine who I hadn't seen since I've been back to Thailand. The next day we met up with another Thai friend who I hadn't seen since my return along with a friend of his, and the four of us hiked Doi Suthep (a mountain hemming in the city of Chiang Mai) to a beautiful waterfall that I have visited on several different occasions prior. Of all the waterfalls that I have been to in the world, this is the one that I dream of and long to visit. It isn't spectacularly tall or anything, but it is so inviting and peaceful. There are places to swim, jump off rocks into the waterfall, slide down slippery rocks, or just relax with a good book and good friends. My friend-for-a-day went extreme Aussie on us and climbed up the waterfall, went swimming in his clothes, cut his foot, and experienced the waterfall to the fullest. The rest of us were content to dip our feet in and enjoy the deafening falls and sunshine (though my Thai friends were not as keen on soaking in the rays as I was). After the soul-replenishing waterfall adventure, we went to a noodle shop and I got one of my all-time favorite Thai dishes: Khao Soi Gai. It is a northern-Thai dish with yellow egg noodles and chicken in a curry soup topped with the same noodles but deep-fried. It is served with a side of pickled vegetables, shallots, and lime. I was pleased to end my time in Chaing Mai on such a happy note: good food with good friends.
3 comments:
Wow, Stephanie what a wonderful birthday you had. Thank you for sharing and making me completely jealous. :) Just kidding, I know what it is like living in a foreign country and sometimes it is such a huge blessing to enjoy the exciting and spectacular sites it has to offer. Stop and smell the roses, and that is exactly what you did. I can't wait to see some pictures this summer.
Incredible....what a weekend for sure and that's great you had the opportunity to do all these things that's wonderful.
Wow! Im glad you got to take sometime to just enjoy what's around you. It sounds amazing!!
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