I got a long weekend recently, out of the blue. I knew there was a scout camp on in my school over 3 days which meant there would be no class but nobody had said if this meant I had those days free. As it turned out my coordinator had been looking for something to keep me in Li for those days. On the Wednesday we visited 3 more schools to present about the MEP but I found out that nothing was planned for the rest of the week so off to Chiang Mai I went! I got there on thursday and spent a pretty relaxed day doing a few things I had put on the long finger up till now. One of these was a trip to the dentist. Why the hell would I want to go to a dentist in thailand? Well one reason is its so cheap compared to Ireland. Another is that I hadnt been to one in ages (it being so bloody expensive in ireland) so I figured it was time to see how bad my teeth were. What I had planned as just a clean and polish ended with me coming out with 2 fillings as well and some advice about looking at removing my wisdom teeth. I said i'd consider it and settled my bill for 1500 baht (thats about EUR30 for a clean, polish and 2 fillings folks). After this I went to book my trip for the next day which was called “Flight of the Gibbons” but more on that later. So with my following day all set up I decided that I deserved a cold beverage so I sat down at a stall outside a hotel near the Tha Pae gate and had a beer. Here I met David.
David is an interesting guy. Firstly he is Thai and 'David' is a decidedly normal nickname for a thai person (they are usually called Arm or Ford or something). Anyway he was in CM for his hols. He is a pilot for Thai Airways and comes from a fairly well off family. His dad used to work for Thakhsin (the former PM) and his friends mostly own companies or their families do and so are wealthy. He also mentioned he has a Porsche at which point I nearly choked on my beer. Anyway the two of us met up with some friends of his and went on the lash. Random nights out with some thai people are fun!
The next day I wake up a little worse for wear and get picked up at my hostel for my day with the “Flight of the Gibbons”. Basically this was to consist of ziplining through the jungles with some abseiling thrown in as well. So the van (goddamn things) picks up me and a couple other people and drives 45 minutes outside of CM to the hills. The trip was pretty interesting as most of it was on narrow windy roads up steep hills. This meant our driver would race up said hills at full speed (if he didnt floor it we werent getting up these hills) usually on a blind corner all the while blaring his horn to let anyone coming the other way to know he was coming. What they were going to do was beyond me but thankfully we didnt get to find out. So we get to our destination which is a small village in the hills surrounded by jungle. We are introduced to our two guides for the day and get harnessed up. The next few hours are spent ziplining between platforms amid the treetops and at points abseiling to lowere platforms. Because it was all hillside we could at one point be a few feet up and another point be 60 feet up. At all times you are attached to something so there is a real sense of safety and my usual fear of heights didnt affect me this day. The ziplining itself was amazing because the scenery was spectacular. There were moments when the guides would start bouncing the wire as you are on it which is uncomfortable but fun. The end was great as well with us abseiling down from a 60 foot platform to the ground. I did this upside down and the guy holding my rope let me drop for a little bit. As you may guess the guides are nutters, one of them was called Bat and spent most of his time on the wire upside down and going backwards. They were good craic though. After the zipining we went to see a waterfall which was nice but to be honest Thailand is full of pretty waterfalls so the initial wonder tends to fade a little after you've seen a few. We then got fed and I got a free t-shirt and soon we were back on our way to CM again. I was pretty jacked when I got back so I met up with Pez for a few quiet drinks and a catch up. Got to bed at a pretty respectable hour for a change.
The next day I met up with David again and had a chilled out day. We walked around a bit got a massage and basically took it easy. At the massage place the woman doing mine spent a lot of time stroking my hair which was weird but thats thais for you. Anyway David got his (free) flight back to Bangkok later and I met up with Pez and his workmates. This turned into a crazy night with far too much alcohol being drunk (a litre of whiskey and a lot of beer) but I slept soundly. The next day I get up (barely) and catch my bus home. Let me tell you that a 3 hour journey on a rickety bus in the blazing sun accompanied by a thunderous hangover is not a pleasant experience.
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