Eleven hours in a car = not ok!

I could NOT (for the LIFE of me) fall asleep last night! I think the last time I looked at the clock it was 3:30am and knowing I had to wake up at 7:00am did NOT make me happy. I think maybe it was just because it was my first night in a new place and I was a bit anxious about today because I had no idea what to expect!

I was up at 7:00am and exhausted, but got ready for the day. I am already missing the luxury of staying in an actual hotel as my shower this morning was cold. Well, I shouldn’t say cold, but it definitely was not warm. Luckily, I have not met any ants in my bathroom OR my bed which really is a win in itself so cold showers aren’t the end of the world. After eating breakfast, I called my mom who was JUST arriving home (and freezing)! SUCKER!

I met Prachit in the lobby at 8:00am and she told me we were waiting for Stephen (the volunteer who is leaving) so we could drop him off at the airport. I was actually kind of bummed he was leaving. Even though we only spoke for about 10 minutes he seemed nice and it would have been fun to have a travel buddy! But anyway, Tako was also with him and I am STILL confused about his story. He is a student from Japan and I don’t think he is through WLS but he knows Prachit and is traveling but doing a little volunteer work. I think we were supposed to take Tako to his hostel but Prachit invited him along for the day and he decided he wanted to come!

The Chiang Mai airport is literally 10 minutes away which is awesome! We dropped Stephen off and I hopped in the front (anything I can do to help prevent carsickness) and we were off (I had also taken Bonine). It was a little over 3 hours to Chiang Rai and when we arrived Prachit took us to a temple. I actually didn’t mind seeing another because this one was beautiful (it almost looked like a princess castle!)

We left the temple and Prachit suggested a place for lunch because we were all starving. Little did I know it was a half hour away! Sheesh! It was pretty good except my meal was SO spicy! I wish it wasn’t because I REALLY liked it but my mouth was on fire, my lips were burning, it was really painful!

We left lunch to head to the Myanmar border which I thought was pretty cool but again it was about another half hour away. It is really just a bridge to cross (we didn’t because it would affect our visas) and Prachit said people go back and forth all the time.

The whole reason we went to Chiang Rai was because Prachit had to check on her coffee (farm?). She said she and her husband bought the land about 2 years ago and are planning to build a house in Chiang Rai soon! So we started driving and before I knew it we were going down this crazy dirt road on the side of a mountain! When we finally got to the coffee area (it just looked like the side of a mountain to me) it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of Italy! It was so peaceful and quiet and I loved breathing fresh, clean air. She met with the workers and then we were off! The drive there and back into civilization was two hours total and while it was pretty, it wasn’t really worth the drive.

At this point we had been driving for six hours and I was about done with the car. But, Prachit wanted to bring us to the Golden Triangle which is where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos all meet! The IDEA of it was cool, but all you did was look to the left (Myanmar) and look across the river (Laos) and there you have it! It wasn’t worth another hour of driving! Hint: Myanmar looked like Thailand and Laos looked like Thailand. In theory it is cool to think I was looking at two different countries, but I guess it really didn’t do anything for me.

By this point ALL I wanted to do was go back! I was SO grateful that Prachit offered to take me and thought it was so nice of her, but it was too much driving and I was sore and just tired! So we started the four hour drive back.

We drove and we drove and we drove and we drove! I thought I was going to go crazy! We were somewhat close to being back (although it all seems relative) when we came to a dead stop. Prachit told us it was because the Royal Family was driving by so we all had to stop and wait. We started talking about “politics” if you will and it was so interesting. She was saying how about 70% of the people don’t like the King (he only helps the wealthy) but if you say anything bad you will go to jail. She also said (this was random) the King’s son is married to a famous Thai porn star (both are in their 50’s). She continued to say that if she is born again she hopes not in Thailand and I asked her why and she said she doesn’t like how she can’t speak her mind. It really made me appreciate the U.S. and my freedom of speech that so many people have fought (and died) to protect!

I was thankful to be back and grateful that I was able to see another part of Thailand, but think if I had to do it again I wouldn’t make it a day trip! Also, I updated all my pictures from Cambodia although the second half of pictures are the ones from my cheap camera. The quality is so funny to compare to an actual digital camera, but hey they are pictures! They are in no order so I tried to label them to help. All my videos are updated but I will be changing them in a few days so check these ones out!

Hugs and kisses from a girl who doesn’t want to see a car for a long time!