Hey... so picking up where we left off on March 10th.....

April 10th- the evening

Having had a day of chilling out by the pool, catching a few rays, we decided to something a little more productive in the form of a visitation to the night market. This is Chiang Mai's main market and compromised of thousands of stalls lining the street, the majority of which sell the same produce as the previous. Though, the knack to shopping in these markets is picking the right one to buy from for the best price... so the majority of our evening was spent walking up and down trying to find the stall that had offered us the cheapest price, which more often than not we never actually found within the masses. Anyway, bought some awesome pressies for you all, so it was time well spent!

After the night market we went to the 'Rooftop Bar', which is pretty much the only place in Chiang Mai that travellers go to. It is really good fun, and has some amazing UV deco going on as well. It is a kinda strange combination of continuous drum and bass music (that does get a little tiresome), neon lights, floor cushions and low lying tables, and a faint smell of weed combined with Sangsom Whiskey.... delightful I know, but nevertheless a fun atmosphere! Amos and I were a touch worse for wear on our return, having met some english girls and two americans who insisted we play ring of fire'. which always produces bad results!

April 11th- Our Cookery Course

Well we dragged our sorry asses our of bed to get picked up by the cooking school. It was called 'Gap's cooking school' and was held in a lovely old house outside of Chinag Mai. We were doing it with a middle aged man from London, and a Deutsch couple (who were very trigger happy with their cameras... taking photos of everything and everyone)- hehe... upon re-reading that I realise 'doing it' was probably not the best term to use...

First we went to a traditional Thai food market, which was very colourful and smelt awesome, where we were taught about all the products and fruit to be used in our cookery. We then went to the cooking school, where we donned our awesome aprons to get started. Our teacher was possibly the most humourous human being I had ever met. I dunnno if any of you have watched 'father of the bride' but he was basically a thai version of the wedding planner. I assume his name was 'joe' as after every sentence he would say in a rhetorical way something like 'I bet you are thinking, where do we get coconut milk from Joe, well I shall tell you....' Ah he was a funny little man.

Anyway, we learnt to cook Thai Fish Cakes, Green curry, Fish souffle, Chicken with Cashew nuts, Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Baked pumpkin and coconut, Shrimp and lemongrass soup, as well as how to carve a tomato into the shape of a rose. It was really good fun, and a great experience, which I hope I can bring back the essence of when I cook for you all upon my return!!

In the evening we did another night market, which was on a larger scale due to Songkran. I dunno if I have mentioned Songkran before, but it is basically their new year, and it involves 3 days of water fights, which I will describe later on....

I bought more great presents and a couple of tops and necklaces.... after it we returned to the Rooftop Bar, where we met this awesome couple called Ana and Steve. They met in Laos and Ana was swedish whilst Steve was from Stoke on Trent. Anyway, they were great company and we had a great time drinking out of the buckets and chatting about our various little travel ancedotes! It was interesting to hear about Laos as well, as we are going their next and both of them had loads of great info about the place.

April 12th- Another Day of sunbathing

We found this lush little place for breakfast called Peppermint Cafe, and I had beans on toast, which I have been craving for days! The iced coffee was exquisite! Then we returned to the pool for a cheeky swim as it was so damn hot, and I continued to read the riveting 'My Booky Wook' which is Russel Brand's autobiography.... he is hilarious. It is like his life is just one big joke! You read things he has done and question how the gene pool has allowed him to stay alive so long, seriously. But would recommend it to any of you who need a little laughter in your lives, as it is a laugh a page- which is like 300 laughs.

In the evening we did a touch more shopping and then went out with Ana and Steve again. Steve is possibly the funniest guy ever, he just has a way about him that even when he is not doing anything particularly funny, you cant help but laugh! Guess where we went... go on... dares you. Ah, twas the rooftop bar again...

April (for some reason I keep writing March...) 13th- First day of Waterfighting!

Songkran (for those of you less familiar with Thai festivals) is their new year. Apparently it started off as a religious ceremony where everyone would pour water on themselves to cleanse their bodies and minds for the new year... of course this has digressed into a massive water fight over the years.

The festival as a whole got me thinking it did.

Firstly about globalisation. The world is shrinking. You only need to step out into it to see the signs of this condensing. The obvious examples are the familiar ones: the malls of Bangkok, indistinguishable from their counterparts in england, the starbucks in Downtown Kolkata, next to the slums, or the Bollywood movie scene. That kind of globalisation is about stuff- just product really. It misses the bigger and more interesting picture, which is that globalization is really about people. And this is seen no more so than in the Songkran Festival. Do not get me wrong, it is fabulous fun, and a great example of people of all ages coming together and enjoying life. But, like Christmas and Easter, one cannot help but feel that our Western Materialism has leaked into the somewhat pure Eastern Traditions. Even as I write, a small middle aged Thai woman, soaked to the skin, is running past clutching her Super Soaker 300 (a delicate shade of bright orange) as she runs from her white man of the week. It just seems like the point has been lost. A little like Christmas.

Secondly about how this festival would occur in the west. Over here it is a amazing expression of the beauty of community. I have not seen one violent act in the entire three days I have been here. Which makes me wonder- how would this festival be conducted in England? Well for starters, it would be a rather dunken affair I imagine. Which would inevitably lead to violence. And the police would be involved a fair bit. Lets face it, we probably wouldn't last a day before the government cancelled the festivities altogether. Now I wonder if this is because our society is too controlled,or not controlled enough?

Thirdly about the relationships between white men and Thai women. So far on my trip around Thailand I have peered at these couples with disgust, as the wrinkly old men cling to their young adolescent thai women. I read a phrase the other day that stuck with me- To forget the humanity in others is to risk forgetting your own. This made me realise, I had been looking at these people like they were not humans, they were just a cultural phenomenon that I disliked. However, when you see these old men with smiles on their faces as they run around with their super soakers and buckets, you realise they are not just old perverts. They are actually men who are in crisis, and need to recapture their youth. So no longer do I naively look at them in disgust... more in pity. I do not know if that is better or worse really!

Well... I shall shut up on my high horse now!

We had a great day, just enjoying the water fights and getting soaked repeatedly... I pruned all over, it was beautiful. We returned for a nap, which was a relief, as we had a big night ahead of us! We met up with Steve and Ana, and had a bucket at the Rooftop Bar before heading to a new place (exciting- I KNOW!) called Rock, Rap and Rasta I think... it was so much fun! This great little band were playing, and it turns out Ana dances like me (all in the hips, shaking that bootie like their is no tomorrow, usually knocking people over in the process!) so had a great time. It was whilst shaking it like a polaroid picture that I noticed Tristan from Ralph Allen school in Bath... my earlier phrase 'the world is shrinking' cannot be seen more poignantly than in seeing someone you know from back home. You get this mixture of excitement and depression. Yes its great to see them and say the old phrase 'My goodness, it tis a small world', but at the same time is somewhat takes away from yoru experience that they have been there, done that, had the same memories. Nevertheless, was great to catch up and have a boogie (yes liam, I used it in my blog... haha)

April 14th- Day at the temple

Having been thoroughly soaked all yesterday, we decided to do something more productive today and see the temples. However, we still spent the entire day soaked. People are merciless. Even on the way to get a Tuk tuk we were bucketed and drenched... and to add insult to injury, we forgot our buckets so were just victims in the tyranny! Anyway, Ana, Sara and I all got a 30 minute Tuk tuk up the highest hill in Chiang Mai to see the largest Wat and experience the views... soaked. It was a beautiful golden Wat and was encrusted with every stone possible. Their were also amazing views of the city from the hill. We were all a tad dazed out though to be honest... too many nights oput on the lash I think! We returned to Pae Gate to get more wet and had to say bye to Ana and Steve, although we may be meeting up with Ana in Cambodia.

We decided to have a chilled out evening so went out to a nice place called Ratana's Kitchen, where I had vegetable pie and mash, which made my homesickness lessen. I am missing me home comforts I am! I think I may be due to the wetness... it does make you crave your dressing gown and an episode of scrubs! Had a good nights sleep... twas awesome.

April 15th- More waterfights and Sunbathing

Went book shopping today. Loved the peace. Bought 3 books, Adrian Mole (because it is a classic and is so funny), the Beach (to read in south Thailand... particularly looking forward to sitting on the beacu it was filmed on and reading it... sad I know) and a compilation of travel journalist articles, as I want to get something educational in for me. I am really getting into my travelling at the moment, and enjoy writing my blog as it is like a mini newspaper of my life... I think this may be fueled by slight egotism... but whatever. I have never been so enthusiatic about writing, and have realised I wanna be a traveling journalist, or write about politics and countries and places.

This is particularly poignant as I just recieved this email-

Dear Jessica,

This is Anjita here from ODE-Of Distinct Expressions, Hyderabad, India. This is a youth magazine and we are three issues old. ODE is basically a Feel-Write-Publish magazine where in most of the articles are from the readers themselves. I happened to check out your blog and I wanted your permission to publish the post that describes your journey to India in ODE.

Please do permit us to go ahead.

Regards,
Anjita
Associate editor,
ODE-Of Distinct Expressions

Exciting eh? Already a published journalist and I did not even try!

Anyway, today was chilled again, in preparation for our big last night out in Chiang Mai. We have a Slowboat to Laos for 3 days from tomorrow... which everyone who we have spoken to has said is a difficult journey but oh well... I am quite excited really! Its all a great experience eh!?

Anyway, will update over the weekend on my crazy journey down the mekong!

Miss you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx