I thought I was safe...

I thought I was safe, but twenty days into Asia I have been struck with a stomach bug.  As I sit here waiting for the Imodium to kick in I will write a little blog!  I know this is disgusting, but I found this online!

Thank you www.wikipedia.org for being so informative.

Over the past few days we have been doing so many things that honestly it gets a little overwhelming trying to write anything about any of it. I will just give you guys a heads up as to what we have been doing over all.  

We left Bangkok two days ago.  We were going to try to catch a sleeper train to Chiang Mai but those were sold out for the whole week so we took the Sprinter Train.  Basically, a half step down in comfort and a little more expensive than taking a bus.  I really do not know what the benefit is.  We got on the train at 6:38 pm and got off of it in Chiang Mai at 7:20 am the next day.  It was hell trying to sleep on that thing!  

One of the weird signs you have to deal with.  I understand the image, but whats with the WC?

Our friend June (Miss Thailand Competition) was letting us crash at her pad in Bangkok for several days before we left, and her husband Mr. Tongchai is very nice and owns a huge company in Thailand.  Anyways, he called ahead for me and Chelsea and basically 'marked' us as VIP personnel for Chiang Mai.  We have had two tour guides the whole time we have been here, under the orders of Mr. Tongchai, and we have a home for as long as we want at the Chiang Mai "Night Safari".  The coolest zoo you have never heard of.  

It is the Jurassic Park of mammals.  Every night they take you out on these tram rides where you can see all sorts of animals in their natural habitat at night.  White Tigers, Lions, Hyena's and other predatory animals as well as elephants, a million types of deer, giraffe's, ox, buffalo, monkeys and so on and so on.  Oh, don't forget the LadyBoy show and the restaurant's and ........ bungalos/rooms for rent?  Totally awesome, totally weird.  I was really tired, but Chelsea actually had a hard time sleeping because our house was right near where the lion's and hyena's were, and they are super loud at night.  Our guides Bly and Rain are totally fun and entertaining to hang with as well.

So awesome!

It seems that one of the themes of this trip for me is to see all this stuff that is not allowed in America because people are so scared to be caught up in a lawsuit.  Sooo much of the really fun stuff we have done would be soooo not even a consideration in the States... and honestly, I agree!  I think we watched a 4 ton elephant do "crow" pose (yoga pose where you balance on your arms) less than 3 feet away from a class of 4th graders.  Like, the elephant was leaning over the kids.  It is interesting, America makes rules about things because of the exception - the one idiot, and Thailand just lets that idiot go hug the panda and get mauled.  

Today we went up to Chiang Rai, where we rented a speed boat and went on a tour of the Golden Triangle.  The Golden Triangle is the point where Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos meet, separated by the Mae Khong River.  Historically tons of illegal activity went on here, drug trades, selling of illegal things (like slaves) and there has been a lot of fighting over this territory.  It was really weird to see Thailand in comparison to Laos and Burma.  Thailand had hotels, restaurants, temples, houses, everything built along the banks of the river.  Totally modern.  Laos had little huts and shops built on top of the bank of the river, and when we went there we found a huge market.  Very dirty, very cheap.  All the Lacoste you could ever want.  This is where I drank Cobra / Tiger Penis whiskey.  (See video).  

When looking at Burma, you could see nothing. Only dense dense jungle, and a gigantic casino called Paradise facing the Thai border.  Gambling is outright banned in Thailand, so a Thai native cut a deal with someone in Burma to build a gigantic casino to try to attract people over the border.  A few problems with Burma :  Child Soldiers, giant armies of them.  Land mines.  War.  Extreme poverty.  Unless you are in the army, your children cannot go to school.  Less than 1% of people have cell phones.  Less than .1% of people have internet access.  People cannot move there, people cannot leave.  We met two refugees from Myanmar in Thailand, they were our raft guides.  They left their families and hiked through the mountains for three months in order to escape the communism.  They had nothing, and they now have nothing.  They have to stay in the woods in Thailand so that they do not get deported, so they work as rafting guides for one of the elephant camps where they make 100BHT a day, about three US dollars.  Then, they take half of that and send it to their parents back home.  However they said they love Thailand because they can choose what they do here.  They each went to high school for three years, and one of them could speak basic English.  They were really cool, we gave them a good tip.

Anyways, it was frustrating to see a giant Casino just over the border of a country that has so many problems.  Our guides told us it was not safe for white people to go to Burma, so we did not go.  They said the problem is not with the average Burmese people or families, but with the police and soldiers.  One of our guides knows a woman in Myanmar and said that for every 500 Kyat that she made, she had to donate 450 Kyat of it to the soldiers in her town so that they continue to keep them safe.  What..?