Cooking and Muay Thai!

Let me start by saying that this story is about my Thai family. And by "Thai family" I of course mean the crazy group of Americans I happened upon throughout my journey. Some of us had previous connections, but I knew none of these people 10 days prior to these events. 

Let me also tell you that gone are the days of me rattling through all the boring things I did in each part of my trip. BORING! Sure its nice for my terrible memory to be able to remember, but I'm gonna stick to the pretty legit stuff from now on. By that I mean the best and worst memories of the trip. The vivid stuff that I probably will never forget anyway. 

Though it clearly led to the most painful of all mornings in Thailand, I'd say there are some good stories behind this day/night in Chiang Mai. Let me start by pointing out I was quite sick the day before our cooking class, so I was relieved when I woke up starving and ready to eat. 

We began the day at the market, where our instructor taught us so many things about the native fruits, veg, and spices of Thialand. Then we started the cooking and eating, and the being WAY overfull. At some point in the day it was mentioned that it seemed impossible to be hungover in Thailand...foreshadowing!

I want in my tummy now!

After being so stuffed, no one would be surprised to find out that we were pretty worthless that afternoon. Meaning that the girls got massages, and the men went drinking.....to meet other girls. 

So we met at the bar we had previously ate at the night before, and from the likes of it the guys were going for it. I turned the corner and spotted 3 new girls and screamed in my most sarcastic voice "Are you cheating on us?!?!" and then sat down and ordered a large beer to catch up. Some of us (ahem Justin, Patrick, and Halima) found it necessary to eat again, but Chris and I knew we had some leftover curry back at the hostel from the cooking class. So after polishing off my large beer, plus another, and a few sips of someone who couldn't finish, we stopped at the 7eleven to get bowls and spoons, and went back to the hostel. After climbing the three flights of stairs, I grabbed the community microwave and carried it into mine and Justin's room and grabbed my curry. It was, by far, the second best curry I had ever had. The best being the same curry from the morning when it was fresh. At this point it was mentioned there was thai rum, and someone got some cokes. After we finished that bottle it was mentioned there was vodka and Justin offered a sip of his red bull which I took to mean "make everyone vodka red-bulls!" 

I want to eat curry for forever.

Eventually we had to leave to meet the sluts (just joking) from England. So, being the classy people we are, the girls put on dresses and mascara (gasp! I wore make-up on this trip) and the guys tried their best to look semi-decent. 

All ready! 

We made it to the Muay Thai fights and had some delicious beers. Eventually things went sour as we kept rooting for the wrong team, Halima bet shots on it, and one of us may have purchased a pack of cigarettes (no confessions.) The best part of the match was, by far, when they put 6 blindfolded men into the ring and them just have at each other. Oh, and of course when they played Phil Collins. 

The fights lasted much shorter than we expected or we just drank the time away. Either way, when we finished we were not ready for bed. So we wandered to "Zoe in Yellow" for some dancing, and once we were drenched in sweat after like 3 songs we sat down and smoked. 

After this we headed back to the hostel, not really sure of what to do, but Patrick brought up some disgusting Chang beer which we all sipped slowly over the next 2-3 hours of talking about life. I can tell you that no one remembers a word that was said, but I DO know we listened to Bob Dylan, and it was so satisfying that I felt the need to say things I probably shouldn't have said, via text. Things that my phone would repay me for in the morning, even more so that the repayment from the thai rum. Eventually we passed out. At about 7:30 Justin and I went to go get breakfast and met Chris who had to go to immigration and was still a little full of thai rum and beer the same way we were. I dealt with some "complications of life" if you will, including a mental breakdown in the bathroom, and the worst ever experience packing as we all had to manage putting our lives in small backpacks with dizzy heads. While waiting I got an email from a school offering me a job and I thought, life sometimes has the best timing. I stuffed my face with italian food and once we rented a car, I had to say goodbye to my travel buddy from the last 9 days and deal with 3 boys by myself. 

We put up a good fight