Thailand... and then some.

The bus ride to Chiang Mai was pretty long. First a tuk-tuk from the hotel I got picked up at to the bus station (which was actually a lot closer to my house than the hotel was), then an over-packed bus out of Laos, across the bridge, and into Thailand to Udon Thani. From that bus station, we had to get on another tuk-tuk to a different bus station for (another hour wait and finally) the overnight bus to Chiang Mai. Thankfully there was a group of three good-humored and hung-over British guys that had booked through the same company who were there for me every step of the way. I started getting a sore throat on the bus, which turned into a cold the next day. I think it’s probably because the air-conditioning was so high for the whole ride. We got in at around 9:30 am, and Sister Siriphan came to pick me up at the station.

After re-cooperating, doing some laundry and calling Mom, we drove out to a market and then to the church. A real church building with a sign. A sign that just says the name of the church and not ‘Deseret International Charities.’ After running in to use the restroom and seeing two of the Sister Missionaries that I worked with in the MTC, I walked across the street to a pretty big temple. Pretty similar to the temples in Laos, but bigger, and fancier, and this one had a living monk sitting and meditating with all the statues. The only way you could tell that he wasn’t one of the statues was because he wasn’t covered in gold. I don’t think he moved the whole time I was there.

I wandered around the old city a little and picked up some tourist flyers once I found out that we’d be staying until the end of English class. During English class (after I saw another Sister that I worked with in the MTC) I was companions with one of the Elders who was meeting the new English students before they started class. I had been struggling all day to switch back into Thai from Lao, so it was nice to talk about church things for a while. I could actually understand everything that was going on.

Wednesday: I had arranged with my friend Erin who was in the MTC at the same time as me to go mountain biking with one of the tourist companies that supplied all the equipment. Erin is in Chiang Mai doing summer research with BYU’s international studies program. Mountain biking was awesome and just challenging enough to not be boring. I was a little worried at the beginning, but it got much better as we continued. By the time we got back from that we were both exhausted, so we only lasted a few minutes walking around the city before splitting up and going home.

Thursday: Erin actually had to do some work, so I booked one of the favorite touristy tours of Chiang Mai, and Elephants are now officially my favorite animal. We started with white (brown)-water rafting while we watched the elephants on the shore. (They were all carrying tourists on their backs, it wasn’t really like a safari at all.)

We drove back down to a central camp area, and then we had our turn on the elephants. I think the most exciting part of the ride was when we were almost back one of the other elephants—chained to a post—came up and head-butted my elephant’s rear end. It was enough to make the whole animal rock back and forth. Once we were finished, the guide directed me to walk right behind one of the elephants (within a few inches) back around to the bridge. All he said was “Be careful the elephants.”

After the elephants, my tour included a zip-line course right around the same area. There were about 9 zip-lines and 3 rappels. On the second and third rappels I clipped in on my back and went face-first, and did the same thing on the last zip-line across the river. Much more fun that way.

I walked around the city for a while after getting back, and on the truck/bus on the way home I started talking to a couple of the people. One of the older ladies liked me so much that she invited me to her house for dinner and paid for me to take the truck home.

And now I’m on the train back to Bangkok. Just a few more days and I’ll be on a plane (or stuck in an airport) on the way home!

… after ‘a few more days’ and the update is that I’m stuck in my fourth airport: LAX. But at least the wifi is free here so I can update you all on my life.

I was only in Bangkok for one day, which I spent at the giant weekend market. On Saturday evening, I was invited to go to lopburi for church so I could see the monkeys there. So I went. I didn’t realize it was about a two-hour drive, but seeing the monkeys was fun. They’re kind-of a mix between stray dogs and pigeons: They sit around and eat your garbage. The difference is that the monkeys will come take the garbage away from you.

I didn’t go to bed on Sunday night; instead I went to the airport around midnight to wait for my 5am flight. We were worried that there wouldn’t be any taxis at 2:30. I got on the flight, I was just sitting in the airport for a long time.

In Tokyo, all of the flights to the continental United States were really full, but there was a flight to Honolulu that had plenty of openings. A fourteen hour layover in Hawaii didn’t seem too bad, so I got on with them (BUSINESS CLASS BABEEEYYYYY!). I didn’t realize that the 50+ standby passengers got on the same one.

In Hawaii, I went to the beach with Adam (another unfortunate standby passenger), rented a surfboard, and got completely sunburned. I was back at the airport in time for the flight to SLC, which was full. So, I switched over to the flight to Seattle (which I was only 3 people away from getting on to), and ended up spending the night in the Honolulu airport. That would have been fine, except that I had a bad sunburn on my back, and the security lady made me move twice for cleaning. Miraculously I made it on to the flight to LAX in the morning (I think I was the last standby who made it), and now I’m here waiting to get to SLC before Boise (which isn’t looking too good right now…)