still in chiang mai, with a lot of new adventures behind us. last i wrote, i mentioned going to a muay thai kickboxing match. that turned about to be better than we imagined. the fight was held a few blocks from our hotel, in a venue that calls itself a stadium, but which is actually an alleyway, with a corrugated tin roof and a boxing ring in the middle. along the alley walls on either side of the ring are six or so bars, staffed entirely by lady boys, and a set of tables sitting ringside. ash and i sat with an american couple we had met in our cooking class, and were disappointed when we realized that the first few fights were between children. i don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with kids kickboxing, but as a spectator sport, it feels a little dodgy to choose sides and really root for anyone. after four matches of kinderbouts, the real action began with what had been advertised on the program as "special fight." four muay thai fighters enter the ring, put on blindfolds, and for five minutes let loose, in one of the funniest sports debacles i have ever seen in my life. in addition to the four fighters, a non-blindfolded referee tried to maintain some order, but after being punched several times himself, eventually ended up throwing blows, and kicking the other fighters. it was marvelous.
the special fight was followed by four genuine fights, by which point we had struck up conversation with three middle aged australian schoolteachers, who were especially enthusiastic, because they had money riding on each fight. by the last two bouts, one of them had shown me the ins and outs of muay thai gambling and i made my way into the pit, feeling like i was in a jean-claude van damme movie. i lost two hundred baht (US $6)betting on a hometown hero who got pummeled by a giant canadian, but won my money back when, in the last, fight i bet on the guy with the most tattoos. the final fight was followed by a cabaret show put on by the cross-gender waitstaff.
next morning we woke up early to leave on our 2 day trek in a nearby national park. there were fourteen people on the trek, including two guides, one of whom was four foot ten and named willow. those two days have had some of the most amazing moments of the entire trip. it started with another elephant ride, which ashley and i wouldn't have gone out of our way to do again, but it ended up being a good time and different from our first experience. we rode a large female, who had her baby follow along, and whom we got to pet in the end. with the elephant ride done, we set out on a five hour trek through the jungle, in and out of rain, crossing over rushing rivers, and scrambling up muddy hills. our group was filled with great people, and by the time we had reached our destination, we felt like we were amongst old friends. an hour before the sunset we settled into a thatch-roof mountain top hut where we would spend the night, and sat on a bamboo deck, looking down on clouds moving through rice paddies and jungle valleys. the locals made us a delicious dinner and sold us cold beers, and then broke out an acoustic guitar which we passed around singing songs all night. most people stayed up well past midnight, playing games and singing, and looking at the stars. it was, for me, the best night of our trip.
the next morning, after breakfast, we headed back down the mountain, stopping at a gorgeous waterfall for a swim, and then along the river to a rafting outfitter. we went through a 15 mintute safety lesson and then broke up into three rafts to shoot down the rapids. we spent the next half hour flying down the river in our raft, or deliberately flopping over the side to cruise along in just our lifejackets. when there were no more rapids, we switched to bamboo rafts and slowly drifted towards our lunch spot, before heading back to the city.
last night, almost everyone got together on the roof of our hotel and had beers, and said goodbyes, as people are starting to go in different directions from here.
today has been mostly a lazy one, though it started with some adventure. five of us took a taxi to "tiger kingdom," a tiger breeding facility that for 300 baht, lets you go into the tiger's cages for fifteen minutes and pet the tigers. you have the option of what age tigers you want to handle, and we all agreed the 5 month olds seemed harmless enough. while it was a very touristy experience, there's something to be said about petting a tiger.
tonight we'll take it easy, have dinner with some friends, and set off tomorrow for pai, a city three and a half hours northwest of here, about which we know very little, but hear from everyone that it's a worthwhile visit. and that should be it for thailand. after pai, i beilieve we will head intro laos, a country that is beautiful by all accounts, but also a test of one's patience. just to get there will take more than two days, and we're told that trips between cities are always excruciatingly slow and long. but we're excited to see new things, try new food, and meet new people.
that's it for now, hope to hear from everyone soon.