Northern Extent

11/9/09

Eli and his "father" - Eli is dating his co-teacher's daughter - picked me up in Payao and drove me the final 45 minutes to Eli's village in the dark. He's the only person on this entire trip that I'm visiting that isn't in my Peace Corps group. I'm in group 120 and Eli is in group 121, but as you've already read, Peace Corps love spreads far and wide. We got to Eli's and played Super Nintendo games until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. He was an excellent host.

11/10/09

In the morning, I woke up to the loud speakers announcing someone in the village had died, so that was pleasant. Eli and I drank coffee and ate oatmeal before heading out at around 7:30. I was informed that a bus would take me half way from Eli's village to my next destination, my friend David's village about an hour away. Just as I was sitting down on the bus stop bench, watching Eli turn the corner towards his school, an old man walked by and said, "You just missed the bus." Now it wasn't like this road was desolate, in fact the traffic was quite regular so I was certain another bus would pass by.

To pass the time I made some phone calls. I called my dad, my uncle mike, my friend Benny, and a friend of mine in Bangkok. I watched the road intently, planning on waving down the next available public transportation. Before I knew it, it was 10:30 and I realized all hope was lost. So, I started walking. The next intersection where the traffic would be heavier was only 9km away and I decided to hitch while walking. About two kilometers down the road, a man picked me up and gave me a ride the final seven kilometers. I only had to wait about ten minutes for the next bus.

Two hours later, I was in the town of Bpong! I add an exclamation point to the sentence because that's how you must say the name of David's town or the Thais wont understand what you are saying. You literally must exclaim the name. Bpong! is located in a flat plain with mountains and rolling hills surrounding the outer limits. My plan was to visit a couple of volunteers even more northern than David, but I was two days behind on my original itinerary and had to cut a good portion of my trip short. David's town would be the extent of my northern Thailand bumble.

I met David at his office and played on the internet while I waited for him to finish work for the day. Once he got off work we went for a run because David was originally planning on running the marathon too but has run out of money and can't afford the entry fee. After our run, we rode bikes over to a house where he tutors twin girls and ate dinner with their family. I enjoyed talking and playing games after dinner, but I especially enjoyed the desserts the girls made for David and I in their brand new oven. On our way home, we stopped at the house of a counterpart David brought to the youth conference I mention in an earlier entry who remembered me and wanted to see me again. We stopped by her house and watched a movie while helping her put fresh passion fruit juice in containers she sells in the local market. I had never eaten passion fruit before, so it was nice to have a taste and drink some juice. Once it got late, we rode home and crashed hard.

11/11/09

David and I woke up to the sound of his neighbor smashing food up in a mortar. We decided to go for a run, just as the sun was coming up over the hills. We ran through forests, fields, and pasture. Once we got back, David's neighbor, the one bashing food with a pestle, prepared a breakfast for us of traditional northern Thai food. The food was amazing. It wasn't spicy, but maybe I'm bias because Isaan food is some of the spiciest food I've ever eaten.

I caught a bus out of David's site towards my next destination, Nan province. My friend Tucker is nestled in the mountains of northern Nan. The ride from David's to Tucker's is only about 100 kilometers, but it takes almost three hours because of the switchbacks that climb and descend the hills. The views along the route more than make up for the road-sick inducing bus ride with mountain vistas that rival that of Guatemala and New Zealand.

I got off at the post office in Song Kwae and Tucker rolled up five minutes later. I ate lunch and now here I am at his school. I helped him with two lessons this morning because we both agree, our students get too used to our own accents and it is good to hear another foreigner speak sometimes to break that habit. I can't wait for our run tonight - Tucker was also going to run the marathon but has since decided to just do the 10k - because we'll be able to run mountain trails to peaks overlooking shallow valleys and jungle laden hillsides.