Meaty Goodness!

May 26

6:00pm Thai time
I'm sitting in the Chiang Mai airport right now and people are very well dressed. They're not necessarily wearing very nice clothing but they are very well put together. It's like at home in a city. The girls are wearing dresses and nice sandal wedges or toms or flats that look nice with their outfits. There are skirts and tops that match. Lots of jeans. A lot of people have sandals on but if they have shoes on they take their feet out of them to put cross their feet on a chair or put their feet up on the chair. Even the men are in collared shirts or button down shirts and shorts. People are well groomed. Their clothes are clean. Very different from India and even Nepal. Everyone has a smart phone or tablet as well. There aren't as many thrown together outfits or strange clothing choices (what I would consider strange I guess).
A lot of people here are buying food in bulk to take from the airport. Strange. Also not sure why that's happening.
Their airport is pretty normal. The shops in the airport are not like the typical news stand shops though like in America. It is a lot of candy shops and dress shops. I haven't seen magazines or newspapers.
This may not be strange, but everyone, in all the countries doesn't recognize "The United States". I have to say I am from America for people to know what I am talking about. That seems strange to me. I don't know why.
All the cars (except tuk tuks) had air con and the airports as well. We ate McDonald's when we got here. It was actually pretty good. The fries tasted normal and having meat was really great. At the elephant park it is all vegetarian food. There was no cheese. A lot of rice and a lot of noodles. We did always have French fries at lunch. But today at lunch I took a bunch of the food I normally ate through out the week off the buffet line. A couple different types of noodles, fried rice (but its like yellow instead of brown), a few fresh salad type things... One tastes like tibouli and one had peanuts in it and was ridiculously spicy, some fresh fruit (watermelon) and or vegetables (carrots and cucumber) and steamed greens and spring rolls. Today, I left so much food on the plate. I definitely didn't waste any rice, but the noodles and even the spring rolls just didn't taste good. I couldn't even eat it. I also tried and did eat a lot of tofu during the week for nutrients and a protein substitute. Not that I have been getting too much protein between Nepal and India though either. There was always soup as well which I never had because it was too hot. At lunch and dinner you basically ended up with a massive pile of food but it was the smallest portions of just so many different things. We ate well. But I guess you need to when you're working all day... It was hardly all day but it felt like it.
At breakfast we usually had toast with a choice of butter, peanut butter or jam. There was usually hard boiled eggs or really greasy omelets. And rice or beans which I never ate. We also always had fresh cut up fruit that was covered in a plain yogurt. The fruit was usually apples. Sometimes mangos. There were grapes in it.
Dinner was a lot more rice and tofu dishes and mixed (this auto corrected to Moses...?) vegetable dishes. Lunch was by far the best.
We've been at the airport since 2pm. I had planned on walking around Chiang Mai but everyone was going to their hotels until around 6pm when they were meeting up with the group for a party and dinner. I asked Apple what I should do in Chiang Mai in the afternoon and she said go to a hotel and sit in the air conditioning. So I figured I mine as well go to the airport. I'm kinda bummed I'm missing the party with everyone. I think it would have been really fun. But, I also think it will be good to get to the hotel tonight and be able to sleep in tomorrow. I'm still sick. Two girls from the program are also taking the same flight as I am to Bangkok tonight. Their names are Kristina and Laura. They are from London. They are my age. We've past the time together really quickly which has been nice. Talking about the experience and comparing British and American English. There is a lot to compare! Also talking about traveling. They are spending 3 months in America after doing a week in Bangkok, 2 weeks in Vietnam, spending time on the Thai Islands and Indonesia. If they get to Chicago it will be close to when I am starting school but I may try to see them there or in Niagara Falls. They are going to California and doing a lot of the parks in the West, New York and Florida. Probably the Bahamas.
One thing I have been really impressed with is how well people can speak English when it is their second language. They can speak it just as well as I can! And joke around in it. It impresses me. I am not fluent in any foreign language, especially now that I haven't used them in so long. Amelie said that it is different though because they grow up learning and speaking English from such a young age and they have to use it fairly often. We don't really have the need to speak other languages.
It's also been really interesting while traveling to hear about other people's countries and cultures. It's really fun.
I think I must be really tired. We just saw a lady walk by and she has the checked by security yellow sticker they place on your bag across her back. I couldn't stop laughing. That's not even funny. I can wait to sleep tonight.
I know there will be a meal on the airplane tonight and I don't think I am looking forward to it. I'm not sure how much more rice and noodles I can eat. I really want pizza!
I'm also pretty sure I smell pretty bad. I didn't shower before I left because I figured it would be nicer at the hotel tonight. I also didn't have too much time. I had to shower everyday at the elephant park. I thought I was so tan the first day and then I realized it was dirt so yea...
Last night I was up pretty late coughing. And I woke up early this morning coughing. And having to pee. I tried to hold it but I couldn't do it anymore. I finally got out of bed at 6:20am to pee. I think I had been awake on and off for an hour already since then coughing. I packed my bag and headed to breakfast at 7.
By 8am we were ready to work. We could do ele poo or ele food. I really wanted to do poo... I know that's strange, but poo gets done so quickly with a bunch of people and food usually takes at least 2 hours. Plus you usually have to unload a fruit truck. Unfortunately, I think everyone thought the same and no one wanted to do food so a few of us ended up switching including me. And you get to be close to the elephants when you scoop poop. Luckily, food only took us an hour this morning. I was so nervous a fruit truck was going to come in because there was almost no food in the elephant kitchen. It didn't!
We then had 2 hours to pack and get ready before we did our group photo. I couldn't fin Debbie anywhere and she had the key. We only had 1 key for the room. It hasn't been a problem until yesterday. Then today she just took the key with her. But it was fine. I got in the room around 10 (an hour after we finished food because Debbie went to the dog shelter and thought we were still doing food) and finished packing my stuff.
At 11 we had a group photo with the elephants and then we ate lunch and said goodbye. By 1pm we were leaving and by 2pm I was dropped off at the Chiang Mai airport! It's a pretty normal airport. Not too much to say about it. We only had to go through security when we entered (our bags on a belt) and when we went through the security to get to our gate.

Later Thai time
Thai airways is very nice. The seats are all different colors which was fun. The plane was very large. I wasn't expecting that. It was also only a 56 minute flight but all the seats had their own TVs. I didn't use it though.
We were served a snack. Mixed fruit juice (always coffee and tea but I turned it down) and a mini croissant with something in it. I have no idea what it was. It was sweet and white with maybe little pieces of fruit in it. Absolutely no idea but it tasted fine so I ate it.
When we arrived in Bangkok I met the girls when we got off the plane and we collected our luggage. They had paid to get a transfer service to their hotel so there was someone waiting for them with their names on a sign. We said a quick goodbye. Laura was still feeling really sick and we were all so tired. It was around 10:40pm and that was really late for us to be staying up! We went to bed so early in Chiang Mai.
I went to a taxi stand and they wanted to charge me 1300 baht to get to my hotel. I think they could tell by my face I thought that was a lot. Then she told me I would need to wait 20 minutes. On the way I had read the guide book and it had said you could find your own taxi for pretty cheap. So I walked around trying to find a taxi.
There were 3 or 4 different levels to go out of to enter the street so that was confusing. I went out the level I was on and walked around for a bit. It was all shuttle buses so I finally found someone to ask and they told me I needed to go upstairs. They have moving walkways to get upstairs but its like on an incline and then flat and then on another incline. It was hard to stand and keep my balance which seemed dumb.
I walked out from the next floor and immediately a guy was motioning to me. In the guide book it said to use a metered taxi. He had one. But I also wasn't sure if you needed to agree on prices before you got in the cab like in India and Nepal and even in Chiang Mai. So I asked him how much and he said 500 baht. That was half of what the airport service wanted to charge me so I said okay. I talk about this more in my next post.
When I got to the hotel I wanted to sleep but I really needed to do laundry and I wanted to make sure my clothes would be dry and ready for when we left on the 28th. So, I think I was up until 2am washing my clothes. They were filthy! The laundry service at the hotel was expensive. It charged per item not per kilo. I think my clothes are probably still pretty dirty since brown water kept squeezing out of them but at least they smell clean. And I got most of the brown to become clear.
I also realized tonight that I lost my retainers at some point and I'm really upset! I know that sounds silly but I wore my retainers a fair amount still and I've had them for 8 years. My teeth are really sad. I hope they turn up but I searched my bag 4 times so I think they're gone :( I emailed the dentist asking about whether or not my teeth would be okay and what the options are for when I get back. They were obviously really old and the plastic part for the top retainer was even broken. But man! So bummed!!! And I have no idea where I would have left them. They could have fallen out anywhere or been left anywhere. It was hard to wear them though because I couldn't rinse them in the tap water. So I don't know. But grr. I don't really want a permanent retainer and I think it will be expensive to replace them. But I am also worried about my teeth shifting over the next 2.5 months. So boo!!!