December 23, 2006 Chiang Mai, Thailand

December 23, 2006
Chiang Mai, Thailand

I woke up this morning at around 7:30 and lay in bed for about an hour and listened to a band playing outside (it was so loud it seemed like they were performing in our bathroom). Spizz woke up a few minutes later and we packed up our stuff. The Eagle House was booked for the evening and we had to move hostels…

We left the guesthouse at around 9:30 and headed back to the more upscale M.D House. We shelled over 750 baht for a two-person room and then asked them to start a load of laundry for us.

After settling into our new room I headed to a nearby café to get some breakfast and use the internet. I sent a few emails and updated my blog as I sipped a iced green tea and munched on a brownie. As I was reading through a few emails I got a new one for B. He had arrived in Chiang Mai and was at the internet café across the street. I ran over and found him and then we returned to the café where I had my things.

A few minutes later Spizzle showed up and the three of us were together for the first time in quite a while. We used the internet for a while and then headed across the street to talk to a travel agent.

We spent the next hour discussing what to do for the remainder of our stay in South East Asia (about 30 days). After a long discussion we booked a boat into Laos for tomorrow morning. We will spend Christmas Eve on a boat and then arrive in Northern Laos on Christmas day.

Once we had ironed out all of the details we were hungry and ready for some lunch (12:30). We strolled down the street and come upon a Mexican restaurant. Having not eaten a taco, burrito, or enchilada in more than four months, I was craving the food I grew up on. The meal turned out to be surprisingly authentic and incredibly delicious.

After lunch we decided to chill out for a while. B headed back to his hostel while Spizzle and I returned to our fancy room at the M.D House. I decided to get one last Thai massage before leaving Thailand. I wandered around the corner and found a nice establishment that would give me a one-hour Thai massage for 200 baht.

When I was finished with the massage I returned to the room and had a shower. I then got cleaned up an then tried to get a hold of Lisa and confirm that we were invited to the Christmas party at her school. Unfortunately, she did not pick up. We decided to head to the school anyway.

After a short song tao ride we arrived at Chiang Mai Gate and then walked to Lisa’s school. When we arrived the Christmas party was in full swing. We sampled some traditional Thai deserts and even sang Jingle Bells on the karaoke machine. A short while later Santa Clause arrived! I was a little disappointed that it was not an Asian Santa. Somehow the school had managed to find an old white man that spoke perfect Thai to play the part of Santa.

The children all went crazy for St. Nick and were given large stuffed animals. Lisa, Spizz, B and I all watched in amusement. At 17:15 we all started eating. We had everything from German sausage to noodle salad (even getting no-bake cookies and coconut ice cream for desert). While eating Lisa told us of her plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas day and convinced us that we should try to stay.

We left the school a little after 18:00 and attempted to change our tickets. Unfortunately, the office was closed. As an alternative, we returned to our rooms and relaxed for a while. Lisa, B, and I then met back up at 20:00 at Johns place for a few beers. On the way there I passed by a large weekend market and purchased another “flowy” shirt.

After a few beers and some fun conversations we decided to call it a night. I made the 10-minute walk back to M.D House and walked up four flights of stairs to the room I was sharing with Spizz. I was surprised to find that the door was locked. I knocked a few times and waited for Spizzle to answer. He did not come to the door. I tried knocking again, still no luck. I then knocked harder and harder. Eventually several neighbors came out to see what was going on. I explained that I was trying to wake my roommate and that they could go back to sleep. After a few more knocks I went downstairs and told the concierge that I was locked out of my room because my friend had locked the door and fallen asleep.

The concierge (a little old man) walked with me to the fourth floor of the hotel and brought all of the spare keys with him. He tried the key for room 419 (our room) but had no luck! I was amazed that the key for our room was not working. Instead, he started going through every key on his key chain (of which there were about 100). I sat there and watched him for the next ½ hour. Finally, after 98 other keys, the key for room 317 worked on my room. I entered and was prepared to bitch out Spizzle. To my surprise, and embarrassment, he was nowhere to be found.

Since the rooms here require the key to be placed in a small holder for the electricity to work (and I did not have the key) I was forced to wander around the room in complete darkness. I entered the dark bathroom and prepared for bed without any light. I then sat down on the bed and prepared to write my blog. Alas, I could not find my computer anywhere. It was then that I realized that Spizz had probably taken my computer to the internet café.

I tracked him down and made him return to the room with me. After writing my blog we put on some Entourage and fell asleep.