Muay Thai Boxing and (yes) ROSES.

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Happy Valentine's Day from Chiang Mai! This city is swarming with beautiful roses and bouquets for literally pennies, but apparently I'm not worth 20 baht (50 cents). Haha. Kevin says he couldn't do anything for me because we're always together (true) and that he doesn't want to haggle for flowers in front of me (because then I'll see how little I'm really worth). So... nada. I guess just being in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen on the other side of the globe will have to be enough! :)

The famous banana pancake
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We don't have time to add pictures at the moment because we're trying to make a Thai boxing match in an hour, but I wanted to write a quick journal to let you in on our escapades for the last two days before we head up into the mountains to The Elephant Nature Park tomorrow morning.

I don't know whether this is the greatest thing I've ever seen or the most disturbing

We still are the newly-found "morning people." It might seem shocking to you, if you know us, but really we have not slept in past 7 AM since we've been here, which makes for a full day, but as soon as the sun is down, we become almost delirious, we're so tired.

About to the climb the stairs
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Yesterday, we went to "THE temple to go to" in Chiang Mai, Wat Phrathet Doi Suthep. It's located high in the mountains on Doi Suthep and takes an hour to get to up the most windy roads ever! We had enjoyed a fairly lazy morning, so you can imagine our surprise when we arrive at this temple up in the hills after driving up sickening turns for thirty minutes to be faced with the 309 step flight of stairs you could imagine. Oh, and it's hot here. Really hot. The pictures don't do it justice. There were 90 year old women walking up this thing and here Kevin and I are sweating and ghasping for air. In between my ghasping, I notice this little Thai girl all dressed up in this colorful little outfit, so I happily ask if I can take her picture, to which she says "yes." I take the picture, she doesn't even look up, and then says in a robotic voice with her hand out and a grumpy face, "Photo money." I should have seen that one coming. No little girl would be dressed in that get-up sitting on a flight of stairs, almost being trampled on by (apparently) out-of-shape foreigners, as a regular playtime activity. Also, before we went into the temple, you could go to the right where there is a sign that says "Foreigner Buy the ticket. Admission 30 baht" or you could walk straight into the temple area free of charge (there is no security there). We walked right and paid, being the honest foreigners that we are, but I have a feeling that the little stand where they charge foreigners 30 baht is not so honest.

It's a lot higher and more vertical than it even looks
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The exact date when Wat Phrathet Doi Suthep was founded is not verified, but it is said to have been around the 1330's-1380's. It is massive and gold. I can't tell you all about it because they did not have any translated plaques, so we basically just imagined what each temple or area was for. There was one little temple that had "Mom" carved on the outside of it (which I don't know if it had any link to the American Mom) but Kevin and I decided to take it as that and sat inside and donated money to the temple of "Mom" for our own mothers. I would like to say we gave thousands of baht for our wonderful mothers, but then we would never be able to spend 6 months here donating to more "Mom" temples. It's not that you're not worth it, Marty and Joan, like I'm not worth a 50 cent bouquet... Still bitter. Still bitter... :) The views from Wat Doi Suthep were gorgeous and we could see the whole city of Chiang Mai, but we were reading to hop down those 309 stairs and head back to civilation (aka food and beer). We had a lovely little picnic outside the room of our guesthouse and decided to cash in the chips after roaming through the night bazaar and an hour and a half massage. Hey, it was an early morning!

"Photo. Money."
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Today started with banana pancakes and a long walk through the day market. The day market is very different than the night market because it is geared more to the locals, so the prices are much more set (and cheaper) and virtually no tourists. I think we were the only foreigners there! It was amazing though seeing all of the interesting food throughout the market. I made sure to get pictures of the fried cockroaches and worms, which have yet to try.We can't figure out how you can eat fish and chicken that has been slowly rotting in the heat, but quickly realized we probably have - and it was just like eating fish and chicken from a freezer. We bought Thai fisherman pants, which are the most comfortable pants you'll ever wear. Everyone has them here. You just wrap and tie them around the waist and they are so soft and light. I'm probably going to end up buying them in every color, as well as for souvenirs for people back at home. They are the best. Kevin found some elephant wood carvings he really wants, but it's around 12,000 baht and would be the same to ship. I fell in love with the most beautiful rings. They are 2,800 baht ($90). Every other ring I saw was about $10 US. Leave it to us to find (and want) the only expensive things in Thailand. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the ring and you guys can let me know if it's worth it. I have pictures of the elephants, but I don't think that one is happening. That's like buying a small house in Chiang Mai.

Golden temple of Wat Doi Suthep
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For lunch, we went to a local place where there were only locals (you don't say...) and had "the best pad thai" Kevin has ever had. My tip when traveling, stick to the local spot, even if you can't read the menu, no matter what you order, it will be better than any place filled with sunburnt tourists.     

We just returned from a riverboat cruise down the Ping River, which runs through the city and meets with another river all the way to Bangkok. We took the cruise with a young man from Kansas (now teaching in Taiwan) and his Chinese girlfriend, Daisy. Our captain was a Thai man named Dong. I could not help but think of "Long Duck Dong" from the movie Sixteen Candles. The boat was very tiny and Kevin is... well... not your "standard" size guy. We had to distribute the weight on the boat and even when it was distributed, any little move made could be hazardous. The riverboat was a lot of fun though and it was great seeing the local people and fishermen going about their daily duties and all the Valentine's Day lovebirds sitting along the river's edge.

Tourist charge at Wat Doi Suthep
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The boat took us to a small farmhouse quite a bit away from the center of the city where we sat and talked about our travels and ate fruit with ginger and tangarine juice as the sun set over the mountains with Dong "the Donger" (I hope you appreciate that one, Katy), Daisy and Brent. The remote farmhouse we were in is apparently the setting of the new Sylvester Stallone film, Rambo IIII. I'm trying to picture Sly there and really can't.

Buddhist ritual
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It was great because the farmhouse was full of harvesting herbs, rice and other goods. Dong was very brave and showed us an ant's nesting place by opening up a palm frond and letting hundreds of, let's say, not your "average" size, bright orange ants out of the leaf and onto his hand. He proceeded to show us how hard they bite onto your hand. I took pictures, but didn't understand why when the pictures were not being taken any longer, he left the ants to crawl on his hand and arm as he continued along on his merry little way. Daisy could barely get a word out trying to inform Kevin that he had a few of these precious little creatures crawling down the back of his neck. Turns out they do hurt, according to Kevin.

Monk
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We'll post the pictures and add more when we get back from the Elephant Park in two days, but we're running late for the boxing match. Hope you're all having a romantic Valentine's Day. We definitely are.

UPDATE: Muay Thai boxing is the most insane, beautiful "art form" that we've ever expereinced. We headed into this little warehouse on the outskirts of the night bazaar, not knowing what to expect. As soon as you walk in, the noise of Thai screaming and cheering is deafening. We had walked in a little late into the first match - between 11 year old boys, maybe younger (they were in the 30 kg group). These boys were so tiny up there, beating the living #!$@* out of each other. Kevin and I got some beer and sat down next to a New Zealander and his Dutch friend, who shared our shock. "I don't know whether this is the greatest thing I've ever seen or the most disturbing," the New Zealander told me, (half) laughing.

In front of the "Mom"temple where we donated money for Marty and Joan!
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The heaviest guys that fought up there were 58 kg, so everyone was pretty small, but there were guys that were dragged off covered in blood. None of the young children were out cold at any time, but this one kid did have quite the black and blue and a huge egg forming on his forehead.

You would not believe how intense the Muay Thai form of boxing is. There is silence in the whole warehouse as a live band begins performing, loud and squealing sounds mixed with deep drum sounds. Muay Thai is referred to as "The Science of Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbow and knees are all used extensively. My favorite part was before they fought, they performed a ritual called Wai Kru.  The fighters circle the ring together and then do certain types of stretching of the knees and body that come together to look like a dance between two praying mantises. We videotaped this ritual and the actual boxing on our digital camera, so when I have more time, I'm going to put it online so you can see it. The ritual is mesmerizing with the movement and the music that accompanies it.

Scene from Wat Doi Suthep
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Oh, and by the way, I knew I'd be eating my words with this one, but Kevin did get me flowers. He bought me a big thorny bouquet of beautiful red roses that were back at the room to greet me after a nice and bloody romantic Valentine's night at the Thai boxing match.