Visa Vacation

Since I now have a real job, it recently became necessary that I update my legal status from "tourist" to "non-immigrant." What's the difference, you might ask? About 2 months and a mini-vacation.

A tourist can stay in Thailand for 30 days before he or she must leave the country. It is acceptable to immediately re-enter Thailand, but only for 3 consecutive visits. This is a recent change, until last October there was no limit on the number of times one could renew a tourist visa, but things got complicated after John Mark Karr was arrested in Bangkok in connection with the JonBenet Ramsey case.

A non-immigrant, on the other hand, can stay for 3 months, which can be extended indefinitely with the addition of a work permit. Unfortunately, one cannot just turn around and return to Thailand. There is a mandatory 24 hour stay in the beautiful French colonial capital of Laos: Vientiane (where good coffee, cheese, and bread can be found in abundance- unlike KK).

Having tasted the local pleasures on his own visa run a few months ago, it was not difficult to tempt Joe into accompanying me on my "business trip."

Once we dropped off my paperwork for processing at the Thai embassy, we traded our baht for kip (we're millionaires!--in kip), and found a lovely guest house and relieved ourselves of our backpacks. With stomachs growling we headed to one of numerous French-influenced restaurants where I proceeded to eat many buckwheat crepes filled with 3 kinds of cheeses (oh, how I could remember their names, but like a the morning after a night with a little too much to drink, all I can remember is my mouth being very, very happy).

We next took an opportunity to walk off our full stomachs as we took in the beautiful french colonial architecture-too bad we didn't get a better picture.When we were ready for a break, we found a lovely little coffee shop and sat down to watch tourists and have a snack (2 coffees, 1 croissant, 1 cookie= 43,000 kip--or under 5 USD). As the sun began to set we wandered over to the banks of the Mekong. It was just beautiful.

As soon as my stomach had more room, we headed off to diner where I dined (amongst other things that have since faded into the background of my memory) on Camembert cheese fried perfectly in sesame seeds. Crunchy on the outside, runny on the inside, it was perfect. Desert was chocolate mousse. Yeah.

As if two continental influences were not enough for one day, we then headed over to a tourist Tex Mex bar to finish the day with Margaritas and live music. Who doesn't love a bar where happy hour is from 9:00am to 8:00pm?



As much as we would have loved to have gotten up for an early start back to KK the next morning, the embassy will not release passports until after 2:00pm, so we were "forced" to spend even more time eating and drinking coffee, this time in our hotel's courtyard. Doesn't Joe look thrilled?



Our mostly culinary excursion was then completed with HUGE sandwiches that we just couldn't finish. We left Lao with a new and shiny sticker in my passport, half a sandwich each for dinner, and plans to return very soon.

Chiang Mai: Part Two

After my parents left Chiang Mai there was still much fun to be had. The first day we just wandered around the old gated part of the city, sometimes the best days can’t be planned. Chiang Mai reminded me a bit of Miami: a tourist destination for sure, but look just a little deeper and it’s just as interesting to see the everyday people going about their lives as it is to watch tourist after tourist ride wobbly by on their rented motorbike.

Some of the main attractions of Chiang Mai are the mountains, and just because we couldn’t see them didn’t mean they couldn’t be climbed. Joe and I booked a trip to go climbing for the day, and lucky us, no one else had made a reservation. We had our own two guides for one full day of climbing. I was a little nervous, not having climbed since August, but as soon as I started climbing it felt like there had been no break at all. Joe and I both started on some of the easier climbs: I progressed to a few more difficult routs, but Joe just shimmied up everything the guides suggested. Exhausted, we had no problem sleeping that night.

After having worked up a serious appetite climbing, the next day we took a Thai cooking class at a local organic farm. Some of our new favorites were on the list: tom yum, green curry (we even made our own curry paste), spring rolls, and a desert made of bananas and coconut milk whose name in Thai (kluai bod chii) means “ordained nun.” If anyone is hoping I’ll make a yummy Thai-food dinner when we return to the states, I doubt it. Most of the ingredients (like galangal- essential to tom yum) would be impossible to find, and, as our teacher reminded constantly, if the ingredients are not exact “it will not be perfect!” Sounds like a good reason for Joe to start a Thai garden.

That evening, with full stomachs, we visited the famous Sunday market. Every night of the week there is a huge night bazaar where residents of Chiang Mai sell regional crafts to tourists. Near the night bazaar is a night market where the locals buy food and everyday necessities. The Sunday market is an amazing combination of both worlds as people from nearby towns and villages flood the area around the old city gates to sell anything from local candies to traditional textiles made by hill tribes to the newest (bootleg) fashions.

Our last day was spent saying goodbye the city. Goodbye to all the Western food, coffee shops, mountains, and our beautiful hotel. I was ready to get back to Khon Kaen; you don’t realize how comfortable you feel in a place until you have left it and when you return can honestly say that it’s good to be home.

Chiang Mai: Part One

The past month has been full of two things: hard work and vacation. I knew that theoretically having a full time job and getting a masters would be difficult and time-consuming, and this last month proved the theory. Fortunately, I there were also two vacations to lighten the load. No one wants to read (and I certainly don’t want to relive) the details of everyday work, so I’ll skip right to the good stuff. First up (because it’s freshest in my memory): Chiang Mai.

After an incommodious 13 hour overnight bus ride from Khon Kaen sporadically spotted with sleep, Joe and I met my parents in Chaing Mai for our week-long getaway. Although we couldn’t see the mountains from the city due to a haze created by a combination of pollution, forest fires, and the dry season, it was good enough just to see my family.

The first few days were
spent seeing the sites: watching elephants bathe, exploring caves, visiting an orchid farm, taking boat rides, shopping, and visiting wats. There are literally hundreds of wats (Buddhist temples) throughout the city, so we just chose 5 to focus on. Here are a few pictures, although I don’t have the names of the wats since Joe and I just followed my parents lead and just got out and explored wherever the car stopped.

Of course it would not be a vacation without a lot of food, and there was plenty to be had on this trip. Dinners were alternately spent sharing what we know about Thai food with my parents and indulging in western food that we can’t get in Khon Kaen.

After three days with my parents, they left Chiang Mai for Bangkok, but our vacation was far from over. Details on the rest of our trip soon.