Chang Mai for the Lantern Festival and Lei Peng 21-24 Nov 2015

So we're off to Chang Mai to see the famous Lantern festival.  After the previous night of trying to find ANYTHING in festival week, good ole Airbnb came thru, thank God.  

I don't know how the youth travel, party and have energy for the next day.  After shaking up the town til the wee hours, she has leapt out of bed again with a smile on her face.  No idea how she functions with only a few moments of sleep.  Her purse was stolen so this is the first time I've heard of anyone being affected by theft.  I never expect it by others but I also try not to give them the opportunity, or maybe I just travel with crappy old lady stuff no one would want to swipe.  I never feel unsafe on the roads except for the scorching sun from 10 am on, and the narrow rickety streets with millions of rows of motor bike and car, oh ya and they drive on the other side of the road.  Most don't wear helmets because they know where the police hang out.  What kind of logic is that.  Anyway, I'm forever checking the wrong direction for traffic while crossing the street.  So really, I guess I'm terrified all the time. Saw a boy standing in an open truck holding up a mattress.  Safe.   Daughter saw a man talking on his cell phone while riding his motorbike but it was ok; the cell phone was duct taped to his head!

She arranged for a taxi to take us south of the city to our new digs and we were dropped off with no idea where the hotel was.  We wandered up and down the busy street with now 4000 pounds of maple syrup, but to no avail.  Stopped and asked locals who spoke NO English, and they were stumped.  Turned around again and someone pointed further.  Finally, we stopped at a hotel to see if anyone could help us with wifi, a guest secretly gave us the password, and we found out we were actually at the Baan Thai which used to be called Mojo.  Apparently the booking company used an old account so not only did we have a bad time finding the place that no longer existed, we couldn't check in even though Airbnb had our money but Baan T was maybe not going to get paid.  Finally, I used all the authority befitting my stature, wisdom and age and demanded our room and said we would figure it out after.  OMG, it worked.  Go figure.  

It was in this city that we had plans to see things.  The lovely front desk lady directed us to the 1/2 day Elephant sanctuary but when we went to pay, the new girl had no idea so we delay it.  I want to sign up for a Thai Massage so she gave me directions to the school which is just around the corner and across from a 7/11 of which there are many.  "I couldn't miss it".  Oh how many times have I heard that?!  I wandered a long way in the wrong direction and turned around, wandered in the high heat for hours, stopping constantly but never finding it, but I did find a few 7/11s though.   

I now know why they use parasols; they don't want to tan.  They apparently want to look white like us and there stores are full of products to help that happen.  Funny, our stores are full of products to make us look tanned like them.  

So, we swam and prepared for the Best Thai Cookery school out in the country.  The first stop is at the busy market to learn about foreign foods we normally look at quizzically back home.  At the school, we learned how to make mango sticky rice, Pad Thai, Cashew Chicken, Stir fry, soups,...OMG it was good and we each got to set things on fire, which was very nerve racking.  Shot more video.  

We finally booked the Baby Elephant Sanctuary for the next early morning.  The clerk told us we could carry the baby elephants around and me being the idealist, loved the idea.  You do not carry around a 5 year old 250 pound baby elephant who is taller than you in your arms while trying to swaddle it. I'm just stoopid!!!!  I truly believe SHE believed what she told me.  Still working on booking the Thai massage and a Couchsurfing house party.  Did you know that Chang Mai, which is huge, has only 2 million people but Bangkok, which is the armpit of Thailand, and is tiny, has 14 million sardines.  

So we got up long before dawn to wait for transport to the elephants. Now, I realize that this next story will make me sound like a cold heartless bitch but here goes.  Elephants bore the hell out of me.  I had unrealistic expectations of holding tiny suckling babies but was shocked to see how big babies can grow.  There were three for our group of about 6.  One was huge and the other big and both were well trained.  They did pride themselves on having a safe, loving environment but when we followed protocol to greet them, we were rewarded with a well programmed response.  They were there to perform and entertain us.  Feeding was amusing.  Once they knew you had bananas, you could not slow down.  They were like vacuums.  The baby was absolutely filthy so I took picture with it but really didn't want to pet it.  I guess I think I'm better than them.  I dunno.  The final ewww was heading to the pond.  There are two ponds; the first is for them only and they poop balls bigger than grapefruit.  Then they are led to the communal larger pond to be washed down and wet.  The young trainers are thrilled to have all the nubile bathing suit clad girls so they start a splashing session.  I can't imagine any activity I want to do less than having my face and hair constantly splashed with elephant poop water.  I know, when did I become soooo old?! Anyway, maybe it was just the hot sun again that was making me crusty.  Back to the next hotel that was gorgeous....on paper.  Sigh.  Just another average hotel that calls itself a B&B.  

That night, we went towards the city center to watch Lei Ping but we were going away from the festivities into the fantastic parade and I knew it so I was even more miserable.  I went home alone to watch an English chick flick; you have no idea how rare that is, and passed the night waiting for my night owl to return from seeing her friends.  Dang this girl has friends everywhere.  

So here is what I have learned.  

#1  My trip should always be longer than one week in a third world country for me to acclimatize.  The first week is for adjusting and by the second week, all the complaining goes away because I simply give up and go with the flow.  

#2 Never stay longer than a week in a 3rd world country.  Sure your blogs will be full of whining and rants but you will forget them faster and move on to remembering the good times faster.  

At Pai, we saw temples and the 

monk showed us every statue in 

the place so we took tons of pics.

This was the change room
to try on my yoga pants.

Parties happened long after my sleep.  

Thai Cooking school

Baby and me.

Lantern Festival

Lei Pings throngs

The really sweet Tuktuk driver who wanted to be sure we arrived.

Daughter praying and expressing gratitutde but the place never burned down.

The poor mans Lantern festival

Setting our food on fire.  

The Baan Thai.

We Joined the Circus in this Hidden Treasure Called Pai, Thailand - Nov 19-21, 2015

Nov 18-21:  
Well, it's official, I have just joined the circus...ok, maybe that is just a great marketing ploy.  It worked.  It's actually a clever hostel  that offers Poi fire spinning, slack lines, trampolining, juggling... by a couple of oldtimer late twenty somethings.  Between 4-6pm nightly, everyone is invited to join in but few do except for the newbies and diehards.  Really, its more of a travelers hippy colony full of tattoos and medicinal "oregano" smokes.  Yes, yes, it's like my entire life is traveling from one hippy colony to another.  We did meet up with one of her favourite hippy friends with dreadlocks and hippy clothes.  I found that while he was a lovely young man, the lack of shower of many young travelers is shocking.  I get it.  They stay in dorms with limited water and time to shower but really, I had to be upwind too many times.  

Pai was beautiful and quaint and so different than Bangkok.  We wandered the stalls in the heat and shopped and did our first Fish Spa together.  That was outrageous.  It's 15 minutes.  The first five, they nibble at your feet and it's maddening tickling pain.  I screamed every time they touched between the toe and they love dirty feet, which mine weren't but they had a feast. Not so much with the filthy traveling daughter but then I wouldn't feast off her feet either. The next 5 minutes are bearable  and the last five, piece of cake.  It was cheap and I'd recommend it to anyone.  

Pai has many travel agents who cater to the many many passing through.  Their night markets are fascinating too; stall after stall of roadside food offering samplings for 10-150 baht (pennies to slightly more than $1).  The food is amazing, probably because it's mostly deep fried and I do know that I will pay the price when I return but someone slaved over a hot stove and it should not go to 'waist'. Went to a real restaurant called the Pai Siam Bistro and it was mouthwatering good.  

No one should drive in Thailand, whether it is a small town or Bangkokian sized.  They drive on the reverse size of the road but tourists don't so the 1000 that rent scooters, esp in the small towns, are wobbling up the narrow streets, almost hitting pedestrians, while on the wrong side of the street.  It's a nightmare waiting to happen.  We had places to go and people to see.  My little daredevil wanted to rent a motorbike.  No I told her as I watched a young woman make every single possible driving mistake.  Half of the tourists are covered in large bandages as they take face plants and wreck their legs. These wounds are affectionately called "tattoos".  So we checked out taxi vans, too much.  Renting a bicycle is too uphill for this mama, and we could feel the day slipping away.  We happened by a taxi stand and as we got the price, two more ladies asked if they could join us then one more, the wobbly wrong side of the road young lady who had fallen and promptly returned her bike, joined us too.  Woohoo.  A full day of private escorting for next to nothing.
  
First sight to see was the small hike to the waterfall.  It was beautiful but what was funnier was when I took many model shots of baby in her bikini looking so  sexy in the cave above the falls until she realized she was sitting in a sea of bat guano- poop.  She was covered in it.  I laughed almost as much as her mocking me cruelly when I tried to say thank you in Thai.  Oh yes, I will never forget.  
Back along the same road, we talked the driver into stopping at the Split.  Not so very long ago, a farmer noticed the land slit apart by metres wide and very deep.  every couple of year, it happens even more dramatically. Meh!

We finished off the day at the local free hot springs.  It was just ok, and lukewarm because I really love a good hot spring and we should have paid the money to do it.  
Every day in Pai, we got glorious painful inflexible Thai massages. There were a few stretches they did to daughter that they didn't even dream of trying with me, which was disappointing.  By the end of the trip, not only had I learned how to do the stretches to someone else, but they were doing it to me.  Hmmm, maybe I should take up yoga.  

When we checked in at the Circus, I was needing a good room so I took their equivalent of a honeymoon suite cabin unlike the dorms and lean tos and it was boring but close to the lobby.  Now you might think this a plus, as I did, but they have musicians, karaoke and just plain loud speakers until midnight.  OMG I am too old for this.  I went to bed early and she partied and had fun.  The second night, I forced myself to get out of bed and join the troops.  Seems I am a bit of a cool mom because none of theirs would ever backpack with their daughter.  Trust me, I was wishing I was their moms with common sense.  I ended up having a helluva time talking about spiritual stuff with some young dudes questioning their raison d'etre.  Mama Guru Cathy was there to guide them.  

21 Nov
The next day, we packed up and left the circus, only slightly more talented with a new thing to put on my resume.  We walked towards town and settled on the only place we could find for two nights- a nice cabin...clean, deafening birds sounds- so cool, and lots of video shooting for Spoiled Rotten. 

Woke up to a fine Canadian fall day- it was muggy and cold finally, cold enough for Daughter's coconut oil to solidify. It said 2 degrees but we never figured out if that was C or F.   Sadly none of our trailor trash display of laundry dried but a small price to pay to put on warmer clothes for half an hour til the heat came back.  We did get a delightful visit from a fellow cabin mate Josh from Colorado which delayed our first meal until 1:30.  Josh was looking like a fine pork chop by the time we hustled him out.  

Tubing down their river was an adventure, not necessarily like rafting down the Ottawa River in spring though.  For only 150 baht, ($5 or 5 cents- not sure) they drive for awhile to the end and you tube back.  Easy enough.  It was low water so the elder of the group had a real hardship with the rock encores.  Every single fricken rock in the narrow river, ripped me a new one.  I learned that if I arched my back for 2 hours, a great workout, by the way, I could avoid all but the pointiest and highest of Kilimanjaros.    

I brought lots of new to me summer clothes from Canada to a poor traveler so dressed in HER MOTHER's clothes from the bathing suit, shirt  etc, she was still a lad magnet.  Compared to their one month vacations, she was becoming legendary because not only had she wandered for 5 months, she was going to continue for at least another year.  Personally, I expect her back in Canada next month after she has been gone for 6 months plus one day, just to beat my personal wandering record.  We shall see.

Back bruised from tubing, she had the opportunity to take a motor bike up with a dude to see the Big White Buddha on the hill far away.  She finally got to drive, and she got to go down the water slides that I KNOW I would have blown off and regretted for doing so.  She, however, was able to knock quite a few things off her bucket list by the time I went home.  Mommy was pleased.  

It was an oven downtown and after frittering away the rest of the day, we ended up at the Purple Monkey to have Ceasars and Poutine.  Alas, the cook left at 5, when most decent cooks clock out so we only drank.  Another place daughter may volunteer at.  She's quite the chamelion.  She was all over the Night Market which I was too tired to properly appreciate for the third night in a row (darned crazy foodies) so I went home but not until a nice guy who was trying 3 kinds of deep fried bugs, offered some to Daughter.  She actually ate crickets and silk worms.  This girl is fearless. Me on the other hand, I would have no part of it and no regrets.  I do regret not doing the waterslides and stopping in an isolated outdoor guitar bar that was calling me.  Oh well, next lifetime.  Did get to try a new salad called Khaosoi- like a shredded zucchini cabbage mixed bowl.  Another food to learn. 

My walk was the best walk ever full of surreal moments.  On the walk home, I saw something musical called maybe Handpan which was beautiful.  I remind myself that I am walking home alone in the dark in a third world country and I feel so safe.  It was quite magical. Crossing the bridge to nowhere, they were setting off the beautiful lanterns.  I need to find a thesaurus for a new word for magical.  

Blogged and Airbnb'd and tried desperately to find a couch surfing place in Chang Mai.  Narrowed down all the best to about 4, and it took forever until a tiny voice reminded me that I had not put in the dates.  OMG, rookie mistake.  Hours down the tube and now we would have to take anything because we were going to a huge festival looking for accommodations one day before it started.  If daughter wasn't looking forward to the rest of the things on our list, she would have killed me, I fear.  

Since I didn't blog on the computer for the entire trip, I have travel ravaged pages, all out of order and the dates simply don't match up. I know you don't give a rats ass because  you weren't invited on the trip but it's driving me crazy!  

Downtown Pai at the night market.

Downtown Pai in the daytime - hot! So damn hot!

Our Fish spa.  She was so dirty, the fish wouldn't even eat her feet.

One of many temples.

The view from Pai Circus was beautiful and there was a glorious pool.

The honeymoon cabin.

Our honeymoon suite.

Daughter at Pai.

The circus relaxation hammock and meeting place. 

One of many daily Thai massages.  She was way more flexible than I was.

Daughter doing Poi.  She's amazing.  

Mother, not so much.

My favourite picture of daughter at the Grand Canyon.

You couldn't pay me enough to sit where she sat.  

Some of my better photography

One of the local waterfalls.

The cave full of bat guano above the falls.

The Split

The natural hot springs

Hippies with robes, tattoos and piercings.   

Can you believe the electrical system is like this?  To fix them, they stand on the wires.  

No idea what this sign says.

Tubing down the river

The White Buddha

Choice of three edible bugs: crickets, silk worms, and something else

The quieter of the Pai cabins surrounded by birds.

The dreaded mosquito netting.  Every time a piece brushes your face, you think it's spikers

Spoiled Rotten Goes on the Road...Again to research, learn Thai cooking and massage and shoot a video - Nov 15-18

So, number one on my bucket list is to go to Thailand with my daughter, the honorary travel agent extraordinaire because that place kinda scares the bejeebers out of me and she plans everything.  Wanted to see how other international B&Bs fare and perhaps connect with some, learn their tricks, meet other Canadian travelers and hype my business, and especially to shoot a thank you video to all my international clients from Airbnb.  

You're all familiar with the Annual Christmas card?  It's full of glowing perfect families doing magically happy events, their kids getting only straight A's in life?  God himself comes to them for advice on how to make the world more perfect? Well, as Christmas is fast approaching, I will give you two stories of the same road trip to Thailand to see my daughter and spread the word about the B&B and to take Thai cooking classes and massage courses.  The story is very late due to much traveling and many activities and so this is the first story...

Hi everyone, I just came back from Thailand and it was amazing.  It was hot and sunny every single day but one but the rain was so refreshing we all loved it.  We played in waterfalls, hiked the Thai grand canyon, spent half a day playing with and washing elephants, had our first fish spa were the fish nibble at your feet, received Thai massages almost every day, took an amazing Thai cooking class and now I am a chef, and then went on to add Thai massage to my repetoire.  Is there anything I can't master?  We had the wonderful fortune of being in Chang Mai when both the spectacular lantern festival was on AND the Lei Ping festival where they place flower offerings in the water.  Both, so magical. Finally, we scuba dived and took to  it like the proverbial "fish in water". Every moment with my grown 20 something daughter was delightful, full of laughter, memories and so magical.  Merry Christmas one and all.......Cathy from Spoiled Rotten Bed and Breakfast.

Now do you want to hear ...The Rest of the Story? 

Try to imagine being invited overseas to see a daughter who has been MIA travelling in Asia for five months; you miss her terribly and she presents a flight of only $500 to go visit her while I'm on a somewhat fixed income and the season is low.  Well, after the excitement settles, and the research is done, you realize that it's going to be so much more, but you can't get the idea out of your head now because Thailand is still #1 on the bucket list and you miss her terribly.  The flight may be pricier but it's for a good cause because she is on a hostel budget and you'd like to treat her occasionally.  I'm learning that nothing is ever that easy or that cheap in life so I pour myself a glass of wine and pay for the flight.
   
Oh I know there will be compromises in where we stay and how often we will eat grunge food, or how many puppy dog faces I can endure. At the end, we both hemorrhaged money, her maxing out the $13/day travel budget, (I mean seriously, who can travel on $13/day in 5 star resorts), and me refusing to live in poverty one moment longer; poverty by my standards is settling for no air conditioning  in 35-40 weather and not seeing the sights I came so far to see.  And so I was rewarded with memories and an empty wallet full of baht invoices that after calculating the conversion, is pennies in the first world.  She knows that I know that she knows more Thai than I do and she is in charge of my happiness but don't tell any New Agers you will meet, and they are many on the roads in Buddhist land, lined with monks and hippies.   
  
Next, you realize you haven't really thought this through carefully enough.  This is your first offspring just fresh out of being a teenager who is still in the young adult stage, still finding herself and you are going to spend 17  days with her???  As I reach for a larger glass of wine, I reassure  myself it's still for a good cause.  You never know when she is coming back. Sure, your travels  will be full of  all nighter buses (dear Lord), stopping at 3 am rest stops for lunch, in still 30+ steamy weather that is never going to let up, encounter no toilet paper in the standing-on-the-toilet floor-seat and missing the mark on more than one occasion, or worse, wrecking your clothes.  Oh it's a joy for this 55 year old hot flashin' menopausal B&B owner, and there is no end in sight.  
You see where this is going?  No more Christmas spin job, cover up.  BTW, Merry Blazin' Christmas. 

Nov 15-18
It's travel day, and a little ironic because I finally have my new tablet on the day before I leave and I have no idea how to use it to entertain myself. It's merely a 3-4 pound doorstop/anchor.  

 I will be in transit for 25 hours but I'm one of the few people I know who enjoys institutional food like in a hospital and planes.  I anxiously await its arrival and then I turn the Hoover on and inhale it, no matter how many meals I have already eaten that day but I will pay for this lack of willpower.     Your body knows when it's on vacation... don't kid yourself. It's been listening to you talk about this vacation ad nauseum but if you listen carefully, you will hear your body chuckling evilly as it begins commencement of shutting down and turning whatever you cram into it into concrete starting from when you arrive at the airport 'til days after you return so you might as well resign yourself to this and just eat but don't forget your buffet pants.  

Waiting for my flight.  I realize I have such a long haul ahead of me and I'm not sure I will ever see food again.  Must conserve my snacks.  Already it's been 20 minutes and I've run through almost everything I brought.  If you've never traveled thru  different time zones, across the ocean, it really screws with you.  The airline staff have you for 14 hours.  You leave at 3:30 pm on one day and arrive a couple of hours later at 5pm the next day.  I got supper at Odarkhundred and they told us to close the windows even though its still a bright and sunny day.  Really screwing with my mind and the shades must remain closed until hours after the sun has risen so as not to awaken the sleeping mobs who, if they know anything about jetlag, should be trying to stay awake and acclimatize to the 12 hours difference.  We get off the plane and it's dark AGAIN so I'm really sun deprived but don't you worry; Bangkok will fix that.  

In Beijing, I met a fellow Canadian traveler who agreed with my idea that he should host us as couchsurfers while in Chang Mai.  Sadly, I sent many emails and none were returned.  My daughter patiently asked, "did you ask to freeload or did he offer?"  She is all wise and annoying.  And then I remembered that I forgot to pick up the thank you small containers of maple syrup  from Canada that daughter asked for (she asks for so little) so I purchased 5 slightly larger and grossly overpriced ones from the Beijing airport, of all places.  While wrapping each one, the clerk looked at me skeptically and asked with attitude,  "don't they make these in Canada where you are from?" Doh!! The utter shame of it all as I added these 50 pound glass weights each to my already heavy but manageable sack.  

And did you know China blocks all social media on the internet?  Didn't matter, there was no possible way to get Wifi from ANYONE! Worst airport on the planet to kill time. Longest 6 hour layover in my life but a clean brightly lit place.  I did learn how to say thank you because everyone was so polite on the flight and I verified it with a fellow Chinese passenger.  

After seeing her MOM sign in a line of taxi drivers in Bangkok, I proudly tried out my new gift for languages and Daughter had the audacity to laugh hysterically saying,  "Mom, you are a Canadian saying thank you in Chinese to a Thai person."    I hate learning languages and offspring but it's so wonderful and weird seeing a bratty spawn of mine greeting me in another part of the world, even if it is for a 3rd world vacation. And I can't fault her the mocking tone; she comes by it honestly thru her mother's genes.

The next 24-36 hours were rough, let me tell you.  Since the rail line was closed minutes earlier, we had to take a cab and after many bad starts, and drivers turning around and refusing to take us after all, we were dropped off sort of kind of near our hostel.  It was a hike.  The heat is crushing and while Chang Mai is large, it only has 2 million people.  Bangkok on the other hand is small and has 14 million sardines, and they are all on the streets sweating along side of me, hawking their wares while their raw meats sit in the sun with flies feasting.  What 7th level of hell have I entered?  Good segue for the hostel I CHOSE! She suggested some A/C ones I would have loved but no, you know me, I don't need anything fancy.

The Overstay Hostel arose from hell, providing  A/C in the cheap dorms and since we "upgraded to a more expensive private room", (oh that phrase amuses me), we discovered the room is neither an upgrade nor private nor air conditioned.  The curtains only covers much of the window so changing is next to impossible in this crematorium which sadly is not hot enough to kill the bugs. Sigh! Right up there with the Bates Motel in Texas years ago.  When viewed on line, it was artistic.  Every guest is encouraged to write on the walls their passages and  drawings.     It is this creativity that I liked enough to suggest we stay there instead of the fancier ones.  Daughter was over the top,  dying to go but knew her mother better than mother knew mother. It's killed me that I would have to return again one more time to this fine establishment to pick up some luggage.  I have not been on the road for five months like she has but hell is still hell.  Stop laughing.  Daughter will probably volunteer there one day as she thinks the place is charming and has a "great vibe at this hippy grunge hotel".  The apple DOES fall far from the tree in this case but I digress. The room door locks from the outside and the doors are 6" off the ground. The cats runs the place so they keep slipping under the door and lounging on my fetid bed which has no blankets.  It's hotter than Hades in this room but I am blessed with a sleeping bag liner made of silk to crawl into so bed bugs don't join me.  The satin is sweltering but urgently necessary for my peace of mind.  As I brush my teeth, a cockroach runs over the sink- I scream but I'm really not bothered by them, just surprised.  It is here that I am blessed with a unique shower/toilet room.  In Thailand, most bathrooms are wet, meaning there is no toilet paper, just a "bum gun" which is like a kitchen sink vegetable hose.  It's impossible, I think to clean yourself without soaking EVERYTHING in the room and then stepping in it.  There are no hooks or shelves and the ceiling tiles, or lack thereof are decor horror movies are made of.  The shower is directly over the toilet; not quite the luxury this princess has been used to in her two person first world country soaker tub.  Of course there is no one to complain to as they are all twenty something and think this is normal.  In the kitchen, by the bar, are the multiple kitty litters that are steaming in this always 30+ weather and vile smells rise from them.  Not sure how often they are cleaned but I certainly couldn't be cooking my meal in this proudly Vegetarian shared kitchen.  Oh when did I become a Holiday Inn camper?  I can't say I didn't know this when we booked but there are drums and musical instruments in the bar below our deluxe room and people randomly play up until 5:30 am.  It's ok though because the roosters have been crowing for an hour already.  I know, I know, I sound like such a complainer but I'm not.  These are just observations by a saint of a wise older traveler.  

At one point in the day of wandering and eating off street carts, I may have casually inquired where our next destination was and how soon I could run screaming from this place that no one rates well on any travel site.  Daughter, being quite intuitive, and probably hating the congestion herself but too proud to say so, agreed to our rushing like mad women back to the paid for room (who cared at this point), furiously packing up, getting out of Dodge and just making the red-eye bus to Pai, with moments to spare.  Pai is  a heavenly quaint town which can only be accessed thru hellish winding Tofino like roads, always under monstrous construction.  Minivan taxis have their own siren as we pass every blind corner, and there were hours of blind corners and whining alarms.  Of course there was a language barrier and we had paid for the rip off bus to leave us in the middle of nowhere to be picked up at some point.  Oh, it wasn't so bad, I consoled my daughter. She's such a fussy traveler. I learned later that she had taken two gravol and slept the 12 hours uninterrupted.  One gravol is enough to put me out, but it was rough. We arrived and walked thru the quaint streets out towards the country to Join the Pai Circus!

What I learned from traveling to Thailand:  
1.  I'm too old for this shit.  :)  and 
2.  Bed and Breakfasts don't exist here.  They call them guesthouses and they are nothing like in North America.  Business trip gone awry; not a great start.  
3.  I had to reassure my daughter that it's all good and she should stop complaining so much.  We're staying at an actual Circus!

She met me at the airport with this sign.  Barely recognized her.

The first hostel we stayed at.  Plush!

Our deluxe room.  No blankets, bathroom or a/c.

Taxis that don't close their back doors so anyone can fall off the benches.  Scary.  

Country roads were always under construction and very winding.

The on the floor toilet without a seat.  I never knew which way to face. Never any toilet paper.