Lots of things happened during the last week:
On Tuesday I finally rented a motorbike. It is a little faster than usual (speeds up to over 100 Km/h if you want that. ;-) ) Although I don't have a driver's license for that kind the rental was not problem, they just wanted to see that I own an international driver's license, which I do. I am thinking about doing my driver's license for motorbikes in Thailand now. It will be extremely cheap, only about 3 euros and you only have to answer a few questions, that cannot be difficult according to the driving abilities of most Thai people. Plus, I heard it's available in English language, too. It's only valid for one year and won't be valid in Germany (of course not), but I can live with that. But in case of an accident I am more save with license here.
For lunch and dinner I always go out with Ayush and Tew, two very nice people, that have become my friends during the last week. I already introduces Ayush, he is IAESTE student from India, and Tew is a Thai university teacher for architecture, which knows a lot of nice places to go to or to eat out. With them I went to some bars in the evening to have a couple of beers and listen to some live bands. The first band we saw was on the "Riverside" and played Red hot chili peppers and similar cover music. They were all in their twenties, but extremely professional on their instruments. Plus, the sound in that bar was awesome, as the equipment was, too.
During the next days we went out more often and I discovered that almost any restaurant or bar has a live band playing in the evening. It's always the same: Equipment and sound is of very high quality, the musicians know more than well what to do with their instruments. Some coverbands even play their own versions of the songs, which is a pleasure to listen to.
First I thought I might be able to play together with some live band, but since most of these people play so much better than I do, I am not so sure about this anymore.
Anyway, after having heard 6 or 7 bands playing, I noticed that although most of the bands seem to play almost perfectly together, I percept a lack of the certain something. The music was indeed missing some experimental elements, it seems to be designed to pleasure the guests like a sort of background thing. Even a jazz jam session I watched seemed to act only within certain boundaries that had been defined before. I wouldn't say that Thai people don't play by their hearts but for me something is missing. I let you know about if I find out what it is the next days.
On Friday we went out for party purposes until 4 o' clock in the morning. I will show you the pictures the next days, because they are on Tew's camera. Plus I will provide you with some information about fundamental differences of Thai and "Western" mentality, that manifested very clearly between drunk Western boys and Thai girls in the discothek. Be curious for that!!
The weekend has been no less busy than the week was. Me, Ayush and Tew visited the San Kamphaeng hot spring and afterwards the Chiang Dao cave. At the spring, which is a very touristic site (Asian tourists) we bought a basket with bird's eggs, which we could boil in the water of the hot spring. It was close to a geyser that shot out of the earth at a temperature of 105 degrees celsius. Close to the geyser there was a basin for boiling the eggs. They tasted very good, since they didn't have a very different taste from chicken's eggs. After hanging around there for 2 hours we made our way to the cave and had to climb up a very steep stairway with a dragon's body winding all the way up to the top, serving as a handrail. The way into the cave was then the other way round. It was extremly steep and tight, too, since you had to crouch to get down the stairway. The cave itself was of an outstanding and bizarre beauty. It was a long way from the top to the basement, we had to climb down. At the basement finally there were some Buddha statues where most of the people showed their respect by kneeing on the ground and praying. After a while I got short of breath and we climbed all the way up again and went back to Chiang-Mai. In the evening we relaxed at a restaurant and had a marvellous dinner with decent live music and a band, that came to play to our table. It was an unforgettable experience.
On Tuesday I finally rented a motorbike. It is a little faster than usual (speeds up to over 100 Km/h if you want that. ;-) ) Although I don't have a driver's license for that kind the rental was not problem, they just wanted to see that I own an international driver's license, which I do. I am thinking about doing my driver's license for motorbikes in Thailand now. It will be extremely cheap, only about 3 euros and you only have to answer a few questions, that cannot be difficult according to the driving abilities of most Thai people. Plus, I heard it's available in English language, too. It's only valid for one year and won't be valid in Germany (of course not), but I can live with that. But in case of an accident I am more save with license here.
For lunch and dinner I always go out with Ayush and Tew, two very nice people, that have become my friends during the last week. I already introduces Ayush, he is IAESTE student from India, and Tew is a Thai university teacher for architecture, which knows a lot of nice places to go to or to eat out. With them I went to some bars in the evening to have a couple of beers and listen to some live bands. The first band we saw was on the "Riverside" and played Red hot chili peppers and similar cover music. They were all in their twenties, but extremely professional on their instruments. Plus, the sound in that bar was awesome, as the equipment was, too.
During the next days we went out more often and I discovered that almost any restaurant or bar has a live band playing in the evening. It's always the same: Equipment and sound is of very high quality, the musicians know more than well what to do with their instruments. Some coverbands even play their own versions of the songs, which is a pleasure to listen to.
First I thought I might be able to play together with some live band, but since most of these people play so much better than I do, I am not so sure about this anymore.
Anyway, after having heard 6 or 7 bands playing, I noticed that although most of the bands seem to play almost perfectly together, I percept a lack of the certain something. The music was indeed missing some experimental elements, it seems to be designed to pleasure the guests like a sort of background thing. Even a jazz jam session I watched seemed to act only within certain boundaries that had been defined before. I wouldn't say that Thai people don't play by their hearts but for me something is missing. I let you know about if I find out what it is the next days.
On Friday we went out for party purposes until 4 o' clock in the morning. I will show you the pictures the next days, because they are on Tew's camera. Plus I will provide you with some information about fundamental differences of Thai and "Western" mentality, that manifested very clearly between drunk Western boys and Thai girls in the discothek. Be curious for that!!
The weekend has been no less busy than the week was. Me, Ayush and Tew visited the San Kamphaeng hot spring and afterwards the Chiang Dao cave. At the spring, which is a very touristic site (Asian tourists) we bought a basket with bird's eggs, which we could boil in the water of the hot spring. It was close to a geyser that shot out of the earth at a temperature of 105 degrees celsius. Close to the geyser there was a basin for boiling the eggs. They tasted very good, since they didn't have a very different taste from chicken's eggs. After hanging around there for 2 hours we made our way to the cave and had to climb up a very steep stairway with a dragon's body winding all the way up to the top, serving as a handrail. The way into the cave was then the other way round. It was extremly steep and tight, too, since you had to crouch to get down the stairway. The cave itself was of an outstanding and bizarre beauty. It was a long way from the top to the basement, we had to climb down. At the basement finally there were some Buddha statues where most of the people showed their respect by kneeing on the ground and praying. After a while I got short of breath and we climbed all the way up again and went back to Chiang-Mai. In the evening we relaxed at a restaurant and had a marvellous dinner with decent live music and a band, that came to play to our table. It was an unforgettable experience.
