Olive Juice and Puja

July 21, 2012

Udon Thani, Tah Khantho, and Loei

Olive and her roommate Puja met me at Central Plaza (the big mall) in Udon Thani. We walked to an Irish Pub and had breakfast. This was the first place I have been to in Thailand with actual booths pretty amazing. So nice to be in a different place with good friends.

Isan is not Thailand as I know it. It is clean, not busy, and smells good. It is the country and I guess even in Thailand I am a still a country girl at heart.

We went spent the day at the mall and had lunch by a beautiful lake.

We then took a tuk tuk to Big C, the big grocery store in Thailand and bought some ingredients to make burritos. We attempted to head home but unfortunately were led to the wrong bus… After some scrambling we got off and got picked up by their coordinator who took us to their place. We went to the night market and just hung out in their nice place, ate good dinner, watched good movies, and even got to take a nice hot shower.

Sunday we woke up and had breakfast. Olive Juice made me French toast with Canadian maple syrup that she brought from home! What a treat! We lounged around watched movies and then to the bikes to a restaurant. Their town is beautiful. There are rice fields everywhere and the air smells sweet from all the sugarcane.

We ended up at a restaurant by the river, where we sat in a little thai bungalow to eat on the floor.  What an amazing experience.

In the evening we went out for a jog. My ankle still hurt from the last time I fell but all I could think about was how amazingly beautiful this run was. My music was blaring, my feet were moving, the view was breath taking, and the smell of sugarcane was so sweet. I felt so free. It is amazing how far I am wouldn’t change for the world.

Monday

Monday I woke up sick with a cough and a fever. I wanted to make the best out of the situation so I got ready to continue my trip.

True to Thai culture a ride that was supposed to happen at 9 am didn’t happen until noon. I waited patiently but had to change my plans because by the time I got my ride there were no more songtaos to where I wanted to go. I had to flag down a bus to Udon Thani, got there 3 hours later and then took a bus to Loei.

I arrived at Loei at about 7 pm I sitill didn’t feel very well so I decided to stay the night.

Wednesday

Wednesday I woke up feeling a lot better. I spent Tuesday all day sleeping and watching tv so that I could feel better and could head out on my adventure. Next stop Chiang Khan.