I'm off to see the wizard

Cobra Whiskey anyone?

What a day! Well first off it was a long long day, got up at 6am and left for Mae Sai at 7 in the minbus. The drive was 3 1/2 hrs with a quick stop at some stinky hot springs, where little thai ladies were cooking up eggs. I didn't stick around long b/c the stench of sulfur at 7:30 in the morning isn't so pleasant, instead I went and had a tea to warm up. When we got to the golden triangle, where Thailand meets Laos and Myanmar (Burma), we got on a long tailed boat and went up the Mae Kong river to Burma to see a casino and then back down the river over to Laos where we were able to get off and go shopping in a little market. As soon as we entered the market we noticed a table of whiskey bottles but inside the bottles were snakes. No tequila worms here, there were cobras and scorpions in the bottles. They had a large container of this Snake Whiskey with a huge cobra inside and offered us a free shot. Of course I had to try it and it tasted like, well whiskey no hint of snake, at least not that I detected but the snake was defiantly in there. I walked around the market and decided I had to buy myself a souvenir already, I've been good for the last 2 months so I picked up a large bottle of snake whiskey with a cobra holding another snake in its mouth. It looks really cool and I'll be posting some pictures of it as soon as I can. I also got a can of Lao beer to have with lunch. After the market we flew back in this little boat and went out for lunch. We had a buffet lunch, which sucked except for the noodle soup, the guy was standing there making the noodles by hand for you. It was really cool to watch him whip it around and come out with these perfect noodles. Then it was back in the minibus to Mae Sai, the most northern part of Thailand and one of the crossing points into Burma. We were stopped at one point by the royal guards because the royal family was coming to visit that sight but we were too early and didn't get to see them. And once more we drove for another hour in the minibus to Tha Ton to see the Long Neck Karen, the Long Ear Karen and the Akha hill tribe people. We didn't actually visit the villages where they lived but more of a tourist amusement park to see these people. It was really cool to see the long neck women in person, since I've seen them for years on TV and in magazines. They were so shy and quite but a few of them spoke English and let us take pictures with them. The long ear women were also very nice but they all chewed betel nut and it made there teeth black and disgusting. It was hard to look at them without wanting to lose my lunch. On of the things I really wanted to get was a pair of their earrings but apparently this isn't a popular item for tourist to want so they didn't have any to sell. I talked to my tourist guide and she asked one of the ladies where they get them and she said Burma. The guide told here that I wanted a pair of their ear weights and then the lady offered to sell me hers. And for 150 baht, about 5 bucks so I took them. I have some pictures of her wearing them and I think this is the coolest souvenir I could possibly get. I know most of you think its gross but don't worry I'm not planning on wearing them. Also while I was there one of the long neck women's children were running around and her son had a small inflatable ball. I squatted down and put out my hands for him to throw it to me and he did. I played catch with this cute little boy for a few minutes until we had to leave, both of us had so much fun and I know every time I see those sponsor a child commercials I'll think of him. The children there were all so dirty they could get on those commercials but they were all well fed and taken care of. The Akha women were the opposite of the Karen, they were loud and annoying trying to get you to come buy stuff from them, they also chewed the betel nut and their teeth made me ill. Apparently they find it beautiful but when I get to post the pictures of them I think you'll agree with me. Then we packed back into the minibus for the 4 hour ride of a twisty and BuMpY back to Chiang Mai. Over all it was a great day, I can tick off a few more boxes of crazy and amazing things I've done. I also just want to thank all of you for your comments on my last post, I'm sorry about all the tears but I'm sure they were happy ones and if not then what were you reading?

posted by Brandon Share @ 9:35 PM