Two Peas in a Pod

Thurs 09 Nov 2006
Well, today we awake and both feel very poorly, bad in fact, no make that like hell. We are scheduled to meet with Pam at 0930 am at JJ Coffee house in Chiang Mai just 100 yards from Thae Pae gate. A mere 500 yards from our guest house. Still meeting Pam takes a concerted effort and we are very late (20 minutes) and looking very bad. Pam even says so, to quote her "You both look like hell !!!" Thanks Pam for the brutal honesty, we are such amatuers, Pam out drinks us every night, stays out later, and has sold her house (with negotiations and counter offers) while the most we can do is catch whatever virus is around and get biten by every sort of bug in SE ASIA. She is a true pro when it comes to traveling, we are both quite amazed at her abilities and her sense of keeping her head when those about her are losing theirs. If it were a comparison of traveling to sking she would be an Olympic downhill racer and we would have never tried on skis, nay never have seen snow. Anyway we both try to cram some sort of nourishment down our throats, knowing we need to, but all I can think about is returning to the guesthouse to get a nap. We do head back and I fall asleep immediately. (Later on we surmise that I did eat two bites of Rebecca's virus laden Vegetarian food-that will teach me to eat my veggies now won't it!), and is why I am sick but not as sick as she got. I nap till around two and have to scrape myself up to return the motorbike, a very interesting proposition when one is feverish, nauseous, and somewhat delirious. I fit right in with all the other crazy motorbike drivers waeaving in and out of traffic. "Get out of my way will you, can't you see I am going to puke!!!!" Never have I seen as many Thai's get out of my way while having the look on their face of "that guy looks crazy, not to mention his driving" jeez. You know its bad when you scare even the locals. I do notice that no one rides in my wake, I can just imagine why.......... must be the smell eh? Anyway, I collect Pam from her Guesthouse to return our motorbikes. There is a little incident of not knowing why her bike won't move backwards as she pushes it out of the parking spot, being delirious and a large guy my solution is brute force. I pick her bike up and turn it around. This gives me quite a headrush, ohhhh a free buzz....so I have to hurry and sit on my bike. But, still her motorbike won't move even though it is facing forward and is in gear. This is where being sick actually helps, as I have my head on the handlebars looking at the ground for an appropriate spot should my stomach revolt, then I notice that her front wheel has her lock in it. Ahhhhhh that explains it, that and the fact she has NEVER riden a motorbike before, did I mention what a traveling pro PAM is.....not to mention a trooper as well. We return the bikes, me weaving the whole way just begging my stomach not to go Monty Python and jet puke. Again my driving fits right in with the locals.
As we are walking back from returning the bikes, we see Rebecca and she looks frantic, seems the train we want to take to Bangkok to catch our flight to Cambodia is SOLD OUT! We must take an earlier train, which leaves at 1730. We pay someone 50 baht to go pickup tickets so we don't miss our flight out. And while we wait for their return, Rebecca and Pam want to eat at AUM Vegetarian resturant (no not the one that almost killed us both ) as there Khao Soi (a soup with crispy and soft noodles) is the best we have ever had, I have toast and tea.
We make the the train station, with the only thing keeping me going is the fact that I know I can sleep once on the train. We board the train and I ask for the top bunk to be made immediately. Once made I dive in headfirst. Rebecca wakes me hours later saying "Baby, I need to wipe the drool off your cheek and chin........and I have to tell you about my hot water incident."