Today, we were able to sleep in until 9:30! Our tour to the Mountain Temple and to the Hilltop Tribes wasn’t until 1:30. That would give us time to enjoy the pool, figure out laundry, eat and relax. Deb went out and had her hair done. Ah, we are back in vacation mode.
Deb: Very interesting getting my hair cut when no one spoke English. I pointed to a colour (I wanted to go much lighter and was answered with confident nods of yes and “No pwoblum.”). I drew what I wanted as far as a cut and that was ‘No pwoblum’ either! I couldn’t believe my luck!
After a nice shampoo accompanied by a head massage to die for I was even happier. I was quite impressed when they put on some bright yellow Spock-like plastic ear covers before beginning to colour my hair. What a great idea! Why don’t they do this in the west? The Thais really know what they’re doing!! When my hairdresser applied the dye I thought it looked quite darker than I had requested but I decided to relax… surely everything was under control! When they rinsed out the dye I started to laugh, albeit a little nervously. It was at least as dark as my normal shade and likely a good one darker. I pointed to the colour that I had chosen and then pointed to my head. “No pwoblum. Shampoo two times, it turn blonde!” Yeah right! Now I was going to let her cut my hair!! I kept telling myself not to worry. If worse came to worse, it would grow out by the time that I got home. They put another pair of Spock ears on (bright orange this time) and the two young women worked together on the cut (one put clips in my hair while the other one chopped away). I closed my eyes. Clumps of hair fell onto my shoulders and I just prayed. How bad could it be? And if worse came to worse, I could always get one of those cute hilltribe hats and wear it for the duration of the trip! The cut took forever and the blow-dry seemed to last for an eternity. “Fineeshed!” It was time to face the music. I opened my eyes and couldn’t believe it. No hairdresser had ever cut my hair more perfectly. It was exactly what I had drawn and I couldn’t have asked for a better cut! Oh no! What happens when you favourite hairdresser lives in Asia???
Anyways… once, our afternoon tour got going, so did our stomachs! The ride up the mountain to the wat was winding, bumpy, narrow and long. We were all completely nauseous by the time that we arrived and were digging into our packs for Gravol. There was only one and we fought over it but I won as everyone agreed that I was in the worst shape – or as we say int the Kuffner family, the weakest link. I was happy that the boys let me have it as there was no way I could walk around without it. A little late but maybe it would kick in by the time that we returned??
Despite being a little green we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The wat was spectacular! (Bettina, if you haven’t already been here, put it on your list!) After spending an hour visiting (walking around the stupa three times to bring us luck, being blessed yet again by a Thai monk, and enjoying the incredible view over Chiangmai) we made our way down the 300 plus steps while holding on to the handrail – a massive carving of a dragon snaking its way to the top of the mountain.
We saw some beautiful hilltribe people in colourful costumes, visited a hilltribe museum, and chatted with locals with the help of our guide. The boys recovered from the ride quickly and enjoyed a some shooting of hanging fruit with a crossbow. On our walk we saw a myriad of exotic plants - including poppies and marijuana plants! The latter were just for tourist viewing as, thankfully, few hilltribe people in Thailand now imbibe. The government has cracked down considerably on the trade. This is quite an improvement from when I trekked here thirty years ago when seemingly everyone in the hills smoked. I stayed with families at that time and, sadly, even saw women simultaneously breastfeeding and smoking pipes of potent opium. Their children didn’t have a chance. The industry has, for the most part, been replaced with the growing of coffee and it is heartening to see the difference that the initiative has made.
Deb: Very interesting getting my hair cut when no one spoke English. I pointed to a colour (I wanted to go much lighter and was answered with confident nods of yes and “No pwoblum.”). I drew what I wanted as far as a cut and that was ‘No pwoblum’ either! I couldn’t believe my luck!
After a nice shampoo accompanied by a head massage to die for I was even happier. I was quite impressed when they put on some bright yellow Spock-like plastic ear covers before beginning to colour my hair. What a great idea! Why don’t they do this in the west? The Thais really know what they’re doing!! When my hairdresser applied the dye I thought it looked quite darker than I had requested but I decided to relax… surely everything was under control! When they rinsed out the dye I started to laugh, albeit a little nervously. It was at least as dark as my normal shade and likely a good one darker. I pointed to the colour that I had chosen and then pointed to my head. “No pwoblum. Shampoo two times, it turn blonde!” Yeah right! Now I was going to let her cut my hair!! I kept telling myself not to worry. If worse came to worse, it would grow out by the time that I got home. They put another pair of Spock ears on (bright orange this time) and the two young women worked together on the cut (one put clips in my hair while the other one chopped away). I closed my eyes. Clumps of hair fell onto my shoulders and I just prayed. How bad could it be? And if worse came to worse, I could always get one of those cute hilltribe hats and wear it for the duration of the trip! The cut took forever and the blow-dry seemed to last for an eternity. “Fineeshed!” It was time to face the music. I opened my eyes and couldn’t believe it. No hairdresser had ever cut my hair more perfectly. It was exactly what I had drawn and I couldn’t have asked for a better cut! Oh no! What happens when you favourite hairdresser lives in Asia???
Anyways… once, our afternoon tour got going, so did our stomachs! The ride up the mountain to the wat was winding, bumpy, narrow and long. We were all completely nauseous by the time that we arrived and were digging into our packs for Gravol. There was only one and we fought over it but I won as everyone agreed that I was in the worst shape – or as we say int the Kuffner family, the weakest link. I was happy that the boys let me have it as there was no way I could walk around without it. A little late but maybe it would kick in by the time that we returned??
Despite being a little green we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The wat was spectacular! (Bettina, if you haven’t already been here, put it on your list!) After spending an hour visiting (walking around the stupa three times to bring us luck, being blessed yet again by a Thai monk, and enjoying the incredible view over Chiangmai) we made our way down the 300 plus steps while holding on to the handrail – a massive carving of a dragon snaking its way to the top of the mountain.
We saw some beautiful hilltribe people in colourful costumes, visited a hilltribe museum, and chatted with locals with the help of our guide. The boys recovered from the ride quickly and enjoyed a some shooting of hanging fruit with a crossbow. On our walk we saw a myriad of exotic plants - including poppies and marijuana plants! The latter were just for tourist viewing as, thankfully, few hilltribe people in Thailand now imbibe. The government has cracked down considerably on the trade. This is quite an improvement from when I trekked here thirty years ago when seemingly everyone in the hills smoked. I stayed with families at that time and, sadly, even saw women simultaneously breastfeeding and smoking pipes of potent opium. Their children didn’t have a chance. The industry has, for the most part, been replaced with the growing of coffee and it is heartening to see the difference that the initiative has made.
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