Failures and Frustrations

Upon first arriving at school, I complete the registration process and pay the remainder of the tuition. I also inquire about the nearest Bangkok Bank. I figure that I'm going to be here for a month and I don't want to be carrying tons of cash with me. I'm quite the novice but I feel as though the currency exchange will go more smoothly using a bank rather than using Super-Rich Money Exchange. I promise you that I would not have been able to come up with that name on my own if I tried! The very first display of Thailand cordiality: the desk attendant at school doesn't talk me through several lefts and rights and traffic lights and landmarks. Rather, to get me to the bank as I've requested, she points me in the direction of a kind young man. So I follow. It turns out that his name is Tor (pronounced taaaawww,) and he's going to take me on the back of his motorcycle. There I am: less than 24 hours in Chiang Mai and I'm already whizzing through the chaotic arteries of the city, on the back of a cute boy's bike. It was my very first time to ever ride a motorcycle and likely some good initial exposure because I plan to rent one to drive up into the mountains sometime soon.

Banking business: COMPLETED; first day of school: DONE. Most tasks that I set out to accomplish end in frustration. After several trips to shops attempting to rent a bicycle, I finally got my hands on a good lookin' bike on Tuesday. This bike was a bit pricier than some of the others out there but this is how Cacti explained it to me. The 650 baht that one of the other guys wanted to charge me was just enough to allow him to eat and not nearly enough to keep the bike in good repair. It was an interesting way to look at it. He seemed like a completely honest, and exceptionally sweet guy. I paid twice the price but I'll probably end up renting a motor scooter from him next weekend. I just have a good feeling about Cacti.

So, on my new wheels, I finally felt like a human being again. Seriously … walking is such an antiquated method for getting from here to there. I don't know how you people have the patience. I'm cruising down the street when I see a flash in the periphery: the sign for a vegetarian restaurant! A new bike; a new place to eat … finally things are falling into place. I veer an illegal U-turn and start to scope out the menu. (More on traffic laws coming up.) The place is called Taste From Heaven and is it ever! Mushrooms, tofu, ground peanuts, curry, mint, kaffir lime leaves, chili … you name it. Just as I'm reveling in my awesome discovery, I hear: "Hey, Chris!" What? Huh? Who? It's the girl who sat across from me on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Unbelievable. It's true that she's also here studying Thai Massage but neither her school or her guesthouse are anywhere even close to mine. Is that why people love to travel? For these once-in-a-lifetime encounters? Once-in-a-lifetime, except for the fact that it happened AGAIN on Wednesday. I was doing some temple-hopping and she was on her way to a Capoeira class. I'm going to try to avoid getting carried away here but she's a yoga instructor (in Maine,) and I'm a yoga instructor. She's in Thailand studying massage and I'm in Thailand studying massage. We bump into each other twice, far from home. We're basically soul mates.