Update and rant - Julie's post

Being in Chiang Mai for the past few days has been quite interesting. We got a great deal on a hotel called the Lanna House right in the heart of Chiang Mai. They're having some crazy deal where the first night is 99 Baht which comes out to less than $4 US, and then each additional night is 800 Baht which is less than $30 US. It's unbelievable the type of deals you can get here, especially now that it's the low season.

It's rained a lot the past few days, usually in the morning and the evening for at least a couple hours at a time.

Yesterday I went to a yoga class here on my own. I walked the many city blocks trying to find it and realizing it had shut down once I got there. I went into a travel agency, figuring they were the best bet for someone in there that spoke English well enough to help me find the place. Sure enough, the studio had moved down the street. The class went well but I quickly realized how much of a wreck my body was. It was unbelievable how tight I was and how many muscles ached from walking and carrying a backpack all the time.

On my walk back to the hotel I went down one of the main streets right after sunset. Many bars and restaurants line the street with tourists and locals eating together at many of them.

One thing that's seemed so strange to me is the amount of old men sitting with young Thai girls. Obviously there's a ridiculous amount of prostitution here, most people know that. However, what I didn't realize was just how out in the open it all is. Numerous bars have nothing going on except a white man sitting with an unamused young Thai woman, who's clearly not listening to the man as her head is cocked the other way. Every night we're out I can't count the amount of men with prostitutes here, it's that many. I really could care less about what these women do for a living as it's not up to me to tell someone what they can and can't do for a living. However, it's hard to not get totally disgusted when day after day you see 70 or 80 year old pervy old men with women who look completely underage, or just over the brink of 18. It's unreal and totally disgusting to me to see men with wedding rings on their fingers, with their arms around these women. I've tried to rationalize that perhaps they are married to them...but please, we're in Thailand. The chances of that being the case are slim to none.

Eric and I went to a Muay Thai fight on Monday night and a few fights into it I got tired and went back to our room. As it turns out, a man from the States came and sat next to Eric and as they chatted it up for the rest of the fight. The man divulged his whole life he lives in Thailand, secretly, away from his wife and four kids. He talked about how wonderful it was that you could just get hookers on a moments notice. On top of that, he rents these young Thai women for a month or so at a time and has them live-in with him while he's here on business. Also, how the women of Chiang Mai and Bangkok are mostly stuck up and a waste of time. What a man really needs is a girl in Chiang Mai who comes from Issan, which is North of here. Apparently the women there are less like that (ie: poorer and less educated). Hearing this story related back to me by Eric was just insane. First off, who goes up to a stranger and divulges this information like they're proud of it? All I could think about was how much of a scum bag this guy was. It's one thing to be with a prostitute. It's a completely different story when you cheat on your wife with a prostitute from a different country, and then potentially bring home diseases that could affect her and potentially your future children. Also, the man told Eric that the next time he comes here, "You know, without your wife and all" where he could go to get amazing prostitutes.

On Monday we're heading to Pai by bus on windy roads (thank god for Dramamine) and spending a few days to relax and take it easy. Then we'll go back to Bangkok and fly home in a week from Sunday.