Panic Attacks, More Scams, Our New Apartment & Parking Lot Aerobics.

So, today was a long day. Yesterday evening, we ran into a Canadian that we had hung out with briefly in Bangkok. He was with a very large Aussie woman and an Indian man. I went over to the moat where they were feeding the VERY large river fish, to ask if they wanted to come sit and have a drink with us at the pub across the road, where we were sitting. Some Chiang Mai University students came over and asked me to fill out a survey about tourism, and take a photo with them. It was adorable. The guy that ended up asking was very timid and his friends were egging him on. I was happy to ablige. So, afterwards the Indian and the Aussie and our friend from Canada came across to the pub and sat to have a drink. Everything was going nicely, making small talk about the city and travelling etc. The Canadian then had to leave to take the train back to Bangkok and the other two decided to stay and chat some more. They explained that the Aussie has an Indian boyfriend who is in the room sleeping as he wasn't feeling well. The Indian guy begins to explain that he is a business man, and that for generations, his family has been dealing in Diamonds. He mentions doing business together, we are thinking website, and he also mentions that the Aussie girl has made money twice with him, once 20K and once 50K.

Now, all of this is said in passing, and we never push to elaborate on anything. Its only after we looked back on the whole thing that we even noticed any of this.

The Indian continues on about his wife and family, and the family business and how he has 200 employees in a factory, and then how he has 350 employees (hmm) and how is is here to relax on vacation. He calls his other Indian Friend, who eventually comes to meet us. He is very charming. Very Charming. Now, he also claims to be a Musilm, Indian, who has a home here in Chaing Mai, and a home in Japan etc etc. Now, they continue talking about how much money they have. How many rupees. Later, we notice, the one guy has mangled teeth, and they have shitty cell phones. Generally, you would think people with that much money would show it off a bit. Now, the people in Thailand for example, when they have money, show it off like mad. He keeps talking about he doesn't want to look like he has all the money he has for safety etc. They also mention that they are staying in a GuestHouse (even thought they have a home here?) for 250baht. Which is seriously bottom dollar. The one guy keeps talking about how in India, they have to pay 250% tax to export their jewels, and how his business works. Now, he never really gets too involved. Now, they order one soup and one Indian and the Aussie (who literally ways 350lbs and looked very hungry) share it. They also order a juice and a tea. Their portion of the bill was probably less than $3. Now, the one guy keeps reiterating that they want to cook us lunch tommorrow. They want to hang out some more, show us around – all that jazz. Now the bill comes and the total bill is less than $10. It is like 280 baht. We go to pay our portion, and the one guy whips out 500 baht and hesitantly exclaims that he will pay for the entire thing. We can do something for him later. This entire time, my head begins to THROB, and i feel very ill. It gets to the point where I am finding it unbearable. It is before 9pm. The crew is trying to coax us into going somewhere with them to party. We also notice that the one Indian guy who is talking to the waiter, speaks incredible Thai. We leave, hit a Boots to get some Tylenol, get back to the hotel and I throw up. I then begin to have a horrible panic attack. Mikae looks online, and finds out that most of the details from our evening can be found in the script of one of the oldest Indian gem scams in the book. So basically, my panic attack resulted from my intuition, and spared us as well.

At this point, I am practically in tears and sick of all the bullshit we see in Thailand. I really really want to go home. We decide that the only way to survive here, as we keep learning, is to get as far away from the tourist district as possible. We had picked up a brochure for a serviced apartment 15 min drive out of town. So, we decided to go look at it today. We rented a motor-scooter for 250 baht inclusing insurance. So we drive around for 2 hours looking for the place, and see all these Rich Thai suburbs which was fun. We finally find it. It is called Center Park Serviced Apartment and it is just over the highway, North of Chiang Mai. It takes about 15 min on the scooter to get back to city center. Anyways, we look at a room and it is small, but very nice. Has a balcony and a kitchenette, free wifi, a pool and fitness room, UBC (international television) and it is brand newly built. There are different levels of service ranging form one day a week cleaning to full service cleaning and linen changing etc several days a week. We decided on a room with a view of the Mountain. Final price 6000baht with a 6000baht deposit. Works out to about $187 a month. The scooter will cost us about $120 for the month. To fill up the tank is 60baht or $2. A taxi into the city center is 100baht or just under $3. Its hard to believe, the place is super nice, and has live jazz and a cafe on site. Its nuts.

After we made that decision, we went to Tesco Lotus and bought Proper motorcycle helmets for under $30 for two. The ones you get with the rentals are just little plastic toy-like helmets. We wanted foam lined rice-cookers. So we got them.

The BEST THING EVER happened at Tesco. We pull in the parking lot and hear this trance beat. Its that “I'll be on your trip tonight, kryptonite” track. I look over and there is a stage with a guy bouncing with one of those Britney Spears headset mics, and he is shouting in thai, clapping, going bananas. In front of him, i kid you not, are like 120 Thais, at least, in workout gear all following his every movement. They are bouncing, and stretching and dancing. Its like that Hip Hop Abs infomercial guy but Asia, and on serious uppers. They bounce to the right, the left, up and down in unison. Some of the guys are even taking it further adding little twists and spins to the routine. This is 6pm on a Tuesday, in waht is the equivalent of a Walmart parking lot. I'm going back to see if it happens again, and I will join in and of course videotape. The communal excercise thing Asia has going is totally badass.

We move there tommorrow. Tonight we got some pizza, and wandered around the silent and totally dead streets of Chiang Mai in the evening. We picked out a cooking course as well, should be fun. I also want to do a one day “hilltribe” trek, and a mini mountain trek with the two of us. Our friend we met on Phi Phi, Jake, is coming to meet us day after tommorrow to hang out for a few days, should be great. I am very excited. Tommorrow brings unit move, a massage (they are SUPER cheap here, like 150-200 baht or about $5-$6.) and a trip to Tesco Lotus to buy a kettle and some mugs and of course pot-of-noodle. The best part of Tesco, is shopping with the monks.