Home is such a mixed word for me. What is home? Where is it? I’ve lived my entire life (so far) in Waterloo Region in Ontario, Canada. My mother was born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario but spent her teenage years in Bell Island, Newfoundland. My father was born and raised in Bell Island, Newfoundland. They moved to Cambridge, Ontario in their 20s and had me and my brother there and have been there ever since. However, whenever they talked about Newfoundland they called it, “down home.” Every Newfie calls Newfoundland that: down home. No matter where you are in the World. You could be in the Southern Hemisphere and it would still be in the direction of down. So, for me home is also equated to Newfoundland (even though I wasn’t born there, but I have been many times). Also, as I am getting older and understanding my place in the World and in Canada, for that matter, I am trying to find out where my family is from. We are not from Canada. Our family are Settlers. Canadian is a nationality and the country of my birth, but it is not where I am from or where my family tree began. Doing some research in some old Newfoundland books that we mysteriously have at home I was able to found out that the Quigley line came to Canada in the late 1700s from Wexford, Ireland. That was really exciting to find out. It seemed like I was closer to home than ever before. I have never been to Wexford (and it is the centre of an opera festival which is amazing and exciting and, maybe, a little telling), but I want to go there so bad! It just seems like home to me now. But…
I now live in Thailand. This is my new home for the time being. The picture that opened this blog is the view from my balcony in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is in Northern Thailand, which is extremely mountainous, and it is a breath of fresh air. The sights and smells are foreign to me. At times there seems to be a “smell of Thailand” that permeates the sky which is part firewood, part herbal incense and part food. It is extremely intoxicating and I know that wherever I end up in a few years I will be laying in bed and wishing so desperately that the “smell of Thailand” will come wafting through my bedroom to help me sleep.
The future is NOW
There are many modes of transportation in Thailand. In Chiang Mai, specifically, you can get anywhere you want by bus, scooter, car, Grab (pretty much Uber), tuk-tuk (which is defined as an auto rickshaw and it is EXACTLY that) and, our personal favourite, a songthaew. It is usually a red Isuzu pick-up truck that has the bed of the truck fitted with benches and a roof. The pictures above sort of show what it looks like to be in the back of a songthaew. It is shockingly comfortable and a great fucking time. You just hop into the back of this thing and it is about 30 baht for a single ride ($1.19 CAD). WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS TRANSPORTATION IN CANADA?! Why is it limited to up in Northern Ontario where a farmer loads his offspring up in his pick-up and bop around town? How wild would it be to have some people in Toronto with a fitted out red pick-ups and you hop in the back, scoot around town and pay $2. Wow. The future could be now for public transportation. Public transportation that is for the public by the public!!
WAT DO YOU MEAN?!
Wat Prah Singh
Wat Umong (Tunnel Temple)
Wat Prah That Doi Suthep
There a hundreds of wats (temples) in Chiang Mai. You can hardly have the time to see them all. Alicia and I were walking along a road near our accommodations the other day to go to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant and just hiding behind some trees was this beautiful wat. It was just there in this very residential area and very presuming, but there nonetheless looking beautiful. Above are some of the wats we have been able to see while here in Chiang Mai. There is a lot of amazing energy to these places. They are so old and there is so much history to them all you MUST see as many as you can while you are here.
Wat Prah That Doi Suthep is perched on top of one of the highest mountains in Thailand. It takes a good 15-20 minutes from the base of the mountain to the footsteps of this wat by car. The road is extremely windy and sharp and not for the faint of heart. If you have any slight motion sickness, it will for sure be a struggle to get there, however, once there, it is glorious. The travelling isn’t done yet once you arrive by car. You must walk up the 300+ steps to the wat and if you think, “Only 300?! I do that shit in my sleep because I go to the gym and blah blah blah I am the picture of perfection.” It is fucking hard. Almost everyone has to stop for a moment to catch their breath. It’s not just 300 steps up an incline. The incline feels like it is 90 degrees. IT IS HARD AND MY FAT ASS MADE IT TO THE TOP!!! Yes, you can cheer now.
The Steps.
The picture where I am looking down the steps, trying not to sound like a vacuum sucking for air, does not justify how steep these steps are. It’s big!! (A phrase I tend to use a lot when sharing personal information about myself to potential candidates of a night with yours truly). It’s true! (a phrase I also say to these candidates a lot).
I was very happy with myself to have climbed these steps without much complaint or taking too much time. Tasks like these seem daunting to a plus-size bitch like me. I met these new people and I don’t want their judgy little eyes looking at “fatty” to catch-up. Well fuck them, I did it. Just like I had done Muay Thai the day before (yeah, you read that right. I did motherfuckin’ Muay Thai!) This was another huge accomplishment. I am not saying that the trainers are missing me right now because they found their next legend, but I showed up and did it. My heart didn’t explode so we are good.
About 2 weeks has past since I started this blog. Things got kind of wild after all of this. I started my TESOL class and got certified and placed in a town called Bang Pa-in in the Ayutthaya Province of Thailand. There is a lot that I have learned so far, not necessarily about myself, but about the people around me.
My next blog I will deal with trials and tribulations and trying to get laid as I share a bedroom with a friend.
My Big, Fat, Gay Trip 