THAILAND 5- Hotels

Karinthip Village is a retreat center. With sunny parlors, green grass, and sculptures ranging from fearies to elephants, I’m (almost) disappointed by the luxury. It makes my three nights at the Swiss hotel in Chicago seem like Super 8! But never fear; my thirst for rough living is more than quenched at the Ying Ping restaurant and hotel. Run by a Chinese family, its peeling white walls and piles of unidentifiable will be my home for three weeks. The first floor serves as the best (and only) Chinese restaurant in town, the second floor is used by the family, and we have the third and fourth floor to ourselves. I keep accidentally climbing to the fifth floor, which is where they do the laundry. Chunks of cow flesh dry on the stairs, there’s no such thing as a running toilet, and I don’t mind in the least.