Sawasdeechiangmaihouse Chiang Mai

... way.

I walked around the city yesterday.  It is much easier to follow the maps here than in Bangkok.  The old city is surrounded by a moat and my place is on the inside of that.  I went through the commercial supply district on my stroll and got to see $6,000 commercial stoves (all polished and still in their packaging) just sitting on the street.  I ...

... 3637;ร้$ 34;นโจ๊ก ระัดั$ 10;เชลล์& #3594;วนชิũ 7; ขอแนะ$ 09;ำโจ๊ก& #3585;ระดูŦ 5;หมู ซุบเห$ 55;ดหอม อร่อย$ 17;ากๆ ...

On the steps of many places in Thailand wait a pile of shoes. At first, these peopleless shoes look sad, like little puppies looking at you when you walk by. You wonder what the owners of these shoes are wearing, and how they got home. Then you realize--you take your shoes off when entering certain businesses. I don't know what the rule is--if you see shoes outside, take yours off too. That's my ...

... is very happy. The lover disagrees. Ho hum. No comment :-)
Traditional Chiang Mai dinner in the evening along with entertainment including band and dancing. Thai dancing appears to be a predominantly female activity that is extremely iffeminate. Group concludes it would be funny to see a big fat bald guy have a go (i.e. me), but I am unsurprisingly reluctant. Sarah however is far more adventurous and gets put through her paces in front of 200 or so ...

... other people doing the course with us.

We were then taken to the markets where our cute little character of a guide Aum, showed us around the various stalls and pointed out the different ingredients, how they are used in the cooking and what they are made from. We were then transferred to the cooking school which is an amazing set up located on Sompon’s property. We'd go into an air conditioned class room where Sompon would show us how to make a dish and would then move ...

... market, they close a lot of streets on a Sunday and this has caused a few headaches for us trying to find our way around when the streets are closed.( in the car that is).everyone is enjoying Thailand, we have had our moments of stress though but they are forgotten quickly.tim has been putting quite a few hours of work in bummer for him but that is the breaks,anyway, not sure i i will get to a computer for a while so bye for now and love to all Rob and all.

... at the finish line, then went into town to have American burgers and then an hour of Thai massage (fantastic- no funny business which we had to argue with them to ensure we didn't get, they wanted everyone in single rooms for one reason only). Then we went out for presentation last night and a few beers before Hamish packed it in and went to bed about 11.30am. Great sense of accomplishment, not sure if I need to do it again. Can barely walk today, might head for another massage.

... a few to feed the baby that we saw at the start. We made it in and out of the river without getting completely soaked. I was sure our elephant was going to protest more by spraying us! There are 2 young elephants here and were able to get very close to a 3 month old elephant. It is incredible how tiny they are! While all the adult elephants were around the baby they were grumbling and trumpeting. It was very cool. The sound that they make is like a guttural rumble ...

Woke up and immediately made a split decision. While I enjoy SE Asia a lot, the 'been there done that' feeling has kicked in big time, and I'm already getting sick of being herded about like tourist cattle, as feels somewhat unavoidable in this part of the world. With that in mind, it was clear that the best option would be to forget Muang Sing (regrettable) and get to Thailand and therefore to Nepal as quickly as possible. Completely ...

... and gone onto Pai by herself. I met up with N and her friend and they come over to my hotel to go swimming at the pool. I talked with N and she tells me she is a DJ. She has to work that night and she said she can pick me up and take me there. Later after N has gone home David calls me and tells me I should meet up with John that evening. I went out to get a pita for dinner, then relax at the bar for awhile. After a few drinks ...