Imperial Golden Triangle Resort Chiang Rai

Our last full day in Chiang Rai............meant to be a lazy day........nice slow start ......big finish...

Started off at Big C shopping centre where i was able to jump online via wifi by having a coffee at a Black Canyon shop...and Cherie did some 'browsing' around the shops.

Managed to find a local girl to do our laundry.....asked her how much...... she said 60 Baht..or just over $2.... for washing(a pile) and ironing (6 ...

This was the day that we were allowed a lie in, we met at 11 o clock ready to go out and explore the various Buddhist temples around chang mai. It was sweltering hot and after the first temple we decided that, "seen one, seen them all" was an appropriate saying for this occasion so we skipped to the final temple after lunch in a cool air conditioned café.


The first temple we visited really was spectacular. Despite how hot ...

... man she is usually a prostitute, who knew?? I just thought they were accepting of interracial dating lol. She said that some hotels even have a rule...no bring your thai girlfriend here...pretty odd. It would really if she was your for real girlfriend. But anyway we were fine for the night and in this morning we did some exploring. We walked for about three hours today, we found the river and a pretty cool ...

... so she can work from home and make money and doesn't need to go into the fields. Daow was going to go with her to buy it, but I haven't heard back about that yet. Trip to Australia - We (Kanchana, Alif, Vava, Kitty and I) are planning to come to Australia in April. Future? - I have been thinking more and more lately that I will stop working for Mirror Foundation and Antipodeans at the end of this year. I haven't 100% decided ...

... these days). i did venture out for a long.long walk into the counrtyside and some waterfalls that were promised to be nice. with the map being of a 5 year old sketch quality, the walk ended up being 6-8km, one way!! forever being the optimist when it comes to trekking, i rested at the other end and started my walk back to pai. just to point out the fact that nobody,or very few people (especially locals) doesn't seem to walk anywhere. so when i passed ...

... and charged very little for their land. Their elementary schools are subsidized by the government, but after that, they're on their own. Sadly, much of the culture in the villages close to larger towns has shifted to accommodate foreigners visiting, but it is still amazing to see their beautiful costumes, smiling children, and minimalist way of life. After saying goodbye to the locals, we stopped to visit the "Emerald Buddha" Temple, so named ...

... making new noises and hearing me make noises. She can move her head around quite a bit and supports herself a little, but still seems a way off having the strength to constantly support her own head. If placed on her stomach she crawls forward. She sleeps most of the night, wakes up drinks milk and sleeps again (3 or 4 times). Her and Kanchana sleep on the bed and I sleep on the floor. If she is a bit unhappy she likes me to carry her ...

... to sell us their handicrafts. Here, the few "English-speakers" have sought me out, offering tea and tobacco wrapped in corn leaves and taking me to the top of a hill to see an offering of flowers. Some of the villagers did dress up for us, but they dressed us up, too, and we all danced in a circle around a fire under the moon. So I am quite happy here, even though I know that life here is most likely harder than I recognize now. And even though I'm not a pig.

... This of course makes inquiring about departure times and destinations rather difficult--you must either pay a tuk-tuk about as much as a long distance bus fare to get there or walk god knows where, and no one seems to really know where it is and there are no schedules posted anywhere in town. This of course then leaves you at the mercy of the many money-grubbing travel agents. Oddly or maybe not, no ...

... the sun than following orders... ouch! Somebody pinched me a little too hard there! Where am I anyway? Searching searching searching... for a memory, a point of reference, anything... oh yeah, I remember now. If it's Sunday, then this must be Thailand, and if this is Thailand, then that pinch in the butt must have come from (sound of blankets rustling) aha! The memories come flooding back now. That was a pleasant dream, though ...