Riverhouse Hotel Mae Hong Son

... fell down on a rice field. It was sad for him, funny for me. That night we drank and spoke and played the guitar and everyone was in good spirits. We set rat traps that night, to eat if we caught any and decorated a home made chinese firework. It had real fireworks attached so it was good to watch. I tried a tribal cigar type thing our guide made. It was much less harsh than i would have thought. <br><br>I havent smoked since Mum! (im writing on the 5th October)

... is still here. My orientation in CM is rather poorly, so am just walking and getting lost....so I slowly become familiar. My neighborhood is very cool, close to Chiang Mai University and below the mountain of Doi Suthep. Its a combination of Thai little Soi's (little streets), markets, shops, NGO hangouts, coffee shops, bars and teaching schools. Chiang Mai is alternative, you see guys on motorbikes with guitars slung over one shoulder, top hats on, and Mohawks. Every day I laugh ...

... during the week (where many of the orphans are schooled), helping out at the orphanage and he would also like me to teach conversational English with his staff of eight. I'm going to have my work cut out and really hope I'm up to it. They have so great a need of help here, I would hate to let them down or not be able to give as much as I want to. <br><br>Khamchuen suggested I hire a motorbike to get around, but frankly everyone who knows ...

... s beard. He gave us one of his drawings, which as soon as I get home I am having professionally framed to put over a mantle. Last full day in Soppong, we got a ride from our hotel's owner down to Pai. If we weren't staying in Soppong, we would stay in Pai. It's between Soppong and Mae Hon Song in terms of development, but relaxing in it's own way. The goal for that day was the elephant ride. We went to Joy's Elephant Camp and rode her elephant for about ...

... to push a variety of chatchkees. At the end of the road is a school, the classrooms of which are open-air and situated in front of benches so that tourists can sit and take pictures of the students as they learn. At one point I tried to ask our tour guide whether the golden coils cause any permanent structural damage to the necks of the women. She had no idea what I was asking. I then tried to communicate my question with gestures and mimicked a ...

... we had the troubles, they were really cool helping us out and making sure we eventually got off on our trip.. So, with Stephen humming the theme tune to Easy Rider, our baskets were loaded, and we eventually made it out of Chiang Mai in one piece! The main loop consists of the 108 road, but as we didn't have the time nor the power to really push it, we opted ...

... our motorbike to the very limit, we came to another military checkpoint. This time it was 2 kids sitting at a post with big guns. We stopped and smiled. They stared at us with their mouths open and smiled. We asked about caves. They repeated the word "cave" and stared blankely:.. no english. They just stared....and stared. So, we used hand motions, asking if we could proceed, they nodded yes, smiling ...

... ended up sleeping for most of the morning and early afternoon. Once afternoon came around I decided to get up and we went a bit out of town and rode elephants! It was really uncomfortable sitting on an elephant for over an hour, and I don't wish to ever do it again, but it was fantastic none the less! This morning we hit the road again and headed back to Chiang Mai as ...

... town encourages people to slow down and relax...something that I had needed ever since we realized that we were going back to the States. The second night we were plagued by thousands of flying bugs. I had gotten used to the flying ants that come along with the rainy season, but the new maggot-like insects were disgusting. We weren't able to turn on the light in the bungalow ...

... except for me apparently had a freezing cold shower. i had no complaints, but they say it's just cause i'm from canada and used to the cold weather. somehow i think i just lucked out by showering a few hours after them. I guess our first mission in Pai was food, so we went to a restaurant that looked fairly westernized, although nobody spoke english and the bill was entirely in thai. i stuck with a safe vegetable pasta which was great, and Yaron got the most ...