Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand after Bangkok and is actually the original capital of the country. Known for its temples, elephants, and nearby scenery, E and I took full advantage of the city and its offerings considering our short visit there. Actually, E and I ended up being good travel buddies. Pretty surprising considering we are into different things. I like hiking, "athletic" adventuring, and massages. She is massively ticklish, not into the climbing business, and likes water sports. Um, sorry, but I can't swim. LOL, but I think we enjoy the other person's company enough that we learned the art of true compromise when deciding on our activities. Not so much displayed in the pictures to follow were the hours we spent talking over beers, listening to live Thai acoustic music, endless laughter at each other's stupidity, and chit chatting over random dessert/snacks. The tours and adventures were the core of the trip but the bonding definitely made the experience sweeter.
A quick side note before I start posting Chiang Mai photos, it turns out the year of the dragon is a very auspicious year indeed:
1. My family insisted that we eat some pho before I got on my plane assuring me that you don't have to get to the airport too early. Weeeeeeeeell, I missed my check-in window for my flight (unrefundable) by 10 minutes and then paid another $400 for another flight so I wouldn't miss my connecting flight.
2. I left my favorite article of clothing - my black north face - in my hotel in Thailand that is only accessible by a 20 min boat ride each way. I realized this just a bit before I had to get to the airport. BAH!
3. My iPhone is now in the hands of some lucky local. Whoopee! As I don't have a data plan here I have learned to live without all the major conveniences of having a smart phone. However, I am a little depressed to not have the camera function on my new cheapy Vietnam phone meaning my day-to-day blog entries from now on won't be so visual.
Mmmmm, it was so good to get some other flavors on my palette!
I love the beautiful markets!
This was a fish paste thing with spice and coconut cream. delicious!
The classic Thai tuk tuk
Yummy Khao Soi - a northern Thai specialty.
So we went to an elephant sanctuary...
Where we trained on how to ride the elephants before we did a trek through a jungle with them
An elephant family. :)
Just us having a water fight next to a waterfall (behind us) with an elephant lounging between us
The elephants loved to give kisses...with mud and their poop on their trunk. YUCK!
Apparently you can buy tons of stuff made form soda cans - trinkets, wallets, clocks...
We visited a minority village that consisted only of 20 families...we all ended up buying these handmade scarves from them.
Apparently the theme of my year off is waterfalls. I've seen lots and lots of waterfalls. Still lovely. :)
Hope that wasn't too overkill with pictures! You have no idea how many I actually took...stay tuned for the final post on my Tet vacay - part III!
