I had a great Christmas (or 'Kissmaht' as they say in Thailand).........

The Christmas eve party I went to was pretty bad/funny. It was at a fancy hotel in Chiang Mai, and I went with my friends from the guest house I was staying at. There was a big buffet dinner, that was okay, but I knew I was going to have a hard time when I first heard the music.

They try, but Thais really have no idea what the hell Christmas is about. They've been able to gleen a few concepts, like Santa. So there was a guy in a bad Santa suit giving out little gifts (that was pretty authentic!). However, this is Thailand so Santa was accompanied by sexy 'Santa Girls'. They did a dance routine in their little red and white outfits to a Shakira song. (??!!) I think someone told the band they were at an Italian-American's wedding, because they really relied quite heavily on Sinatra and Elvis material.

So I was having fun laughing about everything, when they started playing really depressing songs (well, depressing for me) There is a popular remake here of that song "I'm leaving on a jet plane" and it got really bad when they played Lionel Richie's "Hello". Like I wasn't feeling bad enough already.

I didn't think it would happen, but being away from home on Christmas did affect me. This was the first time I've been away from home on Christmas, and I miss everyone back there alot.

Here's me trying to have fun View image

Others didn't have to try View image View image

Finally, I had had enough, View image it was time to go get drunk View image View image

I must have been good this year, because Santa had a great day planned for me...........
Christmas morning, head pounding, my Dutch friend Michal and I hit the road on our motorbikes for the 4 hour ride to Pai. It was an excellent way to spend the day, weaving though mountain turns, smelling the pines, gorgeous views. It felt perfect to be on a bike, I get sort of neurotic the next day after drinking alot and driving really clears my head. Even though it was threatening to explode for the headache and my body hurt in every muscle (intense yoga lately!) it was just what I needed.

Unfortunately, since it took me so long to get going in the morning, we ended up having to drive about 30 km in the dark. By the time we got to Pai, we were completely wiped. Fortune smiled on us by presenting an adorable, hyper Aussie girl who told us about the bungalows she was staying at and took us to have a bath.

It will be hard to ever top this: 4 of us drove to some hot springs in the forest, bribed the guards to let us in (it was closed and quite dark), got into our skivvies and sank down into a beautifully hot little pool, the heat easing us into complete contentment, gazing up into the enormity of the night sky.

This will help you imagine it View image

I hope you all can at least once feel the way I did that night.

K