For the few of you that are eager to hear about my bamboo trekking and elephant riding experiences, well, I've decided to wait until I can get pictures up, which will have to wait until I get them developed in Bangkok :)

But what have I been doing in Chiang Mai since I returned from trekking? Pretty much enjoying my vacation; i.e. doing nothing. Well that's sort of true: I took a Thai cooking class (run by Libra House) which was absolutely fantastic. I learned to make green curry (sitting there for 45 minutes pounding the damn things into curry paste with a stone mortar and pestle), sweet and sour pork, tom yum (Thai hot and spicy soup, perfect for hangovers or so I'm told), spring rolls, peanut sauce, pad thai, and this AMAZING banana syrup/ coconut dessert. And I don't even LIKE bananas!

Near our hostel, there had been a pickup truck selling fresh durian everyday, and we were kind of curious about it. For those of you who don't know what durian is, it's a brown prickly fruit about the size of a large pumpkin/watermelon that has been banned from public places in Thailand because of how horrendously bad it smells; like a mixture of smelly feet and smelly fish. It was SUPPOSED to smell bad and taste wonderful. The texture was like a rotten mango, and it smelled like a mixture of rotten onions and sour cream and onion potato chips. And guess what? It tastes like a rotten mango that's been sealed up in a garbage bag with stale sour cream and onion potato chips! There were four of us, and we were lucky that we only bought a little package. I think we only ate a tenth of what was in there; the rest we gave to a lady who was begging with her baby in the street, which I'm not sure is an act of charity or of cruelty.

On the other hand, mangosteens are fantabulous! They are a tropical fruit banned from importation into the U.S. because possible agricultural pests. Queen Victoria once offered a "handsome" reward to anyone who could bring her one fresh. It looks like a small round purple eggplant, and you have to peel away the purple/red skin (which is pretty thick). Inside is a white meat that looks kind of like pearly garlic cloves, but tastes so sweet and wonderful with just a hint of tartness. I'll have to find some pictures of them to post soon.