Today was spent contemplating my path. I inquired about a minibus to Pai, a small town north of here that has been recomended by other travelers. I gather, at least from LP, that it is a hippy mecca with nothing really to offer, but the ride there is apparently very nice and there are many hill tribes nearby. Unfortunately the buses are booked for the next few days, odd in the off season, i would think. Disappointed a bit, because it would be cool to see a small town atmosphere, but I will have that chance down south, and boy do I look forward to the south. I gather its a bit wet down

there right now, but the rain is confined to short spurts, and mostly nighttime. Instead of Pai, and rather than spend more time in Chiang Mai (though I love it), I buy a second class sleeper train to Bangkok; departs at 10pm, arrives at noon.
In the mean time, I hired a tuk tuk to take me to the zoo, apparently a very good spectacle. After a bit of dickering I talked the driver down to 50baht, from 100 (i think locals pay 30-40). Off we tuk-tuk'ed and to the zoo I went. For a mild 30baht entrance, the zoo seems like a favoured destination - mostly with locals. Soon it is the 1st anniversary (it's the year 2547 here, by the way) of Thailand's having a Giant Panda, and there is a great excitement filling the air; well, lots of banners at least. I wandered about the zoo, meant to be driven around I gather, without any real idea of where I was going. Somebody peeled the "you are here" stickers off all the maps scattered throughout the park, so... I haven't been to many zoos, but I wasn't too thrilled. The enclosures seemed very nice, but the variety of animals wasn't what I had been led to believe. The aquarium was poor, and I think anyone would agree that a trip to Xotics would be more thrilling. They did have a Probarbus julienni, however, and it was pretty nice fully grown (take note, Maureen). Also had large bala sharks. As for the rest of the exhibit, I was hoping for a more representative glance at the fauna of Thailand, not necessarily Africa and Australia. Too bad. I did enjoy the bugs and butterflies (Some are as large as birds!) and lizards that whizzed by. I should have saved my dollar, perhaps, and just gone to a nearby garden...

My watch has been giving me grief, mscalculating the time every once in awhile. I think the hand gets stuck or something. Today it was 2:54 for a long time, before I noticed and fixed it. Felt like time was standing still....

Train leaves in 3 hours, so i will finish up some errands and get a ride with the mafia...