Todd and Lisa's RTW trip

We have been in Chiang Mai for a few days now and think it’s great. We were a little skeptical because we met some people who had nothing good to say about this place. We can’t figure out why!! The city had a wall and moat built around it in the 1800’s to protect it from….. Burmese?? (maybe). All around the moat is lined with flowers and it is very clean. We also noticed that no one honks here.. a welcomed change from India!!! For a city is it very relaxed and has a good balance of westernization ( we won’t lie.. we went to Starbucks and got their Christmas lattes). The thing that is wierd here is all the working women. It’s not at all sleazy… but its all over the place. Our first night here, we went out for a drink. Lisa dragged Todd all over the place because she refused to go into a bar with a bunch of pretty thai women in minimal clothing standing outside (which was practically every bar in our neighborhood).

Our last few days we have been taking cooking classes all day. We have learned all sorts of yummy dishes. Lisa’s favorite was pounding all the ingredients in a granite mortar to make fresh red curry paste. Todds favorite was a chicken and cashew nut dish. Overall the classes were really good fun… we ate a TON of food. Lisa decided to only to 2 days of class, while Todd took 3. So belive it or not… we spent our FIRST day since we started this adventure apart.

In the evenings we have been going to the night bazaar. It is a wild event. You can buy everything and anything under the sun, and in between shopping you can get 60 baht ($1.50) foot massages. Fun, but a little overwhelming!! Nobody get there hopes up though, we are on a minimal shopping trip and unless you come to carry stuff home for us, chances are you will not be receiving a gift!!!

Tomorrow we leave on a 3 day/ 2 night trek. We are really looking forward to it. After a lot of leg work, we think that we found an agency that will take us off the beaten path. At least thats what they told (sold) us. We’ll let you know when we return. Just in case we get kidnapped by opium drug dealers, the agency is www.thaipandatour.com

we hope to have great photos from the trek!!!

It was so nice to talk to all the family on thanksgiving. We miss you all tons… but not as much as we miss turkey and stuffing!!! mmmmmm

for those of you who we didn’t speak to, we have managed to pull ourselves away from southern thailand and have started heading north. We loved the south for so many reasons, the main ones being the beautiful beaches and the delicious SPICY coconut curries (they actually use fresh coconuts). It was also really interesting to hear some first hand stories of the tsunami. Our dive instructor on the boat was actually out on the same trip when the tsunami hit. She was very open in telling us her story. Being able to talk to local people about their experience was very moving and deep. We also got a great story from a thai guy at ban phu lae. We have to attached a picture of this guy, Pop (aka Poppie) for you to understand the dramatic story we got. He is somewhat of a lady-boy (thai expression), not a serious fem, just kind of flamboyant. His story went along the lines of this (please read in high pitched voice) “i see big wave. I see boat then boat fall on sand.. all the water gone from underneath. i think is maa-gic. then i say run run run because wave came and take all the boats” It was nice to hear a story from someone who has such a good sense of humor. It is strange how peoples stories can help take away some of the errie feelings and bring you closer to the event.

On a completely different note…..After our birthday night bus we ended up in Bangkok at 5 am. We have never been on such a nice night bus before… There was a stewardess on the bus who gave us snacks and juice, and a warm cloth in the a.m. (have we mentioned that we love thailand!!) We arrived at the south bus station and needed to get to the north bus station to catch a bus to Sukhothai. Nobody in thailand speaks english and we were pronouncing Sukhothai totally wrong.. but we eventually managed our way to the station. We have learned how to say nevermind in thai, so that when we ask a question in english and start getting a long thai answer, we can tell them “Mai Prue.” Today we are hanging around here. It is known for its huge historic park with lots of Buddha ruins. There is a whole story from the 13 century, but the translation in the pamphlet we got is so bad we don’t really know why all these buddhas are here… but we still think they’re cool. Tomorrow, off to Chiang Mai cooking school!!!

Here are a whole mess of pics….

This is the infamous POP!!!

This is a beach we stopped at while on the dive boat.

Todd got some water in his ear.. and this witch doctor trick of smoking it out with a cig. actually worked. We told Warren, the canadian ice cream man who is performing the ceremony, that if todd gets ear cancer we are coming to find him!!!

Here is the view out our bungalow on Koh Phayam. We forgot to mention the snakes we shared it with!!! Also the gas station we went to on the motorbike. we drove by it a few times before we could believe that it is really the station.

This is the Thailand Immigration…. we would hate to see it on a crowded day!!

And the Burma border…

This is us cruising around on Todd’s Birthday. We found a beautiful canyon and lake to have a pad thai and chang beer picnic!!
(lisa likes the helmet because it covers up the ever-growing mullet)

And… these are the buddhas….

Like we said we really love the food here….. (click to enlarge)

These should keep us covered on pictures for a while.

Todd says thanks for all the birthday wishes……

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