Wat's Happening

We're trying some new colour-coding; Tim's writing in blue and Laura's in purple.

Chiang Mai has been great. It's not as humid as Bangkok (but still feels like hot pig breath) and gets much cooler in the evening. We spent the first day doing the obligatory "Wat" tours. They have about the same number of temples in Chiang Mai as they do in Bangkok, but the city is far smaller (I'm going with a Toronto/Ajax comparison). You get a Wat every couple of blocks here - more bang for the bhat.

On Wednesday we went to Doi Suthep - which is another Wat, but this one is on top of a mountain. We took a "red truck" up the mountain. The red trucks are more popular than tuk tuks here (we were getting a little tired of the tuk tuk drivers anyway. Every 100 metres "Where are you going? Tuk tuk!"). Basically, the red trucks are vans with an enclosed passenger area in the back. They work kind of like public buses, taking up to about 12 people at a time (sometimes locals will even hang off of the back). You negotiate a price and a drop-off point with the driver when you board. The backs of the trucks are open - so you end up sucking exhaust from all the other vehicles on the road for most of the ride. Here's a tangent: everyone rides scooters. We went by a school the other day and there were literally hundreds, possibly thousands of scooters parked out front. One scooter per student. Hence the smog. The Wat at the top of the mountain wasn't nearly as fun as the ride up.

That night we went to a giant night market. Lots of bargaining (we're getting better). Laura picked up a skirt, I got some swank Diesel sandals. They say "Maximum Shock Assorption" on the sole. I'm going to have to write a letter to the Diesel head office and report the typo. Also got the popular "Same Same" t-shirt, which everyone seems to be wearing (that, and a take on the Puma logo that either says "Tuna" or "Coma").

Thursday was jungle trek day. Amazing. I rode on an elephant's head. More to come on this. Photos are taking a while to upload here. We'll set aside some time and get more up soon.

Side note: the keys on the computer keyboards in Thailand seem to be narrower than home. This has made it extremely difficult to type with my North American sausage fingers.

laa kawn.
Tim & Laura