Chiang Mai

Greetings from Thailand!

1,239 miles

We are having a wonderful time in Thailand's second largest city. Chiang Mai bustles with activity all day long with tuk-tuks, food carts, motorbikes, pedestrians, and us streaming along every street in a chaotic, almost choreographed, scene that, amazingly seems to work terrifically. How we haven't seen a Thai family on a scooter (yes, the entire family - Mom, Dad, and children on a scooter) run over by a "sawngthaew" (that's a pick-up truck taxi) absolutely amazes me. The only downfall that I have seen to this constant traffic is very poor air quality.

We have been seeing a lot of the city with Eric, Ying, and her family. Our main objective for each day has been to eat 5 meals a day! There is no way we would have made it a lot of these little places without their local knowledge. The food is amazing - phad thai, khao soi, tom yum, etc. Every dish is bursting with flavor.

We had dinner last night at The Riverside on the Ping River, great views, food, and a live band.

Amber and I stayed at the bar afterwards and listened to the Thai band play local favorites (I assume they were favorites b/c everyone else was singing them) and unusual American covers, from Desperado, to Black-eyed Peas, Bee Gees, Tracy Chapman, The Beatles, Bob Marley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jet, and A-Ha to name a few. All the songs had a slightly punk/ska edge to them, and the singers sang in perfect English (American accent and all). Pretty good stuff.

Today we toured several Wats (Buddhist Temples) and even got blessed by a monk. "Happiness and protection for our travels". It was really interesting.

To top it all of we had a massage the other day. Full body, 2 hours, a whopping $6 (US) each!!!! We'll be back there.

Thank you for the comments and go Gator Basketball 12-0!!!

Justin & Amber