We love Chiang Mai!

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Chiang Mai is awesome! We are loving it so far. We have moved house a few times as the first place had a lumpy bed and had air conditioning which we don't like as much as a fan. then we moved across the street to the place we wanted in the first place and it ended up being SO LOUD and the bed must have had bedbugs because we were itching all night. i think i slept one hour total. we packed up early and walked a while to find a new place and our new place is fairly nice. quiet and has a fan, hot shower, normal toilet and the man running the show is great. we rented motorbikes again and drove to Doi Inthanon National Park known as "The Roof of Thailand" because it is the highest point in the country. there is a temple called Doi Suthep here which is one of the most famous. we didn't go in as we weren't dressed appropriately but we walked around after climbing the 306 stairs that craig failed to mention to me beforehand. he also didn't mention the tram you can take to the top for 20 baht until we got up there. haha. what a brat. we had some iced coffees and waffles at the top and then climbed back down where we saw an elephant! he was getting fed some sort of vegetables and i was trying to get a photo with it but there were too many people in the way. finally they took him out of the little enclosure he was in and he walked out into the street. i finally saw my chance because most people moved out of the way. i stayed near him and told craig to take a photo. i looked back to make sure he wasn't going to step on me and his butt was right behind me. i thought, oh well, a photo of me with an elephant butt is better than nothing and then the funniest thing happened. the elephant farted right on my head!! craig thought it was the best thing ever and i was definately laughing as well after i got over the fact that an elephant just had a giant toot on my head!! definately the highlight of my day. after that we drove even further up the hill as craig had to say he'd been to the top. we passed a group of thai schoolgirls who were waving and looking very excited upon seeing me drive by. it got very cold up top and i started getting severe earaches so we had to stop so i could stuff some kleenex in my ears. we finally headed back and then we decided to go north a bit to another small town to find this monkey center we saw on a map. it was quite a crazy drive with lots of traffic but we did quite well i'd say. we got to the monkey place right on time for the last show of the day. we had a few minutes to play with the baby monkey which was so adorable. he was biting and climbing all over us. we got lots of photos and a video. then we saw this cute monkey show. i sat on a chair and the monkey jumped on my lap and posed for a photo and then he kissed me on the cheek twice. it was cute. they were trying so hard to get the ring off my finger and were getting very frustrated because i wouldn't let them have it. very smart monkeys i'd have to say. we drove back and dropped off the bikes and had some dinner. our new place is a bit far from our fave restaurant but we still walk there often to eat since it is the best.
yesterday we met up with a guy from works friend who lives here. we are going golfing with him next monday and he has a coupon for a free hotel night that he won at a golf tournament so he is giving us that. afterwards we went to the sunday walking street which was absolutely amazing!!! i couldn't believe it. imagine government street from china town to the empress and about 5 blocks of every side street covered in vendors on both sides and in the middle as well as street performers and many blind children with bands or singing as well. i was in shopping heaven. at first i wasn't buying anything because i wanted to see it all first and buy next week but craig mentioned that we might not get to go next week so i started buying stuff up everywhere. the prices were very low and trying to bargain wasn't very gainful but i didn't care. craig was getting bored after awhile and decided to start trying street food. everytime i looked back at him he had something different, usually unrecognizable but he said it was delicious. we had little fish shaped waffles filled with chocolate and strawberry and deep fried ice cream that was also amazing. i got a bit claustrophobic and had to concentrate on breathing every once in awhile. you could hardly move it was so packed with people. the side roads past the vendors were triple parked with cars and motorbikes. i told craig i could spend 3 weeks there. we walked for probably 4 or 5 hours and saw only half of it i think. i definately have to go back there. it beats the night bazaar by far! i only took two photos of some deep fried bugs and the noodles craig ate because it was so crazy. craig got up early today and went to this treetop adventure park thing. it was kind of expensive and not really my thing so i stayed home and he was back before i'd even had a chance to leave the room. he had a great time and then we had some lunch and bought our tickets for the big thai boxing fights tonight. craig is very excited about that and i am excited about the cabaret show aka ladyboy show!! should be a fun night. we are planning on renting motorbikes tomorrow and driving up to this village called Pai. It is supposed to be the most beautiful place in Thailand but the road there has something like 763 turns in under 150km. i am a bit nervous about our bikes breaking down but i would be more nervous about a 3 hour bus ride on that road so i hope it goes ok. we plan to stay a couple of days and then go to the zoo/aquarium on friday and possibly the elephant conservatory on the weekend. the rest of our plans are up in the air somewhat. who knows where we will end up? time to go find some warm clothing for our trip. it is supposed to be very cold there at night.

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