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Published: December 3rd 2008
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Wow, it's been awhile. We have been so busy having fun in Chiang Mai that I almost forget what we have done. I will have to summarize I guess. We rented motorbikes again and went up to a small town called Pai, pronounced 'Bye.' the road there has 762 curves in it and it's about 100 km from where the curves start. i figured i wouldn't stand a chance in a bus with my motion sickness so despite the horror stories we'd read about we braved it. what a great idea! it was the most amazing drive through the most amazing countryside. it was like the B.C. of Thailand. absolutely gorgeous. we were told it would take 5-6 hours but we made it in just over 3. craig had a fun time trying to keep from running out of gas. they don't make tanks for boys of 230lbs over here. we parked out bikes upon arriving and crossed a bridge made of bamboo with a little river running under it. we rented a little hut on stilts for 300 baht a night and chose a restaurant to eat in. i had the best curry yet with brown rice! i love when
they serve brown rice. the main road in town turns into a market at night so we wandered around mostly and ate thai crepes and watched a band play a little roadside show. quite the hippy vibe there with many vendors selling out of their VW van. It was a great place. we went to a cave the next day and i saw a spider bigger than my head. wasn't very happy about that but it wasn't super close to me so it was ok. we stayed two nights and then left the next morning after having a great breakfast and even better lemon-spearmint fruit shakes. the drive back was just as great.
i'm not sure what we spent the next few days doing. we've been relaxing and eating a lot and reading books. just being lazy in general. hey, we're on vacation! our friends arrived a couple of days ago and got a room at the SK house, where we stayed our second night in Chiang Mai. It was so nice to see other people! craig was happy to have another male around and our friends Corey and Amanda had two sisters from victoria with them that were a
grasshopper
craig is so proud that he ate a grasshopper surprise. we ended up going out to the sunday walking street with them and of course everyone was drinking beers and we somehow found a shop with big afro wigs on their mannequins so corey made a deal and we each got one for 200 baht. well, they turned out to be about the best $8 we'd ever spent. everyone was laughing at us and inquiring where they could get one. we were the hit of chiang mai! we found a tuk tuk that had a batman theme and a louder stereo than most niteclubs and he took all 6 of us to a disco but it was in the middle of nowhere and the beers were as much as our precious afro wigs! forget that. so we left and caught a taxi truck to the night bazaar which wasn't really the night bazaar but some other small market. they like to do that here. a bit annoying. so we walked back and had some late night food and called it a night. we had to get up super early the next day to go golfing! i didn't go since i have a pinched nerve in my shoulder but i walked around with them. the caddies are adorable. i was like a celebrity to them. they loved my white skin so much and they gave me a big bag of oranges at the end that they had picked along the way. craig didn't play that well at first but he impressed the guy we played with big time with his drive on the 16th hole which apprently was the best they'd seen. his caddy was so proud. we had some lunch afterwards and then we crashed in our fancy hotel room. i had a bath!! such a luxury here and we watched a couple movies on tv (another luxury!) and then we got a ride back in the morning. we got a room at the SK house where our friends are staying and we were going to go to the zoo but we ended up reading instead. we are so lazy! our friends got back later that night and said they went to the zoo and it was awful so i am glad we didn't go.
we went to the night bazaar again to do a bunch of shopping and we had late night burritos at a place owned by a young guy from new orleans. they were so amazing. i'm sure we'll be there again tonight. today we went for our first traditional thai massage. it was great! i am kicking myself for not getting one sooner. next i will try an oil massage. craig is upset because his lady didn't do the back cracking part which is the best bit but i think it may be a bit difficult for a 5 foot thai lady to do to a 6 foot white guy. ha ha.
i'm sure i've left out a lot of things but i promise to be better in the future. all 6 of us are heading to Laos tomorrow to go river tubing and for a visa run. it promises to be a great adventure. we are also sending a (very expensive) package home tomorrow but i'm sure it will be worth every penny. i am so happy to be lightening my backpack. i have already filled one of our 8 gb memory sticks and part of another. good thing they are about 3 or 4 dollars here. i wish i had more time to upload some photos but i guess they will have to wait. oh yes and i somehow managed to lose my bank card, my lifeline, but luckily my other lifeline, craig, is here. i'm not sure what to do about that but for now transferring money to him will have to do. as for the issues going on over here, everything seems to be fine in our neck of the woods. we have friends that are still stuck and can't get home but it seems everything will blow over. we feel totally safe though and you should not worry about us. we will be just fine and we definately don't want to cut our trip short. we miss you all but not that much 😉 ha! just kidding. i am very sad that it is festive christmas season and i am missing out on the music, decorations, traditional stay-up-all-night-wrapping-presents-on-christmas-eve-with-mom and everything else but i will definately be calling that day to talk to you all even though it will have to be the middle of the night for me =D
i had better cut this off as once again, i am almost out of time. i will be back much sooner next time! now i shall try to upload a photo for the first time.
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Patti
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I have loved reading your blog. Sounds like you and Craig are having a trip of a life time! The 762 curves sounds amazing-I'd love to go there with Alan some day. I can just imagine how much curlier my hair would get with the humidity there! I'll look forward to seeing your photos when you are able to post them. Enjoy yourselves and stay safe. I'll keep in touch with your blog. TTYL Patti