Chiang Mai and Pai

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Hey guys

thought I'd better update you all as I havn't written anything since before I left the school!

Right, so we left Na Noi on the 15th. It was sad, especially to say goodbye to Mam Lek cos she's done so much for us, but I think all in all we were ready to leave. I miss the kids, but not really Na Noi itself.

So anyway...after a winding 5 hour bus ride we got to Chiang Mai. Its really weird to be in a city full of foreigners ('farangs') when we were used to being the only ones!! but its nice to be able to get Western food, go to 7eleven (simple pleasures I know) and the like! On the Sunday we did a yoga class, which was nice and relaxing, sometimes what i call the yoga "waffle" (which Jill didnt understand!_ was a bit irritating but it was generally good. Made my legs ache though! Also done a lots (probably far too much!) shopping...the problem is I spend more than I mean to because some of the stallholders are really polite and persistant and obviously make so little money that I end up buying something I didnt really need! But I guess I can afford to splash out a little as I'm missing out on a month's travelling!

Hmm what else have I done...been to starbucks (couldn't be helped, coffee was one of my main cravings in Na noi! the only stuff they drink is '3 in 1' nescafe which is soooo sweet!)....found an amazing place called Herb Basicas, like the BS but much much cheaper so im going to go and stock up there later today! We also went to see Doi Suthep, a temple on the mountain which was pretty cool and a nice trip. Oh yeah and I nearly forgot, I did a cooking course! It was actually a lot easier than I expected, although I'm not sure I'll be making fresh curry paste again, its difficult to find all the ingredients plus one of the men doing the course got the chilli paste in his eye and it acts like pepper spray ouch! :-S. We made curry and other fried dishes which was cool...i may even make some of you a green curry when I get back! The lady was also impressed at how much chilli i like in my food too...apparently im nearly at Thai standard now (though not quite some of the teachers used to eat chillis on their own!). Anyway, that just shows you if you perservere you can go from only eating korma and mild curries to pretty hot ones in 4 months! all mrs googlies fault! (the lady at the restaurant in na noi (not her real name!, she used to put 4 chillis in my tofu kapow and scrape the seeds into the sauce lol!).

Oh yeah I nearly forgot to mention Pai! Its a little village/town north of CM, you get there on these ridiculously old buses (same as in Na Noi) and it takes 4 hours along mountainpous windy roads,...i think someone says there are 752 bends (and i dont just mean little ones some were pretty hairy and steep!) so after surviving that we stayed for 2 days and did it all again! Pai was...interesting, not at all Thai in the way I know it, full of hippies and 'misfits'...didnt really feel like I fitted in!!, though most people were friendly and there was decent open-mic stuff. So not bad. Only downside is I forgot to take any pics cos my camera was on charge and we never seemed to be in long enough to charge it! but i'll get some photos off the others I'm sure. Oh and had my first (and hopefully last!) taste of Thai whisky...never again is all I can say!!!

Right think thats about it for now, Jill left this morning so its just me on my own til I leave now! I'm here in CM til Sun, then off to BKK til my flight Tues night! I'll try to upload one last update before I see you all again!

Naomi xxx

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