Greetings! We made it to Vietnam via Cambodia on New Year's Day, after two weeks taking in the culture, temples, and small-town life of northwest Thailand. Still braised from the southern beaches, we arrived in the north's largest city, Chiang Mai, via train from Bangkok confident that the packs of sweater-clad dogs we encountered en route to our hotel were a good sign that cooler temperatures would prevail. Chiang Mai (pop. 150,000) is a university town and center for Buddhist learning, with over 350 temples crammed into its city center. We strolled around a half-dozen ornate, beautifully preserved 13th and 14th century specimens on our first day in town, including Wat Chiang Man, where we also dropped some Baht buying and releasing a wide assortment of birds (allegedly) purchased from the city food market by locals
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