Day 30- Chiang Mai

This is a lovely city. Surprisingly quiet and low key, even though it is the second largest in the country! I would take and post pictures but my camera is broken. More on that in a bit.

Just relaxing. In the past 5 days I have been in Pai, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai, as well as on the Pai River. Pai was excellent- a quaint backpacker-y town with lots of people and yummy food and gorgeous scenery. We stayed at this great guesthouse in a room right overlooking the river with a balcony and lounging area.

We left Pai with 10 other people to go rafting for two days. 5 boys from Holland, a German girl that was lots of fun, a newlywed couple from San Francisco and our two guides, Mike and Chicken. Mike's family is Lahu and Chicken's is Lisu and they have been river rafting guides for over 10 years. They were absolutely wonderful and we learned so much about people in the north and the different hill tribes, crops, lifestyles and the land.

The rafting was actually really great. The rapids were fun and the scenery was picturesque. Our boat was the calm one of the two, as the Dutch boys were in the other. They were hysterical. Constantly jumping out of the boat, splashing us, making lewd comments and just laughing. It reminded me of home:)

Anyhow, we finished rafting around 6pm, and set up camp on bamboo platforms near the river. Mike and Chicken cooked us dinner and we all sat up drinking and playing cards by candlelight. The next morning, breakfast included a cake made of jam and bread and little carrots cut into flowers... and 24 bug candles! Everyone sang to me and it was really sweet, because I had prepped myself for a non-birthday birthday. So yeah, if you forgot it, you suck and you should send me an email:) Anyhow, more rafting all day. The boys were particularly crazy and flipped their raft during a big set of rapids and everything fell into the water... including the dry bag (that isn't actually dry) with my camera. So. It the light flashes on but then turns off almost immediately and the camera won't turn on... Any ideas? I am going to buy a new one I think just so I can document my next month...

We stayed at a particularly yucky guesthouse in Mae Hong Son, but it was cheap. $1.25 per person. Can't beat it. The shower was the grossest part as it had lots of cracks in the floor and when you turned on the water (only cold mind you) all of the bugs and worms and roaches crawled up through the cracks to escape the water! While in Mae Hong Son we hired a guy to take us to see the White Karen and Hmong villages that were about an hour away near the Burmese border. It was really cool to meet Hmong people, especially after reading "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" (READ IT!). It was a beautiful drive and it was pretty amazing to see where these people live.

Chiang Mai has been fun. I had fantastic nachos today for lunch that just had me wanting to get more just because they were so good. I have read quite a few books and chilled on the hammock at our guesthouse. www.julieguesthouse.com Check it out. Very cool place. Some shopping and chilling and maybe a massage after I finish typing. Then the night train to Bangkok where I will hang out with Inbal and Natalie (two cool girls Jack and I met in Koh Phagnan) for a few days before heading to the islands. I did a little itinerary change so this is it for Thailand for me before heading East!

The best news of the day is that Paul is coming to visit over the National Holiday in early October, so I am so excited to show him a little bit of my life.

Happy Sunday.