familiar faces in foreign places: chiang mai.

Hey! 

Here are pictures from our adventures in Chiang Mai. It was so much fun, I tell ya. we took an over night 15 hour train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and that was a rackety fun adventure. We slept in some bright lime green sleeping pods while the train rocked us back and forth all night long. When we woke up we had gorgeous countryside to stare at for the rest of the ride. 

We had the best massages, followed by some yummy tea in cute elephant mugs. We took a cooking class, where I improved my pad Thai, red curry, and coconut milk soup cooking skills. We made the curry paste from scratch and that was a workout. It was fun watching Eric cook. He is the best cook and loves to put his own twist on things, so it was funny watching a little Thai lady tell him what to do. We stuffed our faces with big western breakfasts, aka mango pancakes and mango/banana oatmeal washed down with coconut shakes. Then we stuffed our faces with Thai food. I was stuffed all day every day, but so worth it. We also rented motorbikes and rode them around and up the mountain. Eric and Bria were naturals at cruising on the bikes. 

On our last day together we rented a car and Eric drove us about an hour north of Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao. There we went and explored a cave. We had a cute little lady tour guide that carried a big gas lantern to keep us on the correct path. All she kept saying in English was "waaatch yer hed" in a cute high pitched tone. Eric snapped a million pictures which doubled our time in the cave, but sweet little lantern lady didn't seem to mind. I wish I had the pictures from Eric, because he takes the best ones. I'll snatch 'em from him soon. The cave was really neat. We got to one point and the little lady told us we couldn't go further, because there was no oxygen and "snake and some man die from big snake". So, we didn't go any further. After our cave adventure, we headed to a national park to do some hiking and waterfall exploring. The quick hike up the mountain brought us to some really awesome views. There were only a few tumbles and falls on the way up and the way down the mountain. Eric fell a lot and so did one of his camera lenses. But everything was ok. And we just had the best trip and I want them to come back now!

post.script: These pictures were mostly taken by Stephan. Also, Bria, why are there not more pictures of you? Could ya send me some shots from Eric with you in them. Or maybe we just need another trip together.