Chiang Mai

So it seems that Erika has gotten you caught up to Bangkok. Allow me to elaborate on our time so far in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is in Northern Thailand and located in a valley and as such has had much more temperate weather. The break from the oppressive heat was not unwelcome.



We were up early Friday to catch our 7:10 flight and since we had been go, go, go for all of our trip so far we decided to take it easy Friday. Chiang Mai is a small city so we walked around for a bit and grabbed some lunch. Some delicious curry and papaya salad later we were ready for our first massage. We stopped by this place called Lila Thai Massage and got an hour foot massage for under $5. Funny enough the foot massage also included the arms and shoulders as well. Go figure. The week of walking just seemed to melt away. Rejuvenated, we decided to trek about the city some more. There is a pretty cool wat right across the street from our hotel that was "in funeral" for the regional chief monk who had recently passed away. After watching some of the goings on there, which appear to be lasting for a few days, we took a jaunt out of the old city and explored a little to the east. We stopped at Mike's Burgers for dinner as it was recommended by one of the guide books. Not too bad for being the far removed from the burger capital that is America. About this time Mel and I started get some cramps in our lower backs. Turns out when your feet and shoulders feel great, little pains in your lower back really stand out. This was all the convincing we needed to head on back and drop $20 for a full body oil and face massage. Needless to say it was was interesting, but the end result was about as relaxed of a feeling as I have ever had. After this we were too shot to actually make anything of ourselves so we turned in early to get ready for our big day of cooking.



Saturday was our first day to sleep in a while. We have been getting up between 4:30 and 7 that last few days, so sleeping in was nice. The Thai Cookery School was amazing, and we came back full of knowledge and with all of our fingers, though I am missing part of a fingernail that was the result of a close call. We learned how to make 6 or 7 dishes that we simply amazing. I can tell that my stomach is starting steel up a bit to the spicy because I will try some dishes and actually add chili pepper. I know, Les liking spicy food, don't all fall out of your chairs in amazement. What's next, elephants dancing the jig? Mel has said that she'll elaborate more on the actual cooking experience, but needless to say it was awesome. Thai cooking is very easy and very fast. Once the ingredients are ready, actually cooking the food takes anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.

Once we were done with the cooking class we came on back and had our first Thai massage which shouldn't be confused with our earlier massages. These can be pretty intense massages and you as the massagee are an active participant in the experience. The massage focuses on your legs and feet for the first part then your back gets a turn with the help of some real Tiger Balm. I remember now why I loved that stuff so much during track season. Then your arms and shoulders get worked on for a bit. Great time. You feel fantastic afterward, even if there is a little pain during. I was lucky enough to win a bet with Erika and Mel today where the pay off was they are covering my next two Thai massages. Granted that is a whole $10, but hey, it's the principal of the thing.

After our massages, we mustered up the energy to go have dinner and a few drinks. After consuming 7 courses of Thai food in the space of 6 hours, Mel and I decided that it was time for a one meal Thai food break. Erika powered through, however, with her staple, Pad Thai. A bunch of beer and cocktails later, we turned so that we would be nice and rested for our elephant trekking and bamboo rafting adventure.