Lots To Do in Chiang Mai

I've heard a lot about travellers getting stuck here in Chiang Mai for weeks and weeks. I mean voluntarily stuck, and I can see why. There's lots to do--massage courses, cooking courses, organized treks into the hill tribe villages, and besides that it's an easy place to just hang out and relax. Of course that means there are lots of foreigners here and lots of restaurants, cafes, bars, and bookstores to cater to them, which means the place is no longer typically Thai. Probably in other circumstances that would annoy me, and I'd just want to get out of here. But I think because of our two months in China where we didn't have this kind of openness and variety of choices, along with that fact that I'm alone and feel comfortable here and it's really easy to meet people, it makes me welcome and enjoy it all of it for now.

I think both Michael and I have enjoyed giving in to some of the familiar comforts of home--Michael with his Dunkin Donuts coffee and me with...well, let's see... over the past three days I've enjoyed a delicious falafel sandwich, some decent spinach quesadillas (not quite like Cactus or Alero though) and this afternoon I had a baskin robbins ice cream cone. Of course in between all that I've also been cooking and eating all kinds of yummy Thai food. Wednesday I did a one day course with Baan Thai (pictures from our group should be up on their site by Wednesday, and I'll try to get them onto our site too) The course included a trip to the market where we bought the ingredients and had all of the different kinds of produce, noodles, tofu etc. explained to us. Then we started chopping, pounding, mashing and cooking. Luckily they provided us with doggie bags since after second dish I started getting pretty full.

I met Karin from Berlin, Lauge from Holland and Ben and Emma from England and Scotland through the course. The five of us met up later that day to go to Monk Chat at Wat Suan Dok. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings monks who want to practice their English show up to chat with foreigners about Buddhism, their lives, culture, or just whatever. We talked with a Novice from Cambodia and a Monk from Laos who had both come to study there. It was interesting to get a chance to find out more about their lives, and to hear from them what Buddhism is all about. We also found out that Christian missionaries use the Monk Chat as a chance to proselytize--wow! That just seems so wrong, but then I guess it's not that hard to believe. After chatting with the monks, we all went to a Reggae Bar (without the monks though) where long-haired Thai guys served beer and sang along with the Bob Marley tunes.

Karin (whose friend Michael talked to coincidently in Bangkok the day before I met her--strange!) and I did a different cooking course yesterday, this time a bit out of the city. We still visited the same market though, it seems ALL the cooking courses visited the same small market--good business for them! Today I just took it easy--walked around and discovered new parts of city, read my book at a cafe, and visited the night market. I'll be heading up to the Akha House within the next few days, I'll keep everyone posted. I chatted online with Michael for a bit this evening--he's doing well too and is going to head further north tomorrow morning. Goodnight!