of flights and one square kilometer

Another early morning. We had to wake up at 4am in order to catch our 5am airport shuttle in order to make our 7am flight to Chiang Mai. Normally, that wouldn't be too bad but our dumb hostel was right on Khoa San Road so people were out partying and making TOO MUCH NOISE practically right up until we left for the airport. Blasted tourists.

But it was peaceful when we arrived into Chiang Mai... Ahhhh so nice... Chiang Mai is to Bangkok what Hili is to Dhaka--a relaxing, quiet town far away from the busyness of the main city port. Hallelujah. And our cheap little guesthouse is so adorable. Chiang Mai is restoring my faith in Thailand because, I'm not going to lie, I hated the first couple days of seeing Bangkok such a mess :P

Yesterday we took things pretty easy. We were going to try to get to Mission College and then up to the AIDS hospice but it didn't work out once we realized our flight was this morning :P Good planning eh? That's alright though, we have something saved for our next trip to Thailand lol. Instead we did some more sight seeing, went to MBK shopping mall, then chilled around Khoa San Road for the rest of the night. The coolest part came when I happened to sit next to some Bangladesh-born now-Singaporeans. This world just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I was able to share my experience at the orphanage, as well as converse with the little Bangla I know. It just made me miss my family in Bangladesh even more...

After checking into our guesthouse [Penny's Place], we contacted a guy who runs treks into the jungle up here. We were trying to get to the Golden Triangle but found out you can only do that on a one-day tour. We were looking for something more adventurous. Hence, tomorrow morning, we are leaving on a three-day trek! Day one we have an hour-long elephant ride through the jungle, then we have to hike about three hours to a remote northern village. They'll put us up for the night and then the next day we have white-water rafting (not as exciting as it may sound because the rivers are kinda low from the dry season.. but doesn't matter :D), a bamboo boat ride, two waterfalls, and another hike back down to the elephant camp. Day three is elephant day. We get to feed the elephants, then are given a crash course in how to sit on their shoulders and guide them with your legs and a small rope. Then we go on trail ride through the jungle again (this time steering our own elephants--well Dad and I will be sharing because it's cheaper that way lol), stopping at another waterfall to give the elephants a bath! How fun does that sound!!! I'm so freaking excited. Well, not so excited for all the hiking because I sent my good shoes back home, plus I hate hiking, but so excited to be in Thailand, in the jungle, with elephants!! Will post pictures as soon as I can!!

So after we got that all settled out, Dad and I began our attack on the city. Chiang Mai is an older city and thus has tons of temples. 71 to be exact. The square kilometer that is the downtown hub has 33 Buddhist temples alone. So we didn't really have any specific target in mind, we just went out walking. Inevitably, there was a temple practically every 100m or so. Just mind boggling. After a while, sad to say, you stop taking pictures because, although they are so beautiful, they are all kinda the same. I still enjoyed every moment of it and soaked in as much of the sights I could, stopping to snap a picture every now and again at something that really caught my eye.

Later this evening, Dad and I got lost looking for the night bazaar. We found one block of about four stands and thought, Wow someone really overexaggerated the coolness of Chiang Mai's night market. Then someone pointed us in the right direction. But again, we came across some lame square that had half a dozen stands and a bunch of food carts. Same thought. Yet again someone had to point us in the right direction and WOW! We found the true night market of Chiang Mai. It just goes on for blocks and blocks! Honestly, it's not as cheap as I would have liked--but that may be coming from someone who lived in Bangladesh for so long :P Anytime I see a Thai t-shirt and they are asking 350bt for it (about $10), I start to think "But I could have gotten the same souvenir t-shirt at New Market for 50tk (about 75cents)." It's a dangerous game to play... lol

anyways, that's all the news I have right now. The elephants don't have wi-fi and the village we will be staying at doesn't have any internet cafes so I'm leaving my netbook here at our guesthouse in storage til we get back on Friday. In other words, check back Friday evening if you want to see some SWEET pictures and hear some incredible stories about me fording my way through the Thai jungle :)

til then,
ami tomake bhalobashi