Chiang Mai...at last

We are finally here, as we have patiently awaited the great Chiang Mai and expected greatness. After all the talk it's better than I ever could have expected. Chiang Mai is a fantastic city! A great size, maybe like Baltimore. The food here is amazing, it is clean, charming, filled with beautiful temples just decorating the city, and it is very international. There are people from all over the world living and learning here, mostly for some sort of wellness.

This city is very health focused. If you are interested in yoga, massage, meditation, cooking or anything related you must come here. I've never seen anything like it. There are tons of markets and things to do all the time, i'm having a great time exploring.

So we took the VIP bus down from Chiang Rai, which ended up being sooo sweet. Nothing like the "VIP" bus in Laos. We were in shock, we actually had leather recliners as seats! After a very enjoyable bus ride we got here to find that all the hotels were booked and had to stay in a dodgy one for one night..no biggie. Then i searched for nice one while lauren started her massage course, but they said we could only stay for 2 nights. Lauren realized after her first day that she needs to do both courses, so we'll be here for 2 weeks..which is FINE with me! I am really itching to be stagnant for a little while. Laos was a lot of moving around.

So finally this morning i found a place on the same street (we wanted to stay in this area since there are so many other backpackers and great restaurants) that will let us stay until after new years. So the plan is to hang out here until then and then do a 3 day trek just before heading back to bangkok. I have 24 days until alex comes...yea! I am really looking forward to that.

In the mean time, I'm taking a 5 day thai cooking class as the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. It's supposed to be the best one here and so far it's been really fun. We learn 6 dishes per day in this really beautiful outdoor kitchen. The setup is very proper, i feel like i'm in a cooking show. The instructors are all so cute and funny, I love it. I can't wait to cook some curry for everyone! mmmmmm.....green curry soooooo good. Good thing i have such a great asian market to come home to or i wouldn't be able to make anything i'm learning. Where else are you gonna get Kaffir Lime leaves or fresh palm sugar? Gotta have those! I had no idea that there are 4 different kinds of soy sauce either. I always wondered why they had an entire aisle for soy sauce at the asian market.

The rest of the time i'm relaxing, checking out all the good book shops, markets and sites in town. I'm really enjoying down time in a city that isn't crazy...just good. We've met all kinds of other travelers that are on all kinds of different trips. And tons of people that are in all kinds of weird living situation, makes me feel like my life is so normal. For example: a canadian guy and a thai american girl living in Belgium on a trip to thailand scoping out the next place to go. TONS of people like that...so crazy! Yesterday lauren and i saw Dejavu at the movie theater, our second movie outing on this trip. Only we forgot...in thailand there's a perk to going to the movies (alex, i forgot to mention this today). Soo funny! At the beginning, after the previews, just before the movie starts there is a tribute to the king. It's this super cheesy photo montage with bubbles of him floating around the screen on top of landscapes of thailand...and everyone stands for the entire thing. It's like standing for the national anthem at the movies...only super cheezy!!! We had to try really hard not to laugh out loud. I love thailand!