Thursday, July 2, 2009

Updates updates updates

First off, I apologize for the lack of posting since I've been in Asia. It's a bit more difficult to find a good internet cafe and I still haven't found a good enough one to upload photos!!!

I'm currently in Laos and going to make my way to Vietnam soon, but updates from the past couple of weeks.

Kel, J and I had to say our goodbyes in Chiang Mai, Thailand two weekends ago. We had a great time together and Chaing Mai is a very cute town. Lots of good restaurants, plenty of temples to look at and a few different activities to get into.

While the girls were still teaching their classes, I headed up to the city first and went for a day long trek, which involved hiking through the rain forest, riding an elephant and going bamboo rafting down a river!!! It was a fun day and I think the highlight was when the guide on my elephant jumped off, told me to scoot closer and sit ON the elephants head, and then my guide just wandered off to the back of the pack. So there I was sitting on an elephant that weighed nearly 10,000 pounds (!!!) leading a group of 5 more elephants with 2 people sitting on each of them!!! Absolutely crazy, and surreal!! From there we crossed through a river (while I was still leading the pack) and made it to our send off on the bamboo rafts. That wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it'd be, but still a fun adventure to be had!

The next day I signed up for a cooking class which I absolutely loved!!! I learned 10 different Thai dishes - pad thai, curry, spring rolls, mixed veggies - but the BEST dish was the sweet sticky rice with mango. It's a dessert they have and is SO delicious!! I can't wait to try to make it when I get home!! (That's actually one downfall of traveling in Asia, there isn't any chance to cook your own meals which is something I love to do...)

Kel and J came in the next day and we all had a good time together for the weekend. I'm hoping to meet back up with them in Bangkok at the end of my trip here, around mid-August. Hopefully they can sneak away from school for a day or two to meet me!!

Over the weekend in Chiang Mai we made friends with a group of guys from Ireland. They were heading out for the same route as me, so I've been hanging with them for the passed two weeks now!! It's been very, very fun... though the stereotype is true about the Irish and drinking....

Long enough post for now... I'll try to update again soon and get some pictures up for everyone to see.

Hope home is treating you all well!!!

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