Northern Thailand's Capital, Chiang Mai

We've been in Chiang Mai for a few days now, having arrived on the 30th of January from Ao Nang, where we were after our excellent trip to Koh Jum. There was little to do in Ao Nang, we stayed at the Laughing Gecko (which is really at the beach to the west of Ao Nang called Hat Napparathat and is owned by a Canadian ex-pat and her Thai husband), except watch crabs at low tide, which seemed to go out for several hundred yards. The guesthouse was kind of a hippie hangout, with several long-term guests and regulars, plus a bunch of rugrats that demanded too much attention. We didn't do anything in our 4 days there except make a run to Malaysia to get new Thai visas (the process consists of driving for 6 hours to the Malaysian boarder, checking out of Thailand, walking into Malaysia and checking in there, walking around the Malay immigration office to check out of Malaysia, then walking back to the other side of the Thai immigration office to get a new 30-day visa, and finally driving for 6 hours back) and enjoy the Laughing Gecko's excellent nightly buffet dinners (the only redeeming thing about Ao Nang).

So, we next booked a bus to the Khao Sok national park (the only remaining low-land rainforest left in Thailand, more on that place in another post) for four nights, and then on to the Surat Thani airport about 2 hrs. away and flew up north on the 30th. We first stayed in a crummy but cheap guesthouse called Eagle 2 and on the 31st, we went to the last day of the 3-month long Royal Flora Expo at Ratchaphruek, about 30 minutes away from the center of Chiang Mai. This expo was huge and we spent all day there... probably something like 8 hours... and the best part was seeing the flower exhibits put up by 40+ nations. The Japanese one, for example, had a miniature Mt. Fuji, a zen rock garden, and beautiful bonsais... it was like being there again! Of couse we also enjoyed the Chinese garden, which housed a huge 2-story Chinese temple and a 4-story pagoda, the Nepali garden, which featured stairs (of course!), and the Indian garden! The show also had several competitions and shows, including rare orchids, trees, and other flowers, as well as exhibits on bio-fuels, sustainable agriculture, bugs, fruits, tropical and temperate flora, and loads of overpriced food! It was an excellent day! There was even an operating rubber plantation on the grounds, which was an educational experience for us both and I even got to harvest some. The Toyota bio-diesel exhibit was handing out free hats, hence the bright yellow hat on J's dome (with a green leaf shaped like a camry). (J's note: no I didn't become a soccer mom since coming to Thailand. In case you were wondering. It was bright out!)

Yes, that bug really was blue... From the bug pavillion at the Royal Flora Expo.

Orchid with a bug's face from the orchid competition.

Driving a biodiesel truck at the Royal Flora Expo.

Hugging the rare "bottle-shaped trunk" palm tree.

Cutting the bark of a rubber tree to collect the goods.

Kenya's garden at the Royal Floral Expo... this one's for Sarah.

Welcome (back) to Nepal!

On Feb. 1, we sort of took a day off to plan our next adventures, which included talking to a trekking company (turns out it's really expensive to do it here "the right way"... more on that if people want to know what we mean), a jewelery-making school, and a rock-climbing school. We found all of these and decided that on 2.Feb, Justine would go make some silver and Mike would try to conquer nature.

The day began early, with a hearty breakfast consisting of a veg. omlette on a baked baguette (very nice, indeed!) before we parted ways for the first time in nearly 6 months! It was not as strange a feeling as I might have imagined, but of course I was wondering the whole time: "I wonder what Justine is doing right now?" Turns out, she was flatenning, polishing, and cutting silver, in addition to soldering her original design together into an awesome pendant.

I, on the other hand, was learning how to tie knots and belay my amazing and funny climbing instructor, Muad, who's on the Thai national team and has participated in the X-Games. Not only did I make 4 successful climbs over the morning, but after lunch I also learned about rapelling and dropped into a 60-m deep limestone cave on Crazy Horse Buttress! It was so much fun, I'll have to take up the sport when I get back to the States, but for today, I need to rest and recover, as my entire body is sore from climbing and I have more than a few cuts and bruises. Since my day (830am to 4pm) ended earlier than Justine's (1030am to 5pm), I ran over to her shop and watched as she finished making her masterpiece. We completed the evening with two dinners: Thai food with two South African girls J met at the jewelery shop, and a Greek dinner a few hours later. We watched Anchorman (again) and hit the hay. It was one of the best days we've had in Thailand. I only wish Justine was there to climb with me, but I don't think she could have swung out over the open cave for the rapelling!

-mike

The only proof that I went climbing.

Stamp on the leaf.

Soldering with her teacher.