HI friends and family! Sorry we haven't posted recently....we've been busy getting wet, making friends, and taking in the sites. Here's a recap of what we've been up to:
-Songkran: a 3 day water festival celebrating the Thai New Year. The whole country celebrates, but the biggest celebration is in Chiang Mai. We planned to be in Chiang Mai specifically for Songkran and we are so glad we did. It was a blast. Someone described it as an opportunity for adults to obnoxiously play with water guns on the street and not get judged! We were wet for three days. It was impossible to walk anywhere, including the outdoor lobby of our hotel, without getting wet. There is no escaping it.
-Tiger Kingdom: We spent the morning getting into cages with tigers. That's right, tigers! What a terrifying and amazing experience. According to research, these tigers are not drugged. Rather, they are kept in captivity since birth and fed regularly, so they are accustomed to people and touch and are not hungry. We got into 4 different cages based on age, starting with 2-5 months, ending at 24 months.
-Doi Suthep: A wat, or temple, on Doi Suthep mountain provides a gorgeous view of Chiang Mai.
-Hospital: Spent a few hours at a local hospital. I was sick with flu-like symptoms, which happen to be the same as malaria. Jennifer thought it best to rule out malaria! Amazed at how efficient, fast, and cheap the E.R. was.
-Pai: During Songkran, Jennifer and I met Sophia (American) and Jonathan (Brit) and became fast friends. So fast, that the first night we hung out with them we decided to go to Pai together for a few days. Pai is a small hippy city full of backpackers northwest from Chiang Mai. What started as a four day trip quickly extended to eight days. We checked out another waterfall, hung out at a local pool, attended a charity event at a bar, made new friends, learned to drive motorcycles and then took a 216 kilometer (we now have to think in the metric system so you do too!) drive on a motorcycle. Shout out to Jennifer for driving this terrifying drive. So sad to leave Pai.
After almost three weeks with Sophia and Jonathan, it was time to bid farewell. They've both gone home, sadly. So we all took an overnight bus to Bangkok, where Jennifer and I are now writing from. We've been here 3 nights and I've already eaten a scorpion and we've both enjoyed little frogs. Time will only what other crazy shenanigans Bangkok holds for us!
