6 monks in a pickup truck...and other stories from Chang Mai

So I hope this works... I'm sitting at an outside computer stall at our Chiang Mai hostel, typing away as a family of lizzards climbs up the wall next to me (surprisingly, "cute" was my first reaction, as opposed to the typical repulsion I feel for most things that creep up walls in tropical climates)... though many of the features on the computer are in English, the blog page is all in Thai...so fingers crossed that I'll hit the right buttons and you'll be able to read this! Beth and I arrived in Chiang Mai (a city in northern Thailand, about an hour's flight from Bangkok) yesterday. While Bangkok's cacophany of sights, sounds, smells and more was a varitable schmorgasboard of excitement (fantastic!), we were looking to venture a bit more off the beaten path as well, and heard that Chiang Mai was a good place to do so. Our ride to the Bangkok airport was a testament to the fact that the Thai people are very, very kind to tourists, which we've experienced since day 1 here. Our taxi driver to the airport was a sweet older man, with whom we spoke for as long as we could-- which, due to the language barrier, was about 2 minutes. He then offered us postcards of the floating market to look at, and as silence settled in, turned his head back suddenly and, beaming, shouted "music!" In went a cd featuring Thai remakes of British and American pop and hip-hop songs, my personal favorite being a hip hop song whose only lyrics were "Big boiiiiii." The driver and us exchanged several smiles via rear-view mirror, as he bobbed his head gangsta-style to the music. Truly a melding of cultures. Chiang Mai is great - a bit cooler than Bangkok (though we seriously glow hard-core no matter where we are here...all the locals keep asking us "why you walking? so hot!" when they see us on the street because we look like we're covered in vaseline or butter or something). Yesterday we hired a "red song taos" (one of the fleet of many red pick-up trucks with benches instealled in the back which are used as public transportaion all over the city) to take us up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara (try saying that five times. Or just once, really.), one of the area's most beautiful wats. The journey was awesome- just chillin in the back of a pickup truck as it wound its way up a gigantor mountain with greenery everywhere. 6 monks in the back of a pickup truck passed by on the ride up (which, surprisingly, is not something I see everyday in Brea. Not even on the trolley). The wat was impressive and, as they all are, so peaceful - and included many buddahs, bells, offerings and a great view of the city below. Back in Chiang Mai, we collapsed at our hostel and attacked the box of Pocky Beth had hidden away, rested long enough to for the feelings of heatstroke to subside, then hit up the fantastic town night bazzar for some outrageous deals on Thai silk, crafts, etc. A young entrepeneur on the street tried his best to entice us to enjoy some "blue crab delicacy"... but that will be saved for... never. Day 2 in Chiang Mai has been great - we booked a trekking tour for tomorrow (going to ride an elephant, raft in a river, see a tribal village and try not to have too many "holy crap that's the biggest bug I've ever seen" embarrasing farang moments), took another red pick-up to a sweet out of the way forresty wat (where a monk talked with us! we had a monk chat!) with hippy inspirational signs written in the trees (pictures to come). Tonight we're off to a Khantoke Dinner, a traditional Thai sort of "dinner show," that we've heard is a must-do. Khantoke-doke. Pictures soon, I promise (we have to get a cd made to post them - in Bangkok we'll do it!) Until then, give us a holla - we miss you all!