echoes of affection

So - first post from Thailand! I travelled for about 40 hours....ugggg, through Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok, and finally arrived in Chiang Mai on Saturday night. Thank God, I really didn't have much jetlag, I got in about 10 pm, slept the night, and felt normal - no weird time zone issues or anything. So in the last two days, I've gotten a couple home-cooked Thai meals, learned like 5 Thai phrases, gone to a Buddist Temple up on a mountain...so incredible....and explored the city. People get around here on small motorbikes, itty bitty cars and in little vehicles called songtaew's which function sorta like taxis and look like small trucks with a covered truck bed where people sit.....see photo. I'm renting a bike, which you drive on the streets in traffic - and hoping I come back with all my limbs.

So, I'll spend the rest of this week settling in. I'm thinking about going on a trek this weekend, which would include elephant riding, river rafting and hiking. There are also Thai cooking schools that you can attend for a day, so I think that's on my to-do as well. I start work next week, can't wait!

...here's a few interesting tidbits to leave you with...
1) There are green oranges in Thailand. They taste normal, and are orange on the inside. who knew?
2) There are monks everywhere. From what I can tell, they function fairly normally, seem to go to school, etc. But they can't touch women...so gotta stay out of their way.
3) There are LOTS of transvestites. It's a really accepted thing in Thai culture, and you really can't tell that they're men unless you hear them talk. The Thai language is gendered, so at the end of a sentence, women say "Ka" and men say "Kup." The 'ladyboys' (as they're called) say "ha" at the end of a sentence.
4) Thai massage parlors EVERYWHERE, probably going to check one out soon. :)
5) The "Wats" - buddist temples - are incredibly gorgeous and scattered throughout Chiang Mai. See the photo - that's the one I visited this week.

ok. tired.

sawatdee ka!
Christina