Chiang Mai

Week 6.

This past weekend, I took a trip to the popular city of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand with my friends.  Chaing Mai is known for its peaceful city beat, beautiful mountains, and cooler weather.  It is a city teeming with culture and beauty.  There is a modern urban population with lively markets, public transport and fancy hotels, but nestled in the mountains, there are also people who still live an older, simpler way of life.  Blanketed by ever-morphing, misty clouds, the mountain communities are quiet and still.  It was hard to believe that I was still in the same country.

It was a great weekend.  We visited some hot springs that spew out water at about 220 degrees Fahrenheit year round.  We stuck our feet into the hottest part of the stream allowed.  It was so relaxing.  We went to a night bazaar/market, which was much more enjoyable than the weekend markets of Bangkok, and we stayed at a nice hotel with air conditioning and a hot shower.  We visited a mountaintop temple and a quiet mountain community with beautiful gardens at the top of the mountain.  We also went to an elephant sanctuary, but it had just closed.  Luckily, there were some elephants who just so happened to be walking down the road (getting off work I suppose...).  And, one of the best parts, we got to ride a sleeper train there and back.  They don't move very quickly, but you can open the windows to let the fresh air in... a much appreciated feature after breathing in the pollution of Bangkok for six weeks.  I read the entire first Harry Potter book on the way there.  :)

the perch.      If I ever own a coffee shop, it will be called The Perch and it will have live chicken mascots.  These guys are my favorite.  This picture makes me laugh every time I see it, so, I decided to choose it as my actual 'picture of the week.'  I love it.  :)

I also decided to make a collage since there were so many awesome pictures from the weekend.  The one of the rice field was taken from the train, 4 were taken at the temple (wat), one from the hot springs, one from the mountain village, and my favorite one I took of the elephant.  :)