Chiang Mai

Good morning!!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their long weekends and
ate a bit of turkey for me :) There was no turkey for
me but I did have a nice bowl of Thai Green Curry to
celebrate!! (Dad, I hope that whoever's name I got
for Xmas is a good one!!)

Chiang Mai is a great city in the northern area of
Thailand. It's great for shopping, touring and there
are beautiful parks/sights nearby. That said, there
are also a lot of tour operators and more travelers
but it's a nice atmostphere compared to Bangkok. I
spent my first day here shopping (I had to buy a new
outfit so that I could do laundry :) and getting a
feel for the city. Yesterday, I headed out to Doi
Suthep which is a very special temple for the Thai.
According to legend, the King at the time, put
important relics on the back of an elephant. He
climbed to the top of this hill, circled three times,
trumpeted three times and then died. The temple is
now in this location. After the temple, I headed down
to the national park area for a 3.3km trek to the base
of the falls. There were 9 clustered together but I
only saw the first three as it was a very steep climb
upwards and after I'd finished my viewing, I still
have 3.3km to walk back to the main road.

I got back to Chiang Mai and they were having their
Sunday night bazaar down the main street near my guest
house (called Sarah Guesthouse :). I bought two
pillow covers for the couch (hopefully I can find
pillows to fit inside) and some CDs. There was so
much for sale but I don't want to overload my pack
with stuff, though Chiang Mai is supposed to be "the"
shopping city in Thailand!!

Today I cycled to the Tribal Museum to get a bit more
information on the hill tribes in the area as I'm off
tomorrow on a three day trek through the jungle.
(This time there are 8 of us in the group). When I
get back I'm off to Laos!!

Miss you all and wish I was there to see the fall
colours - it's my favourite part of the year!!

Sarah

P.S. Mom, can you send me the link to the Federal
Government travel site please? I believe there was an
advisory about a road in Laos that I'm interested in
reading about.

__________________________________________________________
Find your next car at http://autos.yahoo.ca