Settled in to our new Chiang Mai home

It's been quite a different Thailand expereince since Michelle and I arrived in the north last week. Neither one of us have had the motivation (as we continue fight off random ills) to make the journey to the rock climbing areas so we've occupied ourselves with the amazing array of city sights and shopping adventures near our home at the city center. We have checked out everything from the night bazaar to the random Asian mall and been both amused and enlightened. I learned to enjoy shopping (probably because I can actually afford to buy cool stuff) and have sampled another wide range of Thai delicacies and gross-a-ties.

Chiang Mai is nothing short of amazing and beautiful. The bus system is nothing more than a bunch of trucks with seats in the back picking up anyone that waves them down. They are called share-taxis, but in the Thai the literal translation in two-rows (since you sit in two facing rows in the back of a pick-up) and the fare is always fixed. It's a solution to public transportation that seems both brilliant and haphazard. Add in many handfuls of three-wheeled tuk-tuk taxis that'll get you anywhere twice as fast for twice as much and you have an incredibly accessiable city. Everything seems nearby, and there is indeed always something to see right around the corner.

Of course, our third common transportation, and by far our favorite, is the 100cc motorbike. For next to nothing you can rent one of these babies for the day and explore the smogless, cooler countryside of the north. On our last journey we were amazed at the views and rugged topography as we climbed through the windy hills. This is the land where the jungle meets the pines and just over the next hills are the mystical and rough-and-tumble regions of the Burmese and Loa borders. In these hills many native 'hill-tribes' still exists in reportedly 'primitives' villages. Maybe you've seen the long-necked Karen women in an old national geographic - visiting the Karen is likened to a 'human zoo' by Lonely Planet so we don't plan on making that trip - but you get the point, these are isolated native peoples with interesting and one-of-a-kind cultural heritage.

It doesn't take a long journey from town to realize just how much open countryside there is in Thailand's north and while we live in a modern, fairly westernized big city, villagers from the rural regions mix in with the urban Thais to sell their crafts and return their earnings to their families. The whole thing becomes a jumble of cultures and economies and one begins to understand how so many challenges have come about by the attempted integration of these tribes. For, just 10 years ago some of these rural peoples were growing over 90% of the world's opium and many have fled to Thailand to escape more repressive governments in their homelands. The situation is a bit more complex than I can describe here, but it's a new outlook of native lifestyles that Michelle and I our struggling to understand.

Not all our adventures have been natural, culturally sensitive affairs. In Chaing Mai I have overcome two dislikes of travelling: touristy activities and shopping. Shopping, as stated above, is just too fun and diverse to pass up, tourist attractions, the same. From elephant camps to snake charmers to insects museums and monkey shows, Chaing Mai has it's fair share of attractions the cater to the western tourist. We have given in - and plan to give in again - to these diversions. The monkey show can not fully be described in words, yet one thing was made clear: these monkeys are in training to pick coconuts, and even though they were on leashes for our protection 'they are released to a large jungle area to play and relax' when the tourists leave. Well... atleast their fed well with our 200baht ticket money - and those monkeys sure can peddle a big tricycle! Hope all is well with everyone... i and m