The last few days we’ve been hopping from guesthouse to guesthouse because they all have had only one night open. Today we checked out of a room in a part of town we hope to never bear witness to again. The street was lined with bars, which is o-k, except for at night when it wasn’t and Chris was borderline homicidal. Also, all the bars were filled with pretty, young local women and old, ugly white men. Gross, gross, gross!

We made our way to Awana Sleep & Swim, which is recommended by our Lonely Planet guide. Thankfully, we were able to book two nights for 1400 baht with ALL the treasures of a good stay: regal beds, TV, fridge, fan and aircon, balcony, big windows, safety lock box, pool and the best shower I’ve had since we got here. The grounds as a whole are also utterly spotless, which is an issue I take seriously!

I’m hoping after we check-out in 2 days we can check back in to a less expensive room.

AS&S is also in a great location– it’s just two steps from the Herb Garden and around the corner from Tha Pae Gate and Black Canyon Coffee, where we had breakfast this morning. We both had hot tea and muesli with fruit (banana, watermelon, pineapple) and yogurt. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between muesli and granola? They taste the same to me, and maybe they are the same– or maybe I’m just an ignorant American (guilty as charged!).

For lunch we went to AUM Vegetarian, which was as phenomenally delicious as it was cheap. We both ordered the Kau Soi along with a side of vegetable tempura and tamarind sauce, ginger tea (for Chris) and fresh carrot juice (for me). All for 180 baht ($5), and I couldn’t even finish my meal!

The Kau Soi was a soup of mild Indian curry, soft egg noodles, tofu, mushrooms and potatoes topped with crunchy egg noodles, chopped green onions and a dollop of coconut cream.

I’ve also got myself caught up to speed in the realm of entertainment and otherwise Superficial news. Somehow it helps me feel a little less homesick to read these silly things… Though I’m wondering how much truth there is to Dakota Fanning being rumored as Jane for the New Moon flick? The girl has got a stare, that’s for sure…

So, at this precise moment Chris is ringing out his clothes in the sink and hanging them out to dry. I’m opting for the more traditional laundry service instead (I tend to stink more than my pale, blonde-haired blue-eyed husband). I sense a Thai Iced Tea in my future, and maybe a dip in the pool later, too. I think the next few days are looking good for us.

Hope y’all are doing just as well, if not better (and hopefully less sweaty! Phew!).

There isn’t really anything exciting for us to report on, but seeing as we’re coming to the end of our one night in a guesthouse with free WiFi I figured I ought to take advantage of that and post an update… Even if it is a boring one!

We’re still in Chiang Mai and since my last post (actually, that same night) we got terribly sick with some kind of 36-hour bug. It was awful and I won’t go into any gorey details but we were wasting away in bed for an entire day. Things are much better now but we’re still weak and get kind of sick towards the end of the day.

The good news is this has alotted us both with plenty of reading time! One of my goals for 2009 was to do more leisurely reading, since I’m out of school and all. So far I’ve finished Eclipse and read two books by Nick Hornby. I have a feeling I’ll be very good friends with my GoodReads account these coming months, so give me a holler if you’re on there, too!

We also managed to get our grubby mitts on the new eps of Battlestar Galactica, the first of which we watched last night. Saving the second for a rainy day (so to speak) but… Holy crow! That episode was packed full of surprises.

Well, I should start packing up my things and getting ready for check-out. Sorry no photos this time– next post, I promise!

Chris and I currently sitting in a small cafe off the Sunday Walking Street in Chiang Mai. The SWS is (you guessed it) a weekly event not unlike the daily Night Bazaar, except they close it off from traffic and there is a bit more variety in what the vendors are selling.

I feel like I’ve been putting off writing a very belated letter to my very beloved grandparents or something, but I’m no less ashamed of how little I’ve been brushing the dust off the old blog. While checking my Facebook I decided to finally hop to it when a message from my sis-in-law said she was worried I didn’t care! Truth be told, we’ve been having trouble smoothing out the kinks with the WiFi in Thailand, but we think it’s all sorted now.

I’ve been writing really long blog entries in notepad, and to me they are exciting but when I think of someone else reading them I feel how boring they must be. I’m going to be succinct in my description of recent happenings. For your sake. For my sake… For the sake of getting me back on those streets ASAP with all the other wandering farang.

So. The only things we have been doing much of lately are eating and drinking. It’s been great. Before that, eating was replaced with riding trains and buses to different cities for very short intervals (1 day or less), and before that riding trains and buses was replaced by walking through ancient ruins of temples in the sweltering heat.

We also did a bit of a trek-thing, and it wasn’t the greatest– I think I may have written about it? But it was still loads of fun and we met lots of people. The closest we’ve come to an American so far is a girl from Edmunton (not the same) we shared a tuk-tuk with, and a pushy soccer-mom-type at Starbucks.

We “bathed” elephants (water was foul), “pet” tigers (they were irritable and tired, so it was more of a pat on the back) and I had my freshly purchased toilet paper stolen by two very fierce monkeys.

Also, drank LEO beer (the local underdog, compared to Chang or Singha, but my fave thus far) with locals and travelers alike. Bought earrings not unlike– in fact exactly like– the ones I spend about $20 a pair on back home in Arcata, for a measly 70 baht at the local night bazaar (roughly $2).

There’s so much more to report on but the laptop battery is ill prepared for my rambling tendencies, and Chris is eager to check something, though I’m not sure what, before we guzzle another couple of choice bevs here at House of Thai Thai Coffee and hit the road.

I did finish Eclipse and almost regrettingly so… It was enough of a shock that we found it in the first place, and even with the dozens of book shops in the heart of Chiang Mai it’s looking even more impossible to find Breaking Dawn. But I’ve been keeping myself busy with Nick Hornby, whom I’ve always aspired to read more of, and he is plentiful in one inparticular ex-pat owned bookshop near our guesthouse.

Ok. Signing off. Against my own better judgment I’m going to direct you to Chris’s blog, where he has some photos and videos. Unfortunately, he insists that I’m the “star” of his daily video logs… Hence the whole bit about better judgment. But there is some good stuff in there, so be sure to give it a look if you’re interested in what we’ve been up to!

And, as if I need to quell any fears of my photographing habits, I have been filling up my memory cards left and right (thank goodness for the external hard drive!) so this is just a taste. A very, VERY small taste.

Love to you all!

Saturday, Jan. 17 — ~10:30

Chris and I are officially in Thailand after a grueling two days of driving and flying to get here. Things went pretty smoothly, with the small exception of the flight from Taiwan to Bangkok, where it felt like nearly everyone in the plane– myself included– were puking from the turbulence. Airplane food + action movies + turbulence = Barf City. Now I’ll never know how Eagle Eye ends (no tears over that one, tbh, though I’ll now always associate puking with the paused face of Rosario Dawson).

Once we got through immigration we took a bus straight to Khao San Road, where we’re currently staying. Our guesthouse isn’t the greatest– the definition of slumming it– but definitely acceptable. We turned in early last night after getting pad thai and canteloupe from street vendors. This morning we heard chanting monks in the street before the sun had even come up.

Khao San Road is crazy. The air is suffocating and there are party hungry travelers everywhere you look. This morning we woke up around 5 AM and went out for coffee, where there were some stumbling remnants of last night’s party people. I even saw a guy making out with a Thai prostitute. Ew. Let’s hope he doesn’t remember that part of his trip!

It’s nearly check-out time now, and I suppose we’re going to brave the tuk tuks and ride some miles North to check out the weekend market. It’s supposed to be amazing!

– 20:52

Well, we never made it to the weekend market in Chatuchak Park. We were in a tuk tuk, on our way to Siam Square where the sky train would take us to Mo Chit, but upon mentioning to the driver that we eventually were going to the city of Chiang Mai, he relentlessly insisted that he take us to the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) so we could book a bus or train or whatever there.

We met with a guy from Vancouver that reeked of Napoleon Dynamite and got talked into a package deal that I’m actually very excited for. It was a bit costly but… It will be more exciting than taking a 3-day sleeper train to Chiang Mai. Basically, we get to pet tigers, swim with elephants and visit a city literally infested by monkies. Monkeys? Monkees? Whatever. It’s too bad the guy who helped us was an annoying dweeb. The tuk tuk driver who took us there, however, was very nice and Chris tipped him once he finally took us to Siam Square.

That was the last of the good tuk tuk experiences. 1 hour and 60 measly baht later we were exactly where the first driver had left us. Long story short: we should have listened more to our guide book, not the people on the streets, as friendly as they may be.

Now we are staying at A-One Inn, which I would recommend to anyone else in a flash. Modest sized room with a double bed, desk, TV, private bathroom with Western toilet and HOT shower for 700 baht. We’ll be coming here again, I’m sure of it.

It’s in a nice location, too; right across the street from MBK, the most crazy insane all-in-one shopping mall I have ever laid eyes on. Everything you could possibly imagine. Well, almost– there weren’t any fighting fish or poofy dogs for sale, like the weekend market promised. But there was many an arcade, an awesome and ritzy international style buffet, and teenage breakdancers galore.

I only wish I could post these thoughts– and better yet, the dozens of photos I’ve been taking– on my blog sooner. We’ve been having trouble connecting to the WiFi at any of the guesthouses or businesses.

I doubt I’ll be doing any serious photo editing on this trip, though– or at least the beginning of it. My apologies to those of you who are looking forward to that part; I know how meaningless words without pictures can be. I don’t even like cooking recipes without a photo to refer to! ;) But with Picasa as my only resource, I just can’t bring myself to butcher more files than necessary. Snob, I know.

Oh yeah– Chris found a copy of Eclipse on one of the bookshelves here in the stairwell. I’m already on page 120-something. That’ll take my mind off the internet!

Ok. Time for bed. It’s 21:16 now and someone will be here to pick us up around 6:45 for an overnight trip to the West. I’m excited for all the fun and nervous that I won’t hear the beeping of Chris’s watch in the morning.

Today I have to say goodbye to my cat, Felix. He’s named after Lt. Felix Gaeta, from my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica. I’ve never been away from him for more than a week and am having horrible visions of coming home in March to an aloof cat who doesn’t know– or care– who I am.

In his defense, though, he has gotten a lot less needy since we started letting him outside. And I’m sure that Sue and Charlie will give him all the love and attention he needs while we’re gone… It’s just so hard to imagine not cuddling up to him for two whole months!

I made a list of “things you should know…” for while we’re gone so none of Felix’s quirks catch Sue or Charlie by surprise. The list contains:

• Rapid tail twitching while being pet means he is done being pet.
• Doesn’t like his belly touched, but loves head/neck scratches, and having your nails run down the length of his spine.
• Loves catnip!
• Has never spent the night outside, and shouldn’t be let out past 10 p.m.
• Only meows when he wants in/out, or misses us :)
• Tan/brown crocheted blanket is his favorite thing to sleep on.

These photos are from an afternoon in the side yard with him. He drank out of the bird bath like a giraffe; it was pretty funny. I love Felix’s toes so much, too. They always appear so comical to me, like the kind of toes that would be in a Garfield comic strip or something. Okay, enough gushing over my cat, time to get ready to hit the road!