Cooking class

We all took a cooking class while in Chiang Mai which was so fun. We went to the market to pick out our ingredients and our instructor taught us about all the different herbs and spices. We each made a curry and also rad naah (for Alex), chicken cashew stir fry and mango with coconut sticky rice which was Lauren's favorite. Our instructer was so adorable. We talked a lot after dinner and decided she should come to the states and do cooking classes. Although, she may have thought we were alcoholics when she said bring your own drinks, so we brought a 1/5th of rum and Pepsi.

Trekking in Northern Thailand

Some shots from our trek: The first is where we stayed the night in the "long neck" village.
The next is on some of the hiking - crazy jungle. I tried not to look around too much to see what was lurking in the shrubbage - the noises were scary enough! Not to mention what we heard sleeping in the village that night - I don't know WHAT could make noises like that!

Then we went elephant riding. Really not as exciting as we thought - the guides were a little mean to the cute beasts - this was a very touristy part of the trekking tour. But still many good pics and a bit of an adventure!

Finally, we went to this waterfall with a natural waterslide. Here is a shot of Rochelle getting ready to take the plunge. It was nice after a hot day of hiking and elephant-riding to cool off in the water. Once again, I did not look to hard at the surroundings - I don't really want to know any of the slithery things that were imagining me for dinner!

Days and Nights in Chiang Mai

Here are some shots from the cute and strange city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The "old city" is still surrounded by a moat, which is where our guesthouse is. Beyond the moat are the huge markets and many bars.....we'll get to that.....

The first pic is one of the many beautiful temples - that really doesn't even scratch the surface.

The next pic was funny - we were just walking from one market to the next the other night and happened upon this cute little elephant out for his evening walk - huh???

Finally, we were able to partake in some Thai boxing - a little boring at first, but then they got quite aggressive and really beat the $@!& out of each other. Surrounding the boxing ring there is bar after bar after bar - like a strip mall, only bars - each blaring quite different music, but each with one common theme: the Thai ladyboys. These are young Thai men that dress and sometimes surgically become women, and prey on Caucasian men - needless to say, the people watching was just as entertaining as the boxing, until the nausea of seeing these old white men leave with young Thai men-women set in - anyway, use your imagination.....

Good times in Thailand!

Finally clean

We all just got back from 2 day/ 1 night tour through the jungle around Chiang Mai which was some good/some not. It was kind of a tourist trap but we got to do a lot of hiking through beautiful forests and villages which may have been remote once upon a time but are now visited daily by gawking white people. We stayed at the famous "long neck" tribe which I'm sure most of you remember from National Geographic. We slept on the nastiest looking mildewy comforters in a hut and I did some girlie screaming over another palm sized spider. I got about 2 hours of sleep. Today we rode some overworked slave elephants and looked at a caged monkey all of which were slightly depressing, went rafting and swam in a waterfall. All of this for about $30 each and for the grand finale Lauren got sick on the way home and puked in the shower...ta-daaaa. I think we all need a drink and some curry.
The next couple of days were going to take a cooking lesson and do some rock climbing, both of which I am pretty excited for.
Oh, and the reason we have no photo's today is my camera LCD is slightly broken, Lauren fell in the stream with her camera (which was NOT funny...hehehe) and we can't figure out Rochelle's camera and USB thingie.

Here are some shots from our time on Cat Ba Island, Vietnam and in Ha Long Bay...

The first is the view from our 6th floor hotel room (yeah, smart one in 95 degree heat and 150% humidity with 50 lbs on our backs!!!).

The next is the ginormous spider we found off the beaten path on our hike in the national park on Cat Ba.

Finally, a shot of Ha Long Bay on our climbing/kayaking/swimming day.

Good times, lots of heat, and really fun people!

That concluded the first week - we just arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand this morning after a 24-hr trip that sequentially went: bus -> boat -> bus -> bus (from Cat Ba to Hanoi) -> taxi -> plane (from Hanoi to Bangkok) -> bus -> taxi -> overnight bus -> taxi to our new "home" for a day or two in Chiang Mai. Whew! Better internet here - will try to keep better updates and send more pics!

We have been unable to download pics, so we are a little behind.....but here are some from "China Beach", 1/2 way b/w Hanoi and Saigon on the coast. We rented motorbikes one day and rode down to Hoi An to pick up our custom-made suits.....fancy!!!

Cat Ba Island

So we are alive...we are on Cat Ba island which is just south of Ha Long bay in Vietnam. Very hot here- and apparently the begining of the dry season even though in Da Nang, 1/2 way down Vietnam, the monsoons are coming. We got here by 2 bus rides, a boat then another bus ride and it was well worth it even if the guy on the boat made us sit in the back outside the cabin. We originally thought we would go to Ha Long Bay and do one of the very popular and touristy boat rides, but decided on our own would be much more exciting. We are staying in Cat Ba town at a hotel with a nice view for $10 a night split between the 3 of us, which has been the cost of most hotels. We hiked today in the forest and saw 2 spiders as big as my hand- which thoroughly frightened me and even Lauren...hehehe. We layed on the beach and all got a massage from some male which was a little odd, but he was very good. He could pop any joint in your body- and he did them all- with the flick of his hand. When he went for my neck I got a little freaked out, but my head is still on and I am not a paraplegic yet.
Lauren is pretty sure she accomplished her dream of getting a tape worm...I'm soo jealous. We've affectionately named him Wilmer and he had his first swim in the ocean today and lullabies nightly.
Tomorrow we're going out to Ha Long Bay. Rochelle will be climbing and Lauren and I will be snrkeling and kayaking. There's a HUGE climbing scene here. Yesterday they filmed some pro's free soloing the crags above the ocean which sound pretty fun. I want to go but am worried about money. So Alex- we will have to come back and make a trip out of it. Some locals are publishing a guide book for the area soon.
And yes mom I've been keeping track of all the good places so we can go sometime- although you're going to have to learn how to climb or surf.
We'll post pics soon but the internet here is slowwwww. We'll be in Chaing Mai on the 19th.