Day 11- Chiang Mai exploring

We arrived in the northern city of Chiang Mai early in the morning after a long overnight train from Bangkok. The romance of the rails kept us in good spirits despite the thin mattresses and overdone AC. It was still fun to sleep to the motion of the train, waking up to the feeling of stopping at a far flung station and seeing lights of distant highways far away. Our car also had a wonderful waitress- she barely spoke English but made a great connection with our whole group with words like more beer? Ladyboy!! And in the morning "time to wake!" She had a great sense of humor and ended up taking pictures with some and hugging everyone. I think she had a thing for nick too, often patting his knee and calling him handsome. Could it have to do with his inability to say no to her offers for more beers? :]

The first thing we did in Chiang Mai was take a few taxis up to Doi Suthep temple, one of the most sacred places in the north. We got to hear about its history, but also learned about Buddhism and monk-life from our guide who studied as a monk for some time. We had our fortunes read, snapped some photos and were on our way back for lunch. 

After that we mainly just wandered around the city. It reminded me so much of Uppsala, except here the students are on Motorcycles instead of bicycles. 

That evening, we had a meeting with our trekking guide, Mr. Anon, who gave us a briefing on what we were about to do and see on our three day hike up into the northern jungles. Will I be able to survive 3 days without wifi?? We shall see... 

After, the group went to the famous night market where we got a few warmer articles of clothing, I haggled myself a $10 backpack and got some gifts. Now for the last sleep in bed before the big adventure!