Thailand continued...

Well, folks, there's not much else to report from Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is still beautiful and warm here, but I think we're having a difficult time relaxing. It seems a little too nice and wonderful here.

The past couple of days we have been eating really good Thai food. They have some Western food here, but I don't think I like it anymore. I've been wanting a hamburger forever and I finally ate one last night, but it wasn't as great as I anticipated. So I'm just sticking to Thai and Chinese food now. Who would have ever thought that this Midwesterner would prefer Asian food?

The hostel we are staying at is pretty nice and small. It only costs about 10 dollars a night (everything in Thailand is inexpensive), and the Thai people who run it are very friendly. There's a swimming pool here, too, although it's absolutely freezing. They also have fresh fruit you can buy along the road. I ate the juiciest, most amazing pineapple slices yesterday...

There's a lot of stuff to look at here. There's a Buddhist wat (temple) everywhere you look. There are tons of Buddhist monks walking around in their orange robes, and most every house, hostel, etc. has a miniature wat, where they offer little food sacrifices every morning.

Thailand is also a kingdom and they love and revere their king. You can find pictures of him in every little restaurant or shop. His image is also on the currency, so you have to treat the currency with a lot of respect, too. You can't toss the money on the counter or wad it up in your pocket.

Those are just a few tiny observations from Siam. I haven't been sleeping well because of all the dogs barking and exotic birds chirping, so I'm pretty tired. That's probably why this blog entry sounds all scatterbrained... Have a wonderful weekend!