School, Thai Yoga, Best Day Ever Part II

Our classes at Loi Kroh ended on Thursday and we were all exhausted. 6 of us took the advanced class and it truly kicked our asses. I've been laying pretty low at night because I've still been battling the parasite that has taken up residence in my gut. I've privately named my gut tenant Damian because I think it sounds evil and sinister. Plus it's easier to yell at when it has a name (yes, I yell at my parasite). But don't worry...it's very common in Thailand and I'm feeling a lot better today. On Friday we had a Thai yoga class all day. Unfortuneately I had to go back after lunch because Damian started to ast out. But doin't worry, I taught him a lesson...

During the lunch break on Friday I caved in and went to a pharmacy for some antibiotics. I'm really not into taking western style meds if I can avoid it, but seriously, when abroad go straight for the antibiotics. Do not wait and try other things like holisitic approaches or ignoring it until it goes away. Neither works (I've tried both). When in the luxury of your own home and country, by all means take your time and get well naturally if you can. But when you're abroad you have no kitchen with food in it you know will not make you sicker. You don't have your collection of movies and tv shows on dvd to get you through the waiting period. Instead you have to eat out every night in fear of what's in what's on your fork. And if you even have a tv in your room, it's full of flashy Asian tv shows and commercials that make no sense at all...and that may not even make sense with subtitles. This is my advice to you about being sick abroad-antibiotics.

Anyway, after I woke up I went to dinner and had the best oatmeal and bananas EVER. Probably because I was just glad not to be eating rice again, but it tasted so good. Allie and I then went in search of Silver Boy. This is a man from the Karen hill tribe who comes in town for the night bazar and sunday market to sell his silver. Allie thinks he's the best looking Thai man on the planet. Let me just say she is not wrong. Plus he does make some amazing silver jewelry (yes, that's why he's called silver boy).

I went to bed early again and woke up today FIANLLY feeling like myself. It was so nice! Today was the Best Day Ever Part II. With the help of Del, Todd secured a van with driver for the day and Avery, Ario and I joined him so we could get out of the city. Chiang Mai is great but it's also full of cars and tons of exhaust. We all needed some fresh air. We first went back up to Doi Sutep to check out a waterfall up there. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We went off the trail a bit and polked around and just enjoyed being outside again. We piled back in the van and after driving around Doi Sutep a little more, decided to head to a new area and check out the orchid and butterfly farm. On our way there we stopped to pick up what I thought was a hitch hiker but was actually Del joining us! A hitch hiker could have been really exciting too, but Del is much more fun. Plus he used to be a guide so he knew just where to take us.

Off we went to the orchid and butterfly farm. It was so beaufitul! All around us there were orchids hanging and growing. And the butterfly area was amazing. A giant moth had just come out of it's cacoon, it was so amazing. After wandering around there for a little longer we headed farther up the mountain towards one of the Queen's many botanical gardens. I'd try and describe what we saw but I could never do it justice. The gardens are sprawling, acre after acre of beauty. There are also several green houses with different kinds of plants in each. They even have a green house specifically for carnivorous plants, it was awesome! We also saw the biggest spider ever! It was orange and black and bigger than my face. Ario tried to put his hand next to it to show it's size which scared the spider into motion which in turn scared the crap out of all of us and sent us running in all directions. We laughed at ourselves and then set back to the task of showing the size of the spider some how, but from a step or two back (at least for my part anyway).

Then we stopped for lunch at this really nice resort farther up the mountain. Right now it's the low season because monsoon is ending (though you can't tell, it's barely rained...and when it does it's usually accompanied by some sweet thunder and lightening) so the resort was really empty. The food was alright, but the peace and quiet and view of the surrounding mountains was great.

After lunch we took at least an hour or two working our way around and through the mountains. Del had the van pull over at all the spots he knew with great views. My favorite stop was at an overlook pointing west to the mountain range Foot of the Himalayas. It was breathtaking in every sense of the word. I had that feeling you get when you know as you snap pictures that they will never even come close to the reality. You take them anyway just in case, but it's just not the same.

We left at about 9:30 and got home around 5, a great full day of exploring outside the city. I'm heading out to dinner now where I will enjoy anything BUT rice soup. It's going to be glorious.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day back in the states.

Sawat dee ka
Andrea