Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai Friday morning by overnight bus. I was actually able to sleep pretty well on the trip. It's been great so far to be able to relax and enjoy our little holiday!

On Friday, we walked around the city for much of the day. The girls enjoyed a nice American hamburger and french fries. Unfortunately for me, I had already eaten breakfast and wasn't very hungry. We walked around some more and went to the night market around 5. We had booked a trip to go zip lining for Saturday morning, and we had to leave at 7 AM so we decided to call it an early night after some good Thai food.

Zip lining was great! There were 7 of us in all, and we had 2 guides - So and Mai (or Mike, I'm not sure). I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know one guy in particular. He was a Turkish Muslim married to an Indonesian Christian (probably some orthodox version), and they both lived in Holland. They spoke English well, and we talked about everything from politics to religion to movies to computers to history. I had a hard time understanding how a Muslim could be married to a Christian, but he said there are many ways to God. I then asked what he thought about John 14:6. He didn't really have an answer. He kept referring to how the Koran and the Bible had many similar stories and ideas. I wanted to say of course, but the Koran was written well after the Bible - perhaps some of those ideas were borrowed. Anyway, we had great discussion about lots of topics! He was very interested about the States as was I about Europe. I realize how much I love meeting people from different backgrounds and experiences. The other fellow adventurers were both from Malaysia. I found out near the end of the trip that he was in banking and finance. Unfortunately, we didn't get to talk that much. Sad day.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a three hour nap. We went to the night market again last night, and I got some Mickey D's. It was fantastic. My stomach had truly missed the grease and the salt. It was nice, but I really have become accustomed to Thai food. I know I'm going to miss it when I get back to the States. I stayed up late last night reading, and woke up late this morning. It's nice to be able to relax, but I've also realized that I miss Maha Sarakham. I think that there are just too many white people here. Too much English. I feel like a pro since I know a few Thai phrases and words. But it doesn't matter here because so many people speak English. Haha, oh well, we'll be back in a few days. Hope everything is well at home!

stu