Chiang Mai

We had an awesome time in Bangkok where we did everything from visiting famous temples, wondering around the Bangkok Cultural and Arts Center, taking in the extremely luxurious shopping mall of Siam Paragon, exploring the chaotic market of China Town, and enjoying a drink and magnificent view at the Red Sky Bar. We even had a Thai massage and felt like we had been to the chiropractor; to quote Tyler "she did a lot of things, to a lot of things, that have never been done before." We have since left Bangkok and have headed north to the charming town of Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is known for its trekking opportunities in the nearby hillside villages as well as many other tours including visiting elephant and tiger sanctuaries. Most of these options are expensive and many of the animals are mistreated so we have opted to explore the city in other ways. We took an all day cooking class with the best instructor ever, MB. MB is this tiny Thai woman full of spunk and energy and had us laughing all day. Before class we visited a local market and were given a tour around the organic farm where the class was located. We learned to cook loads of dishes and they were all surprisingly easy. So far Chiang Mai is our favorite place in Thailand and wish we had even more time to explore the north. Tomorrow we leave to Laos for about a week and cannot wait to explore the town of Luang Prabang!