Sheena arrived here a couple weeks ago and we've been having a fun, if relatively uneventful time. She stepped off the plane into the humid, perma-summer climate of Bangkok (from snow, no less), so our first stop was the beach. We headed down to a small island in the Thai gulf called Koh Samet.
It was awful.
Well, the island itself was nice, but it was pretty geared towards tourists aged 40-60 who are traveling with a little more cash than we were. Things like a $15 US fee to get onto the beach, karaoke, or the exorbitant taxi fees really put a damper on our time. When you're used to $3 accommodation and $1 meals, 15 bucks to walk on some sand is just stupid. So, we headed up north, post haste!
We decided Chiang Mai was the place for us, at least for now. It is the second largest city in Thailand, though it has a very small town feel. We are staying with a friend of mine, Un, who I met in Tibet 2 years ago. He had a couple spare bedrooms in his family's house and was gracious enough to let us be bums for about 6 weeks.
We start our TEFL class in about a week, which promises to be grueling. Or at least more grueling than sitting my lazy ass on the beach. Sadly, it runs over Christmas, so we'll have to make our own holiday here.
Things have been pretty uneventful since arriving here. We've met many of Un's friends, learned some Thai, ate lots of delicious Thai food, and even gotten the hang of the local mode of transportation: scooters, or mopeds, or motorbikes, depending on your preference.
One of Sheena's friends from college was a missionary kid from Chiang Mai, and her parents are still here. Sheena contacted them, and they've invited us up to their house for Thanksgiving tomorrow. They promise there will be turkey, the closest thing to football they can find, and very little Thai food. Which, believe it or not, does get old after 2 months straight. It will be really nice to have something familiar for the holidays.
Well, feel free to drop me an e-mail, and happy Thanksgiving!
