in Chiang Mai

Today I rode a motorcycle for my first time! It is little hard to move around outside of the city, and after getting hustled by local taxi drivers, I decided I'm renting a motorcycle. Ok so it really was more of a moped, but still I was a little scared driving one. Everyone here knows how to ride one, and there are swarms of them on every street. It was a little sketchy driving in the city, you not only have to ride on the left side of the road, but also people don't really stay in their own lanes. I somehow managed to get out though, and then it was little easier. Bee and I visited a small town known for making umbrellas, and we watched how they make 'em by hand the traditional way. Quite an amazing process.

Then we went up to this mountain with a giant cave, and a massive stalactite decorated with ribbons and candles.

Everywhere there where shrines with Buddha, and people come there to pay respect and give offerings. After that we climbed to the top of the mountain, for a gorgeous view of the countryside. Next stop were the hot springs, with two geysers shooting out of the ground. There was a pool of hot water where people could boil eggs and a sign saying how long to leave your egg in there for the right amount of cooking! We were going to sit in the tubs but women and men had separate pools, and it was getting late. My watch has two times on it, one for US and one for Thailand, and I was looking at the wrong one, oops. We drove back in the dark which was a bit nerve racking, but after asking several people for directions, and several smashed bugs in my face, we arrived back at our guest house with our drunk Scottish owner socializing right outside the door of our room. Tomorrow we are going on a trek to ride an elephant, and go white water rafting.