elephants are so very cool....

ok so generally elephants are hot, unless rolling around in the water...but each day it seems we do something more exciting than the previous day and today it was the elephants.

we got to chang mai early in the morning a couple of days ago (i have a hard time remembering what day of the week it is...). That day we went to a thai cooking school. i have a sneaking suspicion that i am an amazing thai chef. actually the food was amazing...the best we had eaten so far and WE MADE IT. we learned, we chatted, we ate, we chatted, we ate and ate and ate. after the scond course i was sure i was full for the day...only four more to go. i will happily share my talents when i return...unfortunately we didn't learn to make mango sticky rice, but i now happily possess a recipie.

the next day, which would be friday--yesterday--we took a short trek. we hoped to go for a couple of days and actually do some real hiking, but we had so much fun with all the new people we met the day before we decided to not be anti-social and go with a group. elephant rides, a refreshing waterfall, a couple indian villages, and bamboo rafting made for a great day. unfotunately that day also included some not so lovely fried rice with a fried egg that my body did not appreciate and reciprocated appropriately. (forgive me if you qualify that as an overshare--i won't tell you about the reaction of my feet to my leather flip flops in the humidity.) both thursday and friday nights we mulled around the night bazzar. the bazzar is tourist central, but the cheapest place to shop in thailand...we haggled over 50 cents or less more times that i will go on record, got feet massages, and skipped dinner for fruit shakes...twice. Pineapple, mango, strawberry, maybe banana, a little ice and you have heaven.

My time is almost gone, but today we saw more elephants. The 3 week old baby elephant definitely won, but elephants kicking penalty kicks was a close second. we made the unfortunate decision to see the monkees after the elephants and there was no comparison.

tonight we take a night train from chaing mai and then off to the south! the beach is waiting!