Where it all began

DAY 1 and 2 Chiang Mai, Thailand April 13. 2011 (Written by Leah and Mallary)



The trip has been so amazing!! And we are only on our second day! We arrived exhausted at 10:30pm Monday night after 25+ hours of travel. With a little bit of English and many hand signs, we mananged to flag down a tuk tuk, a motor bike with seats attached on the back, to our hostel. Our towls and key were waiting for us on the front table with a note welcoming us to Chiang Mai. We unfortunately woke up bright and early at 7am (Mal at 4am) and went down to the hostel retsaurant for breakfast. We enjoyed our hot tea and traditional Thai food ($2 dollars each!) on the "jungle" inspired patio. We started the day off right, as any one should...Thai massages...$5. Relaxing while our Thai massours were walking on our backs, pulling and pushing our bodies, and rubbing all the tension out. Jealous yet:)



So, as we mentioned,We arrived the day before the beginning of the Thai New Year, Songkron. This holiday is best celebrated with a city-wide water fight to inspire rain after the drought season. Words and pictures can not describe how amazing this is! We armed ourselves with buckets and waterguns against the hundreds of Thais and Foreigners alike who seek to drench us from head to toe. In about 0.5 seconds you cannot escape be soaking wet! It is also symbolic to the beginning of our trip, in that it is a time for new beginnings, and here we are starting on this grand adventure, which is sure to change us by the end! Happy Songkron!!!



After a few hours of waterfights, we found our way back to the hostel for a blissful 4 hour nap, because that is what you do on vacation...right? Then, went out for dinner and drinks. Met some awesome girls at a rooftop bar overlooking the main street, without shoes and sitting on mats covering the floor. The night proceed at a sports lounge, outdoor dance bar, and reggae band. We danced with our fellow travelers until 3am. And that is our our perfect first night in Thailand ended.



So, today, our second day, there was a massive rain storm in the morning, which we enjoyed chatting and recapping our first day from the comfort of our beds. We joined the masses in another day of water fights in the streets, camera in tow this time, protected by a cool little water proof bag (they are really prepared here for tis holiday, selling thousands of waterproff stuff, water guns, and buckets all over). Took another nap, and somehow manged to sleep until 11pm. Unable to sleep any longer we went to explore the town at night. We found a night market full of amazing Thai bags, art, food, clothes, etc. We ate traditional Thai noodle soup for dinner ($1 each!) at a street stall...very Anthony Bourdain style.



Luckily, we can bide our time till we are tired again at this 24-hour internet cafe. Tomorrow, it looks like we will visist an elephant conservation outside the city. Who knows what other adventures await us!! on the schedule for the next 2 weeks are mountain biking, camping, hiking, cooking classes at an organic Thai farm, trekking to native hill tribes, hot springs, waterfalls, and a bamboo raft.



Cheers. This is everything we were hoping it would be. Miss everyone back home!!