Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai has been a welcome escape to the countryside. We arrived on Sunday morning on an overnight train from Bangkok and easily settled into our hotel near the night bazaar in Chiang Mai. We met up with one of Erin's good college friends Mack Knight and his travel partner Meredith. Having a few travel buddies has been great! Our favorite times have been outside of the city area -- yesterday exploring the Mae Sa Valley on motor bike. Orchid farm, elephant riding, terraced rice fields and gorgeous look-out points to mountains shrouded in mist. Such a spectacular afternoon! Today we cooked a 5 course Thai meal on an organic farm and met many fun young travelers. Chiang Mai has gone by too fast, and tomorrow we are off to our next country, Laos. We'll be taking a slow boat up the Mekong River, so we'll let you know how it went when we get to Luang Prabang.