Just arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and am already having a great time! After over 22hours of traveling yesterday I was exhausted when I arrived, but after a quick very cold shower (way too hot here) I was ready for a late afternoon, early evening excursion through the town. I am pretty confident in my mapping abilities but it did take me a good half an hour to stop walking in circles and situate myself within the city. I am sure the locals find it funny to see me pass their stores several times, going back and forth and all within such short time period. I walked all over the city last night and managed to go to the office for the elephant nature park, find a major electronics department store at a the far end of town, buy a cellphone and partially understand what the thai woman was saying to me about it and also explore the night market. I probably walked a good 5 miles while trying to find all these places. As you can imagine by the end of the night I was exhausted and after a delicious cashew chicken dinner started to walk home. Just as I was leaving the night market I realized I recognized two of the girls I had passed on the street. Ironically, they are both from UC Davis and I have met them several times before. It really is such a small world! We ended up talking for a good while and exchanged tips about traveling. We both had a comment on the rather common relationships between old foreign men and their young (often purchased) thai wives....very strange and kind of creepy. We said good bye and I assured them I knew exactly where I was going to get back to my hotel, but of course everything looked a little different at night and the maps are somewhat vague when it comes to side streets. I ended up walking back and forth on the same street again for another half an hour, looking like an idiot, again.

Today I explored the city a little more and visited several temples. It is so hot here however that the minute I step in the sun I literally start pouring sweat. Its a very attractive look as you can imagine. I visited a couple places recommended by lonely planet and had a lunch at a traditional thai restaurant and tried the soup specific to the northern thailand region..called khao soi. Spicy and like a noodle soup, and rather delicious, minues the chunks of coursely chopped pork and something that looked alot like liver floating around in the bowl. Tasted it all but don't think I will be having that again. After lunch I walked through old town chiang mai some more and then headed home for an afternoon nap and delicious Magnum ice cream bar. Magnum might be the only thing that makes being this hot and sweaty ok.

This evening I plan to explore the night market a little more and tomorrow may head to the chiang mai zoo. I leave on monday for the elephant nature park and am not sure about internet availability while I am there. However hope I will be able to share some stories about the elephants and my daily life on the park. A month in the jungle will be interesting and as this australian man told me yesterday I am going to need gallons of mosquito repellent and a really large shovel.