The last few days have seen me take a break from the orphanage, and embark on a 2 day trip to Chiang Rai's bigger sister, Chiang Mai. CM is the capital of the North, as well as being the city of wats and sure enough there were a lot of them! I even had the privilege of having an hour and a half long chat with a monk about the workings of a temple and the nature of Buddhism. Enlightening stuff you might say.

I was met at the bus station by a lovely friend of a friend who took me out to lunch, and then later dinner with her husband. Both of these situations sadly called for chopsticks to be used. At lunch, I'd ordered chicken noodle soup - how you would use chopsticks to eat this I just have no idea. After a few shoddy attempts to slurp up my noodles, my companion Jan hastily asked for a fork for me, and then a second time when they didn't come quick enough and I continued trying. Dinner was on another level - I arrived flustered from a taxi ride with a fellow who spoke no English yet insisted on talking to me, and who didn't appear to know the city and expected me to direct him - disaster. Then it was a Japanese restaurant and I had no idea what anything meant - the only thing I recognised was 'unagi' because of that Friends episode. And then the chopsticks...I was actually managing OK thanks to Jan's husband's teachings...until I sprayed rice all over myself and him due to a shake of the hand. Might carry a fork around with me from now on.

Other highlights of the mid-week weekend included a boat trip with a guide who had 2 bits of information - that Chiang Mai people eat everything and where the water was last September. On top of this, every time a boat from a rival company full of people floated by, he stopped mid sentence, stared evilly at them and then ranted to me about how he wouldn't charge commission. He looked pretty disappointed actually when I told him I'd come by tuk tuk and they hadn't tried to take me to the other company. At one point it was only myself and him in the boat as well, so it was pretty awkward as I had to look really interested in what he was saying. I also spent too much money in the night bazaar, got a Thai massage from a blind person (painful but amazing) and consumed an unhealthy amount of iced coffee.

This weekend we took the kids to a waterfall, which was beautiful. It was thundering down so heavily we got sprayed even at approach. Most of us all dived in though, and even managed to make it through the waterfall (great power shower) to the hollow behind it, where we could chill for a bit gazing at a rather blurred jungle. And miraculously I made it both there and back without falling over (like a dickhead as someone I know might say).