Leaving the North

We have spent all of our trip thus far in the North of Thailand. We started in Chiang Mai, a very busy city. Using Chiang Mai as our hub, we have traveled to many different places: Chiang Dao, Chiang Ria, Tha Ton, Mae Salong, Mae Hong Son, and now Nan, not to mention a few more.

Tomorrow we will spend the day on a paid tour (the first we've taken) to see the local culture. We will see several crafts: knife making, silversmithing, weaving, and we will visit the mountains and waterfalls. It will be our last full day in the North. Directly across the street from our hotel there is a night market. For the next three nights there will also be another biannual market (that means it only happens twice a year). We will visit that tomorrow night.

The next day we will take a 3 hour bus ride and then catch an overnight train to Bangkok. We will then travel down to the beaches. They are a lot like the Hawaiian Islands. We hope to find an island we like and rent a furnished house for most of the remainder of our trip.

We met a couple who are dive instructors on Ko Tao. They rent a furnished house for $333.00 (U.S.) per month. That sounds awfully nice. I do miss you all though, and the busy time we all have together. I look forward to having some winter with you.