Piece of Pai

sawatdeeka! i've got soooooo much to write!!! i know i'm behind on updates... getting from krabi to chaing mai last thursday was absolutely hilarious. i took a bus from au nanag (waaaaay south) to bangkok which took about 14 hours. the bus was a double-decker, a lot more spacious than something like greyhound- and everyone got a blanket which added to the comfort of the overnight trip. arriving before 6am, i got on the 7:25am bus to chiang mai, which was about 11 hours. once in chiang mai i went to the hotel that mara had booked, checked in, and went to my room. to my complete surprise-- toilet paper!! hot water!! towels!! soap!! q-tips!! a TV!! air con!! it was awesome!!! (i forgot to mention in my last post that in ton sai there was electricity only from 6pm-7am and i shared my bed with a bunch of "cuddle buddies" (ants)... believe me, you just get used to it, it's pretty unavoidable no matter where you are.) in this case at the chiang mai gate hotel, we only had ants in the bathroom so i slept (seriously) like a rock. mara and i had a really exhausting weekend. we got a lot of errands done, went to the chiang mai zoo, went up to doi suthep around sunset (the most popular wat, temple, up in the mountains near chaing mai.) we got there right around the time that the monks began a ceremony, in which we ended up participating: carrying a flower, lighting incense, circumabulating the temple 3 times. we also enjoyed the night market (did a lot of walking!) and enjoyed a delicious dinner outdoors on the ping river on the riverside. was so great to hang out, mara!!! i had such a blast. (ps. for all you LV's, i joked to mara on saturday "so what are you wearing to ballite tonight?" there was a moment of 'we're not at smij, not at kongress, but sharing a hotel room in thailand...' LOL)
today i took a bus from chiang mai to pai (about 3.5 hours northwest) because i heard over & over that "it's a must." a very cute little town, i've got a few options as to what to do tomorrow. there is a waterfall you can hike to, hot springs, i thought about taking a reiki class (though not sure i can schedule)... we'll see! i'll update again soon and will post pics next time. hope you are all doing well. i miss you!!!! ps. congrats larissa and jeff on baby charlotte!!! :)