Tigers and Temples

If you ever go to Chiang Mai, you must stay at the ZZ Guest house! It is just outside the city center (which is overpriced and boring anyway) and the owner is one of the best people we have met in Asia. Boyd loves his city, loves helping others, and expects nothing but good vibes in return. We arrived around 11am and the cleaner called him on her cell to let him know we were there. He was so apologetic even though we were in the wrong for showing up 3 hours early! After checking in, he sat down with a map and drew arrows and circles of the best paths to walk and best areas for food, massages, nightlife, and markets. He pointed us to a small local market where we bought 4 thai mangos for 75cents and Joe got a jelly green tea type smoothie.

We decided on the second day to rent a scooter and Boyd got us the local deal (we paid under $15usd for 2 days of rental, insurance, and helmets)! We rode up to the mountains at his suggestion and saw some fantasic scenery. It felt amazing to zip around the winding mountain roads, which were surprisingly better paved than downtown Atlanta. After a shower, we headed to a super highly rated spa and paid $7usd each for an hour long traditional Thai full body massage (though I wimped out and went with the less pretzel bendy option that Joe got).

We ended the amazing day with another of Boyd’s must do suggestions and saw the Ladyboy Caberet. If you haven’t flipped through pictures on Joe’s fb, please do, because the Georgia State drag show has got nothing on this! The bodies on these performers are incredible and their poise and rythym (especially in 4 inch heels) were the envy of every female in the room! Easily one of the most spirited performances I’ve been to.

For our last day in Chiang Mai, we had to go play with the little tigers! There are four sizes (based on age of the cats) that you can choose from. We went with the small (about the size of a labrador) and they were so adorable! We also threw in a few extra bucks for the personal photographer but have yet to see our pics since they are on a CD and neither of our laptops have disk drives ha.

So far Chiang Mai has been my favorite city, but I think any travel is going to be what you make it. We havent stayed in hostels, so we have less interaction with travelers (though the further east we travel, the less tourists there are in general). Plus we are choosing to do the touristy things because making it out to the rural, authentic villages is just too much of a hassle with time, money, and luggage constraints. We plan to return to Asia in the future to get away from the chaos and hustle (doubke entendre intended) of the large cities. As for now we are just slowly immersing ourselves in the culture, history, and language, and learning just how much a society can adapt to their environment and circumstances.