So I am in this place called Thailand.

So i have been here for about two weeks or so and have to say that it is amazing. I flew into Bangkok on the 18th of October and have been working my way up north slowly but surely. I got out of Bangkok as fast as i could because it just wasn't my cup of tea. It was very chaotic and I got ripped off twice within an hour that almost got myself a knuckle sandwich if i didn't pay. Since then i have kind of figured out the rules of the road so to speak and have gotten very good at bargaining.

The first stop north of Bangkok was an ancient city of Ayutthaya which had a moat around it as well some really amazing looking temples. From there it was on to Lopburi for the day that had a temple with about five hundred monkeys all over it. These monkeys are considered such a blessing by the Buddhists for the money the bring to the city that they can do what ever they want(i.e. steal food and water from tourists, play on you like a tree in the jungle, etc.).

Then up to Phitsanlok where myself and a Canadian were forced on stage in a local bar to sing some western songs, some of which i had never even heard before. After two or three songs we were allowed to pick songs that we knew and the band started to have much more fun.

I have since gone threw Lampang where i had a cold and then recovered. This place was funny because i tried to get to a national park near by but since it wasn't a very touristy town it took about two and a half hours to figure out that yes, there was a bus but no one knew how to get to it. I have a pretty funny video clip of about ten or so Thais try to figure out where the bus station was. i thought the map would help, it didn't.

In Chang Mai, I took a cooking course on a Thai farm that was all organic. There I found out that I am allergic to some of the spices that they have as well as learning that fish sauce is horrible.

I didn't spend to much time up Chang Mai because i heard about this place called Pai that is a very small city in the basin of some mountains and it is absolutely beautiful. I have only been here four days, but have seen the town and went on a two day river rafting trip. The rapids were only a class three but it was still fun because the guide let myself and one other guy on the trip kayak some of the rapids which made it a little more interesting. Like Jako the guide said, "More danger, more fun!." At the end of the trip there was a 45 foot cliff jump into about 5-6 feet of water that besides the guide i was the only one to do. i had a little bit of a butt check on the bottom that didn't hurt thanks to the sandy bottom, but my knife did happen to fall out of my pocket. oh well. I'll stay here a couple more days before going back to Chang Mai and on to Laos.