pai in the sky.....

(walk down the path, take a left, and there is our little bungalow at breeze of pai!)

do you remember that scene in the movie "Amelie" where she takes the blind man's arm and steers him across and down the street for a minute and, as fast as she can, tells him everything she sees, describing every color and expression and detail that she can to his eyes who cannot see? sometimes these blogs remind me of that scene, i want to recall everything i can to all of you who are reading, so that you can see what we are seeing and can be connected to where we are.

first of all, the sunday market in chiang mai, where we left off last time....wow!!!! i had a dream that night that i wrote a blog about it and all i could write was wowwowowowowowowowowowow! it was so amazing, expansive, and huge, you can't even see everything in one night because it goes on for blocks and blocks and down side streets, everyone selling traditional thai foods and clothes and jewelry and handmade fabric beadspreads and pillowcases and paper lanterns, foot massages, thousands of people strolling, locals and tourists alike, street musicians, blind men singing, some of the most amazing photography i've ever seen....we met two wonderful women by the bee pollen stand that we hope to get together with when we return to chiang mai....and this market goes on every sunday! it's like a festival!!

we spent a couple more days in chiang mai, mostly drinking delicious fruit smoothies at Juicy 4U, and eating good food, and walking around our little area, and visiting the sweetest internet cafe owner ever who always said hello and thank you so graciously and each day had a sweet little offering outside his door, a fresh cup of water and a piece of banana bread or a roll, or an orange...i love all the little offerings by the doorways, or on the other altars that are everywhere here. we also walked up to a temple in the evening as monks were chanting, and sat outside on the steps looking through the open doors and being almost hypnotized by that chant, it's so beautiful and soothing and rhythmic and familiar and new, the orange robes, all of them facing the buddha, so strong and holy. we circled this beautiful golden monument outside that pointed up to the sky and had buddhas looking out in four directions, under the moon.... wow.

we took a bus to pai yesterday, it's a 3.5 hour ride with over 700 curves in the road, up higher into the mountains (but still warm, it's not chilly in thailand for the winter here :) and met two great guys from israel that we ended up running into two more times in pai (it's quite small) and we had lunch with them yesterday too. it's so nice to be here, much smaller and surrounded by nature, hills all around that look like they have fall colors on them, a river...our little bungalow at breeze of pai is so nice! we walk through the little path covered in huge leaves and have our own little porch, it's new and clean and comfortable, just for the two of us (we are both quite tired of european 8-bed dorm hostel living and shared showers!) so far, we have been walking around the town and eating the delicious food. we just found the best thai restaurant, called na's kitchen, and it is so cheap and so good, run by these three sweet (everyone we meet is sweet) thai women. we had a red curry with coconut milk, local eggplant (nothing like the eggplant we have at home, more like a zucchini), fresh basil, and pumpkin which was so yummy just like a kabocha squash! and we also had a salad with little slices of onion, carrot, cucumber, lime, tofu (made fresh in pai daily, somehow we are both enjoying tofu here) little chilis and fresh mint...wow!! and the best coconut shake ever for 70 cents! yum yum, i think we will go there every day. we also found an all organic restaurant called the sanctuary, which is more expensive but delicious, and a cute coffee shop called 'all about coffee' that has the sweetest little art gallery upstairs and some art by a local 5 year old boy on the walls. we are also taking a daily wheatgrass shot at this little cafe down the street, they serve unlimited tea with it, carson's first wheatgrass :)

carson just rented a little motorbike so we are about to go cruise up into the hills...there are hotsprings nearby, and waterfalls, and much else, i'm sure...i feel a little nervous to jump on the back of it, but we both have helmets too :) i'm sure it will be fun to feel the wind in my hair!

my birthday is tomorrow and i think we are going to try to find a yoga class in the morning and then have dinner in the evening, i don't know what else yet :) i'm sure it will be a nice day though! my birthday is the first day of winter, the solstice, and it feels strange to be in such a warm place for that day!

i will write again soon! we're off to cruise the road!
love,
melissa