What have we been doing for the past week?
We reached Thailand about a week or so ago (that thing called time and days and hours have sort of lost meaning at this stage of our life of leisure :) ).
Spent one day and night in Bangkok, which was a pleasant surprise. After all the horror-stories we have heard about this busy capital, it might be that we were just extremely lucky to happen to stay in a nice back-backer area of Banglamphu - one of the most peaceful of the kind in any capital we have seen so far, completely hassle-free. The food was absolutely delicious, though of course more on the pricey side and the shopping... Us both being very non-feminine anti-shoppers, in Bangkok we found this activity to be shockingly pleasant! Wonderful quality things at cheap prices and all the things that we needed found instantly- this is the way to do shopping!
After a 12-hour journey on a (non-)sleeper bus we reached Chiang Mai- a pleasant little town on the mountain-side in the northern region. People come here usually for two reasons- for the jungle treks, and for a little bit of authentic culture, pretty difficult to find other-wise in this well-off (compared to the other countries we have seen so far), almost westernized country. We fell (at least right now, plan to do a short trek in a few days) to the second category and signed on a 10-day Thai massage course. Physically one might say that trekking is easier! :) Thai massage is more of a yoga/massage, the masseuse must preferably have strong muscles and a good balance and flexibility. After the second day we were having half-thoughts of quitting. There seemed to be too much back-bending yoga involved and too many things to understand and remember... However now, half-way into the course we are already enjoying it. We feel more balanced, stronger, and way more stretchy :) and suddenly we have found an increasing interest in holistic, healthy natural life-style and food! This in Chiang Mai is really easy to find, every second office is either massage, yoga, health shop or natural food restaurant. In other words, yes- its a bit of a strange time at the moment- we are proper students and have to wake up really early again every morning and do a lot of work on our holiday, but at the same time it is rewarding and has given just as much energy as it has taken. (Though we still feel we need a holiday after the course :) ).
On a not so positive note I was robbed once again on the street by a drive-by motorcycle driver who ripped my bag from across my neck... :( It was a lucky mugging in the sense that I had almost no important items in my bag and once again I am physically unharmed. It is an annoyance and a shock, like last time. But if for any reason somebody needs to call me then please use e-mail, as at the moment I have no more phone.
Greetings to everyone and big hugs!
Hille
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