We are on a string of fairly low key days. We're just trying to get our next stop squared away.

We were hoping to try out the Gibbon Experience in Laos, but it was very difficult to get any real information. Bev's voluntourism contacts came through with an opportunity to teach English in eastern Thailand in a town called Nakhon Phanom (NKP). It sits on the Mekhong river in northeastern Thailand with Laos on the other side of the river. Bev's been doing a lot of planning and needed some down time (thanks, Bev!), so I left her to enjoy our room at the Sheraton Chiang Mai.

Our plan of switching back and forth between guest houses/hostels and more comfortable hotels (using hotel points I earned from all my recent business travel) is working fairly well. Anyway, she got the day to pamper herself in the room, and I went out exploring.

I walked a good bit of the city, explored a bazaar, visited a wat (Wat Bupparam), got blessed by a monk, met a couple of fellow travelers, and hooked back up with Bev. The wat was very cool. It was quiet, and I found it peaceful. It was also quite beautiful for its diminutive stature.

That night, Bev and I went to a restaurant right off the water. It was beautiful, built completely out of teak and had intricate wood carvings.

We tried a northern specialty, spicy minced pork, and it was a bit scary. First, it was spicy, I mean Naresh or Veda spicy. That's a spicy a meat a ball. Second, it was minced pork alright, although which parts of pork I have NO idea. So, I had a few bites, Bev had a taste, and we set that one aside.

The rest of the meal was fine, and we had a lazy walk back to the hotel. The next day we did more travel planning and explored Wat Chedi Luang, one of the oldest wats in Chiang Mai. Check out the pictures in the photo album.

We also participated in a monk chat, which was very interesting. It is a way for the monks to practice their English and for westerners to learn more about Thai culture and Buddhism. Our monks were young...19 and 22, but their English was fairly good. We discussed a variety of topics ranging from requirements for monks, differences between culture in Thailand vs. USA, language, and religion. We could feel the tranquility emanating from them, particularly the 22 year old.

After our chat, still at the wat, we observed a local sport (don't know the name). It is a cross between volleyball and soccer. The object is to get the ball over the net (like volleyball), but you can use anything but your hands (like soccer). The athleticism that these guys showed playing this game was unreal. Check out the pics in the photo album.

We're going to explore Chiang Mai for another day or two. We'll check out the flower festival, get caught up on some IT stuff (travel journal, bills, burning CDs, etc.), and we will prep for our teaching stint.

We leave tomorrow afternoon for Udon Thani, and the next day we will be on our way to NKP. It sounds like internet access will be sparse out there, and then we head to Laos (most likely). So, we'll leave a place holder journal entry for NKP, and we'll try to update as soon as we can over the next few weeks.

See you soon!