Minga-la-ba from Mandalay, Myanmar (also known as Burma). With a short and pleasant flight from Chiang Mai, we arrived in Mandalay late afternoon for our next phase of the journey - a 5 day motorcycle trek through several regions of Myanmar. Much more to come, but first, a little about our last couple days in Chiang Mai:

After recovering from the tedious silversmithing work and the pretzel contortion and UFC tap out at the Thai massage, we hit the streets for some night market action. Always fun to see the markets in SE Asian countries, as it can be quite crazy. Vendors galore, crowds, sights, smells etc.

We walked into a fish spa, and felt that everyone should experience this once in their lifetime. Since I've done it already, it was their turn. The theory is that the fish will eat the dead skin off the feet and provide improved skin conditions among a list of other claimed benefits. Who knows the real truth, and there's of course the argument that putting your dirty feet into a tank along with countless other people before you can't be good. But, no open wounds, so it can't be too concerning. The fish swarm the feet, and start nibbling away (no teeth), and it tickles, in a weird way. That's the best way of saying it - "weird". The fish, as shown in the photo, seemed to gravitate to Connor's feet by 2 fold, so not sure what the attraction was. Stinky feet ? I don't know, just one theory. So, great, that's one thing crossed off the list for their first trip to Thailand.

Afterwards, while at one of the many bars on the main drag, we played some pool and hung out with a couple guys from France & Germany. Then someone brought in a little marsupial, a Sugar Glider, and Haley was all over it. Cute little creature, and she got to feed it when it wasn't burrowing itself in her hair. Fun times for Haley. Thoroughly exhausted and literally holding my eyes open, it was time for a good night's sleep -- need to catch up.

The next day took us on an ATV ride out in the forests of Chiang Mai. Aside from debris flying into my eyes and having to douche my eyeballs, it was all good fun. No crash or accidents.

And on our final morning in Northern Thailand, we enrolled in a 1/2 day Thai cooking class before flying off to Myanmar. Our group of 10 people all got along very well, and we all shared lots of stories. The school took us down the street to a fruit and vegetable market to show us all of the different ingredients used in Thai cuisine. In order to identify us, they had us wear the Asian rice hat, which Haley and Connor were thrilled about. We prepared and cooked several items, including Pad Thai, Cashew nut, Khao Soi, curry paste, Tom Yum Goo, vegetable spring rolls. In preparing the spring rolls, the paper tears easily, and the instructor showed us the technique to wrap it into a nice and cute "baby" as he referred to it. When we were done, he assessed the products and identified that Connor and I had the awards for the "ugliest babies". Then time to slide the "babies" into the oil. Funny guy and we all had a few laughs throughout the class.

Well, I've run out of time for now. This morning we consolidated our belongings into 2 groups -- the larger bag that will stay here in storage, and the small backpack for each of us that will be strapped on the back of each motorcycle. Going minimalist, as there's no room to bring extra stuff. We're getting on motorcycle in the next hour, so away we go on our 5 day trek of Myanmar !

Until the next blog posting,

Robert, Haley & Connor