We have spent the past five days in the city of Chiang Mai, famous for its proximity to the wilderness along the Burmese border, its many cooking schools, and the tribes that live nearby who are known locally as "long-necks" due to their custom of stretching their necks with wide collars.Todd and I did our best to take advantage of these attractions.We attended an all-day cooking class, explored a bit of the jungle from the backs of elephants, rafted down a local river on bamboo rafts, and went on a short hike.We did not make it to a "long-neck" village, which was just fine with me as I could not help but feel that all "long-neck tours" (I am not joking - that is how the tours are described) bore a bit too much resemblance to circus freak shows for comfort.But the remainder of the activities were wonderful and far exceeded our expectations.We had a wonderful time at an all-organic and natural farm where we took the cooking class.I am rather ashamed to say that the two best dishes (a yellow curry and crunchy spring rolls) were Todd's doing and mine were a bit less successful but it certainly was fun and inspired both of us to do more international cooking when we get back to the US.I feel especially determined to figure out how to make great Pad Thai (although the copious amounts of fish sauce that are required for an authentic taste rather scare me…).We also had a wonderful time on our outdoor adventures.We rode elephants, which was rather terrifying and fun and heartbreaking and heart-warming all at the same time.We were both afraid we would feel terribly sorry for the elephants and guilty for riding them, and it was difficult to see the treatment by some of the "elephant guides" with their sling shots and whips.But our particular guide was very sweet with our elephant, Sam-See (no idea of spelling), who was a 16 year old "lady elephant" with a serious love of bananas and sugarcane.We bought around 300 Baht worth of bananas and sugar cane as a result and spent the majority of the ride with her trunk pitched back towards us, snuffling around our legs and blowing hot air in our faces until we delivered on "the goods".In our small group of three "adult" elephants, there was one mother with a very young baby elephant (named Jenny), who was an absolute delight to watch as she explored the world and gambled around the legs of the adults.The elephants and the cooking were the two highlights from our time in Chiang Mai, although we also enjoyed the beautiful temples and hikes through the woods and fields.We are now en route to Laos, and by the time I am able to post this entry, I suppose we will already have reached our next destination.But I will save those stories for another posting and leave you all with one final image from our time in northern Thailand.Unbeknownst to us, in mid-April Thailand and Laos have spring festivals in which they throw water at each other.I know this sounds a bit crazy, but after a few days in the intense, humid heat of April, we have no difficulty understanding how such a tradition got started!Anyway, the festival does not officially begin until next week but that has not stopped the children from beginning the festivities a bit early.Everywhere we have gone we see kids throwing buckets of water at each other, their families, passing cars, rick-shaws and bikes in the streets, and pretty much anything else that moves.The effect is a soaked population, full of laughter and smiles.We feel that there is a degree of "enjoying life" here that is absolutely addictive.So few people seem to take their jobs too seriously and the amount of people to be seen sitting around at the side of the road chatting, eating, and simply being together is striking.There is a word in Thai that means, literally, "to eat for fun" and we have seen quite a bit of this too!