Early rise and off to the airport on way to Chiang Mai....as usual the buses are on schedule and all that but a new
twist.....we dang near got lost in the airport!!!! Did not expect that takes a lot to get to the right terminal after
getting off the bus....then to find the Thai Airways counter..bit of a signage issue...but we made it....enough time to spare to get to the Thai lounge. Asian airports are awesome at the end of the day. No stupid take your laptop out of the bag s***.....just put your bags thru the machine...wow....

So we got some grub and got on the plane to Bangkok....no drama....big plan get Tom Yum Gai soup at this awesome restaurant in the airport we know...but made a boo boo...went thru the domestic security before I realized where we were...so no soup for us..as the restaurant is on the International side....CRAPPPPPP...Domestic is nice but not near as nice as the International side. So we made due with some Singhai beer instead...had some time so Shauna gets a new watch...time is the killer I am thinking......wicked looking watch...early birthday present.

Got on the bus and flew to Chiang Mai, its only an hour flight cept we got to dodge some storms...so service was a bit slow to start but they managed to rush thru it, then poof we was on Thailand terra firma outside the airport..in the heat...and yup it was hot. Our ride was waiting to get us to the hotel and off we went.  

The hotel staff remembered us so they upgraded our room and it is sweet....so the sun is out and we is thinking lets hit the pool. We throw on our suits and head to the pool just as a big ass cloud slides over....What the Fu#$ I thought I said to myself in my inside voice but nooooo a nice couple heard and said "Hmmm yeah was nice all day till you got here!" Then a bit of wind picked up and the staff ran around gathering umbrellas and stuff....but hell no we won't go....looked up said I'm staying....bring forth drinks (first beer then Mojitos for me and more beer for Shauna). And they did....and the rain stayed away and the sun almost came out and the pool water was an awesome temp....gotta have faith......So me and the missus hung at the pool gettin a bit liquored...it turned out to be really nice out.

All good things must come to an end so we are water logged in more ways than one.....back to the room to dry off and head to the market. Its a crazy place....but tourism is really down so they are not agressive at all..We found Peter....Peter sells watches....nice ones of course...so he takes us to his secret stash....and yup he had nice watches thats all I can say about that...

We find some food in a local market it was good.....

Time to wander around I find a Thai foot massage place and Shauna keeps looking around...80 baht to rub my feet for half an hour...that is like $2.50 cdn....now a thai foot massage is amazing if ever here get one. So the gal commences to work my foot...and it feels great...then they work the calf muscles a bit and then they work the thigh and groin muscles a bit and move to the next foot...this is when Shauna came back....she was needing the groin area....Shauna was not impressed...I'm like "no happy ending no happy ending!!!"......quite funny actually...but the foot massage was great.

So we figure hey lets get some local bug juice for our little elephant adventure....just in case. So we find a pharmacy..no problem they are everywhere out here....10 staff in a 10 by 10 foot shop...so service was excellant...so we ask for some bug juice and one of the guys in nice english says "oh you want this as it is good!" and hands us a bottle...they ask why we tell them we are going to stay with elephants tomorrow in Lampang....he looks at us nicely removes the bottle of bug juice from our hands and grabs another bottle...he says..."ahhh yes no...you no want this stuff....you want this stuff for where you go!"...he grabs another bottle and hands it to us..."this much stronger!"....its got like skull and crossbones all over it....heh heh...yayyyyyy...we buy it and now it is definitely time for a rum and coke .... no ice...almost slipped on that (shauna remembered though), then back to the room to pack for an early pickup to take us to Lampang....for our training as Mahouts.....I am thinking we are staying in leanto's in the jungle....brought extra industrial strength bug juice though....whats to worry about right...heh heh should be like home cept big ass elephants wandering around....heh heh....ohhh and realloy hot and all sorts of wierd bugs etc etc etc......