Yes, okay, we are the same same.

So I will try to be good about updating but we are headed to the south tomorrow and I am not sure what the computer/internet/blackberry service will be like.

Last night after our trek, Jess and I put our foots down on spicy food and rice and opted for an Italian dinner. There are actually several very good italian restaurants here and we had salads and pizza. We also wore our horrendous/hilarious elephant pants to dinner which are very similar and promoted a lot of comments stares on our walk to dinner. Let me now introduce to you a little bit of Thai colloquialistic (not a word??) culture. "Same Same, but different." People here love this phrase. example in a sentence: Jess and I walking in the same elephant pants by two police men, one to the other, "ahh, same same." "Yes, but different." We plan to integrate this saying into our daily life from now on. Another example: "We would like a cheese pizza." "Oh, we have pad thai, same same but different!" Usually this saying is accompanied by a chuckle. Try it!

tomorrow we are flying from Chiang Mai to Phuket and then we are going to Island hop a bit. Pray for good weather and not that many mosquitos!

Today we hired another red Chiang Mai car to bring us back up north out of the city. Our driver had the cutest little Shitzu named Sandy and was very nice. He drove us to another set of Burmese Hill tribe peoples from Myanmar--apparently to be politically correct, one should refer to people FROM Myanmar but BURMESE culture.
Jess and I felt that this particular group of Burmese refugees, who, although are protected in Thailand from difficult labor and warfare, represented an almost human zoo. The Thailand tourist industry has capitalized on the unique and interesting culture of the Karen hill tribes by placing them in a Disneyworld like setting and exploiting them as a tourism commodity. Mixed feelings, for sure. My favorite group was the "long-neck ladies," who put gold rings around girl's necks starting at age five to give the appearence of a longer neck. In reality, this just crushes down their vertebrae and collar-bone. The longer neck is considered beautiful in their culture--but one tourist from Pakistan ironically noted that it was a "man-made" and not "woman-made" tradition for sure.
The women were friendly and spoke some English and had the cutest children. We thought it was strange to see a supposedly primitive culture lacking real plumbing but where we saw some cell phone chatting. There was also a Catholic Church built at the end of their road, and although Catholicism is not their religion, missionaries continue to convert their peoples.
After wandering around the tribe village, we were happy to bump into the family that we met and loved yesterday on our trek. They took pictures with us and invited them to stay wiht them in Orlando and "go to Disney for free with them." I got the mom's email and will send her the pictures I have from today and the trek.

The driver next brought us to this restaurant with a beautiful view of Chiang Mai but a millllion ants crawling all over the tables and us. I guess when you eat lunch at 3 oclock, only the ants are your company! My dish was very spicy and we tasted some of the sweet basil leaves taht we saw growing in the north country yesterday.

After lunch we went to the flower market, which has the most gorgeous lotus flowers. The florists make popular floral arrangements both to place on the Wats (temples) and their rearview mirrors in their cars.

We are now back at the hotel and I met TWO MEN STAYING HERE FROM LOUISIANA! I cannot believe it! They are from New Iberia and Lafayette and hearing their accents was like a slice of home.
Tonight we are going to a Thai boxing match which promises lots of violence but a must see in Chiang Mai!
much love,
Sam (and Jess)