Northward

Yesterday (which guest house man tells me was Thursday) Sarah and I waved goodbye to Ko Samet and took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. They were out of first class cabins and second class sleeper cabins so we decided to try our luck with second class seats. It was a festival of new smells and sounds, but there were some lovely jungle views.

I'm soooo excited for all that Chiang Mai and the surrounding area holds, but it's going to be difficult deciding how to spend our time here. Today we checked in to our guest house with free wireless (woo!), walked around to get our bearings, and ate some delicious overnight bus ride recovery food. (I'm probably going to talk about food a lot throughout the trip, feel free to tune out if you're not interested :-P) I got a pumpkin curry that was just spicy enough to leaving me sweating (glowing?) but that didn't require a recovery period (as the curries have thusfar), a shockingly purple dragon fruit shake, and a...maz...ing mango sticky rice for dessert. Sarah described the sticky rice well: the perfect combination of salty, sweet, creamy, and fresh.

We've heard that the Sunday market is not to be missed, but today we walked through a couple of the markets that are held on a daily basis. The first was exclusively produce/meat/fish. The vegetables and fruits were abundant and beautiful, and there were many I'd never seen before. Umpteen different kinds of ginger, chiles, garlic, etc. The other one offered dried foods and textiles, but we didn't spend very long there because I'd become afflicted with my terrible condition.

My terrible condition: golfer's vasculitis. This is something that primarily affects people over the age of 50 (if you round to the nearest 50 that's me?) Yup. It is a lovely rash thing on your legs that according to google, is just now becoming a "legit" condition and is basically just a pain. I was mostly annoyed and not overly concerned until the woman at our guesthouse who organizes the treks learned of the situation. She was extremely helpful and told me the name of a clinic that treats patients whose bones are being eaten away and also skin conditions. She also (very generously) shared some cream that her friend's daughter uses on her skin. (I'm using it on a test spot this evening!)

It better be cured before trekking next week! (Guesthouse woman would not let me go this week :-P Probably a wise decision on her part.)

Love you all!