thailand

my first three days in thailand were spent in bangkok, a place that i have mixed reviews about. my hotel was lovely (see photo), it was an "organic hotel" where everything in the room had been recycled from something, there was no tv or smoking allowed, it came with a 4-course organic breakfast and the staff were super sweet. i've never stayed anywhere more charming. the city, however, is incredibly hectic and difficult to get around. the taxis all try to rip you off and don't know where they are going. i had one guy pick me up, say he would take me to my hotel, and then he drove off to the middle of no where and turned off the meter. he told me he was lost and i had to pay 400 baht to get to my hotel .this is about $13. the ride should cost $2. it was pouring rain outside, but my stubborn self resisted the urge to spit on him and got out of the car, trampled along this road for 20 minutes, getting soaked until another cab came and tried to tell me his meter was broken. finally, i found an honest cabbie and got home. aside from those difficulties, the temples here are gorgeous (see the gynormous reclining buddha), the food is soooooo tasty, and most of the thai people are super friendly.

from bangkok i took an overnight train to the northern city of chiang mai, where i took a cooking class with my friend sam, a girl who was staying at the same hotel in bangkok. we made coconut soup, noodles, papaya salad and banana cakes. and then we ate it all. yum! i also did a 2-day trek into the mountains/jungle. we rode elephants, white water rafted, went cliff jumping and saw snakes, wild pigs, tarantulas and these bugs that turn into balls when you touch them. the only difficulty was that it was pouring rain and there were some minor mudslides. i fell on my bottom more than once and was pretty much just covered in mud the whole time. we slept in a thai village in a big bamboo hut with private mosquito nets. on my right was an israeli man who has lived in long island for 15 years. on my left was a 1/2 american, 1/2 brit who lives in japan. funky accents all around. the photo of that young girl with her little brother came from the village where we slept.