Our Thai Adventure: Chiang Mai, Day 3

Chiang Mai kicks ass. It's a great city. Not as big, polluted, hot, expensive, and most people speak way more English... although my Thai is getting better every day. I am trying to learn new phrases daily. Jenny has been teaching me verbs, phrases, and basic sentence structure. I can now say:

Hello & goodbye
how are you doing?
I'm fine.
no thanks
excuse me
straw
nice to meet you
does this contain xyz ?
I don't eat xyz...
This doesn't contain xyz, right?
That was delicious.
Check please.

... and a few more.

This city is basically split up into two parts... the Old City, which is surrounded by moat and walls, and everything else. Its very artsy, very hippy, and very quaint. I could probably live here. Oh, and did I mention it's like 5c cooler and way less humidity (see: doesn't suck) than Bangkok. The food here is also much better and much more diverse. Instead of choosing noodles or rice for every meal there's middle eastern, mexican (yes, mexican food.. and it's 1/2 decent).

We arrived here at 11pm on Saturday night and went straight to our guest house and to sleep. Sunday we rented motorbikes and got accustom to the city. Needless to say, in a city with what seems like 0 traffic rules or laws, we cut our motorbike tour short and returned to the tuk-tuks. To quote Julie... "That was the scariest, most nerve racking thing I have ever experienced in my life." lol. Sunday night was the weekly night market. It was amazing. People from all over come and set up shop along the main road here, they block off the streets and shopping ensues.

Yesterday (Monday) I strolled around the streets solo as Julie was not feeling well. I was cat-called by the local prostitution houses / bars as I strolled along the main drag. Just like you see in the movies, it was crazy. Julie started feeling better and we wandered over to the banks of the river for a snack and to relax. Later that night we had a drink at the Tiny Bar, a bar that bills itself as "the smallest bar in the world", with an inside capacity of two and an outside seating area for 6, I think it might truly be the smallest in the world.

Last night I also got to witness my first Muay Thai fight! Front row. Holy crap. It was the most intense thing I have ever witnessed. These guys are truly insane fighters. It's so much different actually being there hearing the kicks, punches, and elbows connect.... and to see the sweat spray off these guys as they delivered hit after hit. Also the rules here are different than in the states... elbows to the back of the head are legal, knees to the head also legal. Devastating. The post-fight ladyboy (ladyboy = thai shemale) cabaret show was also a spectacle but in a much different way.