Thanksgiving

I went walking around the city again this morning. It is a lot of fun to just stroll around, grab some mangos and sticky rice, sit down for some coffee, have a Thai-style massage, and generally just chill out and relax. Here are some good pictures.

http://houghton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011492&l=be4db&id=100300825

When I went to Wawee coffee (a coffee shop), the lady before me spoke English and so I noticed the cashier could speak excellent English. However, I ordered in Thai anyway and he responded in a long string of Thai to which I responded, "In English?". We both burst out into laughter.

I also got a Thai massage. It's a specialty in Northern Thailand so obviously I was obliged to do so. It was very relaxing, minus the bending me in half and beating on my head, and a few other things. I picked up a few Christmas presents from a couple different shops. Church tonight was especially fun. It was a very active Thanksgiving service, and quite a joyful one at that. There's a lot that I'm going to miss about Chiang Mai, but when juxtaposed with the thought of seeing Kerianne I really can't wait to get home.

There's a lot to be thankful for. I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to come here. I've also learned a lot about hope and prayer. Things in my life like family and friends are now extremely valuable to me. Yes, I think I've changed.

Doi Suthep revisited

This past weekend I took a song thao up to the wat on Doi Suthep. It's a rather famous one, so I figured I should go see why everyone visits it. It was quite amazing, lots of bright colors. I took a video of some Lanna dancers dancing to the northern Thai style music.

I also posted more pictures with comments to facebook, so feel free to browse them.




In other news, I leave Chiang Mai December 1st in the afternoon and arrive in the L.A. airport in time to spend the night on a terminal bench, perhaps I'll make it worthwhile and visit Hollywood.