Night Trains and Chiang Mai

So our night train really wast that bad. At least for me anyway. I seem to be able to sleep just about anywhere. My sleeping birth was designed for someone of average Thai size which about 18" shorter then me. I guess really everything here is built for people 18" shorter then me. My head hits the roof when I have to stand inside the public train and inside the water taxi. It kinda gross really since my hair is basically scrubbing things that havent been cleaned since Nixon was president. Anyway I digress. The night train was fine, it might have been the multiple Beer Chaings I had, but I slept fine. It was a bit of a rought trip for Heather, but we lived.

Yesterday we visited the temple on the hill overlooking Chiang Mai and went out to Hmong tribe. The Hmong (pronounced Mong) are one of the many indigenous tribes that live in Southeast Asia. Just like indigenous people all over the world they have been segregated and treated as lesser citizens for years. It is only with the recent growth of tourism that has helped them tear away from their prior form of income which was the illegal growth and manufacure of opium. But this newfound tourism comes a price. It seems strange wandering through a village that has lived the same way for centuries staring at them as though we were at a zoo. And of course they all want to sell you something. But it was overall a good experience. The Hmong actualy have quite a large community in California stretching from Fresno to Chico. Durring the Vietnam war the CIA and Special Forces trained the Hmong as guirilla fighters to combat the North Vietnamese Army and Kahmir Rouge. Of course when the US withdred the Hmong had to stay and suffer the consequences of their assistance to us. So the US allowed any that could get out a chance at assylum in sunny California. I have no I idea why Fresno, it seems alot different then the climate here in the mountains of Northers Thailand.

So today was our Thai cooking class. Im not sure if we will be able to remember all that we learned today, But I hope so. It lasted all day and we of course ate everything we made. It was alot of food and soooooo good. We still struggle with controlling how spicy things get. My mouth deffinately burned after a few of the dishes.

Tomorrow we take a bus to the norther bordern town of Chiang Khong. We spend the night there then take a boat across the Mekong River. Then upstream into Laos. After that who knows. No plans. We havent even bought our plane tickets to Egypt yet. We totally take it day by day. So far I love Thailand.