when trees attack

so, we just got back from a visit to this super-holy temple of the north - it's on a big mountain just to the west of chiang mai, and it's pretty cool; we've been trying to get there for the past few days. we finally cleared this afternoon for that purpose (we leave tomorrow morning, in theory). we bargained with the driver of one of the bright red songthaws and took the windy weavy inclined road up for abotu 40 minutes or so. once we arrived, the huge staircase beckoned and a woman offered "paintings?" as we stepped out of the back of the truck. i shook my head and smiled at her as i went around the left side of the vehicle to ask our driver where he would be waiting for us to take us back down. there were sounds like firecrackers, then some yelling, and as i looked up, people were running and pointing up at a spot on the foresty hill behind me. turning around further, i spotted the object of their attention. a tree. falling down. at us. so it fell. nabia managed to escape with a banged ankle - she was on the far side of the songthaw. the truck itself got a bit damaged - a hole in one part and some mildly serious denting in a couple of other places. my shoulder took a fair whack as i clung to the passenger side door of the songthow, but otherwise i just had lots of woodchips in my hair. luckily, the truck and the building behind me took the weight, so the tree didn't fall all the way to the ground. i climbed out of the cage it had made for me and was shaking like a.... leaf. tourists then came over and began to take pictures. we took one ourselves, got checked out by a policeman, and made our way up the 300 steps to the temple. where it started to rain almost as soon as we reached the top. i thought maybe somebody was trying to tell us something. but the rain soon cleared, and the view of the city was nice. a nice wat in all, to be sure. we're thinking about making our way back here on sunday for buddha's birth/enlightenment/death day. it's supposed to be particularly spectacular with candlelit processions and everything. but it would mean not going to Nan. so we have to do some more research.

other news: the shirt shenanigan: i didn't find the one i lost, but the very nice woman i bought it from gave me another one in the same color. doesn't fit quite the same, but it's close.

cooking class caper: day 2 was fun - we were joined in our culinary adventure by two Aussies in their mid twenties from melbourne. one of them (andy) was a chef (but not working anywhere at the moment - i thought about making you a contac, em, but it wouldn't have done much i think) that reminded me physically of one joshua boydstun. the other was named kurt and had a big curly mullet. they were both quite loud and funny ("ting tong" or "ba ba ba bo" in thai - means a bit nutty), with my favorite anecdotes being: when a fish in a netted basket flipped up at kurt and he screamed and jumped like a girl. and, when we were trying to figure out if we were talking about the same jewelry vendor at the sunday market and andy said: was he asian? and i said are you serious? we're in asia...

the dishes were good, though not as exciting as the first day: masaman curry, coconut chicken soup (yummm), beef in oyster sauce, glass noodle salad, chicken fried rice, and sticky rice balls in coconut milk. deeelish. and it took us through dinner, breakfast, AND lunch the next day. nice.

yesterday we bought woks and accessories at the day market, so we'll be shipping home some goodies tomorrow.

i think that's all for now. i have to go rest my shoulder. i'm ok. i just think i'll be sore tomorrow.

peace out,
amy



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