Chiang Mai

Friday 27 October 2006
We arrived in Chiang Mai at 9 am. It was Ruyard Kipling hot even at that time. Oh my!!! For a white boy of English descent it was buckets of persperation. Even more hilarious was that no one propositioned us for a "tuk tuk" ride or a trek, that is ....until I saw fit to pull out the Lonley Planet Thailand book for Jen's phone number, at which point we were descended upon by every possible sort of "vendor". Made me feel like a fresh piece of meat thrown into the lions cage. Better to look like you know something thant to pull out the guide book and remove all doubt.
But, not to fear Rebecca's friends Jen and Hillarycome to our rescue in a doi suthep (a pickup truck with benches in bed). It is good to know some "locals".
They took us to a fabulous local eatery for some much needed caffiene laced drinks and some good spicy food. Afterwards we went to rent some traditional Thai gard so as to be very nattily clad for the wedding we were invited to attend. Rick and Chen were to be married on Saturday at Mae Rim Lagoon Hotel Resort. This was quite fun and we both looked quite dashing in our colorful outfits. This proved to be such fun, that we felt it a must to continue treating our selves to Thai culture. So, on to the Spa for an hours massage. This was great, however my size created some unique problems for my massuese. Seems one of my legs was well more weight that the entire amount she weighed. Couple that with the fact that when she laid me on my back and extended my legs in the air for a good hamstring stretch, they were as tall as her. My toes reached the tip of her nose. She found this quite humourous, as did we, and told Jen in Thai that I was the largest legged man she had seen. Of course more chuckles ensued. Seems no matter the culture gap, all women enjoy laughing at men........She did however have some of the strongest hands and thumbs I hve ever experienced. At one point she asked me if she was hurting me by pushing so hard? To which I replied, " do you really think you could do anything to hurt me?" She laughed, as we all did, and of course replied "NO". We all laughed and then left feeling quite happy and revitalized. Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!