Changmai

19/07/06-21/07/06

I am in love with rice paddies. i know its not real love but i cant help it! they are jsut so pretty!

we caught a train to ayuttaya(the old capitol), just north of Bangkok. abnd saw some ruins got chased by the tourist police for riding a bike to close to some ruins. it was only a pushy!!!
i practiced my thai with a child at one of the temples...and i can count...yay.

got sunburnt and then spent the afternoon sheltered from a monsoon in a crazy thai cafe with an eccentric owner.

we got a sleeper train to changmai and then spent the next 3 days treking through the jungle.
it wasnt really trekking but more walking in sweat. the air was clean the people were fun and the villages were really nice.

at one village we ended up playing nearly 2 hours of the thai foot volleyball game called takraw. i have seen it in a few movies and have always wanted to play it and it turns out that me and alex are naturals. josh on the otherhand has a little way to go. his eye hand combo .....well you know. we played like 6 games straight with the villagers and we even won a game!!!!!
see it at the link below - its so athletic. this one thai guy with a gammy leg could launch of his good leg, do a backwards somersault kick and hit the ball over the net and land on the same good leg. AMAZING
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takraw