chaing mai

had a bit of a scare in bangkok as there's a "coup" going on right now (pronounced 'koo') of people trying to overtake the government.. we were heading back to our hostel in 2 separate tuk tuks, when we approached the area where people were rioting.. christine, myself, and melissa were in the first tuk tuk and we got through the crowd, but after we had got through (unknown to us) the crowd rushed the road and we lost stacy and michelle! luckily, we both had the thought to go back to khao san road, and we found each other no problem.. kind of scary, although we were assured it shouldn't be a problem for tourists, i'm still glad we're out of bangkok for now.. so we skipped town that night on a rented 'bus' - which actually turned out to be a private van with leather seats and air conditioning? $12 each for the 11 hour ride..

it's day 2 in chaing mai. we're being extremely well taken care of.. the people at our hostel have been incredibly kind, as have all the people we've encountered on our walks around the city.. last night we checked out the midnight bazaar, which is a huge market.. dined on pad thai for a mere 33 cents? everyone is having a blast. it's still overwhelming to be here, but the realisation is slowly dawning..

tonight we're going out on the town! tuesday we leave for a 3 day, 2 night trek through the jungle.. so don't be concerned (mom) as i will be unable to post until afterwards.. i'll be sure to fill you in on happenings!

xo.

thailand!

after leaving winnipeg wednesday morning, and skipping thursday almost completely, we arrived in bangkok thailand. a hot pink cab ride brought us to 'khao san rd' where we attempted to sneak up on a suspecting stacy mcclaskey.. reunited after 13 months..

the flights were long but generally fine. we had a hilarious flight attendant on the last stretch from tokyo who constantly joked with us, and tried to involve christine in the 'safety features' of the plane.. he said he'd hire us for sure..

i'm already dripping sweat after leaving our air conditioned hostel room minutes ago.. something i'll get used to fairly quickly i think - and by no choice of my own.. at 6pm tonight we are heading to ching mai, northern thailand. we have an 11 hour bus ride followed by some trekking and zip-lining in the jungle!

fully rested and feeling fine.

the anticipation..

i've left regina, sk for the last time in one year. that city is full of wonderful people whom i will miss dearly. however, i'm onto the next big adventure.. once you get that itch, there's no turning back..

last night i went over to christine's place to discuss our list of to-do's.. stacy tracked us down all the way from s.korea and she and christine had their very first conversation! very trusting of my character judgement, with good reason obviously. i can't think of two better people to embark on such a trip with. stacy and i had the time of our lives last summer in europe, and steen and i have been discussing the possibility of a trip since, probably grade 10! it's about time..

so, in t minus 4 days we will be boarding a plane in winnipeg, stopping in chicago and tokyo, and landing at our destination: bangkok, thailand. bring on the heat and humidity. us girls were born for it.. from there we'll tentatively make our way north through thailand and cross the boarder into laos, then cambodia.. vietnam.. into china.. (where we'll meet up with the selby clan for a wedding/party of sorts!) from there we fly to india.. trek into nepal.. then fly back down to thailand where we will spend christmas and new years.. and mid-january we'll be hitting up the land of auz.. and some time after that, newzealand..

check back here to keep posted on happenings.. we'll be sure to fill you in on stories, where we're at, and what's going on.

love.