Catch up from Bangkok to Chiang Rai

ok, so that is a picture of the group from the hostel. The computer here is really slow so I will put up a lot more pictures when it doesnt take forever.

So my last meal in Bangkok was this really good and really spicy soup by some street vendor lady who has a cult following of locals so I figured it would be good. I was sweating like crazy after i put a second spoonful of spices into my blazing hot soup. It was really good and a proper sendoff. Caught my plane at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. Actually a really cool airport. Thai air was really clean, played nice music and fed me food for only an hour long flight. Take notes continental etc. I arrived in Chiang Rai and began the hostel search. I love the way i do this because there is some planning but not near enough to be civilized about it. I always tell the driver to take me to somewhere the lonely planet suggests and then i look around and say i am gonna check some other places out. so i did that at the "easy guest house" here and bounced across the street where Joe, owner of Krazy Joes, bought me a beer. We talked for a while and he is an expat from New York who has 2 wives here in Thailand! Met an Aussie who advised me on hostels and i started walking down the street here. Checked out like 5 or 6 and finally decided to go with Buun Bun Dun or whatever itis called. I actually have a whole room, shower, restroom, queen sized bed, and my own cleaning lady for the tall sum of...yep, you guessed it, 200 baht. That is 6 bucks and change bitches! so i dropped my stuff off and grabbed a beer at coconuts bar. Decided to go check out the hill tribe museum.

On the way there i asked a white guy how to get there and he quickly told me it was a crock of shit, haha. His name was David and i started asking questions. David is a retired CPA from Hawaii who has lived in Northern Thailand for 7 years. I think i learned more from talking to him last night about Thailand than i have about anything this whole trip. He told me about a couple places and actually gave me a ride to a place that was actually open(songkran and sunday makes for no places open) and we grabbed dinner. I dominated my yellow curry with pork. The food was great and I just kept asking questions and asking questions. David taught me a lot about the corruption in Thailand and all the not so cool stuff. He now owns a fish, rice, and a bunch of other stuff farm in a village not far from here. He married a Thai gal years back and is a happy dude. We had a couple of beers and i basically just dragged information out of him about all of Thailand and whatever else came up. He ended up buying the dinner and advised me to marry anyone but a Thai girl, haha. He pointed me in the right direction of bars and i dropped my daypack off at the hostel and grabbed a beer with Krazy Joe and David and a couple French people at Joes bar. then I popped over to a Jamaican style place and met some folks from California and we exchanged stories.

As soon as my laundry is done here i am going to figure a way to get to Chiang Mai. It is cooler up here in the NOrth.

Oh, and Stuart, by the way, i changed it so you can comment without actually being a member of google or whatever.

that is me rockin some pad thai with chicken and egg for 30 baht, yep 1 dollar! heading back after Songkran

now here are some pics from crazy Songkran Festival on Khao San Rd!