You Go Market, Come Back

Such were our instructions our first night in Sukhothai. The smiling little woman guarding our guest house door was quite clear on how we should go about finding some food after the 6 hour bus ride from Bangkok. Based on her advice Nathan and I found various types of noodle soup (in restaurants and on the street), three different sizes of bananas, peanuts cooked with honey and sesame seeds, and some sort of peanut brittle with ginger and coconut. That woman was a genius.

We've left that town of old bricks and ruined temples behind for the bustle of Chiang Mai, another six hours north. Although it's the second largest city in Thailand (or so I've heard) the white kids almost outnumber the locals. The maze of alleys that make up the old city are full of restaurants selling sushi, falafel, and kangaroo burgers, massage parlors, guest houses, tour agencies, tattoo parlors, and shady wooden houses doubling as cooking schools. All the decisions make things a little overwhelming.

Nathan and I decided to start with a cooking class, which included a trip to the market and making our own curry pastes. Someday when I have a kitchen again I'll make the pad thai for you, or maybe the glass noodle salad, or even sweet sticky rice with mango. It was all good enough that Nathan is professing a new love for fish sauce.

All the bus rides and fantastic food made yesterday's adventure all the more challenging. This city is home to Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures, a place that runs courses, rents gear, and serves as a center for the climbing community in the north. Since I made Nathan schlep my harness and shoes halfway around the world, we thought we might as well put them to use.

Yesterday a handful of us piled into one of the little red trucks that ply the city and headed out to Crazy Horse Buttress. Along with another American gal named Jill, who carries around a bigger first aid kit than I do, Nathan and I spent the day watching our Thai guides monkey up the rock and then doing some monkey moves ourselves. After a lunch spent in the shade of bamboo shelters we hiked up to the top of the formation only to rappel into the heart of a huge cave. It was a pretty amazing feeling to dangle in midair, looking up at twisted stalactites and down at the floor 30 feet away. The whole thing was so much fun we may have to go back again.