Kitchen Wench

Oy, where do I begin.

We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and I am staying in an utterly beautiful hotel. We took an overnight train from Bangkok and I was rather impressed with how well designed the Thai trains are. They fit a lot into a very small space. Chiang Mai is very lovely as well. The humidity is not as bad, there is a sweet night market, and the city is easy to walk about. After a relaxing day in Chiang Mai, we were supposed to go on short hiking trips, except yours truly and several others contracted stomach illnesses and are staying here for the two days instead. Personally, I woke up at 5 am with my internal organs just roiling and was in too much pain to go back to sleep. I’ve been taking it easy today, trying to calm my tummy down. It still feels a bit like a quivering bowl of jelly. Consequently, I haven’t been able to each much of the local Thai cuisine; it looks very good at least.

Things have been kind of crazy on the trip - aside from a lot of moving around, we’ve had a few injuries as well. I hope everything settles down soon and I’m kind of glad to be here than on the road yet again. It’s difficult to adjust to being constantly on the move and living out of a suitcase; I think I can do it, but I forget I only arrived in this country a few days ago. (It already feels like a week.) Plus, with my body behaving in unpredictable ways, being on preset itinerary and at the whims of a large group, I feel a bit out of control of my own fate, as it were. I suppose I just need to be more Daoist or something. Well, we are visiting a Buddhist temple tomorrow; maybe it will bring me and my tummy a little more peace of mind.