"I CAN SEE MY BREATH"

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND

Temperature: 23 degree celcius

Track of the day: Somewhere over the rainbow, Israel Kamikawio'ole

'Burr, it's cold," Alecs says through chattering teeth as we walk past palm trees wrapped in white lights towards the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It's 6:00Am and the resort is completely silent exeot for 

a few crickets chirping and a rooster crowing in the distance. Breakfast here is much better than in bangkok, although the wiener-style sausages still find their way to the buffet. "I feel lazy today," I say to Alecs before taking a bite of a croissant, 

"what do you feel like doing?" We quickly discuss our plans over a cup of coffee and decide a morning dip in the pool will help us map our our day. After eating we quickly change into our swim suits and walking only meters from our b

ungalow, we stretch out our towels on the poolside chairs. "You go first," Alecs says dipping his toe in the pool. "No, you go in and tell me how cold it ism" I retort, gauging the temperature of the water myself

. We both agree to enter the water at the same time, but only I hold up my end of the bargain. "YOU BRAT," I growl at Alecs, "get in here." After a few moments of obviously careful contemplation Alecs slowly lowers himself into the pool, tiptoeing to keep as much of his body above the water as possible. "Once you get all the way in it's not so bad," I say to Alecs swim to the deep end. Soon enough Alecs joins me and we start to warm up. "I can see my breath," I say as I watch a foggy wish linger above the water when I exhale. Alecs breaths out to test the validity of what i;ve said. "You're right," he says incredulously, "that must be why we're the only ones in here." We spend the next hour soaking in the tranquility of the morning, listening to the birds chirping and watching night turn into day. By the time we arrive back in the room, our plans for the day remin unknown and i've come down with a traveller's stomach bug. "Why don't we go to the lobby (where there is wireless internet) a

nd book some hotels?" Alecs suggests after we finish showeiring and changing. "That sounds like a good idea," I reply, taking some medicing from home to settle my stomach. "We also need to figure out how to get to Laos from here," I add. We spend a few hours booking hotels, checking e-mail and researching about the Laos-Thai border at Chiang Kong/H

uay Xai.

We book a tour through the hotel travel agency for tomorrow to visit the Karen Hill Tribes and the Golden Tiangle and agree to grab a bite to eat before heading out. "Watermelon shake please," Alecs says to the waitress without looking at the menu. I order a concoction  called sawasdee Laluna, which is made from mixed berries, yogurt, vanilla ice-cream and honey. Soon after ordering our meals are brought out to the table and Alecs' coconut rice, which is formed into a star, is topped with toasted cashews. "Oh no," Alecs says - a worried look spreading across his face, "nuts." I assure Alecs there are no nuts in my spaghetti or salad, but he doesn't rest easy until i've completely finished my meal and assured him I'm not going into Anaphylactic shock. 

Even then he still won't stop worrying until well after they've cleared our plates and we've paid the tab. When Alecs is finally satisfied I'm not going tro have an allergic reaction we venture out onto the steets of Chaing Rai and only a block into our walk I clumsily slip on some gravel dislocating my knee (an old injury) and scraping up my leg - but most importantly bruising my ego.  I pop my knee back into place and brush the gravel from my chin reassuring a very worried Alecs thay i'm alright and we continue on. The streets are much less busy than Bangkok, making crossing them a much easier task. Some sort of meat 

rotates in a street vendors shop and I ask Alecs what he thinks it might be. "It's a chicken," Alecs says almost laughing as me. I look closer and realize the roasted chicken still has it's neck and some feather on and I feel foolish for not recogniing. it. We weave around scooter, motorbikes, cars and trucks until we reach a temple that looks more chinese than Thai. However, today was laundry day and we are both wearing shorts as our other clothes are being cleaned at the hotel. "We can't wear shorts into a temple," I say to Alecs, who agress. My stomach starts to hurt again and we decide the best thing to do is head back to the hotel. We agree to spend the rest of the  day here relaxing and regenerating for the weeks ahead which will have us constantly busy.

Around 5:00PM we cross the street to a small vendor to buy some snacks instead of dinner, which is quite expensive here at the hotel. Our Thai language book in hand, we r

ehearse the basic words before moving to the counter to pay. The small, friendly-looking woman behind the counter adds up the prices, counting in Thai and we both grin excitedly at eachother because we understand her. "Korp Kun Krap" (Thank you) Alecs says bringing his hands together inthe respectful 'Wai'> The lady smiles widely at his attempt to speak Thai and we both leave feeling pretty smug with ourselves. 

Tomorrow will be a busy and eventful day that will take us to some remote hill-tribes and the northern most point of Thailand where it boards Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Today may have been a quiet and relatively uneventful day, but we enjoyed a moment to pamper ourselves and relax, but we are really looking forward to tomorrows adventure. Until next time, so long.

Meg and Alecs in Chiang Rai

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