Ho Hum...my weekend

Last week was harsh...my first real full week teaching and i started up my hospital class again which is inconveniently scheduled at the very end of the day on Friday. it's the worst time cause i always want to bust out early and take the bus to chiang mai. so i ended up going alone to C.M. on friday since hilary was forced to host a very-belated Hallowee party. i was planning to meet up with nadine for dinner but she cancelled. so i ate alone at a lovely place called Kona which had amazing organic fruits and veggies from their farm and then went down to the Reggae Alley. nothing much was going on but i ended up talking with a Thai university student named Otto. it was nice to make a new friend, especially someone that lives in chiang mai (aka not a tourist just passing through).

saturday i met up with hilary and we just bummed around. in the early evening we went to this crazy intense yoga class at the yogasala chiang mai. it was just a vinyasa class but i found it pretty advanced and slightly difficult. it was definitely worth it though! it was 2 hours long and then we relaxed and drank tea and chatted with our classmates. i will definitely go back there...it gave us lots of good ideas for new things to do at our little yoga gatherings at our house.

sunday we met up with Chan and went to the Royal Flora Ratchapruek. What is this? Well, it is to commemorate the king's 60th year on the throne and it's a huge flower/ plant exposition going on for 3 months. however, it's a bit ridiculous that they are closing it after 3 months since it took them 2 years to prepare and tons of money. it was really nice except for 2 things: it was honestly soooo hot on sunday and there were about a kajillion people in the place. i couldn't go anywhere without accidentally stepping in someone's picture and it's annoying to always have to scramble around people just to see an exhibit. there were interesting gardens that represented different countries. definitely enjoyed the bhutan garden of peace...i want to go there! also enjoyed the south african garden, the japanese rock garden and the morroccan garden which had beautiful fountains and stone mosaics. there was an orchid exhibit (of course!) the thais are crazy about orchids and i can understand why. they are freaking gorgeous flowers. there was an interesting yet scary "orchid cave." we walked under a waterfall and found ourselves inside this creepy cave featuring orchids and flashing disco lights. at first I thought it seemed pretty cool but it got darker and all of the sudden hilary screamed when a burst of fake fog came out of the wall. chan grabbed my arm...it was like we were in a haunted house. i could hear a robotic woman's voice speaking in thai and saying "DNA" over and over again while laser lights flashed on the wall. apparently she was explaining how they use DNA to make various new strands of orchids. anyhow, i found it quite strange but funny and hilary just wanted to get the hell out of there.

we also visited a kind of jungle Thai tropical garden and an herb garden. actually i was too hot and exhausted to notice much about either of these. i wanted to find what was labeled as "the mushroom cottage" on the map. it was a bit disappointing but still interesting nonetheless. we found our way back into town and ate at this amazing vegetarian restaurant introduced to us by becky and shawn (thanks guys!) the kao soi there is wonderful. it's the definitive chiang mai dish. thais usually eat it for breakfast. it's a kind of noodle soup made with yellow curry, bits of fried tofu, mushrooms and fried noodles on top. delicious!

sunday night we went to visit david in the hospital. he had a bad motorcycle accident on friday. he collided head-on with another bike and was thrown off his bike, shattered his right pinkie and really messed up his face. he had to get plastic surgery and skin grafts. luckily he didn't have any brain damage. he seemed in good spirits and it looks like he's going to heal alright. right now, i'm quite scared of motorbikes and plan to continue riding on the song-taew. there have been a lot of injuries lately so i'm feeling reluctant to go anywhere near a bike. along the line of bike-related injuries, hilary got a burn when she was getting off karen't motorbike the other night. it's bubbled up but should be okay if she keeps it away from the water here which is ridden with bacteria.

not much planned for the week...had yoga with nadine last night and got a sweet massage. i will hang out with chan today since i have the afternoon off. we have a weekly tuesday-afternoon get together. we usually just chill in the park, read or get facials. tomorrow we are having an art night with david and then yoga again on thursday. i don't know what the plan is for the weekend but hopefully it will be relaxing and more interesting than the last!