Well, first time at an internet cafe( I never had the NEED to patronise one!:P), and i'm gonna try to summarise the happenings of the past 4 days in this post.

Was too tired when i arrived due to the lack of sleep from the night before i departed Singapore. When i got here, i was even more crabby and feeling queasy cos of the uncomfortable flight from Singapore to Thailand. At the Chiang Rai airport, i was expecting cool weather (Cos alot of people said it was cooling here, it being the northernmost part of thailand and all), and to my HORROR, it was BLISTERING! Not as humid as Singapore, but BLISTERING. Think 35 degrees.... CELCIUS. Then when we arrived at the "hotel"... I was in for an even bigger shock. My friend (Yanmei a.k.a Araina) and i looked out of our minibus window and saw a delapitated old building... I thought it was a condemned structure!

Sigh... turns out it looks more like a roach motel. And after swopping around with friends for rooms, we finally settled on one that looked the most decent, with carpet and cupboards. We did not know what we were in for. First it was a huge moth. Then an irritating fly that belle(Yin) smashed with a file. Then it was a pesky mosquitio that we were baiting using our own flesh.... (meaning : We sat there, not moving, hoping to bait the mosquito and SQUASH it). Then it was a centipede. And yesterday it was 2 baby roaches crawiling out of our bin after we accidentally kicked it.

But the days did get better. We met up with buddies(students) from 2 local universities, Rajabhat Uni and Mae Fa Luang Uni. We got along with the MFL buddies much better. They're nuts! Although they don't speak english very well, they're really hyper and crazy like us! So i guess friendship does extend beyong language barriers. WE went totally nuts last night when we had some alone time with them. They brought us around and we had dinner together, and throughout the day, they were teaching us to speak thai, and we were teacching them chinese and hokkien. We have successfully taught them to say Xiao Zhabo!(which means "Crazy woman" in hokkien), Ta ma de! (swear word in chinese that refers to a person's mother) and kia!(which means "walk" or "let's go" in hokkien.)

Went to visit a karen village today via a boat ride along the Mae kok river( Not Mekong)... Although the water was filthy (comprable to Singapoire River:P), the view was fantastic! The rolling mountains with an occasional(damn! I suddenly forgot how to spell it right!) solitary abode or temple set into it, and there were a few mountains whose peaks were hidden by big white fluffy clouds... Looked like the point where heaven met earth. We took a video of all these things.

When we arrived at the Karen village, most of the students went for an elephant ride, some of us didn't want to cos we thought it was cruel... You know? Making those beautiful creatures bring you out on walks when you can obviously do it on your own? And after seeing those huge chains around their necks, it made me even more determined not to indulge in it. 'Sides, they be stinky and hairy and rough:P*grin* But beautiful nonetheless:D

Oh and there, they have these 2 puppies! Oh man! They were so cute! I went around asking people with backpacks to stuff the puppies in and smuggle them back for me!( i left my backpack in the hotel)... well, they thought i was joking. I was of course... to a certain extent. They were lovely, busted the camera's battery just filming them:D *grin* And of course, after having a puppy puke milk on your hand just as you pick him up, how could you let him go??*grin*

Anyway, i don't know when i'll be able to update this again, but i've been making a couple of new friends ( My room has becoming the most happening room on my floor! mahjong! Poker cards! Snacks! Drinks! Our own mini fridge : Which is actually a pail filled with ice;) Yes i know we're spoilt:P) And we're leavaing for Mae Salong tomorrow morning... i really hope it's cold there! It's been freaking hot here! I'm burnt! Just from walking around in the villages feeding elephants and all!:) I miss everyone at home so so much! But to anyone who's worrying, don't worry! I'm fine! I'll be back before you know it! Love you all maak maak maak! (maak = much!)

Sawatdii Kha!!!(which can mean hello, goodbye, good afternoon, good morning... you get the picture::)

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