Moving into Chiang Mai

Not wanting to stay at the campus housing the first night, 5 of us decided to wing it in town - found a decent guest house for 175 baht - even had A/C. Battling sleep for 10 hours we walked around the city stopping for food and breaks at temples. There is something quite integrated about the Buddhist temple life here , obviously for the monks, but also in the day to day life of the Thais. We walked into a temple and next to the 10 foot gold foil covered Buddha was an electric fan whirring back and forth. Beside that was a couch - 2 monks included - that just happened to be watching truck motorcross on a rabbit-eared TV.

During dinner we were entertained (some of us more than others) by two pug-sized white rats.

Going through 2 shirts a day mandates a bit of shopping tomorrow, rough.