and so it's Christmas?

Last night, Christina and I flew back from our weekend trip to Chiang Mai. From the beginning it was a Thai-style Christmas. We were running a bit late for our overnight bus and Bangkok traffic was predictably ridiculous, so I was forced to brake my 7 month boycott on motorcycle taxis. There we were, 2 tall falang girls with big bags cuddled up to strange men, bobbing through traffic. After weaving through back parking lots and construction zones, we made it safely to the make-shift bus stop, otherwise known as a back street. To my excitement the bus had a brightly colored Grecian woman painted on its side, tastefully tittled "Airbrush Express."

We traveled in class, our stewardist-man wore a white muscle shirt and had both biceps tattooed. After the violent movie ended(which kept changing between English to Thai to Thai subtitles), the man came around to tuck us in. I was talking to Christina when all of a sudden her chair was being leaned back. I look back to see that all the passengers behind us are reclined all the way, tucked in to their giant towel blankets. The man was there to assist us with the same. Classic.

Our time in the north was relaxing. Chilly compared to Bangkok, a low of maybe 65. We rented bikes one day and rode around the city for 4 hours. We had Christmas Eve dinner with the Shores at a Thai restaurant. Relaxing and rejuvenating.

The last night we weren't having luck explaining where we were going to the song-tow drivers, so a young Thai man helped us out. As we thanked him for his kindness, he responded with; "Amazing Thailand, no, amazing Thai MEN" wished us a Merry Christmas and gave us a ho,ho,ho. I couldn't have said it better, oh the irony.