RICE FOR DAYS

rice grown by a tiny village we went through on our jungle hike

so. much. rice.

IT'S ABOUT TO GET SPICY

everything is better with some spice

somewhere in thailand

IN THE JUNGLE - NORTHERN THAILAND EDITION

we knew we wanted to go hiking, so while in chiang mai we hired a guide to take us on a 5 hour hike through the jungle.

our guide picked us up at the hotel and introduced himself as 'rambo'. rambo was from one of the tiny jungle villages, and told us that he eats monkeys and hates the city.

game on rambo. game. on.

we drove an hour and half north and took off walking through rice fields, passing waterfalls, stopped for a swimming break, walked over logs and makeshift bridges (scary), and picked up a friend of rambo's in one of the villages we walked through to join us for the day.

chris almost stepped on a deadly snake and i was pretty sure i would fall off a log while crossing a river. jungle hiking never disappoints.

ELEPHANT CROSSING

oh. there were elephants.
more on that later

YI PENG FESTIVAL

parade of lanterns

yi peng festival, chiang mai

JUST ANOTHER DAY SNUGGSN' TIGERS

i know tiger kingdom is kind of a controversial place - people claim the tigers are drugged and say how inhumane it is to keep tigers caged for tourist amusement - but we couldn't help ourselves. we had to check it out.

it may be wrong, but i'm SO GLAD WE WENT. i mean, we got to hug a 400 pound tiger. that's a bucket list item right there.

the tigers didn't seem groggy or drugged at all. sure they were hot and tired, i mean it was 95 degrees outside and they're covered in fur. but they got up and played and the laid down and it seemed pretty much the same deal as our kitties back home (our cats are laaaaazy). just way bigger and waaaay scarier.

i wish i had more pictures, but i kind of froze when confronted with squeezing a giant tiger (chris has those pictures - they'll surface sooner or later).

SPICE IT UP

so many spices

chiang mai sunday market