Traveling light...

Day One: carefree travelers
Day Two: robbed
Day Three: mourn, recover and recompensate
Day Four: restock
Day Five: backpacks? what backpacks?


Well, it happened, we had our bags stolen. After we had a nasty 24 hours of sporadically remembering wonderful, irreplaceable things we'd lost, we let it all go and moved on. Last night we treated ourselves to luxerious foot rubs on Thae Phae Rd. (the Chiang Mai equivalent of Khoa San Rd. in Bangkok a.k.a. traveler's mecca) and outfitted ourselves in new Thai clothing and jewelry. We really look the part of bohemian gypsies now. No other choice! We've abandonded the practice of taking anti-malaria pills (since we don't have any) and are befriending DEET bug spray and long pants.

We've been forced to release our bonds to material things and travel much lighter. It's our first Zen lesson in this Buddist country. The best part? The travel book I brought was "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and the irony is not lost, believe me. I think I might switch from the theme of unbearable lightness to something a little more palatable right now like "The Beach".

Every morning here in Chiang Mai, where we intend to stay another few days, we wake up and get dressed and instead of lotion we apply baby powder to ward off the humid heat. We bought a Thai phrase book for $1.50 and practice our pronunciation over a breakfast of fresh fruit with our new best friend, "Ann" or Ms. Napapan Yapanya, the owner of our guest house. She has been wonderful, helping us set up cooking classes and elephant jungle treks. Tonight we go to the former but have been warned not to eat too much since we have the latter to look forward to tomorrow.

Tia and I seem to be very compatible, especially in our style and approach to traveling. Hooray! We've already made plans to travel to New Zealand and Turkey in the future. Everyday so far we've had a conversation pondering how to financially support a life long addiction to travel. Any ideas?

I'll leave you with a list of my favorite things thus far: mini colorful shrines to Buddah ouside every business, raw silk that blesses your skin with its touch, sweet peanut sauce that burns your tounge but you can't stop devouring, silver sparkly scarves that wave in the market breeze, and the omnipresent politeness and bowed greetings from every Thai you meet. How lucky we are to have a whole month in this amazing country.

Lots of love!

Stay posted for more enthralling news from the East. :)