Alexa and Kori's SE Asia Adventures: Leaving Chiang Mai on to Koh Chang

Tomorrow we leave Chiang Mai and fly to Bangkok and hopefully get on an over night bus to Koh Chang - an Island near the southern Cambodia / Thailand border. We have loved our time in Chiang Mai. The first day we arrived we walked around the city, Kori got fitted for her suits and we were able to attend their famous Sunday night market. Which had amazing street food and all sorts of useless junk - which Alexa and I participated in...we now have a blinking flying airplane, multiple bracelets, and paintings. We were able to meet up with some friends that we met in Southern Thailand, who showed us the "lady boy" district. Our cooking teacher taught us the phrase "same same but different", which is what lady boys tell men that figure out that they aren't actually women. Prostitution is so open here it is crazy. Luckily being girls we aren't really subjected to the hollers of the lady boys. The third day we took a cooking class, as mentioned in the last post. We took a train into the countryside and rode bikes to pick our ingredients. We each made five different courses throughout the day and it was all sooo good. Highly recommend this class. We made three different type of curries, traditional Thai dishes, apps, desserts and soups. Can't wait to cook for our fams! The next day, our friend Tony took us on an adventure in the mountains. We somehow both fit on the back of his bike and we drove to a nearby hiking trail. We hiked for a couple hours and then made our way to a famous temple on top of a hill. Before making our way back to the city we stopped at a water fall and did a rock slide with the locals. That night we ate at a street market and it was all so good. After our cooking classes we now know what each cart is making (it isn't in english) and love to try it all! It is so cheap and more authentic then restaurants. The next day we did a two day trek - two hours outside of the city. We rode elephants, hiked 3-4 hours along a river, went swimming / played in waterfalls and ended up in a hillside village that is home to 50 people in the Karen Tribe. We played volleyball and soccer with the local kids and got a very yummy home cooked meal served in candle light (the village doesn't have electricty). We slept in one of the families hut which was somewhat uncomfortable but fun to see how the tribes live. Basically in a wooden shed with just blankets and pillows. It was really humbling to see how they were living. We woke up at 4 am due to the sounds of the roosters and the village buffaloes. They kill them on special occasions. Our guide kept pointing to the animals saying "BBQ". haha. The village kids were adorable and were so fun to play with. At one point they were jumping from trees onto a buffalo and putting a stick in its butt. They have to amuse themselves somehow. It was also interesting to see the difference from the boys in the village to the girls. The girls are expected to just have babies, while the boys are allowed to play sports and go to school...(I know what you are thinking Matt and Steve!). The next day, we played with the kids some more and took about 50 pictures with men who were visiting the village. After we left the village we did some more hiking and ended our trek bamboo rafting. It was a lot of fun! Locals lined the river and tried to make us fall off the raft / threw water at us...it was pretty amusing. After we got back from our trek we got 2 hour massages which cost $12 and it was the best we have had! The next time we write we will be in Cambodia...hope all is well!