We arrived in Chiang Mai after an uneventful day of travel on Wednesday. After a good night's sleep we met some of our fellow adventurers, all here for a 12 day Wild Women Adventure Tour. Among other things we will be hiking, biking rafting, and visiting elephants. Since our adventure doesn't officially start until this evening we joined five others for a walk through part of the city today.
Chiang Mai is one of the largest cities in Thailand with a population of over 900,000 in the metropolitan area. It is a charming city, surrounded by mountains and lush countryside. Today's rain no doubt contributed to the lushness.
Our walk took us through several market areas, across busy streets and along the Ping River. We browsed, stopped for coffee, shopped, stopped for pad Thai at a roadside cart and eventually made our way to the other side of the river. One more stop for drinks to stay out of the rain for a bit and then it was back to the EcoLodge.
We met our tour leader and the other group members at 6. After introductions and information about the next few days of our tour we went for dinner at a local thai restaurant. The food was delicious.
The festival of Loy Krathong is being celebrated across Thailand for the next couple of days. People put floating krathong - decorated baskets on rivers and launch lanterns. In fact tonight we can see thousands of lanterns floating high above us. They look like a sea of brilliant stars. Apparently when you let a lantern go you let go of all your troubles. The number up there tells me that there will be nothing but carefree living in Chiang Mai for the foreseeable future!
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