Temple Time!

This morning, we woke up and struck out for some thai breakfast. I was determined to have some mangos and sweet sticky rice, as I was told it is a great way to start the day. We found a place pretty quick with an english menu and the dish in question for around 2 dollars. When it came out, I was shocked at the size. It was at least two and a half large mangoes cut up and a helping of sticky rice with some sweetened coconut milk mixed in. I wish this was a scratch-and-taste blog, because then you could share in this delight. Really fresh mangoes (in season here too), and the rice was so good. Sticky rice is something I have to figure out how to do right at home. Its quite dry on its own, and you could literally make a snowball out of it and throw it, and not have any rice on your hands.

After breakfast, we walked a bit, but it was brutally hot today so we went back to the room to regroup and hydrate before striking out. Our goal for the day was to see a couple temples in the area, so first we made for Doi Suthep, a mountain just outside town. There is a temple up top that boasts gorgeous views over the entire Mae Ping valley that the city sits in. To get there, we took a shared sangthew (maybe wrong spelling), which is a pick-up truck with benches in the back that holds about 10 people (or 14 if they hang on the outside too). Its a cheap way to get around since you split the fare with everyone inside. They drive around town and honk the horn at people walking, and you wave if you want in. The driver pretty much makes up the route as he goes depending on where people are going. Its somewhat alarming to see thai people hopping on the back while its moving to catch a ride. Anyways, we rode up with a japanese dude who was on a trip around the world. I chatted him up pretty good, and we talked about his home, our home, and his plans (it was about a 20 minute ride). At the top of the mountain, we hopped out to see the temple and view the overlook. It was really busy, but very beautiful. You can check out the pictures at the end, where I will put the slideshow of the days photos.

After this, we hit up the trusty 7-11 for water and snacks. The heat was now full-on, with temperature around 100 degrees and sticky humidity. We hopped in a tuk-tuk to a forest temple in town, which was very peaceful. There were caves to explore and lots of monks around. Near the end of the walk, I started to feel extremely weak and shaky, mainly from not eating enough (hard to believe with this much great food around). Christie rescued me with a granola bar and a bottle of water, but the stray dogs wanted in on it too :) We walked over to a street food vendor and I just pointed around like an idiot and ended up with a nice bowl of noodles and meatballs (I think it was chinese-style). Also I snagged a lemongrass juice, which was very refreshing. Its so hot here that water starts to taste gross after noon, and you need something with salt and sugar in it to keep yourself going. My bowl of noodles was around 85 cents with the juice, not bad.

Now we will be heading to dinner at a fusion restaurant which is somewhat fancy.... We will report on it later. Cheers!