heaven

Well, I think I might be in heaven.

I'm quite jet lagged, so I was up very early today, around 3:30 am. I probably would've been up anyway, but I actually woke to a rooster cock-a-doodle-do-ing outside my window. No need for an alarm clock here!

In the morning I decided to take a shopping trip, and my roommate Marisa suggested I check out the mall which is conveniently located within walking distance from our house. I have to say, I don't think I have EVER sweated as much per minute as I did on the way to the mall. It is really hot here! Not unbearable for me since I'm used to North Carolina weather; thank goodness for that or I would've REALLY been in for a surprise!

Anyway, when I stepped into the mall I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It is by far the largest mall I have ever been to, and it was just filled with adorable shoes, delicious food, and the cutest kitsch you've ever seen. If you know me, you know I've got a thing for Hello Kitty, and I think I might go broke if I allow myself to buy all the adorable little items the mall has to offer. Oh, and the SHOES. Ohhhhh the SHOES. All the women here are about my height, so they have the most awesome selection of cute little heels. I have a feeling that by the end of the trip I may have to mail all my shoes back in FedEx boxes.

They also have a grocery store in the mall, so I was able to pick up a few things. The only kind of weird part of my day was during my lunch at the mall, when this older Australian guy chatted me up. He was sitting at the table across from me, and just started chatting with me and offered up some advice, which I am in desperate need of. It all started off fine, but then this 60-year-old man from Sydney starting HITTING ON ME! This was AFTER he told me he has two kids in their twenties. EWWWWW! At that point, I politely weasled my way out of the conversation and went home. Lesson learned: no talking to strangers, even if they do speak English. On the bright side, he did suggest some great places to visit and some English book stores where I can get a Thai pocket guide. So not totally terrible.

There are definitely some different things I've noticed about the city. Sadly, there are a lot of stray dogs because people can't afford to pay the 600 baht ($18) to neuter them. I saw several limping around on my walk to the mall; very, very sad. On the other hand, that's really the only sad thing I've seen! The greenery here is beautiful, lots of banana and other fruit trees which just look like palm trees to me. There are cute little geckos around, too. Chiang Mai is located in a valley surrounded by mountains, so I'm excited to go on one of the tourist-y trips to the mountain temples.

I'm also VERY proud to report that I haven't gotten sick from the food at all! Although, I've heard a lot of people don't. The Thais don't even drink the water here themselves; it gets delivered to the door every week in bottles, kind of like old-time milk delivery. Oh, and the food is AWESOME. I cannot stress enough how absolutely delighted my tastebuds are to be here. Last night for dinner, I had the best pad thai of my life, and it was from a street vendor and cost about $0.90. YUM.

Well, I'm awaiting my boss for a meeting and he just got here! Ciao!