T.I.T.

hello everyone! do people still read this? clarke? i just spent a good twenty minutes catching up on old posts, and i'm glad to see clarke has kept this baby alive (and kicking). i am a chronic non-poster, so i'll try and work on that from now on.

so April 1st, i packed a backpack and headed off to thailand and cambodia for 17 days, to visit carson (heather joined us half way through the trip as well). it was an unbelievable trip from start to finish, and going into detail on this blog wouldn't do it much justice. i highly recommend traveling to that part of the world. for starters, it is ridiculously cheap (once you drop $1000+ to get over there). all told, i spent a little over $200 once i was there (including food/hotels). the food is amazing. the people are very friendly and don't hate americans (an issue that usually puts a damper on european vacations). the scenery is beautiful, and there is tons to do.

the frisky elephants in the picture were at an elephant camp outside the city of chian mai (thailand's 2nd biggest city, and carson's former home town - she has since left for india). they were actually pretty amazing - they would take a bill from your hand with their trunk, give it to their trainer, then wrap their trunks around you for a pg-13 photo-op. they also enjoyed spraying water at you w/ their trunks, which was kind of nasty. this elephant bonding, as well as several other moments in thailand were lovingly referred to as "T.I.T" or "This is Thailand" moments. every day something happened that made you go ??? and then shout proudly T.I.T!! for example...carson and i are walking down the street, she is 5 or so feet ahead of me, and a thai family is walking towards us, all in a line. we begin to pass eachother and when i get to the end of the line, the old man stops me, shakes my hand and says something in thai with a big grin on his face, then continues on his merry way. i'm left standing there, confused and a little bit flattered...after trying to make sense of it, i finally realize, this is thailand. the three of us had a similar moment while riding through chiang mai on carson's motorbike during the height of songkran, their new year's celebration (which needs explaining...it's basically a five day, city wide, sun-up to sun-down, all out waterfight - supersoakers, buckets, hoses, everything and everyone is soaked, and it is so much fun). so the three of us are on the bike, minding our own business, when a thai pedestrian walks out in the middle of the street, stops our bike, and sings the complete chorus of "you're beautiful" by james blunt, while slowily emptying her bucket of water on us. she finishes, we thank her, and continue on our way. t.i.t.