Thailand

For Christmas, Allison and I went into bustling Chiang Mai and spent several hours running around a busy, smelly, crowded, and amazing market, buying food for a traditional Thai feast. The girls were stoked, we were stuffed...

We learned that the smaller the pepper, the spicier it is, as the capsaicin and seeds are more concentrated. Also, green is spicier than red...

Rigging up for the party, the rope was good for something more than tug-of-war.

The girls at this orphanage came from Mynamar, and surrounding hill tribes in Thailand. Some were there because parents were in jail or on drugs, and others had been refugees from fighting in Myanmar. The orphanage was an awesome place, that provided a safe home for them from age 4 to 18. After graduating high school, the girls are encouraged to go to the local college or learn a trade, and the orphanage helps them to network a future that it far different from where they would have ended up without it.

From there, it was sightseeing, cooking classes with a Thai TV chef, and indoor climbing in Chiang Mai to burn off some of that cocnut milk.


Panang Curry flavored Larabars?
Important note: If you've just made concentrated Panang Curry paste from scratch, by hand-mixing the ingredients, definitely also wash your hands before peeing. Good Lord...


Che says we ought to curtail global warming, but his stance seems nuanced. What are those quotes hiding? Why wont he just commit?

The city of temples lived up to its name, but eventually they all started to look the same to us.

With our time in Chiang Mai over, we caught a longtail boat from Krabi to Tonsai Beach's famous limestone cliffs!

If some of the pictures from this post look a bit better than the traditional Herrington standard, it is owing to a new camera, rather than any increase in photographic abilities. I bought myself a Canon S90 for Christmas. Thanks to several knowledgeable friends who gave camera advice, they all have excellent photography to view:

Garrett Grove's Bellingham-Based Photography

Mikey Schaefer, Climbing Photos From Around the World

Alasdair Turner's Mountain Photgraphy from an Alpine Guide

Forest Woodward's Pictures of People and their Places