A Message From A Friend
My friend from Chicago, Tari, is in Chiang Mai for a couple of months. Unfortunately, she’s going to be leaving before we arrive. She just sent me this message:
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Subject: Chiangmai!
HI bess,
i am in Chiangmai right now for 6 weeks doing my Thai yoga massage course 
I am staying at a great guesthouse called Ban Kong Rao www.bankongrao.com and I am paying 10,000 baht for the month. I’d highly recommend it. The owner has a little flower dsign business too and each room is named after a flower. She speaks great English too which is hard to find here!
There are quite a few expats though and tons of travellers. Everyone rides motorbikes like crazy! Seb will upload our Chiangmai picks as soon as her gets internet access in Laos ( he is traveling through Laos with his best friend Paule while I am here). Even little kids ride motorbikes here! It is hilarious to see everyone piling on – I saw one bike with a whole family on it and Grannie was holding a huge potted plant to boot!
The people are unbelievably sweet here though and very nice. It is also super safe. The healthcare is great here too – I went to the hospital yesterday for a checkup for school and I only had to wait 20 minutes, and the total was 300 baht – or 9 dollars!
When Seb was here it was kind of hard to remember that Thais strongly disaprove of PDA (you see NO PDA here). We would forget and like put our arm around each other (mild PDA for USA) and the Thai people around us would all turn away! Thais are so modest too. They don’t approve of bare shoulders! Seb had to borrow a hilarious pair of baggy pants in Bangkok to go into a temple there because he had on shorts.
There are also 7-Elevens everywhere here and in Bangkok too! Odd, but convenient. Chiangmai is such a great place – you are lucky! It is a beautiful mix of super old and modern, of traditional and new and of all socioeconomic levels.
Sorry I never got back to you about work on my website. I had a whirlwind summer in Chicago with family obligations and whatnot and now I’m here, so I haven’t had a chance to even do anything for it. Once I return to Chicago though, I will have a better idea of what I’ll need. I’d love to check in with you then to see if you have any availability.
Kap Khun Ka!
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