Truly is the land of smiles

Hello all,
Well I'm two weeks into the course. It is actually kind of tough, but it is alot of fun. The students are a good time. Its amazing the different ways you can teach English. The teachers don't really like my South Dakota accent. To be honest with ya, I don't really like their British accent. But they are pretty cool for the most part.
The place they have us staying at is pretty nice. It is outside of town and there is a lake around it. It kind of reminds me of the swiss family robinson living style. Even though we have HBO. But everything is made of wood and it is really lush around here even for being the dry season.
About the food! The food is pretty good for the most part. Unless you get it to spicy. So much rice and noodles. Chicken, Pork and Beef. The street food is really good though. This thing called sticky rice with mangos is amazing. There is fresh fruit everywhere. Everytime I go into town I get a fruit shake. It is fresh fruit mixed with Ice or milk and they are amazing for like 50 cents.
I can't wait for this course to be over. I'm going on a trek in a national park North of Chang Mai after the course. . Another guy from America and a Pakistani are going. It is suppose to be pretty cool. You hit up some waterfalls and some hill tribe villages. Then you raft back down the river. I think you even ride an elephent. But I will tell you about it when I'm done.
Another great thing about the timing of the end of the course is that one of the biggest festivals in Southeast asia starts right when I get done. It is the New Year here. The biggest water festival in the world. I guess I will try to tell you about that when it is over also. I'll have alot more freedom once this course is over.
Everywhere you go the Thais smile at you. I going jogging in this village in the morning. No one knows a word of English. But everyone gives you a big smile. The little kids run up to the end of their yards, and one a get a glimpse of the crazy white guy running through the village.
I will put pictures up after this course. So give me two-three weeks!

Above is a picture where i'm staying

Peace

Arrival

Was up people!

I arrived in Bangkok a few days ago. The flight wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be. I met a pretty cool dude from Serbia that gave a ride in his car down to Kan Soa Road.

Kan Soa Road is a melting pot of people from all over the world. I swear I could have met someone from each and every country if I tried. It was really fun. I went and explored some temples with some Norwegion Girls that had been backpacking SouthEast Asia for a bout three months.

I didn't get to spend to much time in Bangkok because I had to take the train to Chang Mai. I took a night train which was quite nice. They gave you a nice dinner. Then everyone kind of chilled out and went to bed. I nice Thai lady knew where my guest house was and gave me directions to my guest house.

Once I got to Chang Mai is where the real adventure got started. Some crazy Austrailain talked me and a Canadian Girl into renting mopeds for the day. You have to drive on the wrong side of the road. It is pretty crazy driving over here. Well we ended up driving the mopeds up to the highest mountain next to Chang Mai. There was a huge temple with 306 steps to the top. The temple was really neat. You have to take your shoes off before going in. It was a very relaxing feeling. Very soft music and Thais giving the Budda statue gifts of all sorts. The view would have been amazing. Because the City of Chang Mai is in a valley and the mountain climbs strait up to around 5500 feet. But, it was cloudy and we couldn't see the city very well. The food has been actually really good. But I have seen some weird stuff. Like cockroaches for sale and fried tap worms. The aussie and the canadian tried the tap worms, i fell into the peer pressure and tried it! It actually wasn't so
bad. The Aussie actually took a bite out of the cockroach, he said it was the sickest thing he had ever bitten.

But after the first week in Thailand. I am really enjoying myself. This culture is so peacefull. The food is absolutely amazing(Except for the BUGS). The geography and landscape is so cool. The people of Thailand are so pleasant and peacefull. It is so cool meeting backpackers and travelers from all over the world. I will try and update my blog about once every week or so. During this month course there pry won't be much to write about.

Peace,
Martin