"Moto Bi"

Yesterday Mark, Phil, and I rented motor bikes here in Chiang Mai. For $3 a day and less than $3 of gas, we had the bikes for a full 24 hours. Chiang Mai is a little more laid back and easy to get around than any other city we've been in, so we figured it was a good place to try them out. Yes Mom, we wore helmets like all the other "farang". While traffic was the lightest compared to any other city, it was still challenging to figure out. But we got the hang of it no problem and avoided any dangerous situations. It took us about 2 hours to find our hostel on our bikes, since every time we rode around the city we were in the back of a truck taxi and couldn't see anything. But getting lost was actually kinda fun because we learned our way around. Last night, a group of about 15 of us went out for a little fun. Surprisingly, the ratio of girls to guys is quite good here in our hostel. Our group included 4 guys and about 10 or 11 girls, mostly from England and one from N. Ireland who is a crack up. It was another late night, which made today a little rough. But after we nourished our bodies with a little American burgers, we decided to head up the mountain on our "moto bis" to see a famous Wat (temple). The ride also allowed us to see the whole city of Chiang Mai. The ride was really fun, winding back and forth up the hill, until it started to rain. When it rains here, its like a monsoon! It comes down harder than any rain I have been in and riding our bikes made it feel like pins and needles on our bodies. We didnt make it all the way to the Wat and we didn't want to ride in the rain (too late) so we headed back down the hill to return the bikes in town. By the time we got there (20 min ride), we looked like we had jumped into a swimming pool. We taxied back to the hostel and tonight we are just going to hang out since we are flying to Ko Samui island in southeast Thailand tomorrow.