more chiang mai

for the last week or so we've been getting ourselves acquainted with thai culture in chiang mai and around. one thing this means is local (street) food for which we've had to learn the phrase "what the heck do you call this?" deliciously questionable things wrapped in banana leaves and roasted for 10 baht - can't beat it! to quickly summarize what we've been up to:
-- walking, sampling, walking, sampling, walking... diarrhea medication.
-- bartering and laughing
-- trekking into n. thailand hill tribes, swimming in waterfalls along the way, sleeping in bamboo huts, and playing the dice game "farkle" with our thai tour guides, neung and singha, who absolutely LOVED it (thanks to grandma and grandpa R.!).
-- squatty potties and mastering the sprayer method.
--showering more in one day that we did in any given week during our travels in the U.S.
--clambering through a jungle on a steep muddy trail -- atop an elephant.
--late night talks with our brit and frenchman fellow travellers, tom and kevin.
-- zipping around on a moped on streets filled with whole families on motorbikes, and where stoplights and roadlines are optional.... on the superhighway... in a monsoon.

**this is where we thank the moms for their prayers.

--visiting cornerstone christian counseling center and gathering food for thought regarding mental health in missions. helping their on-site maintenance/security guard, thop, paint his living quarters, which was in great need.
--celebrating the mark of the beginning of the 28th year of ADAM we wish we could have had you all here to eat his favorite Mediterranean cuisine and mosey about the night bazaar.

for now, we are off to near chiang rai to help with an orphanage that is just getting off the ground. we think of so many of our friends and family here and are growing fonder as we are absent from you!