our first day in chiang mai

yesterday, we successfully looked at and chose an apartment! we will get to move in on saturday.
so as not to be redundant, i will direct you to luke's blog for more details on this expedition. (see the link on the side to get to his blog). we had a very helpful guide.

we walked around town a lot yesterday and got a feel for it here. there are many trees and already more grass and parks than bangkok! we found a couple book stores. the next order of business is for me to find a bike, because i still refuse to ride the motorcycle at our work. this city is definitely bike-able, although it could be a sweaty endeavor.

we ate dinner at the hotel last night and one of the waitresses started talking to us. she was very nice, and it turns out she lives in philadelphia and has a restaurant there! she has driven through vermont, gone to quebec many times and loves lake champlain! what a small world. we chatted with her again at breakfast. our first friend in chiang mai.

so today we are off to register with the us consulate and discover more things around chiang mai. nick is coming here on a flight and has a three hour layover, so hopefully we will be eating lunch with him since we are all done apartment hunting.

oh and the tidbit for the day....
thai toilets: there are many western toilets around in nice places like our hotel and apartment building and the airport. one difference though is that you cannot throw toilet paper in them because the sewer system is not set up to handle it. so the solution is to have a sprayer, similar to your kitchen sink sprayer on the wall. you spray first, then wipe to dry, and then put the paper in the garbage. but a thai style toilet is different. it is kind of like peeing in the woods except that it doesn't spray all over your feet. there is a white porcelain bowl that is really low to the ground. the sides have tread on them and this is where your feet go. you stand on the bowl, and then squat. the angle of the bowl prevents most backsplash. the only problem is that there is never any toilet paper here. and instead of the sprayer, there is a big bucket or basin filled with standing water with a bowl in it. you are supposed to rinse off with said bowl. this water also gets poured into the toilet to 'flush' (there is no actual flush). i have not been brave enough to use the ladle method yet, and still carry toilet paper everywhere!