Chiang Mai: Highlights Reel

Best Experiences: Anna

1. The secluded, derelict beauty of the jungle temple Wat Pha Lat
2. Splashing around the sticky falls at Nam Tok Bua Tong
3. Having my feet washed in the heavenly, perfumed water in the courtyard of Zira Spa after 72 hrs of travel

Best Experiences: Aaron

1. Learning to cook laap muu with Arm, who followed everything I said with a flat-toned, perhaps sarcastic “wow”
2. Feeling tiny and huge in my first cave, Tham Lot
3. The incredibly normal first temple we wandered into; it was gilded, technicolor, wide-open, and just one of the three hundred temples like it in Chiang Mai

Best Meals: Anna

1. Khao soi at Khao Soi Lam Duan Fah Ham: too spicy to eat, too yummy not to
2. Barbecue red tilapia at Lert Ros: cooked to perfection
3. Pork laap Aaron made at our cooking class: Arm’s recipe was salty, funky, spicy goodness

Best Meals: Aaron

1. Barbecue tilapia at Lert Ros, as above
2. Spring rolls at Awana House, because I’m basic
3. Pork laap, as above

Blooper Reel

1. Aaron tried to translate soy milk into Thai so his lactose-intolerant digestive system could have a latte. The barista he was trying to communicate this to looked at him like he was insane. We later realized Google Translate thought he was translating from Spanish instead of English. He had been saying “I am milk” over and over to this poor woman in Thai.
2. A Thai man on the street walked up to us, smiling, and put his hand as high as it would go in the air. We looked at him quizzically. “Very tall,” he said to Aaron. 
3. The owners of Coffee Plus gave Aaron some lychee to try. He ate it– all of it, skin included– and we spent the next 15 minutes trying to Google if he was going to die.