From Chiang Mai, I started back to the south to Sukhothai, the first Thai (as opposed to Burmese or Khmer) capital in Thailand. Known for having the first free standing walking Buddhas in Thailand (the brown figure to the left), the old city and surrounds form a protected historical park. Not that new buildings don't exist, it's more that you pay to get in.

New Sukhothai (~15km away), despite being the base for most tourists coming to see the old city, doesn't have the "tourist zone" feel Pai (and even Chiang Mai) did. It could just be the lack of massage parlors and trinket stalls. Or maybe they're there but they aren't signed in English.

The next stop was seven hours nearly due east in Khon Kaen. Other than a little shopping (this is a good place to buy silk and cotton), I didn't accomplish much here. I did walk to the pond (Beung Kaen Nakhon) - the recreation area for the citizens of Khon Kaen - and pass by Wat Nongwang Muang Kao, home of the the recently completed (1997) numerologically auspicious (nine tiers - during the reign of Rama IX and the tenure of the nineth abbot since the founding of the wat...) very shiny and enormous pagoda . Not that you could miss it - it's just easier to get a photo up close (or across the lake - for a sense of scale).

Currently (until Saturday), I'm in Khorat aka Nakkon Ratchasima ("frontier country," on the road signs), about three hours by bus south of Khon Kaen. As a Christmas gift to myself, I'm staying at a proper hotel in an air-con room (highs in the high-80s in December?!?). They clean my room daily and I get the BBC world news. There are a few good day trips you can take from here - ruins at Phimai, pottery in Dan Kwian, ancient burial sites (and active archaeological dig) near Ban Prasat. There are also lots of retired expats so, in addition to Swiss and Lebanese food, most places serve burgers (not so common in Thailand).

Originally I'd planned to head south from here to the Gulf of Thailand but, as I am a little short on time, I will instead catch a train to Ayutthaya (the capitol of Thailand sacked by the Burmese - repeatedly - until the Thais moved to Bangkok) and then to Kanchanaburi and the bridge over the river Kwai. Then I can split my last ten days or so between Suan Luang (a beach town, gulf side, if I can find a room) and Bangkok (I will see the Grand Palace if I have to wear scuba gear to survive the smog). And then -- India. สวัสดีขีใหม ("Happy New Year!" pron: sawadee bee mai)

Tonight I'm back in Chiang Mai after five days in Pai (the hippie capital of Thailand). It's a lovely place to visit (as shown, left) and you can meet people from all over the world there. But you either have to work there or pass through for a few days because there is nothing to do otherwise. I considered it a vacation from my vacation. I did walk up to the "Pagoda on a hill" one morning, though to be honest I primarily did so to counter the gigantic breakfast I'd had earlier. It was the pagoda or the pool and you aren't supposed to swim right after you eat. I'll appreciate it more once I find someone to translate the signs (I took pictures). The language barrier is still the biggest issue I have here - my Thai phrasebook is turning out to be the best $7.99 I've ever spent. I get very chatty when I meet someone from another English speaking nation. You can't really get to know someone if you can only reliably say "Hello," "Thank you" and "twenty-six" (people always want to know how old I am... not quite sure why). Hope all is well - Happy Holidays!

I fled for the hills of Chiang Mai after 1.5 days in Bangkok. Go ahead and laugh (I did). The smog and the traffic was just too much after clean, orderly New Zealand. There's a lot more I want to see there - I'll try again a few days before my flight to India. Maybe the tourist ghetto will be more familiar...

Chiang Mai (in the north) is a nice, small city - I almost know where I am most of the time. So far I've only really had two days here - the other three I spent "trekking" through the jungle. There wasn't really that much hiking (but we cover ground at a high rate when we did) mostly we rode in the back of pickup trucks and ate. The guides do all the cooking and cleaning up so our other major responsibility is sitting and politely refusing to buy souvenirs. Also, applying insect repellent. It was interesting though - our guide , "Rambo," grew up in a village in the area we visited and runs this tour pretty regularly so he knew a lot of the people we passed and quite a bit about the history of the region and the plant and animal life. The first day/night we were grouped with a Dutch couple and an Israeli family doing the two day version of our tour. I know most people get annoyed about having kids on tours but it just cracks me up. The little boy was just running everywhere, climbing trees, chasing puppies - it's better than television. we split after breakfast leaving me and three guys to trudge through the jungle to the next village. The last day we went bamboo rafting and elephant riding before barreling back to Chiang Mai in the back of a (substantially more comfortable) pick up truck.

I spent today trying to get my bearings and looking at temples. There are quite a few in the 1Km square old town and even more in the surrounding new city. I don't know much about the significance of the architecture or the poses of Buddha but the temples are still nice to visit. They're just so much more shiny (actually tiled in bits of mirror) and colorful than other religious sites I've seen. And sometimes it's almost peaceful on the grounds. "Nancy" (every guide at her agency is called Nancy), my tour guide through Bangkok did point out the different Khmer (embroidered robes), Indian (slim, crown of snakes), and Chinese (fat) representations of Buddha and how sitting Buddha has something to do with calm while standing Buddha has to do with peace but I was pretty jet-lagged so the details are a bit fuzzy. Maybe I'll take the tour again when I get back to Bangkok.