Adventure to Asia: Thailand Pt. 2

Monday, July 21: Chiang Mai, Thailand (continued)
After we got back from the cooking class we waited at the hostel for Jillian's Peace Corps friends who were also visiting from the Philippines and heading to Chiang Mai that day. I was really really homesick. We were in really touristy areas but I would be lying if I said I didn't want to come back to the states. In fact, for most of the trip I was counting down to going home. Looking back I had an awesome time, but I was really homesick.

As we were waiting at the hostel Jillian's friends walked over from their hostel. They guys that ran ours were starting to joke that Jillian made up these "friends." They were hungry so we walked to a restaurant and hung out.

After eating we walked to a nearby temple called Wat Pra Singh Voramahavihara. Since three of us didn't have appropriate clothing on or sari's we stayed outside and walked the grounds. Apparently, there was a life size statue of a monk inside who recently died. As I was taking pictures of the ground there were a bunch of stray cats. I was taking picture of one and a black one (pictured below) came up and started rubbing against me. I don't usually like cats but it was cute!

Then we walked across the streets and got drinks at a place called Henry Restaurant. We sat and talked for a while then walked back to our hostel to meet some others who were going to a Muay Thai fight. While I don't condone fighting of any kind and I'm not a fan of boxing I felt like I should experience the culture and it was something to do. There were several different matches and one was to raise money. They blindfolded about 4 guys and had them fight in the ring. It was just for fun and it was so funny because these guys couldn't see anything they were doing. A few different times they grabbed the ref and started hitting them. I laughed so hard.