Quiet Americans

We spent one last day in Boh Put at an adorable guest house called the Red Room. I highly recommend staying here if you ever have the chance. We spent the day laying on the deck, drinking Singha, and talking about how great our lives were. Unfortunately we were brought back to reality by an evening hangover from the Singha and Brittanie had a bout with hives from the sheets. The first step in the Boh Put addiction program is admitting you have a problem. The second step is getting out of there. So we did just that.

Next we flew up to Chiang Mai, which is now my new favorite place. There is a chance that I am transferring my Boh Put addiction but I'm going to go with it. Thailand's motto is "Land of the Smiles" and until this point I thought it was a bit off. In the same vein as "The Garden State." Yes, there are some stunning parts of Jersey and I'm sure there are some very established horticulturists but it always struck me as a bit weird (no disrespect to my friends on the turnpike). It has been the same with Thailand. I have seen smiles, and teeth, and for the most part everyone is pleasant - but it wasn't until Chiang Mai that I truly got behind the whole Smileland thing. Everyone is genuine and kind. And everything is about half as expensive as Koh Samui, which makes me smile.

Last night we went to a Thai cooking class, which was amazing. I am happy to announce that I am now an established Thai chef and I would like to invite you all over for dinner when I return ($12 each). Honestly, the food we cooked was some of the best Thai food that I have ever had and the whole experience was perfect.

We shared our time with a group of Tasmanians, who were hilarious. As with everyone that we have met they were surprised to find out that we are Americans. We get a lot of Canadian and Australian (even from other Aussie's which is weird) guesses and I got an Irish guess at one point. No idea where that came from. When we tell them that we are American they all respond with "You are the quietest Americans that we have ever met!" I take this as a compliment but am also alarmed because I think 'quiet' would be near the end of the adjectives used to describe this duo so I am horrified to imagine who they have come across in the past. Yikes.

Oh, and while I'm talking about American reactions - everyone is so incredibly excited about Obama. They actually don't really bash Bush (at least not as much as Americans) but say that they are excited to stop the "crazy war." Me too. They also love the Eagles and Sean Kingston.