Middle East and SE Asia - 2024

We'll, we've been exploring Chiang Mai in the north west of Thailand now for three days, and thoroughly enjoying the change from both Ko Tao and Bangkok.  Bangkok was a typical Southeast Asian capital city - big, chaotic, bustling with energy and very hot and sticky ;-), Ko Tao was a typical beach town- very much like some of the places we've visited in Costa Rica. Chiang Mai is a busy city - the largest in the north of Thailand, but much less sprawling and developed in comparison to Bangkok.  More importantly, it's in the foothills of the Himalayas, so it's quite a bit cooler here!  Most days do far it's been in the high 70's to low 80's(F), so much more comfortable than at the beach or in Bangkok, where it was a humid 90F+ every day... We're staying in a small hotel in the old city - about a mile square area surrounded by the protective most built in the 14th century.  While much of the historic architecture has been lost, the many rema...

So... Even in a tropical paradise it's got to rain a little some of the time right?  We'll, it looks like we got a full share yesterday and today ;-).  Yesterday we took a full day snorkeling trip that was supposed to ride all the way around the island popping in to a series of the best spots, but due to an approaching tropical storm, the seas on entire west side of the island were too rough for our boat, so we stuck to the more sheltered south and east shores.  It was still pretty nice through about 1pm, as we saw all kinds of fish, some really nice corals, and a few giant clams with the iridescent blue lips. After that time, however, a series of rain squalls blew in and pretty well drowned out the remainder of the day, as the wind and swells continued to pick up. By the time we got back to the main Ko Tao pier, we were really glad we'd brought our umbrellas, as the rain was pelting down.  Today it's been coming down almost constantly, alternating between a gentle ...