Sawadee Kaaaaaaaaaaa!

Bangkok, you love it or you hate it. Well I hate it, it's busy it's filthy and I am passed my single years and traveling with wife and kid. We are somewhat accusing the blow of having been with the family, not in a negative way but the feeling of needing to be alone re-center and get back into a traveling mode is present in all of us. We even mentioned going back home but that thought only lasted for a milli second.

We left Bangkok after some shopping and a long tail ride on the klongs. We didn't realy get ripped but our long tail turned out to be an outdated short tail who was about twice slower then anything on the river. The trip got short due to Matthew having tremendous ear pain.
So after many a discussion we decided not to put ourselves through the ordeal of riding the eleven hour train to Chiang Mai but opted for the one hour flight instead.
The kids have been impossible for the last few days, Matthew has been rebellious and Julian is being a whiner. I suppose that my new tactic in reacting without shouting is causing some confusion and therefore triggering testing reactions.
We got to Chiang Maiwhere my friend Dirk, whom I hadn't seen in twenty odd years, took care of us for the next two days, got a car today and started exploring the city.
We did take Matthew to the hospital to check out his ear and I was stunned by the efficiency of the packed place, he was diagnosed with a medium ear infections and a week of antmbiotics should get him back to his old self. Just as good we left coastal grounds.
The friendliness of the Thai towards the children is without any parallel especially towards green/blond curly wurly. We were sitting at bistro Number One, in the middole of the hot Chiang Mai hoping to get a curry worst but had to settle for bitterballen en mexicano, a revelation after six month of traveling.

Having said that there is, as most of you know, books and books I could dedicate to Thai street cooking.
The little stalls are uncountable the variety is endless the taste is amazing the colors stunning and the price ridiculous. Top that with just about everything being low calorie and here stands a happy Henry in a tasting mood. I could live on noodles and sushi forever (those bitterballen were tremendous though).

We are slowly getting back into our traveling shoes and I suppose the main thing we realized we needed as incentive was nature. So of to the hill tribes we will start moving before slowly starting to explore the North of Thailand probably to start driving back to Bangkok following a Noth Eastern route. More will be revealed.