[From Lauren] Once upon a time in Pai...

Hi all,
Here we are in Pai, the most picturesque, calm but lively place we've
encountered.  We are lucky enough to be here right before the busy season when
the locals throw themselves a huge festival with lanterns in the sky, fair
games, and live music...not to mention all the food you can imagine and enough
shopping to wear out even the most experienced shopper.  We rented motorbikes
to tour around outside the city (if you can even call it that), driving
through the countryside to waterfall after waterfall. Mom and Peter are
heading up to Mai Sai, in northern Thailand tomorrow to renew their visas.
I'll stay here in this heaven for a few more days...we head out to Southern
Thailand on Monday...can't wait for the beaches!

Before this we spent nearly a week in Chiang Mai where I found the bugs
unbearable.  The humidity was amazing and showers were necessary several times
a day, although I many times skipped them since doing so meant I'd have to
once again thoroughly cover my body in bug repellent.  We did find lots of
great food and spent three days trekking through the hilltribe villages,
sleeping under mosquito nets (although the bugs weren't nearly as bad as in
the city), eating homecooked meals, riding elephants, and whitewater rafting.
It was an amazing experience, save the five minutes I thought I was going to
fall off the neck of the elephant I was riding and be trampled beneath his foot.

I've finally uploaded some pics...you can take a look at them if you'd like (I
tried to limit the number and give some descriptions beneath them):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17903&l=46dd9&id=592800063

Love hearing from y'all, hope you're safe...we're getting all the details
about the fires...it's worldwide news.

Love to you all,
~Lauren ;-)