Ferocious, Highly Poisonous, Man-Eating Leeches

There are lots of exciting things to talk about! But I think this might have to be a short post because Olivia just turned on the TV and is watching Sean of the Dead. HAHAHAHA! Man, Simon Pegg is hilarious.  But enough of that.  As far as Thailand is concerned, I'll get started with the activities of last night.  So, Olivia has developed this super depressing theory about Kob, our friend from Muay Thai.  He's one of those kids that got shipped off when he was 8 to a training center to learn the art of Thai kickboxing.  This naturally means he doesn't  have time to go to school.  Olivia has now convinced herself...and me, that since Kob has never been to school, and most of the Muay Thai people are foreigners, he has no friends.  That's why he's so excited every time Olivia and I get to the gym...and he always says "You my friend! My friend!"  So, Olivia has decided that it's our job to befriend him.  I agreed that this was a noble goal, and so we invited him and Sean to the night market! After Muay Thai we all took a tuk tuk across the Nawarat bridge into the "touristy" part of the city to the Bazaar.

Me about to hog all to food from poor skinny Sean.

I bought 2 pairs of knock-off Ray Bans to replace my super cool ones that I sat on the other night.  I don't think Sean bought anything, but I thought it was funny that he loved to look at the Batman-shaped throwing blades, and Captain America t-shirts.  What a nerd!  Kob was falling asleep by 8 o'clock, and I don't think he could afford anything at the market anyway.  He really wanted a pair of these Nike shoes, but when Olivia told him to get them he just said "no money."  I wanted to by them for him cause they were only like $15, but I wasn't sure if that would be offensive....  Anyway, it started to rain and rather than brave the elements, in the proper Thai fashion, we found refuge in a restaurant.  The food was alright.

Disappointingly small serving of duck noodles.

 But the portions were pretty small, and it was kinda pricey.  My guess is because it's kind of a touristy area.  Luckily, Sean and Kob, both as skinny as bean poles,  didn't eat too much, which meant there was plenty for Olivia and I.  We ate family style where we all just picked one entree each and then shared.  Oh, and just as a side note, there are tons of drag queens at the night bazaar.  Which I don't really get.  Kob just thinks they are really gross.  But I guess that's where the Muay Thai instructors get the term "Lady Boy".  That's what they call all the foreign guys that obviously haven't renewed their gym memberships in a few years.  Anyway, we all had a lot of fun looking at all the nifty stuff together, but Kob was wiped, so we had a pretty early night.  Either way, Olivia and I were very pleased with how things turned out, because now I think we are officially friends with Sean and Kob. 

Olivia being...I dunno....Japaneseish.  And a sleepy Kob.

Super cool bug I found.  It's like a giant roly-polly, but it felt like a marble. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them today because we couldn't make it to Muay Thai.  We went on a hike through the jungle instead! Michelle (from the office) invited us to go up to Pang Soon lodge today and help her remark the trails.  Olivia and I couldn't refuse such an exciting invitation, and so today we found ourselves hiking through several miles of "trails" in the jungle.  Aunty C (super cute old lady that does all the cooking at the office) packed us a lunch of rice, chicken and basil, which we loaded up into the truck, along with some leech-proof socks and trail cameras.  After one last look-around, we decided we hadn't forgotten anything, and so we hit the road.  I don't know if Olivia has introduced Thor in a previous post, so I'll just put my 2 cents in.  He's possibly one of the goofiest people I have ever met.  We were sitting under a lamb-yai tree (type of fruit) the other day.  He peels the skin off of one to reveal the soft, juicy interior.  "Mmmm...eyeball" he says, as he pops it into his mouth. "You want some?"  What a goof!  Anyway, Thor was driving.  Michelle was in the front passenger seat, and Olivia and I rode in the back.  As we were making the long drive up to Pang Soon (it's  just over an hour drive from Chiang Mai), she told us what we were going to be doing.  Pretty much all we had to do was replace the existing trail markers with the newer ones.  And when I say trail markers, think 2x3 inch rectangles of aluminum nailed to a tree.  Also, don't think nicely groomed trails.  We often got lost in the jungle because the trails aren't exactly what you'd call defined paths.  It was super fun though!  We saw SO many cool bugs, and plants, and mushrooms.  We were up marking the "trail" for about 5 hours.  Around 1ish Olivia and Michelle were about to collapse from hunger, so we stopped on a little ridge and ate our tasty Thai cuisine overlooking the misty mountains.  It was really a beautiful place...even if I did leave covered in leeches and ticks! We also had to set up the camera, in order to do some wildlife surveys.  Unfortunately, Michelle bought a really crummy padlock for it.  I pointed out the fact that if the lock rusted she wouldn't be able to get the camera out of the anti-theft case to see the pictures.  So, we didn't get to set the camera up...but maybe that just means we will get to go up to the lodge again!  We did manage to survey some staked-off quadrants and identify some plant species, though. That was pretty cool.  Oh, and it also started pouring during lunch, and lasted the rest of the trek.  But I didn't mind.  I like the rain much better than the constant sweating!  Okay, I apologize for the poor organization of this post...but Simon Pegg shooting zombies can be a bit distracting!

Thor, Olivia, Me, and Michelle after a day in the jungle