Pictures for everyone! (or maybe not so much...)

Right, it's getting on in the afternoon, and I want to head over to the market to buy some fruit before everything closes for the night. I went out on my bike last night looking for mangoes but my search was 'fruitless' (I'm sorry, I had to do it). But seriously, it was terrible, riding around the city, not a fruit in sight. I ended up having to go to the "highway robbery fruit lady by the mall", or at least this is what I've dubbed her, because her prices are sky high. 40 baht for three mangoes? give me a break. And they weren't even that tasty...

Anyway, I'm going to upload a whole bunch of pictures instead of giving a wordy progress report.

For those who've been asking, the bike I bought has a good mountain bike frame, and I paid to have them replace the mountain bike wheels it came with with thinner road tires with less tread. Wider than an actual road bike, but not as wide as the fat mountain tires. I think I may want to buy a pair of the bigger tires as well though, because I want to take a bike trip up the mountain and down the other side. I've heard word that there's a trail through the forest, but considering the fact that it's the rainy season and "a trail through the forest" could mean any number of things, I would likely be wise to get some more rugged tires.



Greg and I took a trip up the mountain to Wat Doi Suthep yesterday (which you can actually see in one of the pictures). It's about 15 km from the bottom to the top of the mountain, and it's really steep, so I'm going to have to train a while before attempting this trip.

This morning we got together (myself, Bill and Sam) to discuss the building design for the training facilities. It's grown from one to two floors now, because we couldn't make it as big as we wanted it to be without sacrificing some of the surrounding farmland, so we extended upwards instead. After the meeting I pedalled around the Chiang Mai University campus becasue I haven't really explored that part of the city yet. It's a gorgeous campus with lots of nice smooth roads for riding. On my way out, I happened to pass the CMU library, and popped in for a look. My UofT student card was a lifesaver, because I still don't know how to say "I'm an international developement studies student from canada looking to do some research for my thesis" in thai yet. They don't have as extensive a collection as the UofT library, but there was some good stuff on agriculture. I'm definitely going to be going back at some point to look around some more. There is also Payap University farther outside the city which should have a library as well.

Speaking of Payap, I decided to ride my bicycle to the ultimate frisbee drop-in on Saturday. It took an hour and a half. I got lost. I felt like such a tourist, having to stop by the side of the road countless times to check my map. By the time I got there, the sky was black with rainclouds and it started to rain just as I'd stashed it under the bleachers. The though of cancelling the drop-in was never even a possibility on anyone's mind. We ended up getting soaked to the bone, but I had the time of my life. I had fortunately purchased cleats on my way to the game, so I wasn't slipping as much as other people were, and the rain made the ground nice and soft for diving. There were quite a few people there as well, I hope the turn-out is as good next week.

These pictures do NOT seem to want to load...I think I'm going to have to sign off and try to upload them another time. I really don't think I can go another night/morning without mangostines. I've also got to research suitable leguminous trees for the farm. We're looking to try using living fences to divide the fields.

Oh! and before I go: the number to call (or text) if I need to be reached is

00166898534500 (I think).

Also: Text message spam? I didn't think it existed, but I get useless texts in thai all day about offers i don't want. Supposedly everyone gets them here.