A Random Weekend

okay, so its sunday evening and i'm a little restless. walked through an amazing Sunday Market as they call it here, which is a bunch of small stands with food and whatever wares they want to sell you. this is mostly silk, vibrant cloth bags and clothes, and various trinkets made of teak wood. the sun sets as the market starts up, and there's lively lights and people everywhere. i'll post some pics if your interested. which btw, if you know me you know i don't like playing the tourist, so i've also avoided all the many treks and tours advertized here like the plague. and although i love pics, and like taking them too, i'm a little shy when it comes to standing out with my really white skin and doing the whole 'foto foto' thing of all the major sights. but i've braved it these last two days.
yesterday, i went to the Chiang Mai Zoo. It was Saturday, i had gotten a late start to my day, and i needed to get out and fill up my afternoon a bit. so what better to do then....go to the zoo! haha, yeah. well i was already overheated by the time i got there, only to find out that it basically on the side of a mountain, and so definitely what you could call 'hilly'. did see some cool animals, and the zoo really was quite pretty, with a nice view of the city (though really hazy b/c of the heat, have to wait for a view and blue skies till it rains! good luck with that, hehe). yet culture here isn't as used to seeing single ladies walk around by themselves, and of course not at a zoo on a saturday.
i came home tired and sweaty, but felt triumphant at having gotten out of the city.
well, i have no idea what i'm doing tomorrow, but that's o.k. i have one appointment with an organization called Partners set for wednesday, and have already met 3 diff. ppl/organizations this last week. hope to fit a few more in this week, depending on if i can finally get in touch. somehow, even if organizations have a website online, those working pretty directly with the Burmese or the Shan don't like to give out any addresses. so much for dropping by! will be working on finding a translator as well. i did hear one very interesting tip: to go to a wat here in Chiang Mai called Wat Pa Pao, which is apparently the hub for all Shan nationalist movement etc. If i get in with a native Thai speaker, i might be able to talk to a monk and get some wonderful insight into the world of the Shan!
hope you are all well on all the other sides of the world!