Chiang Mai Part 4

For the first week, we had to find our own accommodations. The schedule was simple and completely up to us. The second week was our conference, so we had to move to another hotel and we had a pretty full schedule for the majority of the week. On the first day of conference, we got up, ate breakfast, and took a red taxi truck over to our new place of residence.Our time there may have been busy, but we got to hear from some amazing speakers and fellowship with old and new friends. It was wonderful hearing stories of what is happening and what life is like in the other countries that our organization provides teachers to. The hotel itself was also very nice other than the fact that the elevators were so slow that we usually had to walk up or down nine flights of stairs to get to and from our room. However, we had a great view! The weather was perfect while we were there. It was not too hot and there was a constant cool breeze that blew over the city. Almost every day was clear and sunny. There were some incredible displays of color when the sun came up and went down.Most of our evening meals at the hotel were eaten on the terrace pavilion. It was a little taste of paradise! I am not just talking about the atmosphere, the food was great too! We had fresh tropical fruit for every meal on every day that we were there. While staying at our conference hotel, we got to check out some more of the local nightlife. Every night of the week there is a market somewhere in the city. The Sunday Night Market was the largest but a little distance from where we were staying. The regular Night Market was about a block from our hotel. We visited both while we were there. Aside from the endless stands of merchandise, there was a large variety of local style foods. Our favorite was called a Roti which was a pan fried crape with bananas in it covered with chocolate sauce and sweetened condensed milk. Talk about good! We just wish we could find some of those around Mongolia. Matt and I are eagerly anticipating a Roti being made at our hotel. These were good but they didn't have bananas in them. The Rotis from the street stands were the best.
During our time in Chiang Mai, we visited this place more often than a Roti stand. We made several visits to the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital, but we were able to get most all of our pressing medical work taken care of. It was really a blessing to be able to go to such a great medical facility. For the past three months Josh has been in constant pain from two warts on his feet. After our first visit to the Ram, the warts were no longer a painful problem. This was probably one of the best and most efficient hospitals that either of us have ever been to.

The week of conference flew by quickly, but we really enjoyed spending time with friends in both recreation and fellowship. It was a great time of refreshment and joy, two things that we desperately needed.