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K  Kratoy or lady boys.  This is an intragal part of Thai culture. There are no moral or legal taboos on homosexuality here. I have heard this beautifuly sumed up by lonely planet who says "there is not gay rights movement in Thailand as there is no anti gay establishment to move against. In all walks of life, there are lady boys and rather than being a rare occurence, it is refered to as the third gender. Some of the Kratoy go to such lengths to change their physical appearance as to be barely recognizable as biologicaly male.

       It has been a nice experience to see a people so comfortable with themselves that they are neither fearful or threatend by a person who defies what we would call gender boundries.

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S  Songthaew. These things are one of the bigest hazards in Chiang Mai. They are a red pick up truck that has two rows running down the back of the truck. You hail one, tell the driver the destination and if he is going that way you get in. During the day you should be able to get one for 20 baht or less anywhere in the city, the prices go up slightly at night. They belch black desiel fumes into the lovely clean (ya right) Chaing Mai air. They also like to drive in the middle of two lanes because, like having two head, I guess two lanes is also better than one. I have heard horror stories about drunken songtheaw drivers racing through the city forgetting that they had passengers and heading home for the night. The songtheaw association in Chiang Mai has also been opposed to any other kind of transportation being implemented. There is a law suit right now, claiming that the new city busses are taking away there business and that they should be banned. There are about 2000 licenced sontheaws in Chiang Mai and another 1000 unlicenced ones.

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W Wat     A  Buddhist temple adorned with all the golden buddhas and stupas you can imagine. A little strange for a religion that is supposed to abhor materialism. It is amazing how much gold there is in these places and like everything in Thailand, the bigger the Buddha, the better. Dispite my cynisism, most of these are beautiful and many have nice ground that are perfect for relaxing. (must see wat, tiger cave temple in Krabi, 1200 steps and a killer work out brings you to the top of a mountian and a temple that is one of the most beautiful calming places I have ever been.  And yes, there is a giant buddha up there.

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