More from Chiang Mai

Scott and I had a pretty fun day yesterday. We managed to find the umbrella factory about 10 km outside of town. The way that they make them is absolutely fascinating, they are very skilled. They also had many painters that did amazingly intricate work. They offer to paint on your shirt or your pants in addition to the umbrellas and fans that they paint. Scott and I each got a hand painted velvet fan for a mere ฿200 or about $3 each. They are beautiful and they help to keep you cool as it is very warm here. We also saw how they make paper which is a quite extensive process. After that we stopped in at a silk factory and saw how the silk was made. It starts with these little eggs that grow into worms that eat mulberry leafs. As the worms gorge on mulberry leaves they get quite large and then make a cocoon which is yellow or white. Then the cocoon is boiled in water and silk thread is made from it. They said they got 500 meters of silk thread from one cocoon. They then filter you into their silk shop which is quite over priced. We skipped buying anything as we saw the same pillows that they wanted ฿1450 for ฿100 at the night bazaar. Then we had the best Indian food I have ever had at a restaurant (of course I prefer home made) for dinner. It was fantastically tasty. Today we are going in search of a bra. The first week we were here we got laundry done and the only bra that I brought went missing. Since then I have been wearing my bathing suit top and looking everywhere for a store that sells bras. I have found a couple stores and even bought one bra for a dollar which I have been cramming into... but none of them have really fit... all of the bras are tiny. Today I was told they sell western bras at the mall so we are going to give that a go. We are also going to look at the Baan Tawai centre where many of the wood carved items and furniture are made. Scott and I love watching the artists at work.