The simple things ...

Ah, the joys of wearing clean underwear. Not many things can compare to it. I'm sitting in my pokey guesthouse room wearing nothing but my underwear because I enjoy the sensation so much. Three days of hiking can really start to chafe on you but all is well thanks to the good washer woman of Rose Guest House. She even folded all my shirts and matched my socks. I have to say that I love having other people do things for me and in Thailand I can afford for them to do it.
Hired a motorcycle (well, moped) today to see some of the sites. I didn't want to tell the woman that it had been about 15 years since i'd actually ridden one before. As it was I asked how do I start it, how do I change gears? How do I stop it? How do I ride it? It didn't actually take too long to get the hang of it - the traffic in Chang Mai is nothing compard to Bangkok but still a damn sight more chaotic than Sydney. I suppose riding a real bike in Sydney gives me a slight advantage over a complete novice - at least I know how to stay upright on two wheels. It makes such a difference to be able to get to anywhere so quickly after trudging around for days - although as my map reading abilities aren't that great it still took quite a while after constantly finding myself on one way streets (that didn't seem to bother some of the other bike riders) and dead ends. Saw some very beautiful wats and statues but I am getting a bit of wat-fatigue.
Did really enjoy mucking around on the bike - after I recovered from my slight hangover from last night by eating an American breakfast (which I swore to myself on my second day that I would not touch again) I was in heaven.
Also went for another run around the park - it was a bit more crowded with runners this time - mostly older people as well - the heat was still very oppressive despite going at about 5pm but i'm kind of getting used to it - I am looking forward to Europe where it will be a lot more pleasant to run around in - but I really have no choice but to get used to it for the moment.
Peeling a little bit from my burns but looks like it's all going brown so I should be fitting in with the natives in no time. Tomorrow I think I might head out to Pai.