Sorry I can't post pictures because I didn't bring my usb. I'll upload them when I get back though.
I am currently in CHiang Rai, just north of Chiang Mai, where I was when I last wrote. Here's the latest update of my activities:

1. I ate a bug. Actually I ate several, including one large fried cricket which stuck to the roof of my mouth. They didn't taste bad at all-- the hardest part was getting over the way it looked. Actually they were heavily salted and sprinkled with pepper. Not bad, but I won't ever eat one again.

2. I've been trekking in the mountains. There was no trail, but our guide had a machete, which the people around here call an "akon." He walked in front and cut away the trees and bushes as we walked hestitantly along mountain sides in the insanely intolerable heat. Humidity is nature's turtle-neck sweater.

3. I slept inside a mosquito net, which is something I've always wanted to do, for no particular reason except that I've always thought they looked neat. Actually our first night in the hill tribe we slept in a hut all together, on thin mats on the bamboo floor. THe ceiling was made of bamboo also, as well as something that looked like palm fronds all bunched together to keep the rain out. That night it poured and poured outside. THe roof held well mostly, except for a few drops that kept sprinkling my face from time to time. The bad part was the roosters... oh the roosters. There were a great deal of animals around, mostly pigs and piglets, chickens, and sad little dogs. Well as soon as the sky turned slightly lighter, every single rooster on that mountain began to screech. It lasted forever, but I managed to get some sleep. The next morning I ate my scrambled eggs with ferver, feeling like I'd found adequate revenge in eating their unborn children. Gross? I know.

3. I trekked in a constant downpour. It reminded me of that scene in forest gump when he's in vietnam and describing all the different types of rain. "Some rain even seemed to come straight up from below." It was definitely not as bad as all that, but we were slipping all over the place in the mud while climbing, and mind you--- still NO TRAIL. Still, it was far easier than the first day. Anything beats that heat.

4. I covered myself in tobacco water... to avoid the leeches!!!! AHhhhh!! We had to wade through the river a couple times, where apparently there are many leeches. That part freaked me out the most, but I didn't get hit. In fact, nobody did.

5. (best part) I rode an elephant. At first I was in a basket on top of the elephant with this girl JoAnn, who was scared out of her mind. I don't blame her either, those baskets were very high up, and the mountian sides very steep. Anyways our guide rode directly on the elephant's neck. At one point he turned around and asked me (in hand motions and thai) if I wanted to sit on the elephant's neck. I said yes, and climbed down behind him. But then the guide jumped down off the elephant and went to go pick some berries (arg!!!) and I was left "driving" the big bristly thing. It reminded me of horseback riding in Mexico. The elepahnt was reluctant to follow direction and kept eating the shrubery along the way, and going off course whenever he could. But by the end we were good pals, and I earned the respect of the elephant guides. They even shared one of their banannas with me, which looked gross and felt all wet, but I ate a bite of it before I pretended that my elephant stole it from me ( i fed it to him). Unfortunately I got sick later because of that bananna I think.

Anyways we took a boat ride back to chiang rai and I'm soooooooooo tired. I can't wait to sleep ina real bed, and I am very VERY relieved to be not covered in mud.
Hope all is well at home, let me know whats going on around there when you have the time!!
love, katie