It is the hot season here, which means it is the dry season. We saw in this morning’s newspaper that yesterday the temperature here in Chiang Mai reached 41 degrees.

We head out early – me to book a trek for tomorrow, Greg to update the website. We meet for a quick lunch, and it feels hotter today than yesterday.

Other than the occasional bucket of water hurled in our direction in honour of Songkran, there is no escape. And even those are few and far between in the heat of midday. We make a strategic decision – to retreat! Greg opts for a 2 hour massage/reflexology treatment, I opt for the hotel pool – except that there is no shade available there, and the coolness of the water isn’t worth the hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks environment at the pool. So up to the air conditioned wonderfulness of the room, and a good book.

Sunday, April 11th, 2004: Chiang Mai, Thailand