We have been chiiillllliiin in chiang mai for the past few days now. its waaay too easy to be a westerner in this town but it also has a side to it that is so quaint and full of thai culture. not to mention the cornicopia of vegitarian restaraunts and beautiful handmade everything. about a week ago we were in Laos. i imagine thailand to be something like laos 50 years ago. its very quiet there and the people still act a bit surprised to see our western faces..which is quite refreshhing and different from thailand. the rainbow gathering was AMAZING> ahh we had the best time. it was in a beautiful spot on the beach that went far back into the jungle. we met so many cool kids from all over the world. i think we counted about 60 countires, all of which brought a different energy to the gathering. we are hooked on world gatherinegs now, its so different from the nationals. so much smaller too, about 600 people at the peak. we stayed for about 2 and a half weeks and then hitchhiked north to bangkok. we had amazing luck and wound up getting one ride the entire way. i decidedly detest bangkok. its dirty and sticky and smelly and expensive bleh. the north is very nice though. there are lots of rainbow family up here right now and the weather is nice and cool. at the moment we are just...living, staying at a very cool guest house and waiting/preparing to head off to india mid february. we are very excited!!! thailand has many things to offer, but one thing it has not are any cultural challenges. its so easy here! so off to india with us, flying into calcutta no less. im sure we'll get more than we bargained for there.

big love to all back home and happy belated new year!
kat and dan