2010, A Northern Christmas in Thailand

Well, another Thai Christmas come and gone!

Last year's Xmas Ladyboy Cabaret Show was pretty memorable, but this year I was really looking forward to some quiet time with my best friends and family P'Dee and P'May.

I've been traveling so much these past couple months, I decided to spend my one weekend off this season staying close to home in Chiang Mai. I'm crashing at May's apartment for now and enjoying access to a private bathroom and a warm shower while I can!

Saturday, Christmas Day, we went on a short drive to the nearby mountains of Mae Rim and picked strawberries for the better part of the morning.

We took our picnic to a scenic viewpoint called Mon Cham, and enjoyed the perfect weather, the cool mountain top breeze, and good conversation (talking about everything BUT work for the first time in a long time.) This was a much needed, stress-free Saturday all 3 of us were in desperate need of!

After the fresh mountain air, we drove back to the city and booked ourselves a 2 hour full body massage each. Abused and bruised from the massage lady trying to dig out every knot and strain in my back and shoulders, I crawled into bed at 10 pm and had a solid night's rest for the first time in weeks.

Maybe I'm starting to get old, but this has been the best holiday I've had in a long time! Usually this time of year is the hardest for me, since I have come to appreciate that holidays don't mean anything without family to share them...but here, with my friends, well things are looking up. Thailand is feeling more like home every day, and maybe this time next year I'll have an apartment of my own, with a Christmas tree and a roast in the oven somewhere!

Happy Holidays!

...just because the scenery was too beautiful, I had to catch it on video!