Getting wet and getting ready for the dinner show

Wednesday after the elephant experience and river rafting, we went back to the hotel with only about an hour to spare before we had to be back at the hotel to be picked up for the thai dinnner show. however, i needed something to wear, since i didn't have time to wash some clothes before we left on the trip. i really thought i would have time to wash the in chiang mai, but that didn't happen. so i had to go shopping, of course!

uh, getting to the shops was the problem!!!!!! as soon as the van dropped us off back at the hotel, everyone in the van was like, "oh no!!" yes, "oh no!" was right. you see, our hotel has this huge fountain in front of it, so everyone was playing sang kran right there and getting EVERYONE on the street WET! julie and i got totally hit as soon as we stepped out of the van. that was nothing until i had to brace for the crowd while shopping. julie and i went on this little street that has shops and restaraunts, like Hard Rock cafe, etc. before we hit those restaraunts, we stopped in some shops without getting wet. i told julie i'd go on and keep looking and meet her back at the hotel just in time for dinner. so off i went by myself. to my surprise, tons of people were lining the roads cheering, dancing, and splashing water everywhere! it was truly a jolly holiday, more so for some than others. :) i walked by hard rock cafe and that's where it was over for me. i heard some americans say " you are too dry" and the next thing i know about 10 people cornered me and poured buckets of water all over me and shot water guns straight at me. I WAS TOTALLY SOAKED, I MEAN DRIPPING PUDDLES OF WATER SOAKED! i just smiled and laughed and said, "thank you" and kept walking. i was in a huge hurry to get clothes. well, there's one problem, how am i supposed to go into these shops when i am dripping water everywhere. literally, it looked like i had just gotten out of a swimming pool with my clothes on. so, i went to some shops and stood outside and tried to direct the women inside the store as to which shirt i was pointing at and they'd come and hold it up to me without touching me. i was literally "window shopping."

i remember julie and i passed this one place that had a shirt that she thought would be cool for me to where, but it had dragons on it. would you believe, in the rush of the moment, i had to go back and just buy it. that was my outfit for the dinner show. how hilarious! i'm telling you, sang kran makes you need more clothes, b/c they are all wet and won't dry fast enough here.

the dinner show was really nice. we sat on the floor with low tables and had pillows as back support. very ethnic! as they brought us our food, the thai girls would wear beautiful dresses and dance with their arms and hands twisting very slowly and smoothly. then the guys would come out and dance with them. it was like being at a luau in Hawaii. we enjoyed it, but for the first time i think i needed to not have thai food. i was on the verge of being burned out. oh no! not good. after dinner, of course, it was back to the night bazaar. i was really tired that night and it felt good to sleep.