Chiang Mai Sunday (and beyond)

Beloved --
Early Sunday morning runners. . .the main street is blocked off and the runners went by for at least an hour. The breakfast buffet here at the Amari Rincome Hotel is outa this world--Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and if you must American. (To answer Mr. James T.'s question, the food here is wonderful and it just keeps coming.)
The REI group made a trip up the mountain west of Chiang Mai to visit the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple--it's the place where legend has it a white elephant was left to wander with a pagoda on it's back and expired high up the mountain. The temple and the view are worth the trip--both the elephant's and mine!
Our group made a visit to the Sunday market in the old city, the market having been established as a weekly show place for local arts and crafts. Lots of cool stuff and not near as much a hastle as the daily night market just east of the old city.
On Monday we started up the foothills of the Himalayan mountains after stopping for a couple of hours at an elephant compound--mahouts, trained elephants and an hour's ride through the compound. These are the elephants that are famous for their "art work." It actually was cool watching them paint some pretty realistic representational original(?) artwork. I think they were having fun.
About an hour into our climb I noticed several Thais following us with some very long rifles slung over their shoulders. A bit alarming at first, but we stopped and chatted with them. They were hunters, using black powder and going for the wild boar that inhabit these hills--also civet cat, porcupine, and squirrel. They were a jolly nice bunch, but didn't have anything to show for their efforts.
The first village we spent the night was Karen--think the National Geo picture of the lady with the stretched neck with the gold necklaces. There was no electricity in the village. The government had installed solar panels for each home, but the panels were so covered with dust that the efficiency must have been down by 50%--enough to keep the few florescent lights going until about 8:00pm.
The mini-bar at the guest house was a tub with cool river water and some Chang beers and cokes. Quite hospitable, I thought. After a long hike the beer tasted good, even if it wasn't ice cold. The little things, you know.
It dropped down into the lower 40's overnight and I was happy for my sleeping bag liner and the extra blankets provided by our Karen hostess--"grandma." Lights out everywhere in the village by 8:00pm and then the roosters and dogs started in at about 4:00am. We were at 4,500 ft. And I love it, despite the smoke of the in-house wood fires and the squatter/bomber toilets.
I miss you all and love you,
Jim