Merry Christmas Chiang Mai

Merry Christmas from Chiang Mai.

In a country that's 80% Buddhists, you'd think that Christmas would be as popular as Ramadan. However, Chiang Mai is a big tourist destination and most of them are on Christmas break.

Yes, the town is filling-up as evidenced by the increased number of accidents by foreign motorbike drivers. It does seem like the number of motorbikes has doubled since we were here last year, and they do zip along just about everywhere. When the traffic is bad, they'll even be on the sidewalks (not that there are that many sidewalks here).

It's Christmas Eve here and we have nothing special planned. We did see Avatar yesterday, and for the most part enjoyed it. There is no IMAX 3-D theater here, although there was a regular 3-D theater. We chose the standard non-3-D theater for a whopping $2.70 per person) and even though the place was packed, it was worth it.

Remember, Christmas is about giving. So give someone a smile.

Merry Christmas.