Whatever expectations I had about the Ratilana hotel in Chiang Mai, were exceeded once we checked in. The boutique hotel was designed by a wood craftsman, and his love for quality woodwork reflected in the details of his hotel. The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub that faced a TV mounted on the wall, the main room had a sound system and dvd player built in, and we had a private deck with a daybed. The pool was equally gorgeous and it wasn't too long before we decided to get some sun in and relax. After a few laps in the pool my stomach reminded me that it was time for dinner. At the concierges recommendation, we headed into town to grab dinner at the riverside restaurant. A healthy eater as well, Aiola and I ordered 3 main entrees, Pad Thai, Fish 2 ways , and glazed duck. Everything was out of this world, especially the fish which was whole and fried. As I struggled to get the last morsels of fish off with my fork, Aiola had resolved to a more practical approach and was using her hands working with a seldom seen efficiency. At one point I just stopped and laughed out loud and called her a piranha after seeing a pile of perfectly clean bones on her plate. It was almost like watching the cartoon character Garfield swallow a fish and pull out a whole skeleton.

After our sufficiencies were suffancified we walked outside and jumped in a Tuk Tuk which is a Thai taxi is a modified motorcycle that has a wagon in the back for you to ride in. Zipping along, we arrived at Kavira where Mui Thai is held. I had only seen this on TV during a Fight Science special where it looked super bad ass. The first match we watched it really looked like they were in it for the money and trying hard to win. The other matches were demonstrated a love for the sport and a respect for their opponents. When one fighter received a good shot, he actually nodded to acknowledge the efforts of his opponent. In one match, one fighter was actually knocked out and his opponent actually rushed over displaying genuine concern for his condition. It was really enjoyable interesting to see their warm-up routine which was a mix of dancing praying and stretching.

We closed out the night with a little midnight shopping in an outdoor market and went to bed thinking about the adventures we had in store for the next day.