6. New Year���s Eve in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is an incredible city, and we finished up our time there by celebrating New Years 2006, Thai style. A bunch of us headed out to the Tae Pae gate (near the site of the newest Starbucks, which is very important!), where there was some sort of concert going on. We couldn���t really understand anything until they started the final countdown to 2006, but we had a great time watching people light traditional floating lanterns and send them out into the sky. Random facts: we ate at a German restaurant and got to wear really funny hats; we also watched as the lanterns nearly burned Starbucks down several times
[lantern floating into the sky; me at dinner with my crazy hat and orange Fanta]