Adi and Maria

These two girls, and myself, all met each other randomly (and all at exactly the same time), in the staircase of my guesthouse in Chiang Mai today. Adi is an Israeli girl who works full-time for a non-profit organisation back home (and who lives on that organisation's kibbutz), and who's currently volunteering here in northern Thailand. Maria's a physiotherapist from the city of Graz, in south-east Austria — I didn't make it there back in December, but by Maria's accounts I should have. Maria was volunteering in a remote community up in Nepal, and now she's cruising around Thailand on a motorbike.

It was hilariously co-incidental, the way that all three of us met simultaneously today. After meeting and greeting, we went out and explored some of Chiang Mai's less touristy markets. This was followed by some less-touristy lunch (Adi's been here in Chiang Mai for a while, so she knows her way off the beaten track). We caught up again in the evening, when we went for a few drinks at some funky (but touristy) bars near the guesthouse.