Adam and Michelle's SE Asian Cycling Adventure: March 12th - 14th: Is it Still Considered Eloping if Everyone Knows About it?

Modes of transportation: Bike, pick-up (songthaew).

Places visited: Chiang Mai

Costs of things: Beer ($1.25-$2.50), Meals ($1 to $5), hotel ($12 - $80)

After our brief respite from the big city, we left Chiang Dao for Chiang Mai and our upcoming wedding. The nice room at Spicythai wasn't available so we stayed in a slightly overpriced guesthouse nearby, as it was simply easier to be close. I'll give a rundown of all the events leading up to and following the wedding, along with the associated pics:

1. First thing we had to do was go back to the translation

office that had translated sent our affidavits to Bangkok and the department of foreign affairs for certification. Luckily all of the super sleuths in Thailand could not dig up enough dirt on us to deny our application.

2. First hiccup of the day. We had visited a costume rental shop the previous week for the traditional Thai wedding outfits that we wanted to wear. (S)he told us that it would no problem to drop by on the 12th to get things for our wedding on the 13th. Well, (s)he wasn't there and after causing enough of a commotion, the neighbor came out and told us (s)he would be back later in the day. It was about 1:00, so we figured we would come back in a few hours.

3. Personal grooming time! Good thing about Southeast Asia is how cheap certain services are. We both got pedicures and Michelle had a manicure and eyebrow shaping. We both had haircuts and Adam got a nice single blade razor shave. All of this cost us about $10 total. Oh yeah, we also went to buy an offering basket for the monks.

4. Second hiccup of the day. Hit the costume shop again

around 4:30, but guess what? Still closed. Boooooo. Panic is starting to set in, but we hold it together and head back to the hostel to meet up with Rob who came over from Australia to be at our wedding. We also had one of the staff of Spicythai call the costume shop person and make sure that (s)he will be there at 7:00. Well, a lot later than we wanted to be doing stuff like that, but at least we'd be getting our costumes.

5. Third strike. We arrived at the costume rental place at 7:00 and it was still locked up tight. Suffice it to say, of all the stresses and complications that occurred over the past week of planning, this was the one that actually almost killed the whole thing. My bride-to-be was not a happy camper and it was her

ummmm.....calm, collected way of handling the situation that brought the neighbor out again. Turned out her parents rent the space to the costume shop person and she was able to contact him for us. (S)he said that (s)he would be there in 45 minutes and the

extremely nice and helpful neighbor stayed with us to make sure (s)he stuck to her word. We had to clear it up, so we asked straight up this person was a man or a woman and sure enough he was one of Thailand's famed ladyboys, just not how we were used to seeing them.

Sure enough, 45 minutes later he arrived with his posse in tow. The three rather flamboyant guys were a blast and made the costume choosing fast and fun. It felt like we were on a sitcom, or at the very least on Candid Camera. The fitting was filled with comments like "Ooooooh! So beautiful!" and "Oooooooh! So handsome. Just like a Thai Prince". The whole thing happened failry quickly and we were off for a very brief rest before the next part of the night.

6. About 10:00pm and Michelle headed back to the hostel, as our new friend Jenny had promised to do henna on her hands and feet. I joined her an hour or so later, as the next part of our big event would begin soon.

7. Michelle, Jenny, Alex, Rob, Andrew and I hopped in Pong's

songthaew and off we went for a midnight shopping spree at the flower market. It was amazing to see the night bazaar that late and how busy it still was even at this time of night. Andrew, Jenny, Alex and Michelle took care of the flower shopping, including picking some fine bunches straight from the trash, while the rest of us picked up some more offerings for the monks. I also bought some bugs for everyone to try (I liked the crickets better than the silk worm larvae).

8. 2:00am and we were back at the hostel decorating Pong's pickup with flowers for the next morning. Roses are pointy. This left us with time for about three hours of sleep before we had to get ready to for the wedding.

9. 6:45 pickup and we're off to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep: the most

famous temple in the area, standing on a hill to the north-west of the city. This temple dates from 1383. Its builders allegedly chose

its site by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant's back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before lying down. We performed a number of Buddhist rituals, including giving offerings to nine monks (nine being a lucky number in Buddhism) and then walked up the stairs to the temple itself. Pong's wedding gift to us was a full guided tour of the temple, along with a history lesson in Buddhism. He was a novice monk for six years and then a tour guide, so we definitely got the best! We were then given blessings by two separate higher

ranking monks, who were by Pong that we were getting marries, so their blessings were specific for us to have a long and happy life together. After looking around some more and taking more photos, we headed down the mountain and off to our next stop.

10. In order to make the whole thing legal, we had to the Amphoe

(city hall) to get the official marriage certificate. It was pretty funny when the whole group of us walked in and disrupted the days of the civil servants. Oh yeah, another hiccup. We needed both our passports, but mine was with the costume guy, as he asked for something for collateral (by the way, his name means "Fat" in Thai). Luckily, Michelle remembered his phone number and 15 minutes later he was there with my passport and we went back into the office to get it all finished up. After signing the papers and having Rob and Jenny act as our witnesses, it was official!

11. Michelle and I split off from the rest of the group and went back to the translation office to get the marriage certificate translated into English and then went to our awesome 5 star hotel to relax for the afternoon.

12. Party time! We met back up with Pong and a much bigger group than we had in the morning for a night out at the Warm Up bar down the street. Before leaving the staff of Spicythai made beautiful heart of candles for us stand in and then lit fireworks behind us. It was quite romantic. We were exhausted, but had a fun night nonetheless.