New Year's Eve, Chiang Mai

To all the naysayers we met earlier in the trip who told us Chiang Mai was not a fun place to spend New Year's Eve, you were so wrong.

It was the first time any of us got tipsy (interpret that as you will) since being in Asia. We kicked off the evening with a dance party and photo shoot in our hostel room and then hit the town in the cleanest backpacking clothes we had.

We were really excited to ring in the New Year!

This top bunk will be hard to get into later in the night

We also took some festive silver sporks with us to spread cheer to strangers we met throughout the night.  Said strangers did not seem excited to be given a spork (even after I told them you could run over it with a tractor!) and I have made it my personal mission to show everyone how useful sporks can be.

A spork can also be used as a hair pick.

Sporkz 4 Life

Had to give our masseuse from earlier in the day a spork!

His Happy New Year hat is much cooler than mine.

Ashley traded this man a spork for an extra shot of bourbon.

Thousands of lanterns carrying New Year's wishes were being sent off into the sky....it  looked like you had zoomed in on floating stars. People were spilling out of the bars lining the streets which made it difficult to get a drink. We stopped at the first place we found empty seats only to realize why the bar was empty: the stools were bike seats 4 feet off the ground. Quite uncomfortable no matter how much you've had to drink. We did manage to pick up a French friend though.

When you wish upon a lantern....

Bike seats: don't like them on a bike, don't like them as a stool.

We ended up at Zoe's corner, a little plaza with bars full of expats and fellow travelers. We rang in the New Year with fireworks, more lanterns and some Gangnam Style. The rest of the night we spent dancing to Nirvana and No Doubt at a bar playing the 90's Greatest Hits. Aside from losing a flip flop and walking home half barefoot, it was one of the best New Year's Eves ever.

Happy New Year!!

-Kim