we found a house! it took a while, mostly because we were both pretty sick for the better part of the last 2 weeks, but we're better now and we are set to move into a beautiful 2 bedroom house just outside the old city. we'll be staying here, (in chiang mai), for the next 2 months--maybe longer depending on the new thai visa situation, (they are much more strict about how much time foreigners can stay on free visas--it used to be pretty indefinate, provided you made a border run to burma, malaysia, laos, or cambodia once every 90 days--now it's much more tricky, they only issue a free 30 day visa, and only 3 of them for any 6 month period, and for anything longer than that you have to leave the country and apply at an embassy and pay lots of money... it's confusing for us too).
the house has a coconut tree in the front yard, bamboo walls, lots of open air, and an outdoor kitchen. it's pretty awesome. we can't move in until the 8th of january, so we're thinking about renting a motorbike and just taking off for a week to explore the northern region....