Chiang Mai part 3

In order to get to this: (Wat Doi Suthep - which overlooks the whole Chiang Mai valley)

to see this view:

We had to drive up the winding road on the mountain approx. 40 minutes to get to this: A stairway leading up that has 309 stairs. I was sucking wind 3/4 of the way up...

But it was a beautiful view

And a beautiful temple (they tend towards Burmese architecture for Wats instead of the Cambodian style in Bangkok)

Since Dan and I weren't wearing pants or a long skirt, we had to borrow these: Thai fisherman pants for Dan and a Thai wrap for me to be able to see the Wat

Dan looked so cool in his :)

Later that night, the kids were ready for dinner out at Mikes - a Burger and Hot Dog stand that was totally not worth the effort to walk there :) But that's okay.

We decided to go to the mall near us on Friday - and after walking to get anywhere to eat, I was done walking. There was a tuk tuk at our hotel and we decided to take it instead. Tuk Tuks in Chaing Mai are not like in Bangkok. The ones in Bangkok have "L" shaped backseats to squish lots of people in. In Chiang Mai, they just have the 1 backseat that is straight and open on each end. So the driver suggested that Jack sit up front with him on a little jump seat. And that he should hold his little puppy named "Lucky". So he did - against Dan's and my better judgement - as we were trying to go with the flow and not fuss about stuff. Bad idea.

Here's Jack in the front jump seat. No railing. With the dog on his lap. We cruised down the road and were going pretty fast when all the sudden the driver hit his brakes and Jack went flying out the tuk tuk into the road. Praise the Lord that he landed on his elbows (because he was holding Lucky) and his knees and not his head...and also that there wasn't a car or truck behind us to run him over - just motorcycles that slowed down to not hit him. It really was a miracle that he didn't get hurt worse than he did.

His scraped up knees waiting for us to buy him bandages and peroxide at the mall

So sad while Daddy was fixing him up

He got to choose where we ate lunch - and he chose Pizza Company. So, here's Kylie pretending to be a cat maybe with really long fangs...

Later on the girls went swimming at the hotel. It was freezing, so Jack didn't go.

Instead we played Uno with Daddy :)

Dan and I were done with Chiang Mai by this point. We felt like people keep raving about Chiang Mai and it just wasn't that great for us - too much walking around, having to take songlors instead of taxis and everything was really run down (you know, and our son almost dying by falling off the tuk tuk). I took this picture of us and Dan said, "Perfect. A picture of us on our "dark day"." So here's the pic of it. Thankfully it got better that night...

Family Pic of us at Just Khao Soy! It's a resturant that serves Khao Soy, a yellow curry noodle dish/soup that is local to northern Thailand! It was recommended to us by friends and was definitely a hit! Everyone enjoyed it and we all got a bit of a different dish - it only serves Khao Soy, so you could choose between the type of noodle, the level of spiciness and whether you wanted it Lanna style or Chiang Mai style (which had coconut milk added to it to make it creamier) :) Each were brought out on an artists pallet with sides that could change the flavor - and the placemat explained how they changed the flavor! We had a great time being there, experimenting with flavors and enjoying the Khao Soy!

Jack-Medium, flat noodle, mild, Lanna
Dan - Large, flat noodle, medium, Lanna
Kylie - Medium, round noodle, mild, Lanna
Kristen - Large, flat noodle, medium, Chiang Mai
Megan - Medium, round noodle, mild, Chiang Mai

Placemat with explainations

Yummy food on the artists pallet

They give each person a white apron to wear. We weren't sure why until the Khao Soy came out - it's yellow curry that stains everything and splashes around! So they give it to you to wear so you don't look like this:

With a yellow face :) Yummy, yummy food

Kiddos all sleeping so nicely together in a King Size bed :) Kylie in the bed in the middle so she didn't fall out

Cute Kiddos in purchases from shopping :)
Jack - fun Thai hat and Muay Thai boxing shorts
Kylie - New Thai purse, bathrobe and fancy shoes
Megan - Larger Thai purse, bathrobe and her fancy shoes

Walking out to the plane to board...I love shots of the kiddos and Dan walking - each with their own backpack

And waiting for our bags back in Bangkok!