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!

Chiang Mai part 2

We hired a driver and guide to take us around on Thursday. We planned on going to the Maesa Elephant Camp in the morning, going to the Maesa Waterfalls after that and then driving to Wat Doi Suthep in the afternoon. A really full and crazy day, but it seemed like fun. The Maesa Elephant Camp was great - our guide is known there, so we went in a back gate and got to see a 5 week old baby elephant and feed some momma elephants before we watched the elephants take a bath before their big show! We also got to take a 30 minute elephant ride - Dan/Jack/Megan on one elephant and Momma/Kylie on another one. Totally fun and totally scary and another thing checked off our bucket list!

For 40B each, the kids got a bunch of bananas and a bunch of sugar cane to feed the elephants. Shortly after this photo was taken, Megan tried to feed 1 single banana to an elephant - she got turned around by it's trunk, and the rest of the bananas and sugar cane were plucked from her hand! She was upset - until we asked her to read the signs that say "Please feed the elephants the whole bunch of bananas at a time" instead of other places where we feed them one at a time :)

Momma and 5 week old baby we were not allowed to feed to touch

K. Wee was our guide for the day (K. Poom was our driver) and K. Wee took this pic of us on the bridge by the water where the elephants were about to bathe

So cool to see them amble down to the water and go under...not wanting to right away because it was chilly that morning!

Waiting for the elephant show to commence: We got to watch them do tricks, play soccer, play basketball, paint pictures, demonstrate their logging abilities and play music!

Very cool to watch them paint

After the show, we got to feed them some more bananas and sugar cane...and get pictures taken with them!

Dan and the kiddos :)

Then we went on a 30 minute elephant ride. Kylie cried for the first 12 minutes. Let me tell you - it was scary. Not so much when they were going uphill - because you are leaning backwards, but when they are going downhill, I was trying to calm Kylie, assure the driver it was okay and make sure she didn't fall out - while not freaking myself out! But, it was definitely cool and I'm very glad we did it! Kylie now claims it was so much fun.

Dan and the big kids did a great job!

When we were finished, we went to the Maesa Waterfalls to eat lunch and see some waterfalls. K. Wee came with us and ate lunch - as well as ordered for us...great yummy food - grilled chicken, som tom and sticky rice (plus fried rice and Phad See Ew for Jack and Megan)!

Waterfall #3 of 10 - we did 1-3 and then were ready to head out, since we still had a 1/2 day of sightseeing and walking ahead of us!

The family

My Kiddos

Dan and kiddos on a bridge

After the Waterfalls, we had a 45 minute drive to Wat Doi Suthep...K. Wee fell asleep (K. Poom was driving), as well as all of us...

Even Jack and Megan

Chiang Mai part 1

On our "bucket list" of things to do before we leave Thailand is to visit Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. It's the 2nd largest city in Thailand and unique in many ways - mostly that it is considered to be the cultural capital of Thailand. It has 27 different provinces and 26 of them have a mountain in them (not huge mountains, but mountains nonetheless). It is generally a relief from Bangkok because it tends to be cooler. And while we are glad we visited there, it was okay. I keep saying that if we lived here for the next 7 years, I don't think I would go back.

I guess I was expecting more. Or something different. We did a lot of walking - our hotel wasn't downtown (it was approx. 2km from downtown) and made for a lot of walking on the sides of busy, busy streets with kids to get where we needed to go. No taxis in Chiang Mai (no idea why), so our choices were hoofing it, taking a songthaew or a tuk tuk. We got to check off "ride a songthaew" off our list, as well - a lot!

I think I finally realized halfway through our trip that I don't think I've ever taken a "sightseeing" trip...for the purpose of "sightseeing". Growing up we vacationed at the beach (which I love) and Dan did a lot of trips up to the farm. But we didn't do a lot of sightseeing - in DC sure, 1 day in Philly and 1 day in NYC. So, I guess I wasn't really understanding what our purpose was for going up there was to sightsee. Definitely interesting and maybe not my favorite choice of things to do. However, it was interesting to see the wall built to protect the city of Chiang Mai that was built in the late 1200's - which is insanely old! Pretty cool. In addition to sightseeing, we also got to shop, eat, see lots of animals and do more sightseeing!

Great family pic with an elephant at the Night Safari!

Map of Chiang Mai to give you an idea of where we went in relation to Bangkok

There are 4 main ways to get to Chiang Mai from Bangkok - drive (12 hours), take an overnight bus (8-ish hours - not sure how it's shorter than driving yourself), take an overnight train (13 hours) and fly (1 hour flight time). We chose to fly after a 2 1/2 year debate :) I am so thankful we did and so thankful that we fly on Thai airways instead of a budget airline. A $30USD total difference and we had a great flight times - got into Chiang Mai at 10am and flew out at 5pm!

Nok Airways (budget airlines) plane...too cute!

We got into Chiang Mai, checked into our hotel and headed out to explore! We realized quickly that we needed to take a songthaew and this was our first time!

The Ladies

The Day Market - crazy foods, purses, backpacks, clothes...random stuff and so much fun to see!

Um, maybe Chiang Mai sausage? They say it's supposed to be good - but it looks crazy

Nothing like the discolored tongues as a result of slushies!

Dan and I in front of a cool Wat (temple)

Cool 3 story Starbucks - surprisingly I didn't get anything, but did just stop inside to see what it was like...and it was like every other Starbucks in the world (well, at least Thailand and the US)

A Songthaew

Dan and the kiddos in front of the East Gate of the City Wall

Kiddos in fun chairs at our hotel

When walking on the streets and narrow sidewalks, Dan leads with Jack behind him, Megan following Jack, then Kylie and then me. Kylie found these while walking...

We went to the Night Safari the first night we were there. Kids got to wear pants and jackets, although they really didn't need the long pants. Here they are in front of a cool statue

For the Night Safari, we got to ride 2 trams through all the fun animal sanctuaries and see animals that are nocturnal...and feed some that were safe to do so (i.e. deer, hogs, zebra and giraffes)

Zebra we got to feed carrots and bananas

Kylie and Megan feeding the giraffes from the tram

Jack's favorite animal - the Eagle

Kylie's favorite animal - the Elephant

My favorite animal - the Hippo

Dan's favorite animal - the goat

Megan's favorite animal - the Bear