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Published: January 24th 2006
We had a fantastic visit with Eric, Stacey and Gigi. The first day after their arrival, I took them on the Chao Praya River (the main river in Bangkok) and we took some small klongs (canals) to see beautiful Thai houses and to stop at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn, discussed in an earlier blog entry).
We then went to Chiang Mai, a beautiful city in Northern Thailand, which is surrounded by mountains and is cooler than Bangkok. In fact, the mornings were quite chilly. We spent three days and two nights there, staying at the Chiangmai Plaza which has a beautiful lobby and traditional Thai music every evening as well as a pool (though it was almost too cold to swim). We hired a van and driver, which worked out great. The driver took us to the best stops. Our first day, we had lunch at a traditional Northern Thai eatery and ate the specialty of Chiang Mai - Khao Soy, a thick broth of curry and coconut cream with egg noodles and meat. It was delicious. We also toured the temple of Wat Phra Singh, which was very beautiful. Chiang Mai is full of Wats and also,
Thai Style House
View from Chao Praya riverin addition to Buddhist monks, there are also a lot of Buddhist nuns, much more so than in Bangkok. Buddhist nuns shave their heads like monks, but instead of saffron robes they wear white. We also went to the Chiang Mai night bazaar, but personally, I thought the Bangkok night bazaar is better.
The next day we went to the Mae Sa elephant farm, which was a huge hit with Gigi and Max. Not only did all of us ride elephants, but we also went to an elephant show where they played soccer and painted. We also got to feed elephants and see a baby elephant that was born in December. Afterwards, we went to a a nearby restaurant to the farm called Pong Yang Garden, that had a view of a beautiful waterfall, that we also were able to hike to. Then, we went to a Hmong village where I bought gorgeous hand embroidered Hmong blankets and one wall hanging. Stacey also bought a beautiful textile there.
Our final day in Chiang Mai, we saw the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple that sits high on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. Because of the kids, we
Elephant Soccer
at Mae Sa Elephant farm chose to take the cable car up to the temple rather than walk, but we did walk down the steps. The view from that temple was spectacular. We then went to the nearby Chiang Mai zoo and were fortunate enough to see two pandas there be extremely active. As we found out when we read the paper a few days later, the pandas were active because they were about to mate. Apparently, this is a very rare occurence so we were lucky to see such active pandas. We also checked out some of the antique shops available in Chiang Mai, but didn't buy any furniture.
All in all, a fantastic trip and visit with friends. We would love to get back up to the North, but next time go somewhere a little more remote than Chiang Mai, but for a first trip with children, Chiang Mai was a perfect destination.
Max had such an amazing time with Gigi and was extremely sad after she left. It was the first time in a long time that he talked about missing his old house. Fortunately, he will see Gigi when we return home for a visit in July.
As
for other goings on, Jim has joined a gym here and I have joined a yoga gym where yoga and Indian dance are taught. Max had his first soccer class on Saturday, which he really enjoyed. I attach a few photos of that here.
Maddy
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joanne flood
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joanne
we'll never catch up to Max in his travels!!we leave friday for Miami and the cruise starting feb 26th. we will go out to dinner at Hela's wed night for "Mommu's" birthday. went out for mine last week big day today Daytona 500. billy has his list of drivers all ready see you all in July. Joanne