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Published: December 15th 2006
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Skies over Bangkok
Just a cool photo. After several months in the making, almost all of the Lush family is together in Thailand, with my Dad arriving on Christmas morning. My Mom arrived from Vancouver one day before my sister flew in from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were both very excited to finally join in the fun times in Thailand.
There was one rather major surprise however on the morning of my Mom’s flight; she went out for a quick jog around the block to keep loose before the flight... and broke her left leg. In her entire life she's never broken a bone, but the spell of good luck came to a halt when she slipped on some black ice just down the street from our house! With a lot of perseverance and only a few hours before take-off, she managed to see a doctor, get x-rays, confirm that there was a break, and finally acquire a “walking air cast” that would enable her to travel. We received an e-mail from my Dad after she had successfully made her flight. It was a great moment to see her come off the plane (in a wheelchair) and start a trip that she had been heavily planning for several
Hotshots
Celebrating good times at Hotshots Bar. months.
Jodie and my Mom got a nice room at a very nice hotel in downtown Bangkok, where they could recover from whatever jet lag they had suffered, and enjoy the daylight hours beside the pool. Jordan, Jason, Trevor, Ryan and I joined them for a day and we basked in the sun and had fun swimming in fresh water a (it’s been a while). Some of us decided to take advantage of the professional tailoring in Bangkok and splurged on some fancy suits, shirts and ties. This was my first custom fitting, and it was awesome! Finally clothes that fit perfectly! The guys are all planning a “suit night” which will give us an excuse to flaunt our English Cashmere Wool suits.
We then bused up to northern Thailand to Chiang Mai, a quieter city of 1.5 million, compared to Bangkok’s bustling 8 million. My Mom had arranged a nice spot by the river, which was a great place for her to relax and take it easy, though she was reluctant to live the quiet life and wanted to start exploring. Chiang Mai has a huge night market/bazaar with hundreds of different stalls and shops all offering
Elephant Ride
Jodie and Mom - even with a broken leg, the ride was a blast. cheap items ranging from clothes to Thai art. The night also proved to be quite a milestone, as the three original journeyers Jordan, Jason and Ryan would be spending their last night of the trip together. Though they will all continue to travel, their different itineraries result in their splitting up. Without holding anything back, we set out for the town and celebrated the best way we knew how - lots of Chang beer and a great group of people. After roaming the market, we stopped by a few bars and partied hard. We capped off the night with a trip to the only late night burger joint (we crammed 6 people into/onto a 2/3 person Tuk-Tuk)
A mere four hours later our hung-over bodies we were rustled out of bed by my Mom, and we began our very long day of touring the city in the rented van. Our first stop was up in the hills where we visited an elephant farm. This was something I was looking forward to for quite some time; and it didn’t disappoint. Jason and Ryan had previously ridden elephants, and opted out of the ride in exchange for a nap in the
Boootiful Butterflies
They were still just long enough for me to capture this shot! van. Jordan stayed at the hotel to recover. Trevor and I shared an elephant, while my mom “the trooper” shared one with Jodie. Elephants are huge! They must be like the biggest land animals in the world…! It was quite a ride, we were guided by two trainers, who brought us through some jungle, up and down some hills (tough for elephants) and to a nice waterfall at the end. We were able to come off the seats and ride on the elephants head (we’re practically weightless to them). The accompanying photos will really describe how much fun it was.
Our next stop was an orchid/butterfly farm (inspired by my mom but ultimately enjoyed by yours truly.) Orchids are very nice, very colourful and quite expensive flowers. We also enjoyed a buffet lunch in the gardens before we toured the butterfly “cage.” The butterflies were quite accommodating to photographers and I managed a few good shots.
The van then carried us uphill to a huge Wat (temple) which is magnificent to say the least. Wat Doi Suthep is a grueling 370 stairs to the top, it would have sucked if we had to climb it; good thing we
The Journeyers
It's the end of an era for these guys. The last night they were together before traveling separate ways. It was awesome though! had to escort mom and her broken leg via trolley. In the centre is a huge gold plated pagoda, about 30 feet high at least and is said to have been hauled up solo by a sacred white elephant - impressive. It has an awesome view of all of Chiang Mai, the air is sooo much cleaner compared to Bangkok. We enjoyed some strawberry juice drink at the bottom - a new favourite.
After descending the 370 steps back to the van, we headed down the hill and visited the Chiang Mai zoo. Sweet! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lots of different animals, a highlight was the Pandas (I think one was pregnant). All the animals were pretty lazy, and some of then were going kind of crazy pacing around... I hear that's not good. They all posed well for photos though!
We enjoyed the humbleness of our hotel garden area where we laid around for the last day, awaiting another bus ride south back to Bangkok. Luckily Jodie and my Mom chose to fly down, which saved them the grief of one hell of a bus ride. It was terrible to say the least, but
Moi
Just a shot of me at some waterfalls. we can't afford anything else so beggars can't be choosers.
Tonight we say goodbye to Ryan for a short while, he is flying back home to Vancouver for christmas to see his family, but he will return on December 28th just in time for new years! Afterwards we will catch an overnight train down south, then a boat to Ko Tao again, this time we're actually going to get our Open Water scuba diving certification. I'm looking forward to some more volleyball and beach time!
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T.
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just a ps for your last blog: EW!....so glad you are enjoying chiang mai, it was maybe my favorite city... i hope you get to meet TONG! missing you like crazy, send your mom my best. have fun, stay safe, love you long time!!