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Published: January 9th 2007
We started off on Saturday in search of the big flower festival here. We didn't really know where we were going and no one would mark it on our map. The lady at the front desk of the guest house just kept saying go to the end of the street and wait for bus one,one. We knew there was supposed to be a big bug exhibit there, so after waiting for 15 minutes and not seeing any bus we noticed our map had "Chiang Mai Bug Museum" marked on it. We decided to head over there.
Upon arriving the door was closed with a sign hanging above it saying " Don't expect what you will see, expect what you will learn. Ring bell to come in" The price was a little steep but we decided to go in anyway. It was quite a long walk to get there. Once inside we met a cool old guy who was a mosquito scientist for something like 58 years. He had recently retired but seemed to know everything there was to know about mosquitoes. There are over 400 different species and only about 4 are known to carry any diseases. The chances of
Doi Supath
Lots of goldgetting malaria in Thailand is very incredibly small with the risks of side effects from the pills being far worse. Now I feel a little silly for spending $80 on malaria tablets as we won't be going to Laos or Cambodia where he did say it would be a good idea to use them. The museum was great, he was from a very poor farming village who just happened to help the U.S. with catching mosquitoes at the end of WW 2. He worked his way up to having a good, well paid job and traveling the world. He was the first to identify 18 species and has one named after him. He also has interesting saying (in English) all over the walls and asked that I help him with his grammar for a new one he was writing (those who know about my grammar ...don't laugh).
After that he told us where we could get a ride to the flower festival. We went to a nearby mall and followed some sings, thinking we would be going to a booth selling tickets. We ended up in this dirt parking lot with this guy pointing at a flower festival sign.
Monkey vs Monkey
Little did I know we would soon be matching wits in a find the hidden number game. Guess who won? We climbed into the back of a truck with a bench and were off. Hoping we were going to the festival. Sure enough we got the in one piece. The whole thing was amazing. It was at the King's summer palace and we spent over an hour wandering through the orchid exhibit. Very cool. The rest was also interesting. It was really funny at one point we heard Limp Bizkit singing that "I know you want to hate me" then Queens "We will rock you" people were gathered around in front of the palace so we went to see. It was some military doing marching drills. I would have thought they would have chosen Thai music instead.
Sunday we had to go to the airport to buy plane tickets and wanted to go to a temple up on a mountain. We decided to splurge so we hired a car and driver for the day. It cost about $20. He drove us around and waited while we did everything. We went to the airport, up to the top of a nearby mountain, then to a monkey show, then to a snake show.
Yesterday we went on a one day
Snake Man
This guy was good trek. We went elephant riding, then drove to a hill tribe village, then went a swam in a waterfall. After that we hiked to another village, had some very good lunch before going bamboo rafting in the afternoon. It all felt very packaged and touristy but wasn't a bad way to spend the day. Last night we all (Dave, Barry, Katie and I) went to a fancy restaurant on the river front and had an amazing dinner.
Today is just going to be a fairly lazy day ... I'm coming down with a cold. I think I've pushed myself too hard the past week and need a rest. Tomorrow I'm taking a plane to the south islands to relax for 2 weeks. Should be a good cure for my cold.
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Shelley
non-member comment
whoa, whoa, whoa
Unthroned Amber? What are you saying... any puppy can be cute... but the only puppy that really matters is the golden girl, Amber. That picture of you and the monkey is so cool. It is sort of hard to tell which one is the real monkey though! It is forcast to snow in Victoria again tomorrow with cold temperatures returning. We have more rain and wind coming tonight first though. Stanley Park in Vancouver has really taken a beating and has lost thousands of trees. Hmmm I wonder what an elephant could do to help around the house. Maybe you could adopt one Jon and save him from his misery! HIYA to everyone there from everyone here! Thanks for the dilligent reporting!