Arroyo's Chiang Mai - Day 3

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Hey Everyone,

Gosh, all this activity is catching up to us. We are all so tired... Today was another eventful day, although Sergeant Kai kept us busy, we didn't feel like we were running.

The morning started off around 9am when Sergeant Kai picked us up at the Chaing Mann Residence. We started the morning off at this amazing temple, although the name escapes me at the moment. It was so beautiful and elborate like many of the temples but this one came to have two special qualities for us. First, upon arriving we took off our shoes and went inside where a monk was blessing couples that wanted to get married. It was very nice to be able to watch, the people are so friendly and open here. While providing the blessing, the monk began to chant. Sergeant Kai knelt down to pray with Audrey, it was so sweet. He then took both girls over to get blessings from the monks. He tied these white bracelets on their little arms and they were so happy. He then began to say blessings to another family and sprinkle holy water on them and must have figured we needed it too, to sprinked some in our direction. Sophia put out the sweetest little giggle that made my heart sing. What a great kid she is.

After leaving the temple itself, we walked up these steps to where these women were selling animals to release (birds, eels, snails, cat fish, and more). We watch a young couple wanting to get married release some birds for good luck. Sophia decided that she wanted too, so we purchased 2 little birds and she released them. She really loved that.

Once we left the temple grounds we went and had breakfast/lunch. It was an OK place and the serve was a bit slow, but the food was American, so the girls ate, which is all I really care about.

Our next step was to go to the hot springs. Honestly, I wasn't too excited about going, but Sergeant Kai said it was great, and it really was!! I am so glad that he was persistent. Basically, the hot springs are a park that a lot of local families go too to picnic. The spring itself is really hot, boiling in fact. Sergeant Kai bought us a basket of eggs and we boiled them right there in the spring. Sophia thought it was the coolest and it really was and boy, did she eat those eggs. So, like I said the base of the spring is really hot, but they have these canals that go through the park that people can sit or dip their feet in. As the water gets further away from the main spring it gets cooler. We ended up soaking our feet for a couple minutes and then Sergeant Kai rented us a mat to sit on so we could rest and Audrey could run around a bit. That is actually where we ate our eggs too. After our egg picnic, Sophia wanted to go back in the spring. She ended up standing in it and slipping, poor little thing, she was so embarressed. Of course, when that happened I had to buy her a new outfit and of course I had to buy Audrey a matching one for a whopping $3.75 for the combination of the both. I was warned by many people to not pack clothes, just buy them when we get here, and they were right.

We left pretty quickly after that and headed too, Bor Sang Village, where they make paper umbrellas. That was pretty cool. We got to see the process from beginning to end, which is so much work. They actually, make the paper and use a knife to make the form of the umbrella by hand. From there we headed to a pottery factory where Sergeant Kai was able to get someone to teach Sophia how to form a pot on the potters wheel. She thought that was too cool.

Once we left there we headed to the malls food court for lunch, which was really yummy!! I had a noodle dish with Audrey. She kept saying "Moore, Moore" you all know how she does she loved it. Sophia had grilled chicked with white rice. Eddie had Sushi and all for a whopping $6.00. Still can't believe it. That also included lunch of Sergeant Kai. He is so sweet and never wants us to buy, but we usually figrue out a way to do it and then he figures out a way to make it up to us like, ice cream after dinner or the eggs at the hot springs.

Once we left there, we visited this other temple that is over 600 years old. We ran into these monks having a "Monk Chat", really, they actually had a sign that said, "Monk Chat". So we decided to chat. Sophia had some questions for them and they played with the baby.

After we left there, Sergeant Kai dropped us off at the Saturday night market, where we pretty much finished up our Christmas shopping, still have a couple more things to pick-up. We took a taxi home and now everyone is asleep, I am sitting here writing all of you wonderful people, thinking how hard it is to keep moving my fingers because I am so tired. I think I am going to head to bed now, still need to format the pictures to add to the blog.

Tomorrow, we head off to Doi Mae Salong, our Chaing Mai journey is over. It went by way too fast. We truely LOVE it here. I have never felt safer and more comfortable.

Love to all,

Angie.

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Photos

Audrey Praying
This is Audrey and Sergeant Kai praying while the monk is giving a blessing.

Night Market
Do you see Eddie???

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I love you all. Give my love to the girls. I hope you get some rest. Mom