'Day of Rest' in Chiang Mai

Thinking of things in a relative sense is probably a Buddhist principle (more on that later), so take our concept of a rest day with a grain of salt. It really means we didn't have plans going into the day.

Breakfast by the pool at the hotel again.

Stacie was still under the weather, so Rachel and I were driven in the hotel car

to the pharmacy to get Advil, cold medicine and cough medicine. The pharmacist was great and 180 baht ($4.50) later, with the driver waiting outside of the pharmacy in full uniform, we were stocked up for the rest of the trip.

After breakfast we went to Warorot Market, a local market with food on the ground floor and local apparel stores on the upper floor. We tried (most of us) egg yolk candy (20 baht), and then went to a food stall recommended by one of the bloggers we followed

For crispy pork cutlets (40 baht)

At another stall we got Sai Ua, the northern Thai pork sausage, cut into bite sized pieces in a plastic bag with a skewer to eat as we walked around.

The girls bought more elephant pants and we were off to our next destination.

Now would be a good time to mention it was about 102 in Chiang Mai, but only 99 Real Feel, somehow. We decided to walk to the center of town, about a mile, and were drenched by the time we got there.

Once there we went to a Buddhist temple for Monk Chat. This was an opportunity to talk to a monk and ask them any questions you wanted He broke the ice by asking us a few questions and then we had a nice conversation for about 45 minutes.

After Monk Chat it was time for lunch. The next day was Songkran, the Thai New Year, but they start a day early in Chiang Mai. What that means is getting splashed with water (for good luck in the new year) while walking on the street or even driving by on your motorbike. Businesses have buckets, hoses, super soakers, and even kiddie pools:

We went back to the hotel and Howard went off to get massage treatments to try to fix his back. Thai Massage, hot stones, and hot oil left him relaxed but not 100%.

Dinner was at a local restaurant with Thai and Indian food and everyone ate a lot as we were in the air conditioning.

After dinner (rest day, remember) we went to the Night Bazaar and shopped for souvenirs. Rachel got a bag, Jessica a bracelet, and Brian a souvenir for his Bar Mitzvah teacher. There are no words to explain what we did next until you see the picture:

Yes, that's a tank full of little fish that eat all of the dead skin off of your feet. As you can see, Rachel didn't last very long, but she tried it (Brian and Stacie sat this one out). Jessica and I were sure our feet were as smooth as a baby's bottom when we were done.

Stacie and Brian were tired (of hearing us scream) at this point and went back to the hotel. Howard, Rachel, and Jessica were drawn in by a live Thai band singing Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, and more, so we stayed for a drink.

About 11:00, we finished our rest day. Headed to Phuket tomorrow.

Chiang Mai Arrival and Day 1

Yes, we're very behind on blogging... That shows how much we've been doing.

The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was an hour and five minutes, from the time they closed the door until we had our bags, basically. We left from the domestic airport and the airport was a breeze. The kids got sandwiches at the airport (Subway is big here) and we even got a meal on the plane (this is the flight I paid for the checked bags, seat assignment, and 'meal' ahead of time.

Pickup at the airport was simple and the hotel staff was waiting for us at Arrivals. A quick 15 minute trip and we were at the Ping Nakara. 19 rooms in the Lanna style and, again, impeccable service.

For dinner the hotel suggested a nearby restaurant on the river and we had a traditional Northern Thai meal including ribs, braided beef, noodles, etc.

We were able to listen to live music from the Bus Bar across the street and got to sleep at a reasonable time for a big first day in Chiang Mai.

Next morning, we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast was Western, with pancakes, french toast, and omelettes made to order and a small buffet to go along with it. The view from breakfast:

After breakfast was the pickup for our day with the elephants. After researching these experiences, we found Elephant Nature Park where you got to interact with the elephants without riding them. Our program was the Pamper a Pachyderm program, and when we got out of the van we were greeted by our two new friends for the day.

We were carrying bags of fruits and vegetables (squash, sugar cane, and their favorite, pumpkin). As we walked along the path we fed the elephants every few steps, establishing trust and walking along a path for a few kilometers.

Towards the end of the walk, we all went down a narrow path to the river where they got big pieces of sugar cane for a job well done before we ate lunch

After lunch, we made rice balls for the elephants, mixing herbs, brown sugar, tamarind, pumpkin, and rice into balls the size of softballs. We used machetes to chop up more squash, pumpkin, and watermelon to feed them in the river.

We'll be uploading some videos so check back tomorrow for an update to this post.

Overall, an amazing, mind-blowing day with such close interaction with these gentle giants.

Back to the hotel and a dip in the pool (after showering!)

and dinner in old Chiang Mai at a very good Thai restaurant.

Quickie

We're in Chiang Mai now. My back has been acting up pretty badly and Stacie picked up a cold on the plane, but we're not letting that stop us.

Second day in Bangkok was for the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Very hot in Bangkok but manageable, even in pants/ long skirts for the temples:

We brought additional tops to wear when inside the temples as well

First stop was the Grand Palace, with all of its grandeur

And then we went to Wat Pho with the reclining Buddha (didn't think we could take pictures of the Buddha until a monk elbowed Stacie out of the way to take a selfie).

Rachel made merits on our behalf as well

By placing a coin in over 100 different offering cups.

After the temple, we went to lunch along the river in an air conditioned restaurant. Overall the food has been good but it's been too hot to eat a lot. This was the first meal we ate ravenously. A little bit of shopping and a walk through the flower market

And we were off to the airport for our 1 hour flight to Chiang Mai.

We're a day behind on the blogging so we'll try to catch up later today as it's a day of wandering the city of Chiang Mai.

Day 1 - (2 Days Long)

So much for sleeping in... after getting to the hotel at 3AM and getting to sleep by 4AM, we were all up at 6:30. Looked out our windows to this:

Ate breakfast at the hotel, incredible buffet. We'll be posting a video when we get to our next hotel. Breakfast was very relaxing:

And the fresh fruit bar was awesome.

After breakfast we headed down to the dock to take the Peninsula boat across the river to the Sky Train

And off to Chatuchak Weekend Market we went. First stop was coconut ice cream

And then some shopping. Jessica got a purse for $2.80 and a pair of Roy Bans (our name for her faux Ray Bans) for about $4.

Came back to the hotel and went to the pool for a couple of hours

Then met our tour guide for the afternoon tour.

First stop was the Maeklong Train Market, which is set up on the train tracks and moved every time a train is coming through. Video soon...

Next we stopped at a temple and petting zoo?!? Goal was to make sure no one got bit

Then to the Amphawa Floating Market, where they cook food on the long tail boats and you can eat canal-side

Firefly long boat tour and a trip through crazy traffic back to Bangkok and we were back at the hotel at 10:30, a mere 16 hours after we had woken up.

Good news is that we're at breakfast on Monday morning after full night's sleep and headed off to the Grand Palace and other temples today. Flying to Chiangmai Mai tonight. More to come tomorrow.

Made It!!!

26 hours after leaving the house, we're in Thailand.

Air China was a nice surprise, especially the long flight from JFK to Beijing. Interesting red wine on the plane

And it was actually pretty good.

Food (yes, they served food) was hit or miss, with a good beef rice dish, decent other ones, and a strange seafood dish Howard had on the last leg. We brought plenty of snacks and ate most of them.

Stacie spent $40 on bottled waters at JFK and we drank them all.

Flight from Beijing to Bangkok was delayed almost two hours, but at least that meant we weren't going to miss our connection and our bags would make it.

3 AM and we made it to the Peninsula. What a hotel!

Connecting rooms on the 25th floor overlooking the river, more like a suite.

Tropical fruits in each room when we arrived

Along with a nice note

Got to sleep by 4 AM and woke up at 6:30 to breakfast on the river:

Pictures of the incredible views from our room and details of our first day in Bangkok later.

On the Way

Slowest driver ever... good thing we left early.

Thai-m to Go

The packing cubes are all squared away, we've planned a great itinerary, and we're hours from the airport.

I still I'll have a sense of dread that AirChina is going to mess up this transfer in Beijing, but that's out of our control.

Plenty of snacks are packed for the flights and we've been downloading shows from Netflix for days.

if things go well, there will be no pictures from the Beijing airport. Otherwise...