Chiang Mai

On Friday morning, we took a quick flight up north to Chiang Mai, where we spent the next four days. It was so fun getting to our hotel, where we were greeted with the most delicious smell after walking up the main steps. Then as we checked in, a lady brought us cool, wet, scented cloths and rice tea. 

Spencer in our resort, Siripanna

We were too early to get into our rooms, so we enjoyed a buffet lunch out on the patio while we waited for the bike tour guide to come pick us up for our afternoon outing.

Shane, Ashlee, Adam, Spencer, Hollie,  & Justin

Not sure which I love more- Ashlee's teeth or Hollie's face!  Ha ha!

The bike tour took us around the southern part of Chiang Mai. We were on the outskirts of the city, so thankfully we weren't on crazy busy roads. Although our guides did stop traffic a few times for us to cross the busier streets.

We all wanted to stop to check out this cool Buddhist temple.

Our guide spoke pretty good English, and inside the temple we all sat while he told us about some of their customs. About ten years ago, 95% of Thailand's population was Buddhist, but it's currently about 85% as many have turned to Christianity. The guide's perception of the younger generation's motives in turning from Buddhism to Christianity was that they want to be more like Westerners because of our money, which I thought was an interesting perspective. I wonder how often that's the case, rather than actually being converted to Christ?

We also learned about the often seen orange-robed monks. They are typically from poorer families, choosing that way of life because they will get food, housing, and an education. They are very well respected, and if there was a monk sitting in a temple, even the King of Thailand would have to be lower than the monk. In Thai culture, all men are supposed to live as a monk at some point in their lives, our guide mentioned usually the month before you get married. But, he said the younger generation is doing this less and less, saying they don't have time for it.

The monks make a living because of their necessity in the Buddhist culture. It is customary to pay them to bless anything new in your life (e.g. houses, babies, etc.).

Our next stop was in a former leper colony, which was started by Christian missionaries. There are no lepers there today, so the buildings now provide housing for people who have been injured or become disabled. The cost of staying there is $40/month.

In this older section, people could stay for free as long as they fixed up their houses themselves. They looked like they were about to fall apart, but several of them had tenants.

Then we toured the Oxfam workshop, which provided jobs for disabled people who are still mentally alert but cannot do regular jobs. 

This woman had severe arthritis in her hands, but she was still beaming as she worked on crafts to sell at the gift shop.

Then it was on to the rice fields!

It was super hot outside, and these people work around 10 hours/day for about $10 in wages.

We fed fish for good luck and admired more crazy architecture on temples. 

Then it was time for a snack break.

Our sweaty crew, grateful to get our rear ends off of those bike seats.

We were introduced to the most delicious fruit called mangosteens. They had a thick purplish skin with white fruit inside that resembled cloves of garlic. We devoured them, they were so sweet and yummy. After our snack, our guide informed us that in 3 hours we had completed 12 kilometers and had 17 more to go! We agreed to go just a bit farther to see some ruins of the old city before throwing in the towel.

About 700 years ago, the King built a settlement called Wiang Kum Kam as his new capital city. These ruins of sat several feet lower than the rest of the city. Apparently it was flooded several times by the nearby Ping River, so he moved the capital a few miles away to Chiang Mai. It's name means "New city."

That was our last stop before calling it quits. We hopped in the back of a truck and hitched a ride to our hotel sitting on cushy benches instead of bike seats :) After cleaning up, we were off to the Night Bazaar.

We shopped.

We got foot massages.

Spencer "enjoying" his foot massage.

We ate.

I usually don't like mangos, but I could have eaten mango sticky rice for every meal!

And we started the first of many visits to the tailor to get suits.

Thailand: Travel Woes & a Day in Bangkok

Last November we planned a trip to Thailand with four other couples. After finally deciding to do the trip sans kids, we agreed to leave them in the care of the Palmer's and the Perrins', both good friends we go to church with. About a week before the trip, I felt nauseous when I thought about leaving my kids while I traveled to a different country. We even made our very first will, just in case. I tearfully parted with Syd (totally excited to stay over at friend's houses) and Shawn (completely oblivious to our leaving) before we darted to the airport. Unfortunately our flight was delayed about two hours. Luckily we were in good company and the time passed quickly.

One funny thing about airlines here is that we were fed meals on every flight. Even when it was like 2am, they came around with food. Our options on our first flight were fish or tofu.

Spencer was brave and got fish.

I stuck with tofu.

Notice the little fish still had its eyes? Spencer totally ate his and said it was not good. I wasn't surprised.

We had a layover in Shanghai, China, missing our original flight from there to Bangkok. I forgot other places in the world are cold in the winter and was freezing in my short sleeves and capri pants. It was about 39 degrees, and we had to walk off our plane onto the tarmac to get on a bus to the gate. One of the workers at the desk who printed our new tickets assured us we would get on a later flight. "No problem!" he told us. We later realized it would be no problem because that flight was also delayed two hours. We passed the time by talking and playing cards.

The only time I have ever kicked trash at Ripple.

We finally landed in Bangkok around 4:30am, and it was nice to be in warm weather again. Thankfully we booked the airport hotel for two nights, so it just took a few minutes to get to there. After checking in, we all ate at the breakfast buffet and headed up to sleep for a few hours. Then we woke up and had second breakfast before heading out for some sightseeing.

The taxi ride downtown was pretty fun. Our driver was very chatty, and we were grateful he kept us alive as lines on the road pretty much meant nothing. Our first outing was a boat ride. We hopped aboard with the Heaton's and headed up stream to enjoy the sights.

Spencer looked handsome. The buildings behind him, not so much.

We'd pass totally impoverished housing areas, then right next to it would be an incredibly ornate temple like this one.

Our main stop was this sweet ruin. I have no idea what it was, but it was cool!

The Chinese Buddha is fat and bald, but the Thai Buddha (hiding behind that tree)  is thinner and has pokey hair.

We were there during the Chinese New Year, so those red lanterns were strung throughout the city.

The mosaic tile on this building was incredible!

Justin and Spencer after hiking up to the first level.

The steps up to the second level were super steep!

View of downtown Bangkok.

View of the river, with lots of orange and gold rooftops in the distance.

We were really excited to climb back down... yikes!

After that, we pretty much rode around a really impoverished area. It was so eye opening to see how people in other countries live. I have never felt so grateful to live such a privileged life.

Our final stop before heading back to the dock was a section of the river that was riddled with fish. A sign on the wall said it was considered lucky to feed them.

Unlucky fish, because we had no food to give them.

Then we were off to our first legit Thai eating experience. It was super cheap, most dishes were between $2-4! We all got like three things plus dessert, and the bill was still only about $20/couple.

Back table: Amy & Keldon, Shane & Ashlee
Front table: Stacey & Justin, Adam & Hollie, Me

After lunch we went to see the Golden Buddha. I'd vaguely remembered hearing stories about it before... how it was covered with plaster to hide it from Thailand's enemy during an invasion in the 1700s. It wasn't until they tried to move it in 1955 that they realized it was made of pure gold. They tried to lift it, but it was so heavy that the ropes snapped and the statue fell down, breaking off some of the plaster and exposing the gold underneath.

Our pamphlet said the Golden Buddha is 700 years old, is almost 10' tall, weighs 5.5 tons, and is worth about 250 million dollars.

I loved checking out the ornate ceilings in the temples.

Fancy schmancy.

 We drove through China town on our way to Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It was decorated with colorful banners and Chinese lanterns for the holiday.

The ground of Wat Pho were amazing! Their style of architecture is so ornate and cool.

Massive statues: check.

Sweet mosaic tile: check.

Wavy, shiny gold accents on rooftops: check.

The girls: Me, Amy, Stacey, Ashlee, & Hollie.

Spencer said this statue reminded him of Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China, a totally generic movie that we both loved growing up.

The Reclining Buddha was totally massive. I liked the funky swirls on the bottoms of his toes, and the rest of his feet were decorated with Mother of Pearl.

The wallpaper was just as ornate as the rest of the place.

It was covered with detailed drawings.

We kept our eyes open for pickpockets... the non-Thai variety of course. 

I'm sure Spencer got tired of me asking if he still had his wallet.

Monk on a cell phone.

Our last stop of the day was the Grand Palace, but it was already closed. The best picture I could get was from outside the gate.

Across from the palace was a huge park.

Love that green tuk-tuk!

This cool elephant statue decorated the middle of a roundabout.

We drove past the King of Thailand's residence. He was actually very sick and in the hospital, and his picture was on banners all over the city.

Chitralada Royal Villa.

We thought this tailor's store name was pretty funny.

We were being really goofy on our way back to the hotel. Our driver didn't speak much English, so he wasn't trying to talk to us like our other driver had. We were talking in lots of different accents and just being dumb, but laughing a lot. I'm sure he thought we were crazy.

Spencer, Adam, & Hollie.

Despite being tired, our one day in Bangkok was a success! Most people had told us it was really dirty, but it exceeded my expectations.