Laurie's World

Hi all–my final blog with information about our last day in Chiang Mai. If you are reading this…it means i found free wifi somewhere and was able to send this blog up to the tubes
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It is currently 12:08am and I am in Bangkok airport (again)! I seem to spend a lot of time in this airport–this is my fourth or fifth night here–pretty sure I have a bench with my name on it. Not a comfortable bench, but a bench none the less. My flight to Tokyo leaves at 5:30 am…so I have a bit of a wait.

I am actually currently beyond exhausted…We had such a GREAT day…was thinking about it on the plane ride here—what adjective to use that I have not already used to describe the days we have had…If I come up with something more creative–i will change it up–just too tired to expend too much mental energy…

We went offroading with one of Tee’s (owns Ginny’s Place) friends. She and Ian had told us about their friend that has an old 4×4 jeep and he takes people offroading up to Doi Suthep on an old dirt path that goes up to the top of the mountain. It takes you through remote Thai jungle through opium farms (yes there is still some of this illegal crop being grown here), to a couple of very remote villages of the hilltribes where they grow coffee…anyway–i am getting ahead of myself–I should go back to how the day started…

We were up, had breakfast and ready for our pick up at 9:30am…Ning took us to Ginny’s Place to drop off our baggage and get set to head out for the day. Russ and BK have wanted to do something called Xorbing since the last time they were here 2 years ago…we decided to incorporate this into our day–so had Ning take us to the Xtreme Centre up by Mae Sae first. So the kids voluntarily stepped up (and let me say with a fair amount of enthusiasm!!) to strap themselves to the inside of what amounts to a HUGE beachball and get rolled down a hill into a small lake where they had to run like hamsters to get the ball back to the dock. Suffice it to say–it was hilarious–when I get some pix–I will post… They had a blast–the video should be beyond hilarious for them to see themselves.

After that we meandered down a non descript road towards what I now know to be close to the scariest thing I have ever done here. Topping the list would the long tail boat ride we took to get to Ralay Beach 2 years ago–where I was pretty sure I was going to die!) I was not worried about dying today–just being stranded out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain–and missing all our flights etc today–perhaps having to walk 30 kms to civilization. So “offroading” does not even begin to accurately describe the day i had. Not even sure how to describe it…There we were clinging to the side of a mountain going up and down on a goat path with ruts/valleys that often had to be a foot or more. Our driver was amazing and if I know anything about xtreme adventures in Thailand–this is what I can tell you–they don’t want to die either–so they won’t go out if they think they won’t get back safe themselves. What actually concerned me was that we would run out of gas, or the jeep would overheat, or we WOULD get stuck, or it would start to rain…however, none of these things happened…BUT I did kiss the ground when we were done. This has unfortunately sparked an old teen dream of Troy’s to have his own offroad vehicle…so gonna have to wait for that little idea to die down ; )

So Troy has decided there is an advantage to being big big (what they call us farang here in Thailand)…it means he always gets the front seat and The rest of us pile in the back, whenever we go somewhere. So while his ride was not exactly comfortable–it HAD to better than Russ, BK and I being jammed in the back of the jeep with a seat that was about 3-4 inches higher on the sides than in the middle–so we constantly were sliding down and crushing whatever poor soul was in the middle–we took turns…now no picnic to be on either outside either. As there was nothing to hang onto but the headrests of the seats in front of us to keep us from bouncing right out. Russ took a bullet for the team for a while and sat inthe trunk…I have a picture of that and will post when I get my pictures ready…We got such serious air a couple times, we bounced right up and bonked our heads on the ceiling of the truck. Anyways–it was super fun and the kids were PUMPED! Amazing way to end our special time in Chaing Mai.

About a little over halfway through the “drive” we stopped at a coffee plantation and we had a coffee (Russ and I, Troy had tea). I got some coffee beans–so hoping I can recreate the coffee (at least) at home : ). So this is like a Thai Starbucks…Hahahaha…

We stopped at a village school, that is sponsored by the King and Queen, so it has lots of many nice upgrades that we did NOT see when we were at the school in the floating village in Cambodia (for example). I took some pictures–there was a staff meeting going on–and i must say–I will have to talk to my boss about maybe getting a better place for staff meetings…pretty sure the pix won’t do it justice–but the staff were gathered at a table on a deck overlooking the city of Chaing Mai–close to one of the most beautiful vantage points in all of Thailand! There was a music room and BK stopped by a classroom for some English lessons. There were some super adorable little boys (4th grade) who knew a little English–so after some prompting by our guide, they asked us where were from. When we said Canada–they ran over to a world map on the wall of another building and looked it up. It was AWESOME! When I asked them again a few minutes later, they remembered : ) and could show me on the map!

We went for late lunch at a lake that is actually man made due to a dam, there were little bamboo hits built out over the water where they bring you your food. It was very peaceful and calming after the offroading adventure (which took us about 3 hours). We fed the small fish our scraps and after dangling our feet in the water–we got back in the jeep for one last mission…

We went back to the Wararot Market for a specific trinket that BK wanted for a friend…this was after we tried a different (HUGE) market that we did not even know about–OH GOODIE, that did not have what we needed. We did find fresh chinese donuts with Pandanas custard (one of our favorite desserts after mango sticky rice!), we stopped and picked up the clean laundry for Troy, BK and Russ, then back to Ginny’s for a shake and some food for the road…Once again my travel companions caved and had good old fashioned farang food. I stayed true and had Pad Se Ewe–Yum!

Our guide hung out and waited for 8:15pm to take us to the airport—very nice new friend we have here now–He said he will teach Russ how to catch frogs when we come back and BK wants to learn how to drive off road–gonna have to find a way to nix that!!

So Troy, BK and Russ are on their way to Phuket–should be there by now and on their way to the Sugar Palm in Karon–and I am waiting for my flight to come home. I get in around 9:45am Wednesday….

HI–did a total sum of nothing yesterday!! Other than see if I could get all my stuff in my bag…

Will likely not be back in touch until I get to an airport with free wifi. We do not leave until after 10pm tonight–which is 8am Tuesday to Seattle folk…but we have to check out of our hotel and so will be out and about all day–THEN off to airport.

will update as I can…

Ok–I am pretty sure I am not as tired as Russill–but Bk and I hit the Sunday market pretty hard tonight…we spent about 4 hours looking at everything and making some very fun purchases…still can’t really talk about it–spoiler alert, spoiler alert! Troy and Russ did their best but we outlasted them and they headed back a bit earlier than us. This happens every year with Troy—he “thinks” he wants to come and then he “gets tired of watching me look at the same jewelry over and over” so he goes back to the hotel. It is OK–I know it is the way of the world…and I make better headway on my own anyway!!

So it did decide to rain when we wanted to go to the market–but we are from the Pacific Northwest and it takes more than a little rain to deter us!! Best buck I ever spent and I think we look darn cute!

So after Russ got back from his mountain biking adventure, we heard all the fun details…I am waiting for a picture–I will post as soon as it comes my way ; )

We then headed over to Sopa’s for some massage. I had my first ever Thai massage today. I am normally a foot massage girl or a head, neck, shoulders and back girl. Never tried the full on Thai massage…a little afraid after I see what they do to Troy…does not look normal for a body to be twisted up like that…anyway–I knew in the first 30 seconds, something was different! Troy and Russ were both getting Thai massage–and it has been kind of a running joke between us all this year that we get what we get, as the English is not always so good…or they just do what they want, or are good at…but this was DIFFERENT! SO I rolled with it–curiosity got the better of me. I survived and kind of thought I may even order this up again…prolly not on this trip—as my feet are killing me from all the shopping and I really need a foot massage–but maybe next summer : )

Regardless of what service you are getting at the massage place, they clean your feet before you start…so here we are getting toes cleaned off…

Not sure if I mentioned it in the blog back then or not, but when we were in Kanchanaburi I asked for a foot massage and I got a pedicure…I think she did not know what I was saying and saw me gesture to my feet and saw what a horrible mess my toes were–so thought “Hey I am going to give her a pedicure!” That is kinda how it goes…any service is good service in my books though and it was only $3–so where do you get a great pedi for $3??

Anyway–Very tired…so gonna go to bed…But first I have to tell you about the best part of my day! We skyped with Jackie this morning! It was awesome! So nice to see her sweet smiley face! I miss you Jay!! She told us all about the 68 pound halibut her and grandpa caught that afternoon! Yes you read that right! Amazing! Sounded like quite the adventure. She caught a 18 pound salmon herself also right after and she guts her own fish…go Jackie go Jackie!

Rachael goes back to her own dive coach tomorrow after being in Indiana for 2 weeks…can’t wait to hear what he thinks of her progress : )

TTFN

Yahoo–he is back in my possession–can’t wait to hear all about it!!

OK–just burnt my toast…sigh. Better have another coffee, that will make up for it!! I guess you can tell I am sitting in the Breakfast room again : )

I heard from Rachael that she is safe and sound back in WA with Kim…phew! I can stop worrying about that!

Russ just left for his mountain biking adventure…he was very excited to go…so I hope he enjoys it. At the very least the breeze coming down the mountain will be very nice right?? It is hot already here today–need the guys to go around and turn on more fans here!! Not going to mention sweat Jay–OOPS just did!!

The Saturday market last night was fabulous–even though it rained…that kept the crowds down–that market gets crazy crowded…I would say 95% of the vendors were there…so the selection was all it needed to be.

BK and Russ found more artwork for their dorms! and some T-shirts—they have the market cornered (excuse the pun!) on T-shirts those two. I also found some stuff–but can not say as it might spoil a surprise for two small people at home–Teehee!!!

There is always lots of food at the markets–so aside from the trinket shopping, we ate our way through the market. We started with a big fat corn waffle. I know this sounds weird–but the corn here is fabulous to say the least (and I feel I have some basis to say this as i am familiar with world famous taber corn–prairie girl that i am). So you put it in a waffle and it is voila–YUMMY–just like the bananas here–you can put them in anything and i am happy!! So that was great…we also tried sausage, papaya salad (way to spicy for me), a chicken something or other with steamed rice(looked like larb–but wasn’t), spring roll, samosas and then for dessert—banana pancake. So we were stuffed…

Pretty sure if we went back through the photos we took a picture of this same girl making Roti on this same corner in ChiangMai last summer…but here she is still making the world’s best banana pancakes/Roti

There was a vendor with a very nice (i suppose) selection of insects/worms etc to eat…I almost barfed…Troy took a picture and i am currently debating whether to post it or not–maybe the faint of heart (like myself) would find it revolting–others with stronger stomachs may find it interesting and quaint…we will see. The camera is upstairs and i am currently too lazy to go up and get it…but if you check back later–you may find a surprise : )

So today–we do not have too much planned…other than going to the Sunday market : )

I think I will go get my haircut and maybe if I am feeling adventurous some hi-lites. For $16 bucks–why not?? I did not get a street massage last night–so may just make an afternoon of it at Sopa’s…we will see!

GAP and GUS–I will update when Russ is back safe and sound in my possession : )
It will be around 4pm our time–so 3am your time…you will see when you wake up…

L

OK–Rachael and Mar are safely tucked at the airport waiting for their new flight…sipping a Starbucks (good Seattle girls).

We went to Ginny’s for late lunch and to pay for Russ’ mountain biking adventure he is going on tomorrow…The three that I travel with all had American Breakfast–I had Phad Thai…it was awesome…but they claimed theirs was also : )

After we ate–the kids wandered off to Sopa’s and we stayed to chat with Capt Bob…as has become our daily habit…

We just got back to the hotel and we are getting ready to go out to highly anticipated Saturday Walking Market…waiting for the kids to get back from their massage…and we will take off!

I think I am going to stop at one of the massage places on the sidewalk tonight after we do the market…I feel a little bad about not going to Sopa’s, but I also have wanted to try roadside massage once…so after I tick it off my list, I will never stray from Sopa again! Troy says he and I have very different bucket lists–I suspect he is right! I will post a pix after I have one…

Ruby and Jay–here are Klompy and Pooh—SO happy at the Imm Tapae! They are settling right in.

HI folks–woke up with a weird feeling in my gut around 7am…even though I was looking forward to a sleep in day! Just couldn’t fall back asleep and did not know why as i stayed up past midnight last night…So I got up and turned on my phone to see three panicked texts from Rachael. “Something wrong with our flights” “Are you awake?” “Please Call”. So being the parent of the year–I call her right away!! She was supposed to be flying home from camp today–and I know they have to make a connecting flight as part of their journey…so am on high alert for problems.
I guess their first flight was going to be 2 hours late due to weather problems somewhere…which meant they would miss their connecting flight. I will take this moment to give the lady at camp that the girls were in the care of, Linda, a shout out right now for taking such good care of the girls and going in with them and staying etc etc. She is the Mom of the camp director and an ex teacher and is now a nurse, with 2 grandchildren–so I had a wonderful feeling about her right from the start! Anyway–she took the girls home with her and fed them pizza…they will stay with her until they try to get on another flight tomorrow morning.

Now for anyone who knows me, and I am assuming you all do if you are reading my blog, this is REALLY hard for me!! I like to have all my ducks in a row and when things change it stresses me out–and i am not prone to stress–but I really have no choice do I?? I will trust and be thankful for our saint in Indiana…That and my dear friend Karen who was available to take the call to help the girls and Linda make decisions! And Kim (dear sweet Kim) who put my heart at ease and told me everyone would be fine and who is taking care of Rachael for me this weekend…

Also–happier with b’fast today–the Chinese donuts are significantly more fresh at 8am, than they were yesterday at 10:15am…there are croissants and coffee–so i am happy!!

No real plans for the day–Russ is going Mountain Biking this weekend, so have to wander over to Ginny’s Place to pay for that (they are travel agents also–and they run a small guesthouse). While we are there–we may as well eat…other than that–not too much going on…Got the Saturday Walking market tonight–which we have been waiting anxiously all week for!!

Have not heard from Jay in a few days–but she is in good hands with Granny and Grandpa–so not worried about that!

Will update as things occur

TTFN

We had a slow morning today…with the bed being something other than a slab of concrete–I slept until 9:30am! That is late, as I have been hauling my sorry stiff self out of bed by around 7am at the latest most days here. We had b’fast at the hotel…it is just OK…maybe if we were there earlier?? OR Maybe my mistake was letting Troy have the American breakfast at Ginny’s Place the other day–now he has such high expectations…

We got caught up on our electronic communication (ie: all got on our computers for a bit)…then decided to walk down to the Mae Ping River and hit the Warorot market (local market) on the way back. The girls and I went (or thought we went) to this market 2 years ago…but what i have discovered is that we only touched the very tip of the iceberg that night. It is the largest and most central of the markets in the city. Massive does not describe it…in addition to the street vendors…there is a massive indoor complex 3 or 4 floors high (I lost track). There is food, clothing, daily items, trinkets and souveniers, toys…literally everything. It is where the locals go to get anything and everything they might need for daily life–but it caters to tourists alike. Russ was in desperate need of some shorts (it came to my attention a couple days ago he only has 2 pairs here–and one really needs a minimum of three so as to have something to wear when 2 pairs are at the laundry : )
He found some and haggled the lady down to 450 baht (which is $15) for 2 very nice pairs of shorts…and needless to say–I am happy to see him in something else!!

BK also hit the shops–she bought 6 pairs of sunglasses for $10–So that is like a 6 years supply as far as i am concerned…but she assures me they all have a purpose. And a shirt she really liked for $6 and a jacket and a pair of pants for $16.50. So she was a happy camper/shopper!

Troy found some loose tea and i got some Pandanas leaf…not sure what i need that for exactly at this moment–but it is used in a lot of Thai cooking and i have not seen it at home–Maybe Uwijamaya if i scoured the shelf, but i can guarantee it would cost more than $1.50, which is what I paid here : )

Pretty sure we did a decent job of eating our way through the market–we had waffles, these little coconut pancake things and these cookies I like that are like a cross between a ritz cracker and a butter cookie with pineapple jam in the middle. Sounds weird, but they are delish!! Discovered them the first year we were here and try to find them every time…and there they were right at the market : )

We came back to the hotel and decompressed from all that excitement (and de-sweated–it is really hot here today and full sun!) for a bit–with the plan of going to Sopa’s around 6 or 7pm for a massage and then to Ginny’s Place for supper. If you have read more than one of my posts, you might be seeing a pattern here–hahahahahahahaha

The Imm hotel where we are staying has an “entertainment room” which is a comfy hang out spot with a/c and massive bean bag chairs–we ended up relaxing until close to 7pm due to the comfort of those chairs!! That and Russ found some football to watch–the game caught the interest of Troy also, which is weird because Troy is not a football fan–may have had something to do with the fact that the ladies (yes you read that right) were wearing lingerie (yes you read that right). Has anyone heard of this?? LFL–stands for Lingerie Football League. Apparently Seattle even has a team!! And we had to come all the way to Thailand to watch it–with Thai voice over–so we could not even understand what was being said–but apparently the commentating was not that important…as they managed to follow the game with out it. That is all I have to say about that.

So onto the rest of the evening…BK got her hair hi-lighted for 500baht and the rest of us got massage. As always–never a disappointing experience. We picked up our laundry (best 160baht/$5.50 USD spent ever!) Then we went to Ginny’s Place for supper. Troy and Russ got there before us as I waited for BK to finish up with her hair–and they had a plate of cabbage (AKA onion rings and spring rolls) while they waited for us. Then they all caved and had western food for dinner…Troy had cheeseburger and fries, BK had a chicken burger and fries and Russ–a club sandwich. I myself had traditional Thai dish…now I can’t really blame them as i have only 4 days of eating authentic thai food left…they have 14–Not gonna lie, I AM starting to think about a big juicy burger when I get back–just not sure where I will go to get it yet…

L

The dinner and Thai dancing show were both awesome!! The food was fantastic…all Northern Thai and Burmese inspired cuisine (that sounded fancy–maybe I watch too much Top Chef!! Hahaha). If I start to talk about fusion food–stop me!

Here we are chowing down…we ate way too much I am sure!

As we were finishing up eating–a show of traditional Thai dancing started…It was beautiful–the music is performed live and the dancers are absolutely beautiful!! The best however was when BK got up and learned a little Thai dancing herself…

Then we went outside to a live theater and we saw some traditional Hilltribe dancing. They were a lot closer–so my little point and shoot was able to sort of capture it.

They children do a dance where they sort of leap in and out of these moving bamboo rods that the other children hold and bang together in a rhythm. Hard to describe–but the children are so cute!! The hilltribe people dress in very colorful ornate costumes…very different than traditional Thai dress.

In the pictures it looks like they are just standing there–but they are leaping and hopping in a very precise way through the opening and closing bamboo poles

The babies are SO cute—something we love about this country is how families are always together unless the children are at school…so have a look at this cute little baby riding with the momma when she goes to work entertaining the tourists at the ChiangMai Cultural Centre

Jay and Ruby–here are the bears at the Wangburapa this morning before we left…

Hi all–we moved to a new hotel today…Imm Hotel…close to where we were before…but in search of more comfortable beds–we are trying a new place. That and the last place “tried” to charge me 50 baht ($1.60 USD) per night per pillow for extra pillows. UH…I don’t think so–that just annoyed me. Plus their breakfast was LAME!

So I am already happier just based on initial prodding of the bed…I can not really get a good test yet cuz i am all sweaty and don’t want to dirty my bed!! But I am very optimistic that we have a better choice here!!!

Had a leisurely day (other than the move) BK and Russ were at their cooking school from 9-4, so Troy and I went for lunch at Ginny’s Place (he had the American Breakfast–I had Pad Thai). Capt Bob was telling us last night they get their breakfast sausage from a German company…so Troy wanted to try it. It WAS very good! Then we wandered over to Sopa’s for a foot massage…we are going to go for Khantok dinner…which is traditional Thai cuisine with some Thai entertainment (music and dancing). Should be very good–Riam is going to come pick us up at 7pm.

We did drop off our laundry after we checked into hotel…then when we were walking back from Sopa’s, we saw it dangling out in the breeze on the balcony of the place we left it…kinda funny…

if you look close you can see BK’s UW shorts and my skirt and maybe some unmentionables : )