July 17th, 2018
I’m sitting here waiting for my laundry to finish spinning…..reflecting on yesterday.
What a great day we had with Tee and Ian. Any day that starts off with a trip to the Baan Bakery has to be a good day right???? I’ve never had a pastry I didn’t love from here.
Everything is between 40 and 90 cents! Unfortunately there are no gluten free options for Rachael but she seems to enjoy watching me eat stuff from there😂
After a quick stop at Baan Bakery, we head straight over to Chiang Mai Gate Hotel where the minivan driver that Tee arranged for us us waiting to pick us and Ian up at 10am. Tee left earlier with the car, and we will meet her at Pansawan, then carry on with our plans for the day. By 10:45, we have picked up Tee and are on our way.
First stop is Wat Ban Den. http://www.watbanden.com/frontend/web/index.php
I have not been here before, but it truly is one of the more spectacular temples here! Troy came out last year with Ian (when he came to SE Asia without me!) and while it is still under construction, apparently it has had a lot more accomplished in the last 15 months. The Thai people (maybe it’s a Bhuddist thing?) have two important dates to know. What day of the week you were born and what ‘animal year’ you are. I was born in 1970, so I was born in the year of the dog, Troy was born in the year of the horse, Rachael and Anna, year of the rat.
Each one of the 12 years/animals is honoured here by being associated with a temple. Mine happens to be in Chiang Mai and I’m going to try to find it today, everyone else’s is somewhere else in Thailand. There are replicas built here at Wat Ban Den though, so we go on a hunt to find them.
The construction of all buildings here is spectacular. Lots of full log team timber in every temple (illegal to harvest teak in Thailand – so this indicates that it was done illegally and someone was paid a LOT of money to look the other way, or it was logged in Burma and someone was paid a LOT of money to look the other way). Gold everywhere and brightly colored tiles. Tee thinks up to 2 million dollars for each of the larger temples. Pictures don’t even do it justice! Us gals had to cover our shoulders and knees, so pardon our accessories. 😂😂😂the lady who outfitted me put together a pretty coordinated outfit all things considered.
Stop #2 Bua Tong waterfalls – AKA Sticky Falls. http://www.tielandtothailand.com/bua-tong-sticky-waterfalls-chiang-mai/
Another hidden gem to explore! We ate a huge delicious lunch (which felt a lot like a Thai picnic) as soon as we got there.
And then the girls headed over to the falls. We followed about 15 minutes later and as we arrived at the top, we see a large crew of 7-8 Thai guys hauling someone up the falls on a stretcher. So now I start to panic because I can’t see the girls. You can go up and down the falls by climbing directly in the waterfall or you can use the stairs on the side. I’m praying the girls used the stairs, but if not, then hopefully they are using the rope that I can see there. Anxious waiting, then I see two cute girls I recognize pop up over the top.
My understanding is that the minerals in the water in this waterfall accumulate like calcium deposits and cause the surface to be rough and non slippery. There are a few places where algae has grown and it is slippery but for the most part it is not slippery and is a ‘safe’ surface to climb. “White is right, green is mean”. Words to live by at the sticky falls.
After a quick stop at the local market for ingredients, our Final destination is Pansawan. Rachael and Anna have asked Tee to teach them how to make their newest favourite drink Chi yen (Thai iced tea) and then they also got involved in the cooking of our supper. Given their new skills acquired in their cooking class a couple days ago, they dig right in with Jane and get cooking.
About 8:25pm when we simply can not eat anymore and are starting to felt like a bed is the best thing, we load back up in our minivan with our driver and he takes us home to Baan Ratchiangsen. The driver and van for 11 hours cost us 2,600 baht ~$75 usd. What a great day!
I did biff it in the shower and completed some involuntary splits tonight. Banged up the knee too! But no head injury and it didn’t seem to make my back go out again, so that happened. I got a text from Rachael next door saying “are you alright?”. I say “haha did you hear that?” And she was like “YA!” Somehow the accidents just keep rolling in this year…..
