Today our kids are wearing black. They are mourning the passing of a wonderful summer full of adventures. Tomorrow is the first day of school.
But to soften the blow, Friday we went on our last Summer Friday Fun Day. Young Man was in charge of planning the outing, so not surprisingly, we ended up at the Siam Insect Zoo in Mae Rim and the even larger insect zoo, Mae Sa national forest and waterfall.
Before we headed out, though, we spent the morning swimming at our pool. There was a lot of splashing, laughing, and even some lap swimming, before we decided to call it a morning and head to Mae Rim. The trip to the insect zoo took almost 45 minutes, but the time flew because we are reading the next Harry Potter book:
The Halfblood Prince. Funny Guy and Darling Daughter took turns reading, trying to outdo each other on voices and elocution. Highly amusing.
At the insect zoo, I was able to blunder my way through enough Thai to get the resident price. I even let myself get talked into a membership (which turned out to be the best priced option). The cashier was so impressed with my initial request for Thai pricing, explaining that we live and work in Chiang Mai, that she conveniently overlooked the fact that almost the rest of the conversation was over my head. Now that I am studying Russian instead of Thai, these little victories make me happy.
The zoo tour begins with a fairly nice bug and butterfly museum, and amazingly, the descriptions are in both Thai and English! The real fun starts at the next section, though, where staff are waiting to help the kids hold several different kinds of caterpillars. I was surprised to find out that the coolest looking caterpillars turned into rather drab-looking moths. There were some pretty huge ones!
After that, there was a tarantula exhibit (not hands-on thank goodness!). Next was one of my favorite parts of the place: the butterfly garden. The enclosed garden was beautifully landscaped with beautiful brightly colored flowers and tons of butterflies. There were also two chrysalis cages where we got to watch a few butterflies right after they emerged, wet crinkly wings and all.
Next were the stick bugs, several different varieties, all of which we got to hold. Their camouflage is really quite awesome.
Then there were the beetles and larva (including this fun poster citing reasons Thais give for eating bugs and packaged bugs for sale).
We reminisced about Darling Daughter's incredible giant water beetle triumph (even the staff were impressed) and then moved on to scorpions.
Young Man and Funny Guy were excited to hold them. I was happy just to photo them. Darling Daughter was more interested in the resident cat that conveniently walked by just then.
In addition to bugs and scorpions, the zoo boasts several reptiles. I was delighted to see green iguanas and bearded dragons, two of my favorite animals, and we all enjoyed holding both.
Darling Daughter probably could have stayed the rest of the day, playing with the unusually patient cat, but the boys were anxious to head out to a nearby waterfall.
The national park was absolutely beautiful. We didn't realize it but the trail goes along the river for quite awhile, with viewpoints at most of 10 waterfalls along the way. You can park in the lower lot or drive further up toward the main falls. We opted for the first parking lot so we could get right out and start hiking.
The trail was beautiful, winding through jungle along a tumbling creek. We saw lots of the bugs that we'd seen at the zoo and joked that now we were in the real insect zoo! It was muggy but only about 90 degrees and shady, so the hike was fun.
When we got to waterfall 5, however, the kids were fading. We decided to wade in to cool off a bit and wished we'd brought swim suits.
The water was muddy from the recent rain, but we were so hot it didn't matter. Soon Young Man and Funny Guy were swimming and splashing and enjoying the water.
Darling Daughter was not excited about the idea of driving home in wet clothes, so she waded and explored the shore.
Young Man and Funny Guy swam up to the waterfall and even went through it to the little cave behind. It was great and we all agreed we needed to come back for another full day trip soon. Funny Guy donned war paint and stalked around trying to scare his sister into the water. It didn't work.
The boys probably could have stayed all day, but I had a date with My Man later and we had a long walk back to the car, so eventually we left.
The walk back was just as beautiful as the walk in (maybe more so since it was mostly down hill and a bit shadier by then!) and we noticed lots of new bug specimens.
The vines and bamboo were wonderful. It still amazes me that our hikes now are literally through jungle!
We headed back (stopping at the middle parking lot for popsicles) and got home just in time to meet My Man getting home from work. It was a fantastic day and I can't wait to head back up to Mae Rim soon.
