Slices of Life in Paradise: May

May in Thailand is hot. Seriously, sweat-drenching, energy-sapping hot. It's hot when you wake up, it's hot when you go to bed, it's hot at midnight, and it's excruciating in the sun. Thank goodness for air conditioning!  Still, we managed to do a few things. Here are the highlights.

The first Saturday in May, My Man and I went to the Chiang Mai Saturday Walking Street Market. On the way there, we walked past a great little park where there were several games going on that we'd never seen before. This one was pretty cool, with a circle of guys playing something kind of like hacky sac but they kept shooting the ball through the high hoop. They were really good.

The market was great (though even at 7:30pm, it was so hot--I think it was still 99 degrees and very humid, and that was after the sun went down!) and we can't wait to take the kids back. There were lots of street foods, crafts, arts, and other local goods.

Many of the venders were busy creating their wares right there at the booth!  By 8:30 it was so crowded we could barely walk down the street, so we left to get massages.

Monday night My Man proposed a trip to the nearby soccer field at Payap University to take advantage of the rare breeze for some kiting, which he hadn't had a chance to do yet since we moved here. Conditions weren't ideal, but it was great to get a chance to check out his wing and practice some ground handling. 

The next evening had a bit of a breeze again, so we headed out to the local paragliding launch to see if it would work out. There wasn't much of a breeze, but the views were great and My Man got two short flights in. They were his first in about a year, so it was good that everything went well.  There was a Thai couple up at the launch, enjoying the afternoon, so they were very excited to see his flights.

Afterward, we went out to dinner at one of the nicest places in town, the Dhara Dhevi Resort. While we were there, a fantastic storm swept through, with dramatic lightning and thunder, wind, and torrential down pours. The restaurant lost electricity so it turned into a romantic candle-lit dinner.

We moved in from the patio to the covered area just before the rain but it was still an open air seating area, swirling with wind and energy. We loved it. And the food was incredible. I got the pineapple fried rice and it was delicious, served in an actual grilled pineapple. Amazing. Unfortunately, the electricity in our neighborhood wasn't so quick about turning back on and most of the night it was off. Our house quickly heated to almost a hundred degrees. Try sleeping in that!  Made us very grateful for the AC we normally enjoy!

 

Even with the heat, we still do try to get out and enjoy this beautiful place we live. There is a fish pond in the middle of our neighborhood with gigantic fish and we love to go feed them. 



One day we took a family drive to a lake not far away and were completely blown away by how beautiful it was.

 The view from the dam was stunning, with the lake on one side and forest on the other.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to spend there (we had company coming over for dinner that evening), but just getting out and drinking in the view was enough. We all agreed we would definitely need to plan a return trip soon!

On our way home we stopped to check out the lake, 4-wheeling a bit to get down to the water. We have heard of boats that take people from here further up the lake to some houseboats where you can rent a floating bamboo house for a day or even stay over night. We can't wait to plan it.

During May I also got to attend two of Young Man's end-of-year performances.  One was a dance show where he and his classmates danced to "Oh Cecelia" with a routine they choreographed themselves.

It was great. I absolutely loved it and was so glad to be able to see it and watch everyone perform with varrying degrees of enthusiasm.

For the next show, "Act Naturally," put on by his drama class, Young Man performed a monologue (that he wrote himself) and a skit where he was a News Broadcaster. They were both great, but I don't think I've ever seen Young Man happier than when that show was over!

During May, My Man had two work trips up to Chiang Rai and Mai Sai. Although we got to accompany him on the first trip, he went back up without us the next week and hit a few attractions we hadn't had time for, including the White Temple (an art exhibit that is an interesting mix of art forms and modern sculpture and not really a temple).

He made friends with some interesting characters there.

But it wasn't all fun and sight seeing. My Man went as the U.S. Consulate representative from Chiang Mai to participate in a joint U.S.-Thai fraud training at the Mai Sai border, which included instruction and meetings with the border guards.

It sounded interesting.

When it was too hot to enjoy going out, we tried to find other family activities. We finished another Harry Potter book (Goblet of Fire) and watched the movie.

We went out and saw Tomorrowland and loved it. The first showing we turned up for turned out to be Thai only, but a quick Internet search saved the day as we found another showing at another theater across town.

Another time we went out to icecream and bowling with friends. 

We did a few more pool parties. Young Man had his end-of-year scouting advancement ceremony where he received a ton of badges he'd earned this year. 

Funny Guy decided he needed a beanbag toss game, so he made the target and then proceeded to make five colorful beanbags (with a little help from mom). 

My Man and I celebrated our anniversary with a wonderful weekend in Railay. And I received my formal offer to start work at the U.S. Consulate in mid-June! And we adopted a dog for the summer (The kids are overjoyed about petsitting Mochi all summer).

The last night of May, we decided to check out the big celebration for Buddha's birthday, Visakah Bucha. Traditionally, people gather at a temple on the edge of Chiang Mai and then walk up the mountain to another temple where they await the dawn and walk around the temple holding candles.

I knew we wouldn't be able to do the full pilgrimage since My Man had to work the next morning (although the kids got the day off school) and since 22 kilometers is way too many for Funny Guy. Still, we thought we could join in for a few kilometers at least.

Traffic was amazing and we ended up having to park several kilometers from the gathering point. We weren't the only ones, so we joined the throngs of people and walked up, not really knowing what to expect.

As we neared the gathering spot, the crowds swelled and fireworks started exploding all around us.

It was hot and past Funny Guy's bedtime and we decided this might be a good destination, so we found a good vantage point and stopped to watch.

We listened to some of the ceremony, saw more fireworks, and then headed back down.

Even though we only made it to the starting point, it was fun and I'm glad we went. Maybe next year, we will get a babysitter and join in the actual pilgrimage instead of just going up to the starting point!  As it was, Funny Guy barely made it back to the car before collapsing.

Looking back on it, we crammed in quite a lot of fun into the month of May and can't wait for all we will do this summer.

The Golden Triangle & Other Adventures in Paradise

My Man had the opportunity to travel up to Chiang Rai (the Thai province directly north of us) for an outreach project at work last week. Since we've been wanting to head up there anyway, he decided to ditch the official transportation and take all of us in our own car. The hotel we booked for the first night was about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai. On the way, we stopped at the renowned Charin Pie House, which everyone we told we were heading to Chiang Rai assured us we HAD to stop at.

There was a cool garden area with caged exotic birds, including peacocks, and a bridge over the river. We got kind of excited because the map on our phones said "Lao" and looked like a border. "Wow, we are crossing into Laos!" we thought as we walked across the precarious-looking bamboo bridge. Turns out the river is just called Lao and we were still in Thailand but it was still cool. :-)

We watched people fishing in the river, ordered some pie (definitely not as good Grandma's!), then headed out. Honestly it was too hot to enjoy staying for long, and the kids were anxious to get back to our Harry Potter book anyway (which we read on the drive). We stayed our first night in Chiang Rai at Le Meridien, a beautiful hotel with an even more beautiful infinity pool (and the most expensive buffets I've seen in Thailand!). We opted to eat at the Chivet Thammada Café instead and it was wonderful.

The next morning, while My Man worked, the kids and I headed to the pool and had a wonderful time swimming, reading, and sun bathing. Too soon it was time to check out and head to our next hotel, the Nak Nakara, a smaller hotel more centrally located downtown. My Man ended up needing to do a jail visit that afternoon, so we changed plans and instead of heading to the Golden Triangle as we'd originally planned, the kids and I hit the pool again. They were glad to have another chance at swimming since 2 1/2 hours that morning hadn't been nearly enough.

For dinner we decided to head to the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar, a short walk away. We got there just as vendors were starting to set up, so we opted to eat first. The selection was fantastic and everyone found something they enjoyed. Pork satay, fresh pineapple, French fries, fried rice, fruit smoothies, mangoes and sticky rice, and more. I even found a place selling tacos! We had just started eating when the place got hit by an incredible thunderstorm. There was lightning, thunder, and torrential downpours. We moved under cover and watched the rain.

We read Harry Potter for awhile, hoping the rain would slow down before we braved walking home. We had to shout to be heard over the storm. After awhile, My Man dared the kids to run across the courtyard. They were absolutely soaked in seconds!  The rain did stop, though, and about an hour later we headed home in light sprinkles; the night bazaar shops never did open so we had to save our souvenir shopping for the next day. After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, we said good bye to Nak Nakara and Chiang Rai and headed up to the Golden Triangle, the place where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar) come together.

We got there early enough to beat the tour busses and easily booked a ride on a longtail boat for a quick ride up the river to see Burma, then back down and across to an island in Laos. It was great. We stopped in Laos for about an hour, browsing the traditional wares and souvenirs. We bought bananas to feed an elephant. And we got a beautiful dress for Darling Daughter. She was only disappointed we wouldn't let her bring home the cute little puppy she befriended.

The kids had decided ahead of time how much of their money they wanted to spend and it was cute to see them choose how to spend it. The boys found a collection of snakes and lizards embalmed in liquor that they thought would be good souvenirs until we explained what it really was! They still had fun looking at all the specimens though. Darling Daughter and Young Man both got great hats to keep the sun off. And My Man got me two beautiful Laos paintings for Mother's Day! Still, the highlight of the trip was definitely the boat ride.

After that we walked around the tourist areas on the Thai side. There is a huge golden Buddha statue, lots of vendors, and other statues.

Although it was getting hot, I really wanted to hike up to the wat on the hill nearby, so we braved the steep dragon staircase. It was worth it!

There were lots of beautiful stone statues and the wat doors were intricately carved, but the best part was the view.

 There was also an extremely old Buddhist statue and an old temple that was in ruins.

But there was another set of dragon stairs to the top of the hill, so of course, we kept going.

It was so beautiful! I really loved stopping to enjoy the beautiful views, exotic carved stone monuments, and amazing flowers.

 These yellow flowering trees are everywhere and they always take my breath away.

Supposedly from this point, you can see China, Laos, Burma, and (of course!) Thailand. Four countries from one spot. Wow!

We took a different trail down from the old temple ruins we found at the top of the hill, hiking down the side of the mountain through the jungle and I was thinking, "Wow, this is just so cool!" Then I thought, I wonder if the kids know this is not an ordinary experience? When I asked, they admitted that this one was pretty cool, but they didn't feel a need to see EVERY Buddhist temple in Thailand because there are just too many and a lot of them are kind of the same. It makes me happy and sad to know that these extraordinary experiences are kind of normal for our kids. I love that they are seeing the world and that exploring an old temple in the jungle on the border of three countries is something that they take in stride. But still, I hope they aren't missing out on that thrill that I feel as I experience the exotic strangeness of other places, cultures, foods, people. I guess that's just part of growing up as a TCK (third culture kid). We stopped at a wonderful little restaurant for lunch on our way out of town, then headed to Mae Sai and the Burmese border crossing.

My Man probably won't be happy until every country in the world has stamped his passport, so we couldn't pass up the chance to cross into Burma when we were so close. The kids and I preferred to browse the shops while he went over the bridge and through immigration. It was interesting to see how many people pass back and forth over the border here, but I was more excited about our next destination: Wat Thompla.

Wat Thompla means Temple cave fish. I had read that there were caves and a lake and a monkey temple but couldn't find a lot of details. I'm so glad we decided to check it out!

The lake was beautiful. Set at the foot of a verdant jungly mountain, it completely took our breath away. Although there weren't boats on the lake as I'd expected, there was a bamboo walkway across the lake to a trail and set of caves.

The cave offered a nice respite from the 103F (feels like 118!) temps and included ladders to explore all the way through. The lake was filled with giant fish, some looked bigger than Funny Guy! A part of me wanted to jump in to escape the heat, but the other part thought if I did, I might become fish food! I'm joking. Kind of. I didn't jump in.

According to Google Maps, the monkey temple was a bit down the road, so after a couple hours of exploring, we headed over there.

The monkeys were great! My Man bought some peanuts to feed them and was instantly surrounded. Unlike the monkeys we encountered in Bali, however, they were fairly calm and we never felt worried about getting bit.

After playing with the monkeys, we explored the main cave, which was much deeper than the one at the lake (500 m). Funny Guy got a little claustrophobic, so I came out early with him and we went to see the old stupa.

After reuniting, we watched the monkeys play for awhile, contemplated climbing up another steep set of dragon stairs (to another Buddhist temple, I presume?), but it was getting late and was just so hot, so we decided we should head home and save it for next time instead.

On our way home we read Harry Potter, finishing The Goblet of Fire. We also enjoyed some of the juiciest, sweetest pineapple we've ever had from one of the many pineapple stands along the way.

As we drove the rest of the way home, munching sweet pineapple and talking about our trip, we all agreed the weekend had been an incredible success. On our next trip to Chiang Rai, though, we hope to go mountain biking and bamboo rafting on the Mae Kok river. But we'll save that for the cooler season!