Wednesday, December 12, 2012

..... and more still.

Well, I'm still here at Niki & Marc's -- just outside of Chiang Mai. We've been having such a good time -- and it's so nice to relax in this virtual oasis -- that I'm hanging out a few more days before heading to Laos. Here are some pics of the family in whose home I'm staying: Marc, Niki, Naomi, & Seby (+Jerry, Footsy, & DeeDee).

 Niki & Naomi (below) riding bikes (I was on a bike behind them :)


Naomi's 7th birthday was on Dec 3, so last weekend we went camping with three other families (9 kids, 6 adults) and it was a blast. We went to Doi Ithanon National Park (which is the same place Burr & I hiked early in our days in CM). It was gorgeous... and quite cold at night! (I would guess about 45 degrees). I was glad that I had brought with me (from the states) and an ultra-light (yet very warm) down "sweater." It was the first time I used it on this trip and, boy, did I need it!















At Doi Ithanon, the camp areas have very nice bathroom buildings, with flush toilets and showers even. But if you'd rather not camp in tents, they have buildings with beds, including sheets &: blankets, that can be rented (ones that sleep 9-12, only $1,500 baht/night -- that's $50). Some of these buildings are dormitory style (all the beds in one big room) and others have several rooms with 2 beds in each. Surprisingly nice! We preferred to be in tents.


Niki & Mark own a furniture-making business and they recently purchased a new property on which they'll do all the manufacturing, storing, and showing of the merchandise (all wood furniture). The property is gorgeous -- albeit, a little run down at the moment, as it's been neglected for 2 years -- with many, many trees, gardens, ponds, and several buildings for living quarters. They hire many Burmese workers who tend to live in the on-site housing. 





The other day we went over there (we rode bikes over) to see the 5 puppies that had just been born of one of the dogs there.They were adorable. I also held a couple of the teensy kittens who live there.


 One of the puppies...
 ... and one of the kittens.

More soon.....


 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

More Chiang Mai ... and beyond

It's been a little over a week since my last post and I hardly know where to begin. Life is so very full every day that it almost seems as though it's been months since I last wrote. I admit, I haven't been journaling quite as much as I thought I would, so I'm -- more or less -- counting on my photos to remind me of what I've done each day. So I'll do my best to reconstruct.....

Last Tue & Wed (Nov 28 & 29) were the biggest days of the Loi Kratong Festival in Thailand. And word on the street is that Chiang Mai is THE place to be for this festival (I'm pretty sure that's because Burr & I were here... just sayin'). But seriously, CM apparently really knows how to celebrate this one. The city was pretty decked out with street food stands (more than the usual, which is A LOT), vendor stands selling everything you can imagine, beautiful lights all around, people selling lanterns and "kratongs" (see pics below) everywhere you turn, and just tons of people out on the streets. As you can see, these kratongs are often quite elaborate, made out of many different materials (everything from bamboo stalks & leaves, myriad flowers, bread, feathers, you name it).....










The main festivities started around 7pm each day, making the city seem almost like one big party. There are fireworks going off pretty much non-sop and everywhere you turn, people are putting "kratongs" in the river and setting off lanterns into the sky. 




Here's Burr setting off our lantern (we wrote our wishes on the side :).....






On Wed evening we went with my cousin, Mike, and his friend, Jimmy, to a restaurant right on the river, where we had dinner, watched the fireworks, saw a dancing performance, then hung out listening to the live band....




On Thursday morning, Burr & I left CM for a side trip to some towns to the northeast. We grabbed a bus to a town called Chang Dao (1.5 hrs away, cost $2 ea)....


Chang Dao is known for it's caves, which house temples. We hired a guide to take us through, as there would have been absolutely no possibility that we could have found our way through without one. Our guide, carrying the lantern, took us through some of the huge "rooms", as well as very narrow openings. There were many things (animals, buddhas, shrines...) carved into the walls. It was incredible (but I don't think these pics can do it justice).






(yes, we crawled through that little opening next to where Burr is standing)










Since we were unable to find a place to stay in Chang Dao, we hopped on another bus and headed to a town 1.5 hours north again, Fang. We had made an online reservation for a room there, so we were all set. Just before arriving in the town, two (high school aged) girls sitting in front of us offered to escort us to our hotel -- as they wanted to practice their English. They were feeling very shy about their ability to speak and so giggled a lot, as they funbled through their English. Oh, such sweet girls.

When we arrived at our hotel -- with our reservation number -- the people behind the desk told us that they were SO sorry, but the hotel was full. There was not a room available for us. They felt absolutely terrible about this and assured us -- through broken English -- that they would find a place for us to stay. In the meantime, while they worked this out, they offered us to have dinner for free in their hotel restaurant, where they had laid out a buffet. Amazing. After dinner, one of the owners -- a wonderful man, Dome (see pic below) -- told us that they had found a room in another hotel for us and he was going to drive us there. He then told us that he was going to come back in the morning (at whatever time we wanted) to pick us up and bring us back to his hotel for breakfast(!!). And he absolutely did! While we sat at breakfast, he chatted with us about many things.... his upbringing in a hill tribe village, how they lived, how he has a Facebook page how he lived in CA for 4 months one year, etc. And he was very curious about us, where we're from, where we plan to travel, etc. It was just so wonderful. We almost felt like VIPs.




(the above is written on one of the walls in the hotel restaurant)

After breakfast, Dome drove us to our next mode of transportation -- a "songtau" or truck-taxi -- so that we could go the 40-min drive up to Tha Ton, the town from which we would take to boat to Chiang Rai. Since we arrived 2.5 hours before the boat was set to leave, we decided to explore the town a bit. We noticed a temple way up on a hill and were told we could "hike" up the road to it -- that there were 9 "stages" along the way. So we did it, of course....









Below is the temple at the top, many views of it, in it, and from it......










We hiked back down and stopped at a little restaurant to have a delicious snack before getting on the boat for our trip upriver. Honestly, the boat trip was possibly the coolest part about this whole side trip. There were about 12 of us (+ the driver) on this long boat. We all sat on the floor of the boat with our backs leaning against one side and our feet against the other. It was a bit loud (motor boat) so we couldn't do a ton of talking, so we mostly cruised upriver and watched the scenery. It rained a bit along the way and we got somewhat wet, which was also fun. :-)  I took only a couple pics on the boat, but will post more when I get the ones from Burr....



 Chiang Rai is a much smaller city than Chiang Mai, and much less "touristy." Apparently, there are quite a number of expats living there, but we saw mostly Thais. There's a beautiful clock tower in the middle of the city that changes color and plays music as it rings in every hour.




There's also an huge night market in CR, that has a massive food/eating area -- with a stage and performances.






 As usual, the food booths are quite plentiful, varied, and, in many cases, things we would never see in the states. (Note the fried bugs.....)

these are fried quail eggs....
 


yep, fried insects.... they're a delicacy..... yum! (not)




.... and love the boiled eggs on a stick



We stayed in a really nice guesthouse and would sit outside
 for breakfast in the morning....



We took the bus straight back to CM on Sunday morning and found a guesthouse to stay for Burr's last night in Thailand :-(. We had dinner at a small cafe/guesthouse, owned by a guy from the states, Ian, so that I could talk with him about travel around SE Asia -- specifically about taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang, Laos (my next destination). More about that later.... but I imagine I'll head there in 2-3 days (and it's a 3 day journey). We walked back to our guesthouse through the Sunday night market -- our 3rd time. And we saw so many things we hadn't seen before. It's amazingly huge...




...these are Thai candies


this man is "playing" the glasses (I'll post a video soon)
 


On Monday we cruised around CM for Burr's last day.... bought some last-minute gifts (I mailed mine from the P.O.), took pics, and ate more delicious food.



I went with Burr to the airport on Monday evening and saw her off to her gate (sadness) then I was picked up by a friend of a (Boulder) friend, Niki, to stay at her home (with husband, Mark, and family) for several days. They live about 20 minutes outside of CM and it feels like a little oasis.


 above is a shot of the family at lunch, but you cannot see anyone...
 I'll post another pic of the family soon.


 Yesterday one of the housekeepers found a "little spider" on the grounds....




Yikes!!! (yes, a tarantula)

Today, after everyone left (for school or errands), I did a workout on the exercise equipment on the patio, took a swim in the pool, then came in to update my blog. Life does not suck. At all. :-)

I'll be back to post more soon!