Hubby and I planned to spend a couple of hours at the Sunday Walking Street Market in Chiang Mai, in fact this is the reason I made sure to stay over a Sunday night in Chiang Mai, it is ranked as the #10 thing to do in Chiang Mai on Trip Advisor. This market is open every Sunday on Rachadamnoen street from 2-11PM. They block the streets off and vendors set up EVERYWHERE! Many Thais shop here, so the priced are not jacked way high like in other places, but you still want to haggle with them to get the best price possible. Even if you aren't into shopping, you should still go just to see this market & to do a little 'people watching'! There are food vendors all along the way if you get hungry and if your feet get weary there are many places to drop in for a cheap foot massage. Hubby and I spent our two hours there, but soon into our shopping excursion we realized two hours would NOT be enough time. When our two hours were up, we took the kids to the Night Safari, then brought them back to the Sunday Market and where we shopped until the place shut down. Before you ask, NO! I did not try any of the 'food' above. I have to draw the line somewhere.
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I have had a hard time trying to figure out what to write for this blog. I have a friend that went into a village in Thailand where the long neck people lived. Since she told me about it 2 years ago I have wanted to visit this village. However while doing research I found out the village I wanted to visit was actually in Myanmar. Well, Hubby can't go to Myanmar due to security reason and I'm not sure I would want to take our family there anyway, so going to the longneck village was out, I thought. Once we were settled into our hotel and I started looking at brochures I found out there were a few longneck tribes in Chiang Mai, so we decided to go, this is something I really wanted to do. I don't know why I felt I needed to go, but I did. Once I got there I was surprised to find out there was an entrance fee. (Call me stupid...) I didn't realize how 'touristy' this would be, but we still went. The first part of the village was just that - a village of people selling goods at a cheap price. I talked with the lady in the next picture for quite some time. I wish I could remember her name, but I am horrible with names and can't remember it for the life of me. Her English was great & when I ask her how she learn such good English she told me there is a teacher that comes to the village once a week. I ask her all sorts of things, like what are the rings around the neck for. She told me they were a sign of beauty. She also told me that long ago they started wearing rings around their necks as protection from wild animals. Another thing she told me is that they do not wear them 24 hours a day, she said they take them off at night. Young girls start wearing rings at the age of 5. Her daughter (to the right of me) is 6 years old and has been wearing the rings for about 2 years. The baby in her arms is also a little girl. I ask her about school for the kids. She told me the kids go to school daily for ONE HOUR a day in the school house on the hill. The picture below is their school house. I also learn that men do not wear the rings around their necks. I wanted to go pick this little guy up and love on him. A view from the high point of the village. Look at what their roofs were made of. Something I learn about the rings after I left the village is that the rings worn around their necks actually distorts the growth of their collarbones and makes them 'look' as if they have long necks. The rings actually squash the vertebrae in the collar bone, giving the appearance of the long neck.
Upon leaving the long neck village I had mixed emotions. I was a amazed at how poor they were and I felt bad for them, but on the other hand they all seemed happy, and it made me wonder what life is like for them on a day to day basis. I would love to live in a village like this for a short period of time. I don't know how long I would be able to handle living without many of the modern conveniences I have grown accustom to, but would like to give it a try.... After dragging the kids all over Chiang Mai looking at temples we treated them to their first Thai foot massage! (Yes, we bought them ice cream too.) Everyone was totally game for it EXCEPT Boy 1. He was SO NOT EXCITED, that is until he realized they had free wireless, at that point you could do anything to him and he was fine, as long as he could connect to the internet on his iPod and talk to his girl back in Seoul. Here we are all lined up and getting ready for our massage! Boy 3 could not contain himself. He giggled and giggled and then he squirmed right out of his seat. The lady massaging him was only able to do so for about 10 minutes, after that he couldn't take anymore! She ended up giving me the rest of his massage. (Lucky me!) Boy 3 wasn't the only one giggling, Boy 2 had a hard time holding his giggles back as well, however he did make it the entire 30 minutes. Girl enjoyed her massage a little more than the boys did. She had a small bout of the giggles but I think it was more due to the fact that her brothers were giggling so hard! After a few minutes she sat back and enjoyed her massage. As for Boy 1, I don't think he even noticed anything going on beyond his iPod. One of the things I LOVE about Thailand is the massages. Not only are they very good, but they are DIRT CHEAP! Hubby and I had massages almost every day while we were in Thailand for the big price of about $6 USD per hour. Yes, you read that correctly I said SIX. For the six of us to get 30 minute massages in Thailand it cost right around $15 USD.
So, here is another interesting little tidbit for you. The massage parlor we took the kids to (we just stopped in as we were walking down the street) is called Lila Thai Massage, it was very cute and very clean; this is one of the reasons why we picked it. It was only later after we got back to the hotel and we were looking through their brochure did we realize all the massage therapist were x-cons. You can read about it here. Our kids have seen more temples in their short lives than most adults have ever seen. They don't know how lucky they are. Really. But they walk along looking at Buddha’s and intriguing carvings as if they care (somewhat) but what they are really looking at are the vendors off to the side searching for what they can get at the end of their tour!
If you are interested in learning about the Wat Chedi Luang just click on the link. If not, just enjoy the pictures.... We had many good days in Thailand, in fact all of them were good, but this could have been my most favorite day. Every single person in our little family was happy and every single person had fun! There wasn't one person that didn't enjoy flying through the jungle! And to think I was a bit nervous about this excursion when we started talking about it and I was still nervous on the drive there. In fact I was nervous about this until I watched each member of my family arrive on that first platform. To my delight and surprise they all arrived giggling with smiles on their faces! I have to share with you some of my fears before this day began. First off SAFETY; I wasn't sure this was safe. I mean come on we are hundreds of feet off the ground flying through the air attached to a cable by a harness. I wasn't worried about myself or my husband, but we do have 4 children AND my husband and I ARE responsible for them! I wondered if we were crazy taking our kids on this type of adventure. Secondly, price. This wasn't a cheap excursion. Sure, if it were just one or two people it's not too bad, but SIX! AND you have to pay in advance with no refund ~ if someone were to back well too bad. I was pretty certain that at least one person was going to back out. And third; safety again. I kept coming back to the same question even though the guides assured us this was safe. When we got to the first platform and we were about to fly to the next tree, I told Boy 3 to come fly with me. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "I'm going by myself Mommy", and that was the end of that. I flew over first, Boy 3 was the second and the rest of the story is in the pictures below. Just click on the first small picture to enlarge it and then you can arrow through them all. I hope you enjoy our little journey through the jungle! Oh, and our journey doesn't end there. Next we headed over to the Maekampong Waterfall! We hiked all the way to the top, then back down again. It is a good thing we had already conditioned the kids with all the hiking we have done in Korea! This is one day we will never forget!
Upon arrival at the train station in Chiang Mai, the people from Pat's Klangviang Guest House were waiting to meet us & take us to our guesthouse, so we jumped in the the tuk-tuk they provided and were about to head out.... Only to find out there were 2 parties with the same name and the same number of people arriving at the train station at the same time. We were about to head to the wrong guesthouse! Oops....thank goodness someone figured this out, here we are getting into the correct car ~ Now seriously, when I saw this car I thought there was no way it would fit all of us and our luggage. I was amazed at how large the trunk is...you could fit at least 4 or 5 kids in it! Our trip to the guesthouse was loads of fun, even though we almost lost our driver when his door flew open on a turn! Upon arrival we were greeted by Lasana, concierge extraordinaire! We were greeted with "welcome to Chiang Mai kiwi smoothies", which were heavenly while Lasana tried to guess the names of all our children (she had a list prior to arrival). We had two rooms right next door to each other on the third level; the rooms are small, but perfectly situated, and extremely clean! Oh, and the beds were very comfortable! Boy 3 was happy to see the internet room, and this is where he spent most of his free time chatting with friends back in Seoul. After being on the train for 14 hours we were hungry for good Thai food! So after unpacking we headed downstairs to the restaurant and were not disappointed! The food here lived up to their great reputation, it has been said that they have the best Phad Thai in all of Chiang Mai, and I must admit it was delicious! Right off the bat we felt at home at Pat's. They were warm and welcoming, they treated us like family (OK, better than family) they set up all of our tours, a private driver, told us of places to eat & things to do, buy were never pushy with tours! They even went to the store and bought a couple of items we forgot! I can't say enough great things about this guesthouse, so if you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai make your way to Pat's! You won't be disappointed!
After arriving at the train station in Bangkok my first goal was to find Singha.... And then to find donuts for the kids... On our quest for beer and donuts we happened upon this 'Sweet Corn Drink' and in true form for us, we had to try it. If you like corn in the liquid form, then you will love this drink. It didn't do much for me and I enjoy corn, but something about it being liquid just didn't sit well with me. Boy 3 love it. Go figure. Next we waited (on the floor) to board the train.... As we are boarding, they are working on the train. I wasn't sure if this should make us nervous, or make us feel good that they are doing a little maintenance just before departure. We took the overnight train to Chiang Mai, this was a 14 hour train ride. We wanted to go first class, which would mean having your own private room with a sink and a door, but we had a hard time booking and by the time we booked, first class was sold out, so here we are in second class. The prices were amazing, it only cost us $24 USD for adults and $19 USD for kids, and I have to say second class was kind of fun. OK, so we have to talk about the bathroom on the train. I should have taken a picture and I don't know why I didn't. Everything in the bathroom was steel and there was a spray spout, you know the one I am talking about - like the spray spouts many American's have in their kitchen sinks, these are in all Thai bathrooms, but they are not used for dishes if you catch my drift. Anyway, it wasn't the cleanest bathroom, but not one of the dirtiest bathroom I have ever been in either. The thing that got me (and the reason Girl REFUSED to use the bathroom on the train) was that anything you put down the toilet ended up on the TRACKS!!! Are you kidding me?!?! Oh my goodness! Here we are getting ready to settle in for the night. Surprisingly, the beds were very comfortable! Rise & shine! Breakfast on the train. Notice Girl's drink is still full. Playing cards and listening to Christmas music. Fourteen hours later...we arrive in Chiang Mai.
The morning we left for Thailand, we had a surprise visitor during the night ~ Santa must have caught wind that we were heading out of town, so he made a special trip to South Korea just for us! With everyone equipped with new electronic items, (one iPod touch, 2 digital cameras and one Nintendo DS) we loaded everyone in the car and headed for the airport! The three little ones in the Bangkok airport, we were excited to see Christmas decorations! After arriving in Bangkok we took a cab to the train station where we were going to take an overnight train to Chiang Mai. However we had a few hours to spare before boarding the train, so we set off on a little sightseeing adventure. I thought we went to the Wat Traimit, The temple of the Golden Buddha, but after doing a little research on the internet, I don't think that is where we ended up. It doesn't matter, it was still a beautiful temple, and there was a 'golden' Buddha there. Hubby loved this guy, so he had Girl, one of our new photographers in the family take a picture. Our children are fantastic travelers. They will see palace, after palace with us, as long as there is something in it for them... |
AuthorProud Army wife and mother to 4 wonderful children. I love to cook, travel, work out and scrapbook life’s adventures when I find the time. We just got orders & are heading back to the states in March 2010. I'm bummed that our time has been cut short, but proud of Hubby for the reason why. Archives
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