Northern Thailand

We are really pleased with our decision to fly from Phuket to Chiang Mai considering what is currently going on in Bangkok. Chiang Mai is a beautiful city in the north central part of Thailand. We spent six days there, but could have easily spent a couple of weeks. With small alleyways and no tall buildings, it certainly didn’t feel like a big city. We stayed at a beautiful guesthouse (Baan Thai Resort and Spa) that had a pool and really nice gardens. We once again, rented motorbikes for our stay in Chiang Mai. When we arrived in the city I thought to myself that there would be no way we could ever rent motorbikes there, but 24 hours later and we were on the road! It was organized chaos, but it worked! We are always amazed at how it works and how you very rarely hear horns beeping or see accidents. We were able to tour around where and when we wanted, so we spent two days outside of Chiang Mai in the mountains and stumbled across some beautiful hilltribe villages. We also went to an elephant camp that housed 77 elephants who put on a show for us that included them playing soccer, playing the harmonica and painting amazing paintings. We went to the “Night Bazaar” each night for dinner and sampled some great northern Thai food. Speaking of food, Clement took a one-day Thai cooking course where he learned how to make six Thai dishes that we are excited to share with everyone at home. He even got to make my favorite dish, Chicken with cashew nuts, so I can’t wait for him to cook me up this delicious dish. While Clem was at the cooking school for the day, I chose to go for a massage and went to a great spa that was opened in 2001 for female inmates from the women’s prison. Knowing that it is often difficult for criminals to get back into the workforce, one lady opened this spa to help them out and to prevent them from re-entering the circle of crime. This place had a really cool atmosphere and knowing the history of some of the girls made it that much better. I had a one hour foot massage, which was amazing! During my massage it started to rain and when it rains here, it rains! I had the scooter with me, so I knew I would have to wait around for the rain to stop. After I paid for my massage ($5 to be exact!), the ladies whisked me into this café that they ran that was attached to the spa. They sat me down and gave me a handful of English magazines and served me an ice tea. After about 40 minutes the rain stopped and before I could even stand up, they had pulled my scooter out front for me and wiped off the seat! This is just one more example of how lovely the Thai people are. I enjoyed it so much that Clement and I both went back the next day for Thai massages. Short of screaming at the lady for being so strong, it was my best massage yet. I was in the air on top of this little (but mighty) Thai girl, bent in positions that I didn’t know existed and rubbed down with Tiger Balm. After experiencing these Thai massages, it’s going to be hard to go back to the $80 massages that you get at home!

Seeing as everyone seems to get such a kick out of my fear for creatures, I will explain how it’s been going for the last little while. When we first got to Asia, I told Clem that I was no longer going to be afraid of creepy crawly things….I was going to “become one with them” (haha). So, I went on a mission to not worry about what could be crawling under my feet or stuck in my hair or running across the street in front of us. It worked for about 48 hours, but since then I have been attacked (yes, attacked) by more creatures than before I made this statement! Clement thinks that they can sense that I’m deathly afraid of them and that’s why they are attracted to me because nothing, and I mean NOTHING has happened to him. He hasn’t even seen so much as an ant crawling on him. To give you some details, we were in the water at the beach in Karon Beach (Phuket) and out of nowhere this fish (looked like a marlin with a long snout but about ten inches long) flew in my face and got caught in my hair elastic that was around my wrist. It flopped around frantically trying to untangle itself as I panicked and screamed like a little kid while trying to get out of the water as fast as I could. Finally, we both got free…he was safe in the ocean and I was safe on land. I was so embarrassed because everyone was looking at me, and Clement just laid in the water laughing at me. I still am trying to figure out how of all the ocean water that little bugger had why he would choose to jump OUT of the water and into MY face?! Then, when we were at the elephant camp in Chiang Mai, we were feeding them and got to sit on their leg while they wrapped their trunk around you. Clement did it first and the elephants were so cute. I then fed them and sat down only to be sneezed on!! This massive mammal blew snots all over my chest….just imagine how much snot that is! I was not a happy camper. Then, later that night we were walking up to our room at our guesthouse and had taken off our shoes (it’s customary here to do so). All of a sudden, I screamed in pain because something was burning the bottom of my foot…there was a bee stuck in my foot that had stung me. Who steps on a bee? Me, I guess. So then I really started to panic knowing that the only thing I DON’T have in my first aid kit is an Epi-Pen. I had never been stung by a bee before (that I knew of) so me being the worry wart I am, started to think that I was going to go into anaphylactic shock. Thankfully that didn’t happen and I have once again, lived to tell the story. So, those are just a few examples of my encounters with creatures. (I’ve kindly left out the many monstrous rats that have run across the street in front of me, the dead snake that I stepped on, the cockroach infested rooms that we call home, and who could forget the bed bugs that we are BOTH covered in….the only thing that has come close to Clem).