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VagaBabe's story of Chiang Mai, Thailand
When I went to Chiang Mai, at first it felt like a big mix-up. Apparently, it was the rainy season in Chiang Mai. So, there were no artists at our hotel. We slept at the "nothing to do" hotel where we were supposed to do art. We moved to a different hotel the next day - but, more about that later.
One of the first things that we did was have a cooking class with Vatch, our host at the art hotel. We went to his house. We made pad thai, chicken curry, and tom yam soup. That was fun for me, but what I liked best was that Vatch had a puppy. I played with the puppy all night except for when I took breaks to cook. When the cooking class was over - we ate and oh, it was divine! After we ate we went back to our room.
WanderMom and Hubby kept saying "Hey, we're sleeping in a rice barn in the jungle!" I think that is pretty is amazing, but when your parents keep saying it over and over it can get a little annoying.
After our stay at La Bhu Salah, the art hotel, we decided to get a driver and go to a different hotel. But, before we went to the hotel, our driver took us to some touristy places. I actually thought it was kind of cool, but my Mom and Dad thought it was touristy. The things that we did with the driver were going to an elephant camp and monkey center, eating an amazing lunch, going to silver and bronze making factories, and then went to a temple in the mountains.
Early in the morning, we went to the elephant camp. We watched an elephant show. The elephants painted. There was a store with all of the paintings. I was shocked. I didn't know elephants could paint so well! After the show, we got in line to ride on the elephant. Me, Hubby, and WanderMom all sat on one elephant. This was hard for the elephant, because 3 people were pretty heavy. I thought the elephant ride was dangerous because the elephant was wobbly and it was muddy and slippery. I thought the elephant might fall in the mud. Thankfully, that didn't happen. When we got off of the elephant ride, we saw two baby elephants. They were so cute and adorable. They reminded me of my other two best elephant friends, Lucky and Lilly.
The elephants took us to a hill tribe village. The women at the village wore heavy, gold rings around their necks to make their necks look longer. I thought that was amazing because the rings were really heavy. Even the little girls wore them. I can't imagine that I could ever wear them. They must be very strong.
The place I liked the best was the temple. I liked the temple because there were beautiful statues of Buddha and there were a lot of bells that I could ring. I learned that when you ring a bell, that means you will hae good luck. So, I rang lots of bells. I must have some good luck to look forward to! The place I didn't like was the bronze factory. My Mom and Dad were shopping for silverware and it was boring for me. They didn't end up buying it anyway. I also didn't like the monkey camp. The owners didn't treat the monkeys very well. Here is how I can tell. They put chains around the monkeys' necks and pulled them.
After all of that touring, we checked into our new hotel. It was a very swanky hotel. We checked in and went to our room. One of my favorite parts of the hotel were the elevators. The elevators each had a different sound - crickets, frogs, water, and music. The two things I liked about our room were the view of Chiang Mai from our big window. It was beautiful. We could see the temple, way high up on the smoky mountains. The other thing I liked was the bathroom. There was a big window, so you could see inside the bathroom from the bedroom.
My favorite part of Chiang Mai was the Thai dancing show. It was all you can eat night, so the people kept bringing us food. We tried sticky rice and it was good and pretty sticky! The music and dancing was amazing. The food was amazing. At the end of the show, I got to learn how to dance - Thai style. Also, we saw floating lanterns in the sky. That reminded me of one of my favorite movies - Tangled. After the show, we walked out to see where the lanterns were coming from. We saw a crowd of people surrounding the lanterns. I wanted to do the floating lanterns so badly. Well, my wish came true. A couple of nice women gave us a lantern. We took it to a man who set the lantern on fire. Then, we sent it soaring into the sky. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life. I loved watching it float up into the sky.
We went back to our hotel. We rode in a red truck. It was kind of like a taxi. There was no door behind us. So, if we stood too close to the door, we would fall out and get crushed by another car. We went to the night market outside of our hotel. I got to "Little Miss" shirts, Little Miss Whoops and Little Miss Giggles. I also got a wooden frog that makes frog noises. My Mom got three pairs of flip-flops. After we explored the night market, we went back to the hotel. I slept on the couch near the window with the view and my Mom and Dad slept on the bed.
The next morning, we had a really good breakfast at our hotel. I discovered coconut green tea bread and roselle juice. I wasn't that big of a fan of either of them, but I am glad I tried them. After breakfast, we went to art galleries, had some Thai drinks, and I got a manicure and pedicure. I forgot to say, it was Father's Day!! Hubby got a massage. He wore Stitch slippers which I thought was pretty funny. My Mom got a new purse that was really cool and home-made. Then, we had to rush back to the hotel so we could go swimming before we had to go to the airport. The pool was beautiful. It had a great view of the city, even better than the view from our hotel room window. When we were done swimming, we went back to the airport. We got some snacks and got on the plane.
I thought Chiang Mai was one of the best places that we have visited. I really liked it. I hope I get to go back someday!
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