Thailand Adventures Part 4- Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI

Feb 27 Continued

  Overnight train to Chiang Mai awesome.  Super slow and rocky whole way.  Didn't sleep good, because share with Eva, but bed on train actually softer than all other beds!!  Night market in Chiang Mai the best.  Weather more comfy.  Pool here freezing.  Two dive-ins all can handle.

  On our third hotel (4 if count train) and truly beds like sleeping on stone.  Putting damper on experience. :(  Finally, asked about bed topper and hopefully is thicker than 2 cm!  Need another massage due to kink in neck from awful bed.  Food all delicious.  3 more days near CM and then start drive south.  ily

After getting filthy at the JJ market, we headed back to our Bangkok hotel on the SkyTrain.  Not only did the Ascott hold our luggage for us, even though we had checked out, but they let us use the gym showers, too.  After freshening up we rushed to the Hualamphong Train Station to catch the overnight express to Chiang Mai.  We made it just in time to grab some food and climb on the train.  When I purchased the tickets they didn't have enough 1st class tickets for us all, so Peter's ticket was for 2nd class.  Thankfully, the porter was nice and let us squeeze into the 1st class cabins and didn't banish Peter to 2nd class (communal area).  Frankly, the one left with all the kids would have had it the hardest.  I'm glad he had mercy on me Peter.  We were able to open the door to join the two cabins, so we fit quite comfortably.  We doubled up on each of the beds, except for Peter had his own.  Talk about 2nd class citizen moving up.
While eating our dinner, Rachel choked on a french fry.  She put her finger down her throat, which caused her to gag, which caused her to free her wind-pipe.  She was about to start crying and I said, "Rachel, you did the right thing!  That was so smart."  Her frown turned into a beaming smile and she went to each family member and announced, "I did the right thing!"  

Leaving Bangkok

Notice the sink

Rachel's plan to catch a pesky fly

After our 13 hour journey, we arrived in Chiang Mai on a beautiful morning.  Our hotel, Shewe Wana, was less than 5 minutes away and even though it was in the middle of the city, it was a quiet oasis.

Peter & Eva

Watching the fish

    

The breakfasts here were our favorites.  

Hot Cocoa with a bunny face

Even for the adults

The only real negative about the hotel were the beds...they brought hard to a new level.  The last two nights I had a mattress topper, which really was just a blanket under the sheet.  Every centimeter of padding helps?  However, since all the beds in Thailand were hard, I'd say it was a wonderful place to stay.  

 

Stone Bed

Out of the mouth of babes

The hotel had the most delicious homemade soaps, shampoo, and body wash
(honey & turmeric, black rice, lemon grass, and many more)

Tuk-tuk taxi...yes we all fit!

 EIGHT with the driver.

Songthaew Taxis (truck with covered benches in the back)

I wish I could say it was good planning on my part, but it was pure luck that we were both in Bangkok & Chiang Mai for their weekend markets.  Yay, for the stars aligning!

On our way to Chiang Mai's Night Market
The hotel provided a luxury tuk-tuk as a free shuttle to the market

Check out the yellow VW Beetle with huge wheels

Chiang Mai's night market was wonderful.  The weather was delightful, the atmosphere was relaxed, and the entertainment was, well entertaining.  

Rachel fell asleep minutes after arriving

There were many performers and interestingly lots of them were blind.

One of the groups with blind performers, except for the 2nd person

Blind Band Clip

Another reason to love these taxis...no need to collapse the stroller with sleeping child and plethora of souvenirs

Josiah & Caleb with MOMO

Back story on this picture:  In 2007, Isaac (7) got angry at Caleb and called him a "Momo".  Caleb said very calm, "Isaac don't call me that."  Muttering under his breath, Isaac left the room.  Caleb followed him imploring in a sweet little voice, "Hey don't be angry at me.  I'm only four.  I'm not as tall as you, so don't be angry at me!"  Then Isaac said, "Well, don't be angry at me!"  To which Caleb replied, "I'm not angry at you."  Isaac said surprised, "Oh.  Well, I'm not angry at you," and they continued to play together.  I wrote about this in my journal years ago, not realizing what a part Momo would have in our lives.  Anyway, that is when Momo was born.  He became their imaginary scapegoat.  Many games the children play, Momo is the honorary idiot, buffoon or loser, and the cause of many sudden fits of giggles.  So you can imagine our delight when we found MOMO at some random Thai restaurant.  I would have never guessed he was a yellow baby bear.

Eva, Rachel, & Josiah
Watching on our mini-portable DVD player, since the hotel's DVD player doesn't work with our "foreign" DVDs.

Kids trying to overthrow the Master, with no luck.  I still reign supreme at "Ticket to Ride".  Eat your heart out kiddies.  Actually, I feel loads of guilt when I crush them, but they want me to do my best.
When I beat Peter I feel awesome, equally bad.