After a few days in Bangkok, we took the night train to the mountainous northern Thailand. When we got on the train and found out train car, we realized that we had been upgraded to first class! So, real beds in a private cabin for us! When we got off the train, we were surprised to see Ja, our housekeeper from when we lived in Bangkok! We were planning on meeting up with her, but we were so excited to get to see her right away. She called a friend who drives a san tao (large taxi/bus... which is similar to, but a little bigger than a pick-up truck). We went up a mountain to Doi Sutep to a famous temple, after giving our legs a much-needed work-out walking up all the steps!
On our second day in Chiang Mai, we used our same driver. He had a plan all ready to show us the best of Chiang Mai tourist attractions. First... Mesa Elephant Camp (my favorite!), down the mountain some to Tiger Kingdom, then back up the mountain to the waterfalls for a hike, then back home for a little while. We freshened up, put on some nice clothes, and headed out to see a cultural show, complete with unlimited traditional Thai food and then traditional and tribal dancing.
 |
| Our driver's granddaughter and her friend |
The next day was full of a little bit of everything. We visited Remember Nhu, a home for girls at risk for being sold into prostitution. We spend the day playing with the girls and realizing the importance of this ministry, protecting these precious girls.
We then went into town to a little cafe... and biggest surprise of the day, I ran into a friend from college! She is traveling with Adventures in Missions for the year with the World Race program where she travels to eleven countries in eleven months, experiencing various types of ministries. She was staying in Chiang Mai this month and happened to be in the cafe when I walked in! I haven't seen her in probably two years, so this was such a wonderful surprise!
After catching up with her, and ordering the best mango smoothie I've ever had, we went to the night bazaar, where my mom and sister experienced the wonder of foot-eating fish.
Day number... I don't really remember, they start to run together.... we went to a lot of different crafting shops, where we watched artists create umbrellas and fans, silk, jewelry, silverware, and different types of pottery. It was during this time that we taught our driver some new English words, simply by using them. His new phrase, "aMAZing!" All the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment