View from our guest house in Phuket

I sure am enjoying this place. Many people say they don't like Phuket, but where we are staying it is hard to beat. Going back to Fairbanks is not going to be any fun.






-- Post From My iPhone

Chiang Mai Zoo and Aquarium

Chiang Mai Zoo - Tiger
Chiang Mai Zoo - Koala
Chiang Mai Aquarium
Chiang Mai Aquarium - Underwater show


Thai Silk Factory
Umbrella Factory - Emma's handpainted shirt (front)
Emma's handpainted shirt (back)
Ben's handpainted shirt (not completely finished)

Well, this is our last day in Chiang Mai before heading south to the beaches. I think we are ready to head to the beach. We have had a great time in Thailand, but I am glad we saved the beaches for last.

The last couple of days have not been too exciting. We went to the Thai Silk Factory to see how they made silk along with the Umbrella Factory. We were not that interested in purchasing the umbrellas, but the kids were excited about getting a hand painted shirt where they got to pick out the design.

Today we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo because we heard they had a baby panda bear. Unfortunately, we got there too late and there were hoards of people Burger King for lunch and plan to go for Mexican for dinner. The excitement for Thai Food has worn off a little.

Hope everyone is keeping warm in Fairbanks. I am definitely not ready to go back to 35 below. Yuck!! I hope I can bring back some warm weather for everyone when we come back.

Elephant Camp

Emma and Ben on the Elephant
Elephant painting
Emma and Ben on the elephant





We spent New Year's Day going to the Elephant Camp which was located about a hour outside of Chiang Mai in the countryside. What a beautiful area. It is truly in the jungle. Ben said this was the highlight of the trip. He loved riding the elephant. I must admit that I am glad that I rode the elephant, but I am not sure I want to do it again. It is pretty scary going up and down hills. The elephant is an amazing animal. They are so intelligent and talented. It sure was fun watching them.

Wat Phra Thai Doi Suthep

Happy New Year!! Well, 2010 is almost here in Thailand. We had a wonderful time in Chiang Mai. What a party!! They closed down the main street in Chiang Mai and had a huge street market with live music. I think what we enjoyed the most was lighting the paper balloons (fire balls as Emma would call it). They were the next best thing to fireworks for Jim. Hope everyone has a great 2010.

Chiang Mai Thai Cooking Class

Thai Food Market
Thai cooking school
All the different types of rice at the Thai Food Market
Sticky rice with mango
Jim cooking spring rolls
Emma cooking Pad Thai
Emma, Ben and Jim at the Thai food market
Emma's Pad Thai
All the food Emma made for lunch: Yellow curry with chicken, Thai vegetable soup, and Chicken with Basil. After lunch she also made Pad Thai and sticky rice with mangos. She did a great job!!
Emma making yellow curry paste
Baby elephant on the streets in Chiang Mai

Today we completed a Thai cooking class at the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School (www.thaifarmcooking.com). We spent the morning going to the local Thai Food Market and learned about the curry pastes; the different types of rice (i.e. sticky rice versus normal rice); and all the different spices and ingredients that go into Thai cooking. Then we went out to their organic farm about 17 km from Chiang Mai. It was a beautiful setting and we learned about all the spices that are used in Thai cooking. Between Emma, Jim and I cooking we made yellow and green curry paste and dishes; Tom Yam soup; Vegetable Thai soup; Chicken with Cashew Nuts; Chicken with Basil; Spring Rolls; Pad Thai; Stir-Fry big noodles; and Sticky Rice with Mangos. My favorite foods were the Tom Yam soup, the green curry and the sticky rice with mangos. I will definitely have to try making them when we get home. We were stuffed after that day and we even brought home dogie bags with the food we couldn't eat. I highly recommend going to this cooking class if you are ever in Chiang Mai. It was a lot of fun. They even gave us a recipe book with all the recipes that we made to bring home with us.

This morning when we got up Emma needed a jacket to wear because it was a little cool so the weather is not quite so hot here as it was in Bangkok.

Night train to Chiang Mai

Train breakfast (not wonderful, but edible)
Chiang Mai train station
Guest house in Chiang Mai
1st class sleeper car on train
Train toilet: challenging to use when moving.
Fruit bought on the train.
Ben and Emma's sleeper car that adjoined our sleeper car.
Spring Rolls
Jim's fried rice with pineapple, chicken and cashews.
Emma's Pad Thai at the train station.
Deb's green curry at the train station (the round green pea looking things are baby eggplants). The eggplants that they have over here are very small and white in comparison to the eggplants in the U.S. The baby eggplants are small and green and have a bitter flavor.

Well, as you can see we didn't do a lot of sight seeing this day. The big event for the kids was riding the overnight train to Chiang Mai. We had some engine problems which resulted in being three hours late to Chiang Mai, but no worries we are on vacation. We got to Chiang Mai and the hotel driver was waiting on us to give us a ride to the guest house. I think Chiang Mai is more our speed. According to the tour book Chiang Mai has only 204,000 people instead of the 10 million that Bangkok has. I think we will be able to pretty much walk everywhere we need to. I got to the hotel and they said that the rate for our room had been reduced since making the reservation so our hotel is only $38 per night. The guest house is centrally located and has a real nice pool that the kids love. This is definitely the most inexpensive place of our trip.

Tomorrow we are going to take a Thai cooking class at an organic farm outside of Chiang Mai. Emma can't wait to learn how to make Pad Thai (her favorite dish). I must admit we are all looking forward to the class. We have lined up tours for the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai as well. The tours are so inexpensive that it does not seem right to not take advantage of them. I hope everyone is enjoying my blog. I know that when I am in Fairbanks during the dark, cold winters, it helps me to see what other people are experiencing.