Chiang Mai, Thailand - Part 1

The second leg of the megacation (as our friend called it) took place in the Northern part of Thailand, Chiang  Mai.  I decided to go for Baanbooloo, billed as a "Traditional Teakwood Thai Guesthouse" and ranked #2 in Trip Advisor for bed and breakfasts.  Overall, the place was awesome!

Picked up in a red taxi, a converted pickup truck with bench seating across each side of the bed.  These are unique to Chiang Mai and each was was it's own little special experience!

Oh yeah, and the doors were strapped open and yes we were going about 45 mph.

This was the main courtyard / reception / hang out.  At this point I was thinking it was a little rustic and secretly feared Rebecca would say "Enjoy it with the boys, I'm off to the Marriott".  She hung in there though.  The boys were really excited about the whole thing, mainly because of the wireless internet.  We openly coveted their furniture though.  The bar in the middle was from a converted ox car and was unbelievably cool.  Breakfast was cooked to order and was a mix of Thai and Western favorites.

Here was our little slice of heaven.  Two floors (boys in bunk beds on the ground floor), external staircase, our own patio for relaxing.

OK, so these guys were a minor surprise.  Over the bed and I'm assuming they are some sort of protection.

Bathroom for Rebecca and I.  Teakwood, very clean, open air (which was different).  Yes, we could hear people eating while we were showing.

Here is one of the rooms in the back of the property.  The bedroom there is totally open air.

That night we headed out on the town to scope things out and feed our faces.  This was the boys first tuk tuk.  Very cool.

Day one, snake show!  Yes, that's right, Rambo seal of approval on this one.  Supposedly Rambo IV was filmed in part here...

King cobra kissing.  I had no idea how big these things can get.  Over 12 feet long.  Form a circle by touching your thumb tips and middle fingers together and it was about that big around.

Here's a few little ones.  Apparently they have a blind spot between there eyes.  I still think he's crazy too.

How often do you get to pet a monocle cobra?  Yep, never.

About 5 feet away.

So when this dude catches the three mambas (one for each hand, third with his mouth), I'm thinking that this is one of those horrible places that defang their snakes.

Nope.  They're crazy.

Snake charmer!

Next, a little croc wrestling.

Here he is pulling on its tongue.  Apparently they train them by putting a balloon in their mouth and the popping noise scares it.

Still has to get the heart rate up though.

Last stop of the day was one of the long neck hill tribes.  Rowan's obsession with the royal family continues.

This precious woman was working away and when I pointed to the camera, she insisted the boys come over and sit next to her for the picture.

You want a piece of me?  I broke this over the head of the last chump.

Pretty good sales guy.  Let the kid fire the crossbow.  Thankfully I pulled the "we'll never get these through China customs".  Close one though.  I wanted one myself.

Hand painting some stripes on a table runner.

Chillin'.

Sporting a new elephant tusk (fake and proud of it) necklace.  Behind him are the typical products that were for sale along the walkway.

Those are really cute hats for girls.  Don't tell them.

Riley pilfered Bec's old point and shoot camera (stay tuned for some surprise pictures).  I heard him say "man, I've got to get this shot" as he was taking this picture.  I don't know why other than he saw me taking it...

At the top of the hill we were surprised to encounter St. Nicolas church.  We happened to be walking through as the church was handing out Christmas presents to all the kids.  Amazing.

Some of the young ladies of the tribe.

OK, so this may be the most precious girl in all of Thailand and maybe Southeast Asia.  If this sweet face with the kids waiting in the background for their presents doesn't make you want to run out and donate something to someone, then you likely have no soul and if you do it will probably rot in hell for all eternity.  Just kidding.  Not really.

I really should stop with the last picture, so profound and precious.  Instead, I leave you this little gem I discovered when downloading the camera Riley was messing with:

Phuket, Thailand - Part 2

Finally getting to Part 2!

After the first few days of swimming and boating, we decided to see a bit more of the island.  So, we started off with a guided tour...

Our starting point was at the Southern end of the island at a beautiful vista overlooking one of the many little beach spots.

Who doesn't love a good photo with a monkey?  I think only Reid was actually following moms instructions.  Good job first born!

We know how to throw him off his game, monkey butt to the head!

By show of hands, who can name this prominent and popular tourist spot?  Anyone?

One of the highlights ended up being a simple lunch of banana slices, smothered in chocolate, and nestled (yes, nestled) in a hot pancake / crepe.

Rowan checking out the dog.  After taking this photo, I realized there was an actual dog about 5 feet behind the scupture releiving himself.  Yes, really and yes, I missed it.  Oh well, we would find there would be more poop photo ops later in the day.

At the cashew factory, where we learned that cashews actually had a "cashew apple", which they make juice from.

Reid cupping some fruit to demonstrate scale.  They said that this tree is about half size (20 or 30 feet in diameter) because they kept it trimmed in front of the store.  I'm thinking these are both good wedding photos, complete with a few "nut" jokes sprinkled in.  Caption contest anyone?

Rowan's bid to change America to a constitutional monarchy.  He loved the king and was pointing out every photo he saw (in a normal city drive, there are photos every few hundred yards).  In my humble and admittedly narrow experience, Thailand has one of the world's great monarchies.  I think he has Sidneys' vote.

Showing how cashews are shelled and then processed.  We got to pick from 12 or more flavors to bring home.  We (OK I) ended up buying a carry-on full of stuff.

Rubber trees going on endlessly.

We stopped by a mansion on the island, where one of the "Young Indiana Jones" episodes was filmed in 1992.

Of course, one of the big draws for the boys in said mansion was to stare at the bathroom sign, drawn by one of the kids in the family.

We headed from there to a family farm where we immediately hopped onto the back of an ox cart for a ride.

Class, pure class.  I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure this "hey dad, look at this!" behavior is rooted in something Daddy Mac, or Granny Mac for that matter, taught him over the summer.  Definitely not my influence.

First step in making rubber, scrape off some of the bark and collect the sap.

At this point, I decided to count this as a school day.  Above the guide is showing us how they take the sap, add some chemicals and then roll it into mats for drying.

Question of the day:  Are coconuts a fruit, vegetable, or seed???  If you answered "legume", then I'm pretty sure you're wrong.

If you look closely, you'll see the monkey in the tree knawing on the coconut stems.

Rowan and Riley showing a "baby pineapple".

About medium sized now, still smaller than Ros cranium.

That night at dinner, one of the hotel staff was offering photo ops while dressed in traditional garb.  Kind of surprisingly, Rowan jumped at the chance.

Demonstrating via monkey how to properly greet someone.

Last full day in Phuket.  Yes, I took Ro to the hospital.  He woke up about 3am complaining of severe pain in his ear.  The Dr. took a look and said she thought he probably stuck something in there (like a finger after swimming for 3 days maybe?), but it wasn't infected.  Also, she figured things were swollen from allergies.  So, he and I got to spend the morning driving down and back.  Pineapple smoothy for our efforts, though!

Clearly needing some further treatment, I talked Ro into getting a massage on the beach.  150 baht (about $5) per hour!  The good news, his swim shirt's sunblocking feature obviously works VERY well...

OK, so apparently others in the family needed medical attention.

Last evening in Phuket.  Tomorrow, off to Chiang Mai and the mountains!

Phuket, Thailand - Part 1

Due to the timing of our flight, we started the holiday by driving to Shanghai on Friday afternoon.  Rowan started puking at about 2:30am.  Yes we were "those people" and headed out in the morning, undeterred.  He did well throughout the day, without incident after the late morning.  We arrived in Phuket in the late afternoon and headed out with Ro's new walkie talkies (Christmas present) to explore the grounds.  We were there with friends, who shall remain nameless in order to protect their identities.

This was the view from the hotel room.  Riley and Rowan slept in this little alcove.  Just on the other side of the trees was the Andaman Sea.

Rowan stayed in the room with mom while the other boys and I grabbed dinner with our friends.  Here's Ro settled in with a Jamie Oliver episode.  For some reason he started watching these cooking shows a month ago.  Strange.

A shot of one of the lagoons around the hotel.  We saw tons of wildlife from little lizards to snails to small (about 2 feet long) monitor lizards.

While swimming in the pool all day, we spotted this small guest and had to go over to check things out.

Dinner on night two was on the beach.  The food was great and you can see the view was even better.  To the left of Ro is a blowfish that I would guess could inflate to the size of a dodge ball.

Day two was a trip around Phi Phi island, where a Bond movie and the movie "The Beach" were filmed.  We stopped at about four of the islands.

Monkeys!  We got to throw bananas to them, but they were so aggressive that we didn't do it by hand.

Riley and I snorkeling in about 10 feet of water.  Riley spent about 3 hours in this position throughout the day.  Interesting discovery.

A hidden little town on one of the islands ended up being the site of lunch.

The limestone islands were spread all thoughout the area.

Looking like a 1982 Vidal Sassoon haircut book.  This is the fruit of spending the trips between islands on the very front of the boat.  Zohan would be proud.

Day 2 ended with a fire show at the hotel.  They do this nightly at the JW Marriott.  While not action packed, it was quite interesting and you can see the finale was pretty cool.

Day 3 - Cave exploring.  The limestone islands have tidal caves that run under them, opeing up into lagoons in some cases.

We boated around for a few hours, appreciating the beautiful formations formed by the water.

Mom and Riley "assuming the position".  Going through some of the caves was not for the feint of heart as they let air out of the canoes in order to clear the low ceilings.

On the other side of the caves were some massive and scenic lagoons that we paddled around.

Me and the other two.

One of the lagoons was full of mangrove trees.  The bottom was sandy, so we hopped out to play for a bit.

Back on the boat after dinner, we made kratongs.  These beautiful and ornate flower arrangements / boats are floated on the waterways of Thailand as an offering during the fall holiday, Loi Kratong.

Sunset on the water, enough said.