Chiang Mai!

First off, let me apologize to you all for my despicable neglect to this blog o' mine. There is no decent excuse except that blog upkeep is tedious. But like I said, that's not a decent excuse.

I will try to be more diligent about it in the future, and I have a lot of updating to do because,well, a lot has happened.

Oh and to clarify on the dates of these blogs. Several people have noticed that the dates posted are illogical. Haha no I am not just trying to mess with your heads, the dates on my posts are when I started writing them, not when I posted the finished product. Haha this just shows you how long they have been moldering in my drafts box.

Anyhoo, Chiang Mai..... : D

About a month ago, my parents asked me if I would be interested in going up to Chaing Mai for the weekend. It wasn't really a trip for pleasure, they had to go up and pick up my host-grandma, Yah, but they thought maybe I would be interested.

Would I?

Out of all the places in Thailand, (yes, even Bangkok) Chiang Mai was where I wanted to go the most. For several reasons, the main one being that this is where I first thought I was going to live. Consequently I did some research on the place and found it to be amazing. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, is int he middle of a beautiful mountain range and has all sorts of interesting cultural variations due to it's proximity to the Myanmar border. This place has everything....elephant sanctuaries, beautiful waterfalls, over 300 temples, cooler temperatures, hidden mountain tribes, one of the best night bazaars around.. the list goes on for a while. The only problem was that it coincided with an open house my school was having. I felt guilty for about 30 seconds and then started packing.

Chiang Mai is a drive from P'lok (as I've lovingly started calling it) about 4 or 5 hours. But the trip isn't so bad because there are some lovely stops along the way...
Such as this beautiful temple.
I would tell the name but I forgot it as it is over 7 syllables long.. sorry guys.

But it's beautiful!! and one of my favorite and that's what matters.... right?

The main entrance to the temple.

On either side of the snarling serpents are these huge guard dog like things that were very impressive.

There was also a ginormous reclining Buddha on the left side. None of these fir into the picture (excluding some of Buddha's toes)

Pee Pang on the other hand fits quite nicely

. : )

This is one of the guard dogs I was talking about. My favorite detail is the monk calmly meditating... in his mouth.

And that was just the entrance! Here are some shots from the inside.

We stopped at a second wat closer to Chaing Mai. This was less ornamented but had it's own unique beauty. Unfortunately we didn't get to walk around much because we had arrived right at closing time, but I did manage to get a few pictures in.

We stayed with my host-aunt and uncle who live right outside the city. They own a cement factory so there was a constant bustle going on right outside the windows. And even when the work day was finished (yes, cement factories run on weekends) the noise was replaced by their pack of wild dogs. Yes, you read correctly.... pack of wild dogs. There are homeless ones all over the place here and I'm used to seeing them, but my aunt and uncle adopted some. 15 of them to be exact. Excellent security system though.

That night we went to the Chaing Mai walking street, which is the most fantastic walking street imaginable. It's a little expensive but haggling is part of the fun. :)

I got some gifts for people and then we headed back to the house.

The next day Pa asked me what I would like to do. One of the first things that he mentioned was a cave. This, of course, instantly tickled my fancy. I love caves and have only been in one or two in my entire life. So off we went to the cave of Chaing Mai!! Well actually its right outside Chiang Mai..but that is just a detail.

OK, like I said I haven't been to that many caves. In fact I think the only "official" cave tour I have ever attended was Howe caverns. From what I collected from that experience is that when you go on a cave tour it is beautiful and scientific. Everything is lit up so you can see exactly how the limestone formations were formed, and hopefully there is a guide who is also scientifically informed.

Let's just say that cave tours in Thailand are more like... adventures.

This was our tour.

This was our guide.

This was our light.

Her commentary about the actual cave consisted of stopping at an oddly shaped rock and saying

"This one looks like a 3 headed elephant." "This one looks like a chicken"

....and indeed it did.

Did I mention that Pa is scared of caves? yeah. he doesn't like bats.

So it was just me and Pee Pang, and the lamp lady of course.

This isn't the most attractive picture in the world but it's the only one of me and Pee Pang together, so oh well.

There were plenty of dark caverns and elephant shaped stalagmites but there were a few places where we actually had to crawl on our hands and knees to get to the next chamber. Thank god I'm not claustrophobic.

Pee Pang crawling through the rabbit hole.

After the cave we went to the umbrella factory, which was really interesting. It is the largest handmade umbrella manufacturer in Thailand. They were beautiful but I was really interested in how they actually made the umbrellas.

Did I mention the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.

I love the mountains here.

But yes the voyage to pick up Grandma was a success, and now she is living with us.

So far my favorite Grandma moment was when I asked her if she wanted some crackers for a snack. I, of course had to yell it (she's rather deaf, poor thing) in botched Thai. She muttered something and after a few moment of mental translation this is what I got.

Me: Grandma, are you hungry? Do you want a snack?

Grandma: What?

Me: ARE YOU HUNGRY? DO YOU WANT A SNACK?

Grandma: Oh yes, but I left my teeth in the bathroom.

A quote for the ages.