One night in Bangkok...Well, actually 3...

Well, we are in Bangkok now, we went shopping and found a few good deals on bags, I got some dvds for my mom, but let me rewind to Chiang Mai.

So we went to the elephant camp outside of Chiang Mai, but first stopped at the Orchid & Butterfly farm on the way. Andrew likes orchids way more than I do, so I think he enjoyed it a little bit more than i did. I liked it also though, lots of very pretty orchids, everywhere.

Got to the elephant camp, watched elephants take a bath in the river, then they walked up to do the elephant show. We saw how elephants can move very heavy logs, they can play musical instruments (incl. the harmonica), and they can play basketball and soccer. Then we got to ride the elephants, which was like riding a very tall, slow horse. We were dropped off at the local village to buy handicrafts, where apparently Andrew and I took way too long at (more Andrew than me, I SWEAR!) and missed the ox cart ride back. So we started walking back to the camp, and a guy came on a motorcycle to pick us up and drop off us at the cafeteria for lunch. We couldn't find Noi, our tour guide, so we just sat down and started eating, and she showed up half way through with a shocked look on her face. Our first reactions were that we weren't supposed to be eating here.

But actually, it was shock that we were already eating, because she was waiting for us at the ox cart drop off, but we didn't show up. So she went to the bathroom and told the driver to watch for us, but he was reading the newspaper. When she came back someone told her a group was being brought back by motorcycle, but she didn't think it was us. We had a good laugh.

Then we took a ride down the river on a bamboo raft, got picked up by Noi, and then we were taken to a few different factory/handicraft places. We got to see silkworms and how they make thai silk. Then we went to a pottery/ceramics place that made beautiful ceramics for really cheap! If it didn't cost so much to ship stuff home, I think I would have bought more!!! And the last stop was a paper umbrella making place, where we saw the process from bark to hand painted umbrella. Quite interesting.

The next day we spent the morning wandering Chiang Mai and seeing some beautiful wats (temples). We then got picked up for our 3 hour spa package, that incl. an hour long massage, body scrup, facial, herbal steam room, and jacuzzi! (Andrew opted for the foot massage instead of the facial, I don't know why...). We went night market shopping and I bought some nice, light clothes to wear in the Thai heat.

The next day was sleeping in, walking around Chiang Mai some more and visiting the oldest wat in Chiang Mai. They had a 25oo year old Buddha statue! Small, but very old! Then we took a taxi to the train station to take our 12 hr train ride to Bangkok, arriving at 7am the next day.

From Bangkok we went straight to Sri Racha, which is a little bit above Pattaya on the east coast of Thailand. We went to the tiger farm and got to bottle feed a baby tiger! He was so cute and soft, and I have pictures to prove it! (we also got the polaroid, the cub was just too cute.) We then saw baby crocs, and their croc farm that had way too many crocs in one area. It was a little scary. After the elephant show, we went back and slept and watched TV. We've realized it's a lot harder to sleep on a train than you would think it is.

The next day (yesterday) we went back to Bangkok, but didn't get to our hotel until late in the afternoon. So we checked in, and then searched for dinner, and found a "Big C" shopping complex, which is kinda like a Thai version of Walmart. Yes, we did some shopping, and got dessert at the Swensens shop!

Today we saw a museum that had artifacts from a very old civilization that lived in Northern Thailand, then went to the Jim Thompson house. He was an architect, enlisted during WWII, came to Thailand, and decided to make Bangkok his home. He revitalized the Thai silk industry, made a fortune, built a beautiful house, and then disappeared while on vacation in Malaysia. No one knows what happened to him, and it's been 37 years since he vanished. But he left behind a beautiful house made from old Thai style homes and a great collection of antiques from throughout SE Asia.

And definitely last but not least tonight, SHOPPING! We went to a huge shopping mall, then to a night bazaar. Lots of fun, but my feet are tired and I am ready to go to bed. Tomorrow we are going to be doing a few boat trips on the river to see the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha, and the National Museum. After that it's a 6am flight to Koh Samui, where we get to relax on an island beach for five days. I can't wait. Time sure does fly when you are having fun, one more week and I will be home! It's gone by so quickly!