Hill Tribes of Thailand

Another beautiful face.

Just outside of Chiang Mai is a hill village where three different hill tribes

live and demonstrate life in their villages.

Though I would have actually loved traveling through the hills to each village,

the visit here was a total delight.  I love seeing how others live when traveling

and this was the perfect setting for our last day in Thailand.

The women in each tribe weave on harness looms and sell their wares right from their home.

If you look closely there is a string tied to this woman's toe.  She was moving her

foot, which pulled the string, then rocked a baby in a cloth hanging cradle.

There were several women throughout the villages doing just the same thing.

The largest group and the most fascinating are the "long neck" women.

They are the Palongs from Myanmar and have lived in Thailand for over 30 years. What is unique about them is that their women wear brass rings around their necks and legs. As you can see from the picture, the older they are the longer are the brass rings.

From the top of the hill looking back on the village of the "long necks".
Behind me at the end of the road was a school and a Catholic church.

Tomorrow will be the last day to visit Thailand and share,
then onto Taiwan and a lot of tea on Monday.
Double click on any of the smaller pictures to see more detail.

Oh, that face that beautiful face!

 There were several faces I wanted to share with you today.
This little girl was standing near a temple in full costume.
I thought she was so beautiful and took her picture.
After I took her picture she asked for money.

This young university student touched my heart.
For some reason I didn't ask her name, but for the moments
we interacted she was precious.

 We were shopping in a mall in Chiang Mai and on the top floor
came across a booth of traditional Hmong clothes and other beautiful things.
I stopped to look and she saw me and came to help me buy something for my daughter.
After I made my purchase, she grabbed my hand and said don't go.
Then she proceeded to run around the booth looking for something for me to buy for myself.
I did purchase some really fun pants that I will show another day.
She still didn't want me to go, in fact she wouldn't take the money for a little while just
so I would stay.  She told me she loved me, but then explained it was my smile.
I asked for the picture and she was flattered, then wanted this one with me.
She definitely touched my heart.

 Out in the country we stopped to climb through some caves and visit a temple.
There were women selling medicinal herbs and this woman's face I thought was beautiful.

There is a historic park near Chiang Mai that has a representation of three mountain tribes.
The tribe that fascinated me were the long neck women.
They actually live in the park and you pay a fee to walk through their small village.
Most of the women weave on harness looms and sell their wares.
I thought they were just beautiful.

This young woman was sitting there so serenely in pink.

I wanted to communicate with her so badly.

Through signs I learned she was pregnant with her first child

and I could tell she was thrilled.

Not the best picture of me or this lady, but I had to share.
Of all the women I met on our trip, she touched my heart to the very core.
The day was extremely hot and the humidity was about to do me in.
Perspiration was running down my face.
As I stood there wanting to talk to her, she motioned for me to sit beside her.
Then she motioned for my husband to take our picture together.
Our arms crossed in back and we would have hugged, except it was too hot.
I could just feel her heart and her care for me.
Eventhough we didn't speak the same language, there was the language of great care
for each other that moment and I will always treasure it in my heart.

Elephant Nature Park

Did you know an elephant can smile?
We saw many smiles on these elephants faces while visiting the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai.
Lek, who you see in the bottom right picture started this park for rescued and abused elephants.
There were babies, a blind elephant, and one that had a difficult time walking he was so crippled.
But they all loved Lek and you could see the mutual love in each of them.

We spent the day at the Elephant Nature Park.
We were able to feed them baskets and baskets of squash and watermelons.
Then we were served a lovely Thai meal for lunch.
After lunch we were down to the river to bathe the elephants.
They do really love the water, but as you see in the bottom left picture, they love the mud bath too.
Then about mid afternoon we walked out in the field to feed them more food.

Did I mention one of the babies even gave me a kiss with his trunk?
It was a totally delightful day and one we will never forget.
Check out the website and read about this wonderful program.
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Thai Orchid Cookery School

After leaving Pattaya City, we flew to Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand.

We were excited to be here because we knew we were in for some real treats.

The first treat of visiting Chiang Mai was a day spent at the Thai Orchid Cookery School.

Corey at Tongue in Cheek had been here the month before and had recommended it.

A. and her brother were wonderful teachers and we loved every moment spent here.

 I learned to make Spring Rolls and my husband learned to make Chicken Satay.
Their chicken breasts were so much smaller than what we find in the U.S., but very tasty.

 Then we learned several variations of Thai soups.  Oh were they good.

 After our soup we were off to the market to learn about the ingredients we were using in the Thai food we were cooking.  What fun was that!

 Of course, we had to eat it all.  After awhile it was really hard to keep eating,
but it was all so good.  We made Pad Thai, stir fries, salads, and dessert.

One of my husband's favorite things is sticky rice with mango,
so that was his dessert.  I wanted to try something new, so
I chose Steamed Banana Cake.  It was steamed in the rice cooker,
wrapped in banana leaves.  Totally yummy~
Now are you hungry?
The Thai Orchid Cookery School is definitely one of our high-lights of traveling
in Thailand.  Thanks so much, A. and your brother, we loved spending the day with you.

Zip Lining and Koh Lan Relaxation

On Easter Sunday afternoon, rather than the traditional family tea I serve,

I spent the afternoon zip-lining with these guys.

As a young girl I climbed trees and dreamt of flying through

the trees, but never thought that dream would come true.

Much to my total amazement the opportunity came along and I jumped.

It was a bit scary to jump, but oh pure joy to fly over the trees.

We had to climb these stairs up to the platform to start flying

from one platform to another.  24 lines all together, was I ever

tired when we finished.

Here is one of the lines and the platform in the distance.

While up there we saw the most beautiful Hornbill birds.

What pure JOY.

After all the excitement we decided to take off for one day and night to the island of Koh Lan.

When we arrived on the ferry it was sooo very hot and packed with tourist,

so we decided to take a nap in our air conditioned room.

In the evening, we sat on the beach and had a lovely Thai meal.

Lanterns were lit all around the tables and it was a special time of just savoring our surroundings.

Much to our amazement when we left our room after the nap, the tourist had mostly left

and it was serene with native people just playing on the beach.

The father in this picture had brought his little boy down to splash water on him.

The children were just beautiful.

About 5:30AM I walked out on the beach as the native people were

beginning to prepare for another onslaught of tourists.

It was a peaceful time of reflecting and enjoying the sunrise.
Once the ferries started to arrive with tourist, it was time for us to leave.

On to Pattaya City, Thailand

This is Pattaya City, Thailand

It has a lovely beach, but a lot of prostitution.

A friend lives there and had offered us a condo for a week.

After we arrived we weren't sure what we would do for the week,

not good planning on our part.  We soon figured it out.

One afternoon we went for tea.

It was served buffet style.

I didn't write down what each thing was, but I do remember the apricot tarts were quite good.

Another day a tour van picked us up at the condo and we spent the day

at a tropical garden sight.  There were beautiful orchids, elephants, and even a monkey.

The gardens were just lovely.

 Yes, that is my traveling teacup.
You have seen it at the Vatican and Pompeii
and now in Thailand too.

Began in Bangkok

The first two days we were in Bangkok.

I was over-whelmed by the noise, so many people, pollution, and prostitution.

It was a difficult place for me to be and gave me a new appreciation for my home

and where I lived.

On the first full day, we took a canal boat tour.

Even on the river people were trying to sell you things.

Several times our transportation would take us to jewelry stores instead of where we wanted to go.

They were trying to get us to shop as they got a cut of the sale.

It became very frustrating and we finally refused to get out of the taxi until they took us where we wanted to go.

Everywhere you looked there were Buddhas.

This is the reclining Buddha.

There were Reclining Buddhas, Emerald Buddhas, Smiling Buddhas,

Serious Buddhas, Fat Buddhas, and Skinny Buddhas.

We ended our first day by visiting the Jim Thompson home.

Here we had a lovely Thai meal and the home and grounds were like an oasis in the city.

Jim Thompson was an American that fell in love with Thailand early in the 1900's.

He developed their silk industry and even today is one of the best silks.

The second full day we spent visiting the Royal Palace.

The king of Thailand is very much beloved and his image was everywhere.

Part of the Royal Palace.

It was very opulent.

The grounds covered a large area.

The weather the full two weeks in Thailand were from 90 to 100 degrees with very high humidity.
This also created a challenge for me.

On this particular day at the end of the tour I was sitting and resting before we headed back to our hotel.
Two college students approached me and as a way of practicing their English they gave me a survey.
They were quite cute and it was fun to talk to them.

This ended our time in Bangkok and we were happy to move on.
Double click on any of the picture to see them larger.