Learning Thai

The girls and I were so excited about coming to Chiang Mai for Christmas that we wrote a little song about it. The lyrics are the title of this blog entry and you have to wiggle, point your index fingers in the air and say woohoo hoo hoo at the end. Well, it met our expectations in terms of a time away, rest and relaxation, beautiful sights, and (much) cooler weather.

We stayed at the Juniper Tree (above is a picture of one of the Thai style cottages) which is a place for missonaries to rejuvenate for a little donation. :) We enjoyed the big slices of homemade bread at breakfast, the tree and flower filled grounds, the semi-rustic cottages. We were saying that it kind of felt like camping in the fall (although the days heated up) and the cooler weather really made us bundle up at night. It was also fun and interesting to meet missionaries with great accents from New Zealand, England, Australia, Germany, ect, now working in places like Bangladesh, Uzbekastan, India, China, Mongolia, Korea ect. We all got together for a little Christmas celebration where different people contributed songs, stories, a puppet show, etc and we sang carols together. Some Thais from a nearby church also came and caroled for us which was fun.

On Christmas Eve day we went to an elephant camp which turned out to be a really cool experience for all of us. The country side and mountains were absolutely amazing.The elephant ride was far more terrifying than I expected… I was anticipating a little jaunt around the pen, not a river and jungle trek! Imagine your whole family teetering in a small box on top of a giant beast who walks with very ungainly clomping steps (of course we got the most gigantic elephant in the herd- name: Bouchie). Now imagine that this beautiful but awkward beast is sloshing through a river, scrambling up steep muddy riverbanks and lurching up narrow, jungly mountain paths. Meanwhile your driver who is perched “bareback or barehead” on the elephant’s hairy head, (and who thinks himself a comedian) smells your fear. So, he goes on to make fear worse by yelling in a fearful voice, “oh my Buddha” every time you are in a particularly scary vertical position and grabbing on to the chain of your perch as though you are about to fall off. Oh, and lets not forget the times the elephant lurched off the path to get himself some grass for lunch or the time the driver suddenly bounced down to the ground and ran ahead of us to take pictures while I imagined terrible scenarios in which the elephant suddenly plunged down to the waterfall below.
So, can you see why I was scared stiff although awed by the incredible scenery and can you see why I was completely amazed that Claire and Eliza rode along with incredible calm?? (Claire kept saying, Calm down mommy, don’t get stressed out mommy. It’s going to be okay mommy..as if she was the adult. Meanwhile, Tom is non-stop laughing at me). Claire even mentioned at one point as the trek wore on and we seemed to have been bouncing up there forever, that she was ready to get down because she was bored now.

After the elephant ride, we enjoyed looking at some hill tribe crafts (Claire bought the fantastical hat) and then went for much tamer but still fun, rattly ox cart ride. After a fabulous Thai lunch, we continued on down the river by bamboo raft.

So, it was quite an adventure filled and exciting Christmas Eve. For our Christmas Eve night we ordered pizza and ate ice cream watching a holiday “Ben and Jerry” and then played Old Maid and read Charlotte’s Web in our cabin. Claire told us the Christmas story and we were amazed at all the details she recalled…and Eliza amazed us by belting out “HOLY NIGHT” when I mentioned singing Silent Night. We felt a little sad about being away from our families and thought about them a lot (LOVE YOU GUYS!) but really enjoyed each other too. Thank the Lord we have Skype!

Christmas Day was very quiet and relaxing at the Juniper tree. We enjoyed some more swimming and playing on the playground as well as calls home to family. They provided a nice Christmas lunch which even included turkey and stuffing which was pretty exciting for us! In the evening we went to the Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai and bought ourselves a few Christmas presents/souveniers including a decorative pot, a carved elephant and squishy dolls for the girls. In Chiang Mai we had to adjust to not having the taxis and buses of Bangkok and got used to riding motorcycle carts, tuk tuks and mini-buses (little covered trucks with benches in the back and an open back end). We took a tuk tuk home that night and were nice and cold by the time we got "home."

Here's a picture of Claire and Eliza on Christmas day (the poinsettias were growing outside!)

On our last day in Chiang Mai we visited the Royal Flora Exposition. This has been a huge deal in Thailand this year - one of the many events planned in honor of the King's 60 years as monarch. We were only able to see a fraction of the exhibits but we especially enjoyed the beautiful orchids.

Yesterday we returned to Bangkok by train (because the night bus was full and because Tom has always wanted to travel by train). It was a long day but the girls did really well and we are happy to be back home in Bangkok.

-Candice