Chiang Mai, Thailand - Elephants, Ox Carts, & Monks!

Our second day in Chiang Mai took us to an Elephant Park. We watched an elephant show (and eventually purchased the artwork we saw the elephants paint). We took a bamboo raft trip down the river. We learned how elephant poop is recycled into paper. We rode in an ox cart, had an ox cart crash, and even rode on elephants!

Our bamboo raft driver had a little trouble fitting us all into the picture with our lovely hats! We all had a chance to "drive" the raft!

After our boat ride, we hit the Ox Carts. I now know that I don't enjoy traveling via Ox Cart. I'm not sure if it was because it's uncomfortable and bumpy or simply because we managed to get into an Ox Cart accident - I'm not kidding! Our Oxen decided they had had enough carting people around. Shortly after our ride started, they bucked the cart off their backs and tried to wander off. We hung on for dear life as our driver nervously laughed and got everything hooked up again (all the while, Grammie, Uncle Smelly, and Cristina's Ox Cart driver laughed his rear off and made fun of our driver in Thai!). I was ready to be done from that moment on. As silly as it was, I was more scared during the Ox Cart ride, than I was hugging a tiger! But we all survived to tell the tale - and laugh about it. I can honestly say, Ox Cart riding is not something I plan to do again.  

The elephant ride was beautiful. Thailand is the third country we have ridden elephants in, and it is definitely the most scenic. As we were traveling along the river, I turned around to take a picture of Smelly and Cristina only to find their guide taking them into some corner of the river. Then I see Shawn climbing onto the elephants head and guiding the elephant himself. Leave it to Shawn to convince some guy to risk his job for a $3.00 tip!

Next up, Chris took the kids back to the hotel for a little down time (Uncle Smelly's knock knock jokes are exhausting) while the rest of us hit the town for a temple walking tour.  There are over 200 temples in and around Chiang Mai.  We set out to walk through Old Town and tour a handful of them. This turned out to be a great experience. We toured several temples and while they are all similar, each has it's own personality. We were stopped by someone with the "Are you Shawn Hochuli?" question (small world, small world); And we hung-out at a local cafe sipping "smoothies" while watching Chiang Mai life go on around us.

I really wanted to take this Monk's photo, but was afraid it would be disrespectful while he was meditating so intently...then I saw the sign. He was made of fiberglass...

Smelly left our mark on traditional Monk cloth. "Shawn Hochuli, Bonnie Hochuli, Cristina Castle, Jennie Hamlin - Temple Trek 2013"

Smelly's guidebook told us to look for Monks waiting outside the Temples to answer questions in what they called a "Monk Chat". It encouraged you to approach the Monks and start a conversation. This process, not only teaches tourists a little more about Buddhism, but also helps the Monks practice their English. Seeing several Monks outside one temple (being spoken to by what appeared to be some sort of Monk Teacher), Shawn took the opportunity to interrupt their teaching and politely ask the most intelligent question that cam to him. "Are you guys Monks?" Apparently, these guys didn't know one word of English and were definitely not part of a "Monk Chat." They politely laughed at him and let us take a picture with Shawn and his ever knowing guidebook.  

We turned the corner and stumbled upon an actual Monk Chat. After Shawn's first encounter, we were reluctant at first, but I am so glad we approached another gentleman and started a conversation. This was, by far, the highlight of my trip to Chiang Mai (even better then hugging a tiger and crashing an ox cart). I wish, I wish, I wish I had written down this gentleman's name. He made such an impact, I am sad I can't even remember his name. We sat with him for quite a while and asked questions about his life (he moved to Chiang Mai from Myanmar to study Buddhism), his decision to become a Monk (He carefully considered this decision knowing that it would mean giving up the idea of having a family), as well as some of the deeper beliefs of Buddhism (is it better to eradicate all pain and suffering in life or keep those feelings so you can truly understand joy and happiness).

We ended the evening with a delicious river side dinner and a trip to the infamous Chiang Mai Night Market (A must see if you ever get to Chiang Mai). Since Shawn and Cristina were leaving us for a relaxing island resort the following day, in true Smelly fashion, he presented us each with "awards" from the trip - Don't worry Smelly that annoying chirping frog toy will be making its' way back to you one day! 

Thanks for a great trip Shawn & Cristina! Where should we go next???

Bali, Bali, Bali, Bali!

We were all disappointed that we weren't going to be able to spend Fall Break hanging out at the beach in San Diego this year.  We were forced to tough it out for a couple days in Bali.

Bali is one of the 17,508 islands that make up the country of Indonesia.  The flight from Jakarta is about an hour and a half long and a round trip ticket is about $50 (Why are we not in Bali every weekend?).

We arrived late Thursday night and after a little Chinese food, we checked into the Pan Pacific Nirwana  (the next time you are in Bali, you HAVE to stay here!!!).  We were welcomed with a delicious island drink and flowers for our hair.  We were given a little tour of the resort and taken to our room.  Everything was beautiful!  One thing we have learned is that the hotels in Asia are different then the states.  It is nearly impossible to find a room with two queen sized beds.  Rooms either have one queen or two twins.  We thought we struck gold with the "Family Room" at the Pan Pacific.  The website showed a king bed and bunk beds!  Had we read the room description properly (or maybe brushed up on our metric conversions), we would have realized that the bunk beds were the size of toddler beds.  Emilie spent the first night sleeping diagonally, with her legs hanging off the side of the bed.  The next two nights, she slept with us!  From now on, we will be looking into suites or adjoining rooms.

Friday morning we ate breakfast while enjoying the beautiful view of Tanah Lot Temple. Then we hit the pool!  The hotel had four pools, two slides, and a water basketball court! We spent the entire day by the pool playing, swimming, eating, drinking, sliding, and even sleeping!

 

 Friday evening, we took the guided walk down to Tanah Lot Temple for the breathtaking views and the sunset.  The Temple is set out on the water and cannot be accessed during high tide. Visitors are only permitted inside when they are set to be blessed.  The surrounding area was extremely busy but oh so beautiful.  We enjoyed the short walk from our resort and thru the tide pools.  This is another must see during your next Bali sunset!

 

 After the sunset, we headed back to the hotel for a traditional Balinese buffet and dance.  The buffet was SUPERB!  We had all kinds of great food and got to try a few things we have never tried before.  Emilie ate roast pig carved right off the spit.  We also tried some wonderful coconut desserts that were to die for!  During dessert, the dancers came out.  They were beautiful and we were mesmerized by the amazing hand gestures and facial expressions.  
 

After dinner we had a family portrait taken!

Saturday morning took us on an adventure to the Elephant Safari Park.  Emilie has been talking about riding an elephant ever since we first muttered the word Bali.  She couldn't wait to get to the Elephant Safari Park.  Unfortunately, she had to wait a couple of hours as our driver for the weekend got lost a few times and we ended up taking the "scenic" route through the streets of Bali.  Lucky for us, the scenery was stunning.  We saw acres and acres of rice paddies with women working in the fields wearing the traditional rice hats.  We also saw women walking through the streets carrying huge bundles on their heads.  They were carrying everything from laundry baskets to pieces of lumber and balancing it all perfectly on their heads.

FINALLY, we made it to the Elephant Safari park and it was well worth the crazy drive!  While we ate a delicious lunch, we watched a mama and baby elephant taking a bath in the lake.  We went on a ride on the back of elephants.  Dustin and I rode a female elephant named Tia.  The best part was when Tia decided to splash Chris and Emilie as they were riding on their elephant!  After the ride, we got to feed our elephants to thank them for the ride.  Tia even put a wreath of flowers around Emilie's neck!  Next we watched a little elephant show and walked around the park to take a peek at a few more baby elephants.  

 

After the fun at the Elephant Safari Park, it was back to the hotel for some more swimming and another gorgeous sunset!

We finished the trip with a delicious meal over looking the ocean.  Then it was time to prepare for our early morning flight back to Jakarta.  We had an amazing time in Bali and will happily meet you there anytime you are in the area!