June 21 - We fly to Chiang Rai

We're going to northern Thailand!

So, today we fly to Chiang Rai. After 2 nights we'll drive south to Phayao to make merit and spend the night in Phayao. Finally, we'll drive to Chiang Mai, stay the night, and fly out of Chiang Mai back to Bangkok late in the evening. Geoff's friend Nui has made arrangements for a van to drive us around northern Thailand and for the hotels in Phayao and Chiang Mai. Geoff's friend Jack has gotten us a killer rate at the Phu Chaisai resort in Chiang Rai where we'll spend the first 2 nights.

But back in Bangkok... we've got K. Rhin's van scheduled to pick us up at 4:30 am this morning. By 4am I'm the only one awake. That's fine kid-wise because I can get them dressed in 1/2 hour while they're in that sleep-daze... but I'm not sure if Geoff's going to make it... he just got into bed from being up late working. We roll out at about 5am... not too bad. On the plane we're second guessing our get-there-early-and-leave-late-to-maximize-the-time plan. Getting up this early really hurts.

We get to Chiang Rai, find the driver, and make it to the Phu Chai Sai resort up in the mountains. GOOD GOLLY! It was sooo worth waking up early to get to the resort earlier. It's beautiful, peaceful(when the 4 kids aren't around) and relaxing. We're greeted with refreshments and ice cold towels.

A view from our balcony/back-porch.


After an early lunch at the resort we have the driver take us to a village of long neck women. We drive through mountain areas where there have been mud slides... I'm a little concerned at this point. We also drive past many Chinese villages. This far north there are more ethnic Chinese. It seems that quite a few people up north speak Thai AND Mandarin (like our driver). So, the village we're going to is actually 3 tribes of Bhurmese refugees. They are not Thai citizens. That explained why speaking Thai wasn't working. There's a man who's learned English from the missionaries and offers to accompany Geoff to the village to help translate. Geoff goes it alone on the trail hike to the Bhurmese village. The hike's too scary for Felicia. Turner's also fallen asleep in the van. So, I stay with the kids in the van. We watch the chicks and hens jump in and out of a trash basket searching for food. It's actually pretty amusing.




Finally, we have dinner in Chiang Rai, swing by the Mini-Mart(this town's so small that there's no 7-11) to pick up snack supplies for the kids, and head back to the resort to turn in for the night. At the resort, Geoff tried to let the AC continue to run by disconnecting the "we're in the room" card from the key and leaving the card in the slot by the door. The resort folks found us out and turned the AC units off so we weren't lucky enough to come back to ICY rooms with dead mosquitos and other bugs. But, the kids are were tickled by the mosquito nets that they didn't fight bedtime too bad. However, Cam's another story.



Geoff and I are SOOO tired. I can't wait to see a beautiful mountain morning.