Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center

Our second night in Thailand we went to a the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center for dinner and a show. The food was delicious! The show was pretty good but long; after a while I could tell everyone was getting antsy for it to end.

Traditional Thai dances.

Dancing with knives? Rayce was intrigued.

My not shy kiddo dancing with the pretty Thai ladies.

We thought it was over, but no, we were just moving outside!
It was a beautiful night.

I actually told Rayce he wasn't allowed to try this at home.

I would recommend this to anyone for the food alone but it was a fun night and wonderful to see even little bits of different cultures.
Even more to come...

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

We left Cambodia and flew to Bangkok and then onto Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ahh, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai has a great feel. It's one of those places you immediately feel at ease, at least we did. We got there Sunday evening, just in time for the weekly night market.

The Sunday market in Chiang Mai is awesome! Music, local hand mades, food stalls, so much to take in.

The next morning, rested up and ready to go we were picked up by the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary to take us a good two hours from Chiang Mai to spend the day with rescued elephants.

Our transportation was the back of a truck with two benches inside. The kids thought it was great!

We got to the camp about 10 and as the guides were giving us instructions and information about the camp and the elephants, I couldn't help but be distracted by what I saw coming over the hill.

They are amazing!!

Knowing how much elephants eat we knew we'd be involved in feeding them and we were excited about that. I think Avie was excited in theory but when it came down it, she preferred to stand back and watch.
The elephants first treat was bananas.

Come and get it!!

Next up to eat, corn stalks.

After we had lunch, we made the elephants their medicine. Everyone was able to help. I tried to just be the camera woman but they weren't having it, everyone was to help!

Next we took the elephants to a mud hole for a mud bath and then to the river to wash off. I'll let the pictures explain, words just don't suffice.

Avie is still not sure about this.

Elephant tourism has gotten so out of control in some of these Asian countries. I think some tourists don't care about the animals welfare as long as they get their selfie riding the animal. That is one of the reasons we decided to go with a non-riding sanctuary. The people at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary are trying to get the elephants out of giving tourists rides all day long that can break their backs over time. We really enjoyed our day with the elephants and although we didn't get to ride them, playing in the mud with them I think is just as cool.

Hotels in All Shapes and Sizes

We stayed in 6 hotels in all on our recent trip, we took 6 different flights, we traveled by taxi, subway and tuk-tuk, a lot on foot, and by car.

This was the only picture I got of our hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia at the Chronicle. This was where we spent most of our time during the hot days we were there. Small and sweet.

This was my splurge on the trip The Tamarind Village in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This place was a sanctuary!

Happy kids in the pool and Avie could even touch.

One of the best features of our Chiang Mai hotel is the location; the night market was literally just outside the property!

Finally our hotel in Bangkok was completely different, the Eastin Grand Sathorn, was a tall modern structure in the middle of a bustling city. It has an amazing infinity pool on the 14th floor that they kids never wanted to leave.

Lots o' traffic.

The pool by moonlight.

Why hello bangkok!

These little 'nests' as we called them were so awesome, perfect place to relax by the pool on these very warm days.

I feel like I'm kinda weird that I put so much thought about where we stay on vacation but I love hotels and I love a great hotel, is that odd? Anyway, we had some great places we stayed on our trip. Still more to come of Thailand!