Our first visitors ...

My parents arrived in Chiang Mai on March 7th, and we have been busy everyday showing them around town.

The first weekend we went to the Chiang Mai International Heritage Festival, where they had a show at night with 14 hot air balloons on a field, lit up in time to music that a band was playing.  It was a pretty cool sight, and I enjoyed the 80's music that they were playing!  Evie and Winnie learned to "walk like an egyptian"!

The next few days we hit "walking street" and "night bazaar", a couple of outdoor markets where people sell handicrafts, food, t-shirts, and all sorts of things.  Of course, my mom loved the shopping and the cheap prices!  We also went to a Khantoke dinner, where you sit on floor cushions outside and eat a traditional thai meal while you watch a thai dancing show.  It was really nice, and one of Cory's students was a dancer in the show.  We even tried sugarcane, which we discovered you don't actually eat, just chew to get the sweet juice and then spit out the rest.  (I don't recommend it.)

The second weekend my parents were here, we decided to explore Thailand outside of Chiang Mai, which may have been a mistake.  We drove 3 hours north to the Burma border to a mountain called Doi Angkhang.  There is a beautiful resort on the mountain right by a Royal Project area where they grow tons of flowers, fruits, vegetables and even have a bonsai garden.  The King started this many years ago to give the people living in these areas cash crops that would benefit them so they would stop relying on making opium.  Everything on the mountain was just gorgeous, but the stress of getting there wasn't worth it to me.  I guess we weren't thinking quite clearly when we made our plans to pack all six of us in our little car and drive through a mountain range.  Our car barely made it up some of the steep inclines, and when we finally pulled into the parking lot of our hotel our brakes were smoking on one side!  We were very thankful that we made it and didn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere, and the next day I was very anxious to get off the mountain and back to the city.  The best part though, was the cool mountain air!  It has been right around 100 degrees everyday here, so having it so cool that you needed an electric blanket at night was a wonderful change!

On the way up the mountain we stopped at the Chiang Dao caves.  This was so cool!  They have a little bit of a lighted path that the kids and my mom went on, but then you hire a guide to take you through a half-hour loop of caverns with tiny doorways to crawl through with only a gas lantern to light your way.  It was really cool, except for the hundreds of bats that we saw in there.  And it was only 100 baht, for the 3 of us, which is about $3!

That weekend, was the weekend of mountains.  On Sunday, we went up Doi Suthep, which borders Chiang Mai on the West.  This time we paid a songtaew (a covered truck taxi with two benches in the back) driver to take us up and spared our car the trip.  On this mountain, we visited the large buddhist temple that overlooks Chiang Mai, the grounds of the King's winter palace, and a hill tribe that lives farther up the mountain.  The girls got to dress up in hill tribe outfits and get their pictures taken by all the flowers.

Last week, Tuesday, my parents took the kids to the zoo to see the giant pandas.  We cooked a special Easter meal for the students at the Centre for Wednesday's cooking night. Thursday we visited the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, which is one of the most fun things here.  The elephants put on a show where they play soccer, paint pictures, play harmonicas, dance, and more!  There was a baby elephant that was just born March 1st, and we fed the elephants sugarcane and bananas.  

Friday morning we went on a riverboat up the Ping river, and visited Warorat market, the largest market area in Chaing Mai.  Where you can see live turtles, snakes, and fish being sold, huge pig's heads sitting on ice, people butchering meat, fried insects, and all sorts of strange sights.  

Friday night, we went to the Easter party at the Centre.  Cory played Jesus in a skit!  (After the resurrection, so he wasn't nailed to a cross.)  The kids liked joining in on the easter egg hunt and other games.  Evie won a jar full of M&M's for guessing the closest to the amount in there.

Saturday, my parents and I went on a day trek.  We hiked up a mountain to see a hill tribe, rode elephants, visited a waterfall, and went bamboo rafting.  It was a fun, but exhausting day.  While we were gone, Cory took the kids swimming.  When I met them at the pool, I was surprised to see Evie "swimming" in deep water for about 5 seconds before Cory would have to grab her.  Being able to swim all winter has helped the girls be more comfortable in the water and they are getting braver each time we go.  Evie might be swimming like a fish by the time we get home.

We had a nice Easter, the church service was a good celebration.  Now we have one more week with my parents before they head off to Bangkok for a few days and then fly home.  Cory's mom and stepdad are now planning on visiting us in July, so we will look forward to that!