On Sunday mother's day we went to a local market for flowers for Leslie, then had a Thai cooking class where we learned soup with lemongrass, pad thai, Thai green curry with chicken, mango and sticky rice. The only other people were two who had been on a tour for 15 people but only 2 showed up due to political worries. We shared some of our wine with them and enjoyed our Mother's Day dinner. But the outside temperature was very hot!
On Monday we did shopping, fixed our shower, and Leslie signed up and started an afternoon class in back massage for people sitting in a chair, not prone. And we went to the Night Bazaaar and discussed commissioning a painting with a local artist. The main problem was language!
Tuesday Leslie went to the main Chiang Mai hospital, had her blood taken, and her thyroid medicine adjusted: Cost was $30, and it was quite efficient and impressive. Leslie attended the chair massage class again, which will not meet again until a full day Friday, when it will be completed. We arranged with our travel agent a 7 day tour to Burma starting this coming Sunday the 17th. We also bought an exhaust fan to hopefully cool down the bathroom, which is the hottest room in the apartment. The Thais are saying this is the hottest summer in at least 40 years, and they are suffering like we are. Our cooking instructress said she went for several hours to the Central Airport Mall just to get the AC! We visited the Chiang Mai Cultural Museum and a wonderful exhibit at Tamarind Village in which an American violinist had spent about 4 years photographing the tribes of the Golden Triangle and recording their local music and ceremonies. We will meet her on Friday when she comes for a special lecture.
Wednesday we were picked up at 8:15 for a tour just northwest of town, saw a Lisu tribal village where David bought a traditional embroidered bag for his notebook computer case going back to Oman. We watched the trained elephants in the Mae Taeng Elephant Village in the Mae Taeng Valley. We each had our picture taken being carried on a large male elephant's tusks, under his trunk, which was quite exciting! But only the start of our elephant adventures! Then they had an elephant show, and David volunteered to receive an "elephant massage". He discovered you lie on your back on the ground in front of the elephant and get whacked pretty hard by the elephant's trunk! And the elephant is not trained to avoid certain delicate areas! Good thing we are not planning on more kids.
After a number of other elephant demonstrations, we climbed on a double-seat on top of the elephant for a one hour walk, first down a river bed, then up through a Lisu village, and back. Although Thai royalty used to travel by pecoderm, I think this is bumpy and greatly over-rated, especially on the downhill slopes. Then we had an oxcart ride to a bamboo river raft, which we rode down the Ping River for about an hour. Problem was: Ping River was just a trickle at the end of the dry season, and David had to get off and wade along the raft for the end part, as we were grounding on the bottom.
From elephant territory we next went to "Tiger Kingdom", where we had a buffet lunch, then paid extra to get our pictures taken with the 30-odd tigers on site. David had a chance to hang out with 3 two-month old cubs for a while, then to pet two full-grown male tigers. They were mostly very groggy, except when some fresh bacon was put in front of their noses. Watching other tigers leap up and chase each other around made one realize how quick and quiet they are.
After tigers, next comes monkeys, and a monkey show. David got a monkey to sit on his lap for a picture, and we watched monkeys operate tricycles, shoot baskets, and dance. We also saw three gibbons doing swinging exploits.
Next came the orchid farm and butterfly farm, interesting but not too exciting. And now we are home again.
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