A Full Day of fun in Chiang Mai

Thailand - as I see it.

Yesterday – a full day of fun in Chiang Mai

We woke up early, well early for us, at 8:30am and played a game of hand and foot. Rob and On picked us up for church with the motor scooters and we went to the service for Easter. It was interesting as there was a minister who lived in Japan and spoke English for most of the service. There was a slide show, musical presentation, as well as the sermon.

After one and a half ours we went back on the motorbikes and went to a nice Western Restaurant called Dukes. We had big hamburgers with blue cheese, sautéed onions and garlic bread.

We then headed to the construction site to see the progress on the house. They were putting in the footings and had already done two when we arrived. All the work is done by hand and they were going to compete five of the footings that day. It was the warmest day so far and we were sweating profusely – the workers who were doing all the hard work were not even noticing the heat. They had headgear,long sleeves, face covers and long pants. They carried cement, rocks, sand and water all in buckets. There were seven workmen and they all were doing work whether it was mixing the cement, filling the mixer with ingredients, tying the metal beams together with steel wires, carrying the cement and coming back for more, over and over again. They didn’t even have a shovel, all they had was a hoe and pails.

We then went to the massage parlor and Willi and I had a foot massage. I had a facial and Willi had a neck and arm and hand massage. They were so happy to see us, I got a free half hour longer massage. One of the massage therapists brought us a big bunch of little sweet bananas. Willi had a haircut and head massage as well. We relaxed there for two
hours. Rob and On were tired so they went back to their home to rest. When we left the massage parlor, we went to the eyeglass store and got Willi a pair of special sunglasses to block out the ultra violet rays. We then walked a while and flagged down a red cab and told him our hotel name. He didn’t understand and he took us to the other end of the Taepae Road instead of the Taepae Hotel so we had a sightseeing tour on the way. We went through markets of fresh flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, clothing, items for the monks, and weird food being cooked on the little carts on the street. We finally got back to our hotel and the cost was about $1 for the entire ride for the two of us. We had an icecream from a vendor on the street. We then went back to the hotel, picked up our laundry and played a game until Rob and On came for us for dinner.

Rob and I went on the motorbikes and Willi and On walked. Rob and I stopped at the Night Bazaar to pick up a couple of things and then we met Willi and On on the walking street. There were thousands of people walking up and down this street with musicians, dancers, sellers of everything imaginable. I bought a few bracelets, hair clips, little bags and a couple of money pouches. We then went to dinner at an Italian Restaurant right in the middle of the walking street. It was delicious and we then walked a bit more, On got some corn on the cob on a stick, fried bananas in a bag, a papaya salad in a bag, and some little puff pastry balls. They also got a yogurt drink with jelly balls in it.

By this time, I was getting tired as I had walked a lot. Willi and On walked back to the hotel, much more walking than I did, and Rob and I went back to the hotel on the motorbike. We went up to bed and Willi and I played one game of hand and foot and boy was I tired. It had been a full, fun day.