Thailand 2012

Mid-term break started on April 5 and we left Ooty by taxi for Bangalore on April 6. After 8 hours in the car we were at the Bangalore Airport. It is only 300 km away! You can imagine the state of the roads and also the state of traffic.

We checked in and went through Passport Control without any problems. The first flight was to Bangkok and then a flight to Chiang Mia.

Wow - did we choose a great location! Our villa overlooked the Ping River and was a 10 minute Tuk-Tuk drive from the centre of the city. We had a wonderful room with a great view and the staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. Villa San Pee-Seua provided 2 shuttles daily to town. The morning shuttles were by red-cab and the evening shuttles alternated between red-cab and river boat! We took advantage of both.

After a lazy Saturday afternoon, to catch up on sleepless Friday night, we went to the Night Bazaar area. Merchants were in the process of setting up when the rains came! It poured - and what started out as a meal on the outside plaza quickly became a meal inside! As the rain did not let up we took a Tuk-Tuk back to out villa. Both Nigel and I got splashed on the way. Did I forget to mention we went with Nigel and Ros Hinton, friends from Hebron School.

Easter Sunday started with the 9:00 A.M. service in Thai with translation into English. The church was packed and extra chairs had been set up under tent-like structures for the overflow crowds. As we, Ros, Nigel, and I, were obviously visitors we had seats inside, near the front, where wireless headsets were provided. We even had an English song book to use. A lazy Sunday afternoon pool-side was enjoyed before a boat ride down the river into town for the evening. We met friends and had a great time! Monday was a lazy day with local sight-seeing and lunch. Shuttle to town for the Night Bazaar.
Tuesday was Thai Food School Day! Train ride out into the country, bicycle ride to the school and we stopped and picked fresh herbs along the way. Cooking - Mmmmm delicious! There was no dinner that night!

Wednesday was elephant riding, bamboo rafting, lunch eating, native village visiting, forest trekking, and a drive to a local restaurant where we were the only non-Thai in the place. We had some difficulty with food choices even though the menus were bilingual! There was live entertainment and we had a great evening together. The picture is our elephant saying "more bananas, please!"

Thursday was Songkran, New Years, and we got soaked to the skin! Lots of fun is had by young and old alike. We visited some temples, went shopping and ate Thai food! The oeople in the truck have barrels of water which they throw on everyone by the bucketful!
Friday was to the airport and Bangkok with a boat cruise on the river before our late night-early morning flight to Bangalore and then 6 hour taxi ride to school. We arrived back in Ooty just before 8:00 A.M. Saturday and went to bed for a few hours.
The boys come back today, Sunday, and it is back to school for the Graduation Term until June 21.