New Year's Eve

It's been a busy day.  We got up pretty early although we really didn't do much for a while.  Then we caught a taxi to have breakfast at the Larder restaurant.  They were closed and instead, we went to Smoothie Blues.  It was a very good, filling breakfast.  Then we walked around some markets.  There is a mall-just as annoying as all malls-so we didn't stay long.  However, on a Saturday and New Year's Eve, that was the only place we found a bank to exchange money.  While out, we went to the big local marketplace.  There we saw dried octopus, fruits, maggots to eat, live fish, frogs, eels, and many other sights and smells!  We scored big with 3 new towels, a blanket, and some sponges for the house.  Will also got a dank pair of sunglasses for 50 baht - about $3.00.


While everyone rested in the afternoon, John and I planned for our next big adventure.  We're heading south for a few days!  We booked a flight to Krabi and we’ll stay and do some beach hopping until we have to send Will back to Chiang Mai to leave on Friday. He flies out Saturday, but John and I will remain and spend a few days in Bangkok and then to Cambodia.  We will try and take advantage of his time off.


We all decided sushi for dinner, but after the 5 of us scootering over to the restaurant and finding it closed, we walked to a street food market.  We sampled a bunch of food - sushi, pad Thai, Turkish kabobs, chicken legs, Shish-kabobs, and a variety of other yummy food.  I wanted to try mango sticky rice so we walked another 15 minutes or so to another food place and got the sticky rice.  The boys also ordered a banana chocolate rotee. So good!  Walked back to the bikes and we are now contemplating the New Year’s celebration.


At a Buddhist temple along the way, Chris taught us about the place where you fill a dipper of water and think about what areas you'd like to improve in your life.  You pour the dipper of water into a bamboo tube and rope it up to the Buddha, dump the water and lower the bamboo back down.  We all tried this.


So, it's New Year’s.  I finally talked John into taking me down to Tha Phae Gate and we watched the lanterns rise into the sky.  The lanterns symbolize letting go of bad.  We met some people and talked until midnight to celebrate.  Back to the apartment and stayed up very late talking.  Everyone should have just come because they were all up anyway.  Chris had sparklers so we did that too!


Another late but amazing day!  Click on the first picture for the folder of pictures from today!

At the Mall - found a friend or two

Lanterns being set off right before New Year's

Sending the water to the temple

We Have Arrived!

Yay!  After I don't know how many hours (I think about 54) we are finally here!  Not any very good wifi.  After leaving from San Francisco on Wednesday at noon, we flew over the ocean to Shanghai.  The flight took about 14 1/2 hours.  We landed at about 6:30 pm on Thursday China time.  We had enough time to go through the transfer station and customs, get to our next terminal, get a tea, and get on the plane.  We left Shanghai at 9:25 pm and flew to Chengdu, China.  Unfortunately we got there at 1:00 in the morning and nothing was open - no food, money exchange or even anyone to ask about anything.  We stayed in the international terminal for a 17 hour layover.  It was cold and SMOGGY!  Finally, we were able to get food although not too good of food with a credit card.  Later, we did get some tasty soup and found a lounge where we got a few hours to relax and sleep.

In the morning, we met a great group of young Chinese boys and girls that looked like some sort of team.  I went and talked to them and found out they were soccer (football) players heading to the U.K. for a tournament.  They were very hesitant to talk at first.  Then they came to us on their own.  They asked us questions about where we were from, etc.  it was fun!

Finally, at 3:00 pm we went to check so we could get to our gate but ended up waiting until 4:00.  Our plane left Chengdu at 6:00 and our itinerary said we'd land in Bangkok at 7:10.  Imagine our surprise when we actually landed at 8:30 pm and still had to go get our visa, customs, and get back to the gate for our flight to Chiang Mai that left at 10:20!  We squeaked in just in time!  No one gave us the correct answer on what we needed to do.  They would just point and say we needed to go that way.  Yikes!  But it all worked out.

A short flight to Chiang Mai, a Tuk-tuk ride from the airport to the temple where the boys picked us up!  So good to see them!  It's late-now 2:00 am so we are heading to bed after catching up for a while!  Here is Denise and me in Shanghai Airport and the smog in Chengdu, China.

Airport in Shanghai

Smog in Chendu

Here we go!  Ready to board in San Francisco!

Getting ready to board!

Will did get there!

I forgot to add another post!  Will finally made it to Chiang Mai.  I got a text from him on December 20.  I'm not exactly sure what day he actually arrived, but was able to get a taxi to the apartment.  Even his baggage arrived.  The cheetoes were a little smashed, but everything else was fine.  I guess the boys plowed through the cookies that grandma and grandpa sent!

Denise and I are in Denver.  We will get picked up to go to the airport at 5:15!  Thanks, Chris!  We had a nice ride to Denver, unlike the last time we drove here!

Anyway, more as we get in to out travels.

Thailand

It's about a week before I leave on my Thailand trip!  Will flew out on Saturday evening.  He was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm, but because of a snow storm in Denver, his flight didn't leave until 8:30 pm or so.  He ended up missing his flight from LA to China.  After spending the night in the LAX airport, he caught a plane to China at 11:30 am.  This process involved a lot of line waiting.

So now, Will is curled up in China in bed after eating ramen and a Budweiser!  His flight to Chiang Mai will leave around 5;00 pm.  Just about a day and a half late...  Better late than never!