Sorry. Had to start with one of my favorite shots of a small boat during low tide.
Well, we survived the high 80s to low 90s weather of Thailand from January 2 to Jan 12 (which was not hard to do, actually). We spent the majority of our time in Chiang Mai after which we hopped down to an island (Koh Phangan just north of Koh Samui which was made famous by the movie Meet the Parents) for three nights to relax on the beach. On our way home we spent a day in Bangkok. Truly an awesome experience. Quite honestly, it was challenging to choose from over 1,000 pics. Hopefully the below will provide some insight into our adventure. Again, I am not much of a writer...lets have the pictures do most of the talking.
We begin traveling via subway to the airport stop shown below. Not too many people there early in the morning.
Chillin' at the Inchon International Airport in Seoul prior to departure.
After a quick night sleep in Bangkok we found ourselves at a smaller airport in Bangkok getting on another flight to Chiang Mai.
After settling in at the hotel we took off to town to check out some of the sights at one of the many temples. The courtyard at this particular one happened to have a market selling some of the local goods, crafts and a variety of street food. Thank you Pepto-Bismol for being by our side!
This beautiful woman came pleading to Beth to purchase some of her hand made bracelets after the kids finished some of their 'ancient ice cream' (I too was not sure what that meant but it was pretty good).
Following day we jumped in the car and headed to Zipline Chiang Mai. We crossed beautiful country side...
Kids, and parents, had a blast!
The following day it was time to go hang out with some four legged friends. Great day feeding, training, riding and bathing the elephants. We had three to our family of five. The kids even got a kiss from one of the more friendly elephants.
Below are some pics taken during travels to Doi Suthep temple the following day. These children were hanging out at the bottom of the 309 steps that go up to the temple.
Loved the weathered door that was behind us in the above pic.
Could not resist making the kids crawl under. Zane thought he was breaking the law and was very hesitant.
Selling goods to tourists coming to visit the temple.
Local monk who was willing to show off his ink.
After grabbing some lunch we went to the Chiang Mai zoo where onlookers where eager to share some goods with the animals. Nothing like an orangatang with fresh breath.
Later that night we hit up the night market which was full of music, food, shopping and people watching.
Proud Tuk Tuk owner/driver.
Another temple we stopped into during our night market exploration.
Could not pass up the photo op...
Few fun shots from the night market.
Probably one of my favorite experiences of Chiang Mai was the 'sticky waterfalls'. Fresh warm spring water flows down limestone face with stair-like qualities. No moss or algae grows on the stone so you can literally walk up the waterfalls without fear of slipping. Amazingly fun!
Nice shot of Nixon, Beth!
Time to say bye to Chiang Mai. The owners of the hotel we stayed at had some lanterns left over from the new year so we sent some off into the night sky with wishes for a great new year.
Boarding the ferry to head to Koh Phangan offered great sunset with some interesting shots.
Finally. The beach!
...mandatory "sit down so I can take your picture" moment.
Thanks for the great shot Zane of mom and dad!
You too can consume gasoline for only 50 Baht with your Coca Cola.
On our way out we stayed in Bangkok. This was an interesting pic from our hotel window of a worker who decided to take a nap after a days work.
Wat Arun (yet another temple).
By the way, thank you random tourist for not stealing my camera after taking our pic!
Hard to believe they still let tourist climb up the very steep steps of this old structure. This was built around 8000 BC or something like that.
End of our trip and we realized that we had not yet taken a cruse in a tuk tuk. We felt that Bangkok was probably the safest given it has more traffic and road hazards. It was like a Disneyland ride without all the safety restrictions. Pure fun! Lexi obviously enjoyed the trip.
Our tuk tuk driver.
On our way to Bangkok airport we just happened to catch yet another beautiful Thailand sunset.
