Thailand! Day Two.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 7:15 a.m. after watching the gorgeous mountains of northern Thailand flow past the windows. We escaped the mob of taxi drivers - we took a tuk-tuk to a resort that our friend Susan had recommended. But our driver didn't REALLY know where this hotel was and so we got a grand tour of Chiang Mai before arriving in, basically, paradise.

The owners of Oriental Siam Resort, Nat and Derrick, live in Shekou...they are essentially our neighbors. But Nat is Thai and she and Derrick (British) built this deluxe resort near Nat's family land. We got a great discount and REVELED in the kind hospitality they provided, with the five star facility to boot! I was feeling ill, so I showered and went to bed - what luxury!Meanwhile, Dart and the boys embarked on a great adventure in the VERY COOL Jeep that Derrick and Nat provided - they headed out to distribute gifts to the local Buddhist monks that were having a ceremony that evening. I was SO sad to have missed it...but they had a GRAND time, were blessed by the monks AND got to witness beetle fighting. Much more "humane" than dog fights or cock-fights!

When they got back I was feeling much better, so we piled into a taxi and headed to the food market where we had an amazing dinner of much Thai seafood while it poured in an end-of-monsoon shower. Then we headed to the night market for a fun night of shopping. The prices in Thailand are SO cheap because of the political unrest, the flooding and the favorable exchange rate (comparatively), so we picked up quite a few things for very little money!

Then...back to our lovely abode to catch some shut-eye before heading to the Elephant Nature Park the next morning!