Day 5 - Holiday to Pai, Thailand (North Thailand)

To Read Day 1 , Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6

25 December, 2007

Today is Christmas day. We have taken a 5 days 4 nights tour trip with The Peak Adventure which will begin today. At about 8am, Keng the guide cum driver arrived at Baan Nam Ping Riverside Village.

We had a good breakfast and it was at this breakfast, Khun Foo spoke to me about my sons. I wrote about it much earlier.

The Monkey Centre Show

Our first destination for the morning was to The Monkey Centre show. The centre is not very large and I have a feeling that it caters specifically for tourist. The shows seems to be ongoing and you can join in the show at anytime.

The monkeys were very well trained and we enjoyed the show. Unfortunately they were in steel chains, which gave me a chill. Meaning, they can be violent at times. Ethaniel was very withdrawn and didn't even dare to shake hands with any of the monkeys, whilst Joel was more brave.

Check out my online album for The Monkey Show.

The Orchid Farm

Next stop was at the orchid farm. The flowers were very beautiful but I thought that it looked pretty pathetic. They must be heaps of orchid farms and this is probably just one of it. Not so impressed with this particular orchid farm. I think Chiang Mai can do better, unfortunately the guide did not take us to a nicer farm.


Check out my online album for the Orchid Farm.

White Water Rafting

We drove to a very bumpy off road for almost 1 hr towards the Mae Tang village. That's where we will be doing our white water rafting.

Keng was kind enough to oblige and let Ivan take over the wheel. It has been a long time since Ivan droved on off road.

Upon arrival at the location, Keng cooked a delicious lunch for us. With some help from his colleagues, he had lunch ready within 15 mins. The menu was Tom Yum, fried eggs, vegetables, mushrooms and steamed rice for us. I was starving! The food tasted absolutely delicious! Keng was a good cook, as we found out.

Ethaniel was suppose to join us at the white water rafting but he "chickened out" and for good reasons. Its not going to be an easy ride. At least he had the sense to back out. So, he stayed with Keng, who was very happy to babysit him. Keng has a real soft spot for children and later for Ethaniel. They became the best of buddies after that "bonding session". It was just absolutely cute the way Keng was taken with Ethaniel and vice versa.

Ethaniel and Keng drove back via the same route we took. They stopped at certain section of the river to take some photos of us. They joined the rescue team at certain spots. This is for the purposes of helping us, in case our raft topple. I thought that was a very good idea. At least, I felt safer.

The white water rafting session was very fun, not as scary as expected, but really fun. Its much more scary during the rainy season in August. Right now, the water level is less and much slower. Therefore it took us 2 hours to finish the whole ride instead of 1.5 hours during rainy session.

I am proud to say that we did not topple! "High five!!! High Five!!Yeah, man!!!", quoting our raft Captain.

Check my online album on the White Water Rafting.

Pai

We headed towards Pai immediately after the white water rafting. Upon reaching, it was already 6.30pm. We checked into Pai Hillside Resort. We had two separate rooms, one for the children and one for us. The children enjoyed the privacy.

After dinner, we shopped at the Pai town. It was very crowded with Thai tourist. We saw interesting things. There was a Thai band playing jazz music in a small shop lot, mobile coffee in an old orange van and the concept of purchasing postcards together with stamps. The shop was very crowded with young people. In fact, its the most crowded shop in the whole street.

The weather was colder than Chiang Mai. We had to wear our jackets to keep warm. It wasn't freezing but it was cold.

Check out my online album for Pai.