Chiang Mai zoo

Thailand, Day 2
Today we went to the Chiang Mai zoo.  I wasn't sure what to expect because although the zoo had a high overall rating and was named a top thing to do in Chiang Mai, it had a lot of 1 star ratings as well.  We loved it!  We took a tuk tuk to get there.  It was our first experience riding in one.  The traffic here is crazy.  Most people ride motorcycles and they zoom around all the cars.  The driving lanes and traffic lights seem to be more of a suggestion than a rule.  The motorcycles and tuk tuks all drive on the shoulder when traffic is stopped to get to the front of the line.  Riding on the highway in an open air tuk tuk with no seat belts was definitely much different than riding in their 5 point harness car seats back home. 

One of the things people complained about is the fact the zoo is very spread out and has a lot of hills.  This wasn't a big deal for us because they have a monorail and a tram that you can pay to ride around the park.  You can get on and off as much as you want to see the different exhibits.  Another thing I thought was interesting is you could drive inside the zoo.  There were parking areas near all the major exhibits. 

The monorail moved very slowly on an elevated rail to give you a great view of the exhibits.

On the monorail

Tommy was excited to sit in the very front of the tram

Going to the zoo really appealed to me because they have panda bears, koala bears, and kangaroos, none of which we have back home in St. Louis.  The panda bears were especially cute.

checking out the panda bears

What a life, sitting back munching on a big pile of bamboo

koala bears

As it turned out, our favorite thing about the zoo is you are able to feed a lot of the animals.  We fed the hippos, sheep, elephants, and jaguar.  You were able to get really close to the animals instead of only being able to view them from far away.

dropping potatoes in the hippos' mouths

Tom had to pick up Tommy so the sheep wouldn't jump on him

Charlotte really wanted to pet the baby sheep, but it kept running away

The kids really wanted to feed the elephants even though we had just fed them a lot the day before

It was cute to see the baby elephant playing with her mom

Feeding the jaguar a piece of meat

We were hungry for lunch and the first two places marked on the map with a fork and spoon were really just small stores that sold bags of chips/cookies and ice cream cones.  The only thing that slightly resembled a meal was a cup of noodles.  We were hungry and not sure if there were going to be better options later, so we decided to have that for lunch.

Lunch.  Tom picked out a green drink with oranges on the label.  It was called "Chlorophyll".  It tasted more like unsweetened tea, no orange flavor at all.

We rode the tram around and saw the other exhibits, got an ice cream cone and were ready to go home. 

Pretty scenery in the bird park

This exhibit had many different animals in one pen: zebras, ostriches, giraffes

The zoo had a playground as well

You could also pay to ride an elephant, we skipped this

We got a different kind of taxi home.  There are also covered pick up trucks with 2 benches in the back to sit on.  We told the driver where we needed to go and negotiated a price.  These can hold a lot more people (probably around 8) so the driver tries to get several riders in the same general vicinity and drops them off as he goes.  We had a couple and a single guy riding with us as well. 

Tiger Kingdom and Elephants!

Thailand, Day 1
One of the things we wanted to do the most in Thailand was ride elephants.  I found a highly rated tour group that had a half day elephant interaction package.  It included transportation to and from our hotel (about 1 hour each way).  The package also included dropping us off at Tiger Kingdom and waiting for us on the way if we wanted.  (I'm sure the guide/tour company gets a commission for the people they bring).  Tiger Kingdom has cages with all different sized tigers and you can get in the cages and interact with the tigers.  Originally, the idea of the Tiger Kingdom intrigued us, but we decided against it because what responsible parent lets their children play with tigers?  Then I was reading more about it online and one of the reviews said there was a nice buffet restaurant there where you could view the tigers without buying a ticket to the park.  We decided we would try that instead.  We could gauge the place during lunch, and if nothing else we would get to look at the tigers while we ate a nice meal.  Tommy at first was very adamant he did NOT want to get close to any tigers.  Then, as we ate lunch and he saw the adults interacting with the full-sized tigers (and not getting attacked), he got excited and really wanted to do it.  Kids under 15 can only go in the cages with the very smallest tigers, about 2 months old so we decided we would try it.  The kids loved it.  Our guide had told us on the way there, the afternoon is the best time to visit (especially with kids) because the tigers are usually fed in the morning and then they sleep in the afternoon.

They let us in the cage in small groups (2-5) and each group had a trainer that stayed with them the whole time.  He had a stick he could use to keep the tiger away if it got too feisty.  We spent a couple minutes with each of the tigers.  One of the tigers had just woken up from his nap and clearly wanted to play.  He kept jumping on the trainer and biting his jeans.  The trainer quickly moved us to a different tiger behind a different gate.  (That tiger actually ended up biting one of the women in the other groups.  It didn't break the skin or anything, she just had a small red mark on her arm.  Kind of like a baby with new teeth that wants to bite everything.)  The kids were great with the tigers and thought it was a lot of fun.  We even got to lie down on one of the tigers and use it for a pillow.

holding hands with the tiger

After the tigers, we headed to the elephant farm.  We changed into outfits they provided so we were covered and didn't get our own clothes dirty.  (They told me on the phone they bought new outfits for the kids the day before.  I guess they don't get many kids that age).  We went over and met the elephants and made friends with them by feeding them lots of bananas.  The farm only uses female elephants for riding because female Asian elephants don't have tusks.  Male and female African elephants both have tusks.  We put the bananas right in their mouths which meant sticking most of your hand in their mouth as well.  Charlotte wasn't so sure about it at first, but she eventually warmed up to it.

Tommy feeding our elephant

Charlotte feeding the elephant with some help from our mahout

This angle looks like we are feeding Charlotte to the elephant 

After we finished feeding the elephants, we sat on the steps and the owner went through some basic Thai elephant commands.  Tommy kept whispering questions to me, he was concerned we were done with the elephants.  Then it was time to ride the elephants.  Tommy and I got on the first (and smaller) elephant.  Normally, the elephant kneels down and you put your leg on her knee, then kick your leg over like you would mount a horse.  The mahouts (elephant trainers) quickly figured out the kids were way too small to do this, so they had the elephants lie down and we lifted them up.

Tommy and me

Charlotte and Tom

   This program is designed for two riders on each elephant.  There were 2 ropes on each elephant, but because I was sitting so far forward to keep a grip on Tommy, I wasn't able to sit in the correct position to have a firm grasp on either rope.  I was also sitting right on the shoulders so I was moving back and forth a lot with each step.  I felt very unstable as we started to walk.  There are many different elephant farms that use this area, and about that time, we saw a group go by that had seats on top of the elephant on which to sit.  I was really second guessing my decision to book a bareback tour instead.  I realized that maybe putting my small children 10 feet off the ground on top of an elephant wasn't the most responsible parenting decision.  After the tigers this morning, I was sure someone was going to revoke our parenting license.

After walking about 100 feet, we were ready to cross the river.  The mahout noticed I was uncomfortable and had me move back on the elephant so I could really grip the second rope.  I was only able to keep one hand on Tommy, but I figured it was better to have one hand on him and be secure myself, than have a firm grip on him while I fell off.  After that I felt much better.  When we crossed the river, our mahout sat on the elephant's head so he didn't have to get wet.  I think he also wanted to have better control of the elephant.  I had promptly forgotten the one Thai command I needed.  My elephant kept veering to the left to eat everything in sight.  I could only remember how to tell it to go left and straight, but not to the right.  Tom and Charlotte's mahout walked in the river behind the elephants and the elephant snorted a trunk full of water at him.

We walked along the river and up and down a small hill for about 10 minutes, then we went back into the water.  This time, we got off and got to bathe the elephants.  It was a lot of fun.  The elephants really seemed to enjoy it.  The mahout had Tommy stand on top of our elephant for a picture.  He didn't speak much English, but he kept saying "for photo".

Then, it was time to change our clothes and go back to our hotel.  We had such an amazing day.

Midterm break-Thailand!

The kids had a week off for midterm break.  I definitely prefer their school schedule here over the typical schedule in the US.  The kids have a week off in the Fall, 2 weeks for Christmas, a week for Chinese New Year, 2 weeks for Spring Break, and then about 2 months off in the summer.  I definitely prefer having that extra summer month spread out throughout the school year.  The weather is too hot in the summer to do a lot of the outside things here as well as too hot to visit a lot of places in Asia.  
  Tom had a work trip to South Korea the first half of their break, so the kids and I hung out at home a couple days, went to Wetland Park, and back to Disneyland.  At Disneyland, we rode some new rides we didn't get to last time (as well as many that we did), saw the Lion King show, and met Belle.  It was a fun day.

The Lion King Show was great!

Tom got home on Wednesday evening and we all left again on Thursday morning to go to Thailand. We decided to go to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.  It is smaller than Bangkok, so we thought it might be easier to get around and be less chaotic with the kids, but it still had everything we wanted to do.  We were all very excited for our trip!

ready to get on the plane

Thailand is an extremely cheap country to visit.  We met many people who were visiting for weeks at a time.  Tom talked to 2 girls who had a room at a hostel for $9 USD/ night.  We stayed in a really nice place with 2 bedrooms (so Tom and I didn't have to go to bed at 7:00 with the kids) for around $100/night.  Our "hotel room" was really a 850 sq ft apartment with 2 nice sized bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large living room and a eat-in kitchen area.  It also included a nice buffer breakfast with a great selection of Thai and American food.  The room was bigger than some of the apartments we originally looked at in Hong Kong.  Food was also very cheap.  The 4 of us could eat dinner at a sit down restaurant and all be stuffed for about $20 total.

Charlotte hanging out in the living room

The kids' bedroom

Even though we only had 3 full days in Chiang Mai, we had a lot of fun things planned and were all very excited.

Light Rail/Wetland Park

Tommy loves transportation.  We were counting up all the different modes of transportation we have taken since we got to Hong Kong.  I think we came up with 11 (a double decker bus, shuttle bus, public light bus, and school bus all count as separate items).  One thing we hadn't tried yet was the light rail.  Most of Hong Kong is connected by the MTR, and then you can take a bus to get where the train doesn't go.  There are several areas in the New Territories that have a light rail train instead.  Tommy had also been asking to take a double-decker bus again (we usually just take the train everywhere).  There is a double decker bus that picks up outside our neighborhood that goes to the area with the light rail.  I talked to a friend about where we could go and she suggested Wetland Park.  (I know most people find a place they want to go and then figure out how to get there, instead of picking how you want to get there and then finding somewhere to go.)  The bus stop is about a 15 minute walk from our house.  We rode the bus, MTR train, and then the light rail.  The light rail is very similar to our Metrolink back home.  It is slower than the MTR and has more stops.  The route we took made a loop.  There are 2 trains on the loop, running in opposite directions.  The train had more seats than the MTR, so we got to sit down.

Holding hands on the way to the bus stop

Light rail train

Riding the light rail

About 2 hours later, we were finally at Wetland Park.  Outside, they had a maze in the bushes the  kids wanted to do several times.  Then we ate lunch and went out to the wetlands to explore.

Wetland Park had different areas featuring different animals.  There is a tank that is supposed to hold a crocodile, but it was "under repair" so we didn't get to see it.  They have several lakes to see fish and crabs, great places for bird watching, a butterfly garden (with not many butterflies, apparently this is not the best time of year for butterflies), a discovery center with a display about mudskippers and a stream walk so you could see real mudskippers.

bird watching

mudskipper display

mudskippers

looking for fish

There was a play area inside we did before we left.  You had to turn your admission ticket in for a time to play.  It was nice because that really helped control the crowds.  They also had a minimum and maximum height to play (1 m to 1.5 m).  Usually places have either a minimum or a maximum height, but this made it so the kids were all around the same age and they played together really well.  The kids had a great time.  The play area was built to look like a giant treehouse.