Waterfall and more elephant riding - Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand Hilltribes

We visited a hilltribe village in northern thailand called the 'longnecks' due to the heavy brass rings women wear around their necks.

This girl is weaving.

The village

Chiang Dao, Thailand

Chiang Dao was charming and small in the mountains of northern Thailand.

Chiang Dao Cave - which is also a buddhist temple. You walk from chamber to chamber with a kerosene lantern and there are gold buddha's in the caverns. The tour guide also really liked to show me how every other rock or stalagmite looked like some sort of animal.

Temple outside Chiang Dao Cave.


A lovely Buddhist monastary and Mt. Chiang Dao in the background

If you go, stay here at Chiang Dao's Nest.

Cooking School - Chiang Mai, Thailand

We had a wonderful time at our Thai cooking lesson. It started with a trip to the local market to learn about Thai spices and produce. I learned to make green curry including the curry paste from scratch, pad thai, green papaya salad, tom yam soup, and fried bananas for dessert. I also observed that Thai's love spicy food on a completely different magnitude than I do - and I like things hot! In our salad dressing we could tailor the spice by altering the number of chile peppers. I put in 2 small hot green chilis for one serving, which was enough to make me sweat and my nose run (most in the class only put in one) - however, our tiny little 80 pound Thai instructor put in 12 for hers - I can't even imagine!!

Green curry with chicken

Thai to English Spelling

One thing that always brings a smile to my face is the vast number of mispellings and grammar errors written on signs, menus and brochures in Thailand. It does make sense, as there isn't really a correct english spelling for many Thai words, as they are written in Thai and not with the English alphabet - and therefore translated into the english alphabet by phonetics for us westerners. Therefore, I imagine much of the english they write is probably done with the same line of thinking.


Read the last paragraph

Doi Suthep Buddhist Temple - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Doi Suthep temple outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand was the best of the buddhist temples we visited. After a climb to the top, we were rewarded with city views, a traditional dance and music by children, the lovely temple itself, as well as an approaching thunderstorm that cooled everything down nicely and provided an ominous atmosphere.

The Big Buddha, Phuket, Thailand

Sanaz and I got to leave a little piece of ourselves behind at the Big Buddha in Phuket, Thailand. This marble tile covered statue is under construction and with a donation you can write a message on the back of a tile that will be used to cover him.

Songkran Festival - Thai New Year

The Songkran Festival in Patong Thailand on April 13 was quite a party. This represents Thai New Year where people traditionally sprinkled water on each other for good luck. However, this has now turned into one massive water fight/street party/parade with people soaking each other with water guns and dumping buckets of ice water on each other along with baby powder. It was such a hot day I didn't mind getting soaked!

Southern Thailand

In southern Thailand, my friend Sanaz and I visited Phuket and Koh Phi Phi Island - and now officially this area of the world wins the award of 'most beautiful beaches' through my eyes! They are perfect with white soft sandy beaches, crystal blue waters, and dramatic limestone cliffs.



This is Maya Bay where the movie 'The Beach' with Leonard DiCaprio was filmed.