Thailand - Chiang Mai

We started this trip with a general sense of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do.  When we left Canada we had plane tickets for the first few countries, taking us as far as New Zealand, a plane ticket home from Paris (which ironically was changed),  and few accommodation plans.  Our plan was to make it up as we went.  Partly this was because it was just too much to figure out while busy with our regular lives back home, partly because it was too many decisions to make in what felt like a game of dominoes, i.e. one decision hinged on another, and also because we wanted some flexibility to make it up as we went.  There are pros and cons to this approach.  The cons are: 

1) There had to be some days spent on the road dedicated to logistics planning. (Not a big con because when you are on the road for so long every day cannot be an amazing adventure day, but perhaps a con because usually these planning days made us cranky.)

2) At times we had to sit with some anxiety about what the non-existent plan was and a creeping urgency to figure it out.

3) It made it super duper challenging to plan to meet up with anyone. If friends or family would reach out and say "hey, what about meeting up in xyz" we inevitably had to offer an apologetic and vague answer such as "we aren't sure where we will be or when" because, truth be told, we often didn't know what we were doing a few weeks into the future, much less a few months.

The benefits were:

1) We had the flexibility to look for inexpensive flights and routing.  

2) We were able to extend and contract parts of our trip as we made decisions on the fly.  

3) As an unexpected surprise, we were able to cross paths on three different continents with some of our favorite friends from Halifax who are also on a similar family adventure.  

That last benefit is how we ended up in Thailand, not a country originally on our list to visit this trip.  While in New Zealand we stayed with Sally and Jason and their crew for a few days at a home they were renting on the South Island.  There we shared delicious wine and compared our respective loose travel plans.  They were planning to go on an interesting eco-elephant trek in Northern Thailand.  It sounded like an awesome opportunity and a chance to hang out with friends again AND the timing was going to work out. Amazing!  And that is how we found ourselves flying from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Thailand is a favorite country of ours.  We spent three weeks in the southern part of the country 2 years ago.  We love the food, the people are warm and friendly, and traveling as a family seemed to dull down the creepy factor of incessant hustle and undertone of sex tourism that Leo and I felt while traveling there in our 20s.  The other reason we love Thailand is because that is where we first learned that Toyota named a car after our youngest.  Indeed, all is possible!

We chose Vios as a name that derives from the ancient greek Bios, which is life. 
In Latin Vios apparently it means "to move forward" or so says Toyota.

Toyota had to up the ante and put all three of our kids' names on the car. 

On our prior trip as a family and in the long ago past we did not go to northern Thailand, so this was new territory to explore.  Before our trek we spent a few days in Chiang Mai wandering the town, eating our fill of inexpensive Thai street food and hanging out with our friends in a funky hostel that we had the run of.

The girls in front of our hostel.

I always enjoy walking the streets and seeing the ornate Thai Buddhist temples, called "Wats", often nestled in amidst modern buildings and every day life. On our first afternoon walking around I was immediately glad we had added a Thai stop!

Wandering through a courtyard, there were signs tacked to trees, with slogans to contemplate.  A highlight of our time in South East Asia was seeing Buddhism interpreted and expressed uniquely in so each different cultures.

We explored the main hall of Wat Chedi Luang temple complex before going to find some monks to chat with.

Some of Thailand's temples and monastic universities host "Monk Chat" sessions which is a really cool opportunity to sit with some monks and chat.  It is an opportunity to ask questions about Buddhism, Thai culture, the life of a monk, and the (usually) young monks have an opportunity to practice their English. From the temple we made our way to the Mahamakut Buddhist University grounds where they host a daily monk chat.  The kids sat down at a table with 4 young monks and chatted.  They really did!  It was so cool.  The kids all asked questions such as "what do the colours of your robes mean?" (no particular importance);  "what is the hardest part about being a monk?" (one said, missing supper); "what time do you wake up in the morning?" (five or six a.m.); "how old do you have to be to be a monk?" (8 years old); "when do you get to see your families?" (once a year),; "what do the colours of the Buddhist flag mean?" (they have no meaning, which is different than what we were told in Cambodia); "what is reincarnation?" (that was a biggie).  It was an engaging and illuminating hour. A definite highlight.

Another highlight of Chiang Mai was the ubiquitous red trucks.  They are used as a taxi that is usually communal, with people hoping on or off at their stops, but the great news for us was an empty one fit all 10 of us!  One of the tiresome things about traveling as a family of five is that most modes of transport in cities like taxis and tuk tuks do not fit all five of us, so finding a cheap and readily accessible mode of transport, not to mention FUN, was great and for 10 of us it was incredible.  This alone may be a reason to go to Thailand if you are traveling as a larger group.

When not chatting with monks, wandering markets, begging to play Minecraft together (little boys) or high-fiving when we all piled into  our out of the back of red trucks, we were wandering up to what became "our" neighborhood food hall.  We did like the locals and ate evening meals in this large warehouse that was ringed by different food stalls.  Favorites were the ever popular Pad Thai, savory panckages and some delicious curries.  We followed the line of people to an ice cream stand and the kids ended up with a unique pink concoction that I think may have been more novelty than delicious.

Watching the pad thai being made.

Volcano of pink ice-cream, With shot glasses of cornflakes and sweet and condensed milk.

We braved some markets to browse for souvenirs and handicrafts.

Our few days in Chiang Mai were a surprise pleasure.  We enjoyed the food, the ease of getting around, the markets and the monk chat.  We also enjoyed having a few days to chill out with friends, catching up and hanging out.  But Chiang Mai was just the pleasant stepping stone to our real adventure together: heading to the jungle for an elephant trek.  That deserves its own post!