Umbrella Village

Back to blogging after our computer cord almost started a fire . . .

Here we are at an umbrella village outside Chiang Mai

Playing with the umbrella stands

The results

More of Thailand's umbrellas.

The boys decided to get their shorts painted

Daniel chose a dragon

Isaac's turn

He chose a snake.

Oliver got a "tattoo"

Plus his shorts painted

A bird was his choice.

This was our last day in Chiang Mai before heading to Laos.

Fun times.

Bathtime

Fun times washing the elephants

Oliver stayed on dry ground watching

Lunch!

We took a break for some lunch with an open fire.

The elephants cooled-off by throwing dirt all over

Cooking the rice and eggs in bamboo

The trek

Riding an elephant bare-back is more difficult than it looks

This pictures shows my concentration and Daniel's lack of it.

We treked through the mountains outside Chiang Mai -

It was winter so it's not as green as usual.

I love this picture of Oliver -

sitting on an elephant's head just playing with a stick.

I rode with Isaac on a smaller elephant -

She kept spraying us with her saliva to cool off and

Isaac was less than thrilled about it.

Elephant Farm

Outside Chiang Mai we were able to visit an elephant farm.

We had to wear "uniforms" and I actually wore that crazy hat during the entire trek.

Oliver was more interested in the chickens.

Daniel warming up to the little one.

Closer,

and closer.

They fed them so many bananas - the boys loved it.

Chiang Mai

For Chinese New Year we headed to Thailand and Loas.

Our first stop was in Northern Thailand - Chiang Mai.

We stayed at a lovely inexpensive boutique hotel that included bicycles.

That pink beaty was mine for the day.

Isaac seems a little embarrassed to be riding on such a "girl" bike.

Some of the temples we saw.


More sites

Applying some gold.

Oliver before his haircut

Isaac contemplating enlightenment.