Chiang Mai New Years 2009
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Phew!!! It's always nice to get away from home for awhile . . . it's nice to get back home too!! I'm finally getting myself re-organized here. . . lolJust over a month ago Stu_thailand asked me what my plans were for New Years. I hadn't really thought about it . . . but I blurted out "Well I've never been to Chiang Mai." He said he had never been either so we decided we would start making arrangement then to prepare for the trip. At first a large group had wanted to go with us and we were dicussing renting vans to make the trip. Over time our large group dwindled down to four of us (Stu, falangfalang-Bill, Phong and myself. So the vans became a car which worked out quite nicely for us. We made it leisurely to Chiang Mai in 8hrs . . . it took another hour to find a way to get the car to the guesthouse . . . lol The main city is surrounded by what I would consider a moat, with many bridges and many one way streets. After we got that worked out we got familiar with the area and ended the first day hitting a few of the local pubs. Tuesday, we met up with CrazyHorse(Netty) and her son Noah.Our first trip was to a beautiful park with Hot Springs, with a stop at a handmade umbrella factory along the way. That evening Bruce551 joined up with us and we went to an excellent restaurant called "The Riverside". The food and the view was exceptional and I highly recommend it to anyone who ventures up north. New Years Eve day turned out to be the best day of the whole trip. We went to "The Elephant Camp", watched them put on a highly exception show which included dancing, futbol and painting . . . simply amazing!! Then we went on a jungle safari up to the very top of a mountain while riding on elephants . . . simply incredible!! The views were breathtaking. We stopped at a waterfall on the way back before preparing for the holiday festivities. Streets were blocked by police and there were thousands of people there!! Fireworks and flying lanterns were everywhere . . . the sky was full. I didn't know which way to look. Anyway, a local restaurant and a few more pubs and we brought in the new year. All in all it was a great experience. Still, we did not see everything we had wanted to and will most certainly make another trip sometime this year. Here are some photos from our exploits . . .
My deepest sympathy goes to the friends and family of Ada. Although I never had the opportunity to meet her in person, we did exchange testimonials and I feel a great loss to the entire TF community. Follow this link if you would like copies . . .http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j76/Papabear625/ChiangMaiNewYear2009/?start=all May 2009 be your healthiest, wealthiest, happiest year yet!! Keep on smilin' 
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