The Terrific3 travel blog

Today was Day 1 of 3 of a personalized tour wit our now favorite Thai tour company—Untouched Thailand. Ever since I’ve seen photos of the White Tenple in Chiang Raí when we landed in Thaiiland, I’ve wanted to go as has S. Usually people do a 2 day 1 night trip to Chiang Raí, a 3 hour trip each way, also combining the Golden Triangle and Mekong River, adding a few more hours of driving. But since we had more time, I asked them to customize a tour to our family. Our guide was the lovely, calm and peaceful Tom again, ex-monk for 25 years.

We had a pretty amazing day. Pre-kids, I never took formal tours, partly because I felt they were expensive, and partly because I prided myself on reading and exploring on my own. But, I have to tell you, I’m a convert. Having a local person like Tom, who knows all the history and facts about Thailand, all the temples, and everything in between is priceless. Add in that he’s driving us, giving us snacks and cold water, and another adult to entertain and supervise the kids, and it’s like a mini mental vacation for me (thanks Dawn, who told me it would be so).

First we went to the umbrella making factory, then silk making, then silver making. All were great—some photos below.

Next we went to the snake farm, which the boys really enjoyed. It was a the Chiang Mai King cobra show. The boys talked to this lovely snake keeper who showed us the poisonous cobras and then let us touch the Scorpions and pythons. The boys were definitely braver than I, but I took a turn for the sake of documentation :-). This was followed by a 15 minute show in which the snake keepers teased the cobras.

Next stop after a pizza lunch (trying to appease my kids, but I at least got a Tom Yum and mushroom spicy pizza, which was unique and good) was the “sticky waterfalls” in Sri Lanna National park. This is a quite big waterfall with limestone rocks, which make it easy to grip and climb. However, there are some mossy parts that are pretty slippery. The only one of its kind in Thailand, and it’s definitely my first time climbing a waterfall. My kids were very excited about this one—my 2 boys who are energetic and have very little caution. If you know me, you know I’m adventurous but not about climbing and heights; also as a single mom, I feel extra cautious, wanting to not put myself out of commission with an injury.

We walked down the side stairs with Tom and then he calmly climbed with my kids while I slowly followed behind frustrated kids who didn’t want to wait for me. He kept telling them to go easy and be calm…but…well if you know my boys…. It was pretty fun and hard work and also a weird brain moment—wait, I’m climbing a waterfall? My kids went up and wanted to go down again. No way i was doing that, so Tom went down with them while I descended stairs and I went back up again with them. Trust me, I was nervous, but trying to let them go.

Then they started to go back down again, S was anxious to get started and went fast on his own and slid down the moss about 10-15 feet and had some skid injuries, thankfully not much more. He was pretty upset, and at that point done, and we showered him, put bandaids on, changed clothes. It was a good learning experience for him (I hope)), and he’s lucky he didn’t get hurt more.

Next stop was the biggest temple in Northern Thailand, Wat Ban Den. A magnificent, gleaming, and huge beautiful temple nestled in the mountains of the countryside, it did not disappoint.

I’m always struck by the sheer beauty and attention to each little wood carving, painting, detail in each part of the temples. As well as the instant sense of peace that overcomes you when you walk onto the grounds. 95% of Thais are Buddhist, and each village has its own temple, which is the center of the community. It’s an incredibly important place in Thai culture, and you can tell by how much work is put into each one.

As we left the temple, we pulled over to some rice paddies, learned that Thailand is the world’s biggest exporter of rice.

Around 5pm, we arrived at our countryside home stay, a little rustic hut built on the property of a lovely man who was born in chiang mai city and moved to the countryside 15 years ago.

. I enjoyed chatting with him about why he moved his family here, his farm, organic farming their own food. They cooked us some delicious fresh pad Thai and Tom kha souo. Even S ate it! And then delicious fresh mangoes off their trees.

Here is a photo of my kids writing in their travel journal, something I “force” them to do daily (according to S). However, he started with only writing one line a day and today he wrote 2 whole pages. I know he secretly enjoys the torture ;-). Traveling with kids is definitely hard work, but today was one of those days that made one realize why it’s totally worth it.