The Terrific3 travel blog

Z and I didn’t sleep well last night (lots of awakenings). Who knows why, it just happens sometimes. He then got into my bed to snuggle at 540am and promptly fell asleep until 8am.

We had planned to go back to Royal Park Rajapruet to bike and discover more today but the weather is hot so I thought it best for us to arrive by 8am. Since it was clear this wasn’t happening, I let S watch screen time and went for my 3 mile run. Love being back and able to exercise in the morning. It really grounds me.

When I returned, I discovered that our Airbnb host had once again outdone himself—he had brought us some pastries baked by a friend of his—Parisian style. Once Z was up, we discussed the plan for the day and he was begging for a chill day at home since we had road tripped and toured all week. So we pushed the bike adventure to to tomorrow and headed to our Airbnb pool where the kids played and then practiced and timed themselves swimming 250meters to prepare for our September triathlon. Z, especially, is taking the training very seriously and asking for bike-runs. Those would be hard to do here, but I would love it if he started running at least a mile with me every morning. That hasn’t happened yet because the appeal of sponge bob apparently outweighs the appeal of a morning run with mommy.

After the pool, we headed home for lunch, which was pasta leftovers from yesterday (cooked at home) with peas and corns for the kids and a leftover tea leaf salad for me with a piece of toast and hummus. Since we are so close to Myanmar and Thailand’s history involves Chiang Mai being a part of Burma until the late 1700’s, there is some Burmese influence and food here. Tea leaf salad is one of my favorites.

Then we walked on the shoulder of our village main road (no sidewalks) approximately 20 minutes to a nail salon I found on Google. It took some back and forth to figure out that they offered pedicures without nail polish, and that polish was extra and the only polish they offered was gel. I am definitely not a regular pedicure gal, and I didn’t want gel. I asked her why she doesn’t have regular “normal” nail polish and she said Thai people only want gel. So that’s your cultural gem of the day. Something you can only learn from trying to access an everyday spa service. The kids watched kindles while I got my pedicure (still needed polish removed, cuticles and calluses worked on), and they knew we all had massages next.

We then got massages and a pizza dinner and headed home for the evening. A pretty chill day if you ask me! The boys are now playing some soccer outside before bedtime while I chill. I love all the space here.

I can’t believe this is the last Friday we’ll be in Chiang Mai. This time next Friday, we’ll be on a plane to Bali! It feels like we have a “bonus” week, as we’ve already done most of the things I wanted to do. Doi Inthanon remains on my list, but I just don’t want to drive 5 hours in a day to see it so we are skipping. Tomorrow we hope to go back to Royal Park Rajapruet, which has been my surprise find, as it’s not mentioned on most tourist sites but it’s so lovely. Sunday, we are planning a mall day for the kids to chill, and for us to maybe get some last stuff before Bali, Monday we have arranged a private cooking class (I really wanted to learn how to make peanut sauce and Massaman curry, and these weren’t on most menus for cooking classes), and Tuesday we are doing a Reiki infused yoga class with this woman who owns a yoga studio on a farm. I’m especially excited about this since I became a Reiki master and a Yin yoga teacher both recently during this sabbatical and have dreamed of creating such an experience for people.