17th April 2010 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

We arrived in Thailand without any mishaps. The bus collected us from the airport and we went to the Shangri- La Hotel. Once again it was very impressive. We had about 1 hour to put our stuff down, organize ourselves and then we were given our scavenger book. It had in 25 scavengers and 6 bonuses most of which had 5 parts to complete.

Once again we hit the ground running and our first stop was a restaurant called Aroon Rai. It reminded me of a Marshall's or Lemon Arbour at home. Good local food but not in a fussy restaurant. We were lucky because we managed to eat both of our mandatory eating challenges in this one restaurant. The challenge stated the following ;-

1)Try some khau neow mamuang .



Which is mango and sticky rice. They eat this as a desert. It has something like condense milk poured over the mango. This tasted very good.

2) Have some khao sawy, at Aroon's

This is fried noodles on top of boiled noodles in a broth. Its hard to describe but it was also delicious. Eating challenges are mandatory and are often the hardest thing to do in the challenges. We had to complete 2 out of 7 on this leg and finally they were things you could actually eat and enjoy. If you don't complete them none of the other points count. We were lucky on this leg.

We left the restaurant and took a "red taxi" kind of an open back van with a bench that encircle the back but you tell them where to take you. We went to a Wat or temple. The challenge stated the following:- Approach and talk to some bhikku's or mae chil's and learn something about what they study. Learn what metta means. Let them explain what are the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism are?

Ok. A bhikku's is a Monk a Mae Chil is a Buddist "nun". They are hundreds of thousands of monks in Thailand but only 150 mae chils. Metta means kindness and the four Noble Truths are 1) suffering, 2) cause of suffering 3) Cessation of suffering and 4) the way to end suffering. The Mae chil wear white clothes and the monks wear bright orange. Monks can never touch a woman and it is a great insult if a woman attempts to shake their hand. This is to prevent temptation. The girls children are taught to hold out their hands with flat palms to receive gifts from the monks to insure that there is no physical contact.

When we left this Wat we walked through a lovely craft market and rented a turbo charged TukTuk. You have to have seen this thing. It had disco lights, Karaoke microphone and music, it had a TV and it had disco music. We drove like celebrities with a light on inside for all to see. On top of this his tuktuk was supped up and was so fast that it passed out all the cars. The owner is so proud of his tuktuk

He took us to the Night Safari. This is a oo that is open only at night. During the day the temperatures are much too hot so the animals do not come out for people to see. We got on a tram and it drove you through the park. The animals are trained to come when they see the spoyt lights, the guide throws treat to them. It was a unique experience. We saw, giraffes, zebras, rhino, hippos, lots of different deer like things. It was great. After the tour was over we went and held baby lions and had our photo taken. There was also a demonstration of Thai dancing. It was a wonderful experience. Our Turbo TukTuk then took us to the "Simon Cabaret" except the show has changed its name to "The Playhouse" We had a buffet dinner, compliments of the owner David and then watched the show. It was a very good show of dancing and singing to Broadway Hits. The "different" thing about it is that all the performers are men. They look and dress like women but they are men. They are all so beautiful it seems impossible that they weren't female. Lily knew all the songs, she sang, clapped and danced her way through the show. Afterwards she went and asked all the dancers for their pictures.

We went by a new tuktuk to the Night market. We were supposed to do the following:- Visit the Night Bazaar locate the eatery that specializes in insect entrees and enjoy (try) two house specials. These eaters sell bugs and insects. We went too late and couldn't find any bugs to eat so will have to come back tomorrow. Yummy!! Seeing as Lily does NO eating challenges this one is up to me Yuck !!Yuck !! Double Yuck!!!

It was bed time so we went to sleep we have to get up 5.15 am tomorrow so we are ready to leave the hotel by 6.00pm. The rules on this leg is we cannot go outside the city between 10.00pm and 6.00am.

Good- night.