New Year Holiday Trip (6th day) - Pai

Dec 23, 2009

I think it's not too much to say that it is one of the most wonderful mornings in my life! It was the 2nd time that I saw "Ta-le-mork (fog ocean)". I saw the first one when I was 6-month pregnant!! P'Num and his friend took me up on one of the tallest hills in Chiangmai. His friend let him drive to make sure that I and I-Din (in my tummy) will be safe!!

The weather that morning was quite cold, but I was safe in the sweater I bought from Denver, Colorado 15 yrs ago. I was at the view point deck of the resort for about 30 mins, then Nunda joined me. We spent 2-3 hrs just looking at changes of the morning light and the fog. Porridge and coffee seem to be tastier than ever!! P'Num woke up at 9am, so he missed the beautiful fog, but he seemed to enjoy the late morning atmosphere anyway.

New Year Holiday Trip (5th-6th days) - Pai

Dec 22, 2009 (pm.)

The view was stunning, so we couldn't miss a stop at "Kiew Lom", another wonderful view point between Pang Ma Pha and Pai. We were impressed by the sunset over layers of moutains. We had fun taking photos with hilltribe kids. I encouraged Nunda to get into the shrub, so we could get more beautiful pictures...too bad! she got a lot of insect bites which we noticed several red dots on her legs a day later...sorry na..P'Noi.

P'Num was hungry...he gave a thumb up to the grilled potato and grilled eggs from the hilltribe food stall.

Finally, we arrived Pai after the sunset. After checking-in at the resort called "Pai Kieng Fah", we went to the famous night market. If this was ten year ago (no little one..ieieie), I'm sure we would spend more time listening to live band at that white outdoor bar. There were so many pretty/modern/creative decorated stores/stalls...most are souvenirs, T-shirts, and clothing. The things looks nice, but they are less interesting 'cause they're from either Chiangmai or Bangkok...not done by the local people. However, we have to say thank you to them to make this town colorful. P'Num and I-Din slept deeply. I was very tired, but couldn't sleep 'cause I don't wanna miss the early morning "fog ocean"!!

New Year Holiday Trip (5th day) - Pang Ma Pha

Dec 22, 2009

We arrived at this "The Rock Resort" at Pang Ma Pha District last night. We all were very starving and thanks to the cook!..the food was fantastic...spicy and tasty!! The weather was very cold at night, so they had to put up a bonfire on the fire ground in front of the restaurant area. Our room is very pretty...It faces the creek that has many natural little fishes (I-Din spent most of her morning time feeding them!). I-Din Family slept on the loft of the room while Nunda and her mom were downstair. Songs from birds woke us up to enjoy the morning fog and get porridge for breakfast. The room has big patio where we enjoyed reading, drinking coffee, chating, and, of course, taking photos. The restaurant has a very creative and pretty design (2nd photo) which I like a lot. We were very lazy that morning. No one wanted to leave, so we agreed to check out late and visited only one cave before driving to Pai, our key destination for this trip.

I-Din had a good time at the creek...

This is the cave named "Tham (means "Cave") Nam (means "Water) Lord (means "To go thru under")...so it means "the cave that has water goes thru it". I like this cave 'cause we had to raft instead of walking. There's also a lot of calcite in the cave, but not as beautiful as what we saw at another cave on the 2nd day (Tham Kaew Morakot). We fed a lot of fishes along the way, but the bad part is the smell of the bats' shit at the end of the cave..Yike!!

New Year Holiday Trip (3rd - 4th day) - Pang Ma Pha

Nunda and I-Din were waiting for checking out from the hotel. I tried ice cocoa at the hotel coffee shop...tasty!

After that, we went to visit "the Long Neck Hill Tribe". This lady is very popular on various tourist magazines. We bought some magnets and handmade scarf in exchange of free photo with her.

The last visiting place today is the famous temple of Mae Hong Sorn called "Pra That Doi Kong Moo". The design of the temple was driven by Burmese Art. We paid merit and prayed for our wonderful trip. I-Din enjoyed hitting the bells and the last photo is the bird eye view of Mae Hong Sorn city from the temple that evening.

New Year Holiday Trip (3rd day) - Pang Oong

We slept in!!, so we missed the best timing to reach Pang Oong. It is a reservior on the mountain in Mae Hong Sorn that was initiated by our King. We drove about one hour for 25 miles distance from the hotel and had to take local car service (run by the local people) to go up to the Reservior for another 30 mins. The best time to be there is before the first light of the morning, so we missed seeing massive fog floating over the water. However, I also held my breath to see the scenery at 6:45am. The weather was very cold.

I-Din needed both gloves and hats. She enjoyed making smoke from her mouth...


More photos....Hubby and wife Vs Mom and daughter!!

We headed to Rak Thai Village (Love Thai Village) for lunch. They are Thai-Chinese people who live very close to the border. The famous dish is steamed pork troter with steamed bun. We (especially P'Num) spent another half an hour to taste homemade wine named "Lee Wine Rak Thai". The sales lady encouraged him to try 5-6 different ones, so I told him to stop tasting and bought it instead otherwise P'Num may not be able to drive!!

Nunda likes this tea shop made of clay... Next, I-Din was holding a bunch of flower for praying at the buddha image at the Pang Oong King's Palace and the beautiful wild orchids in the palace area. After that, we went back to the hotel to check out and move to next nearby destination... Pang Ma Pha.

New Year Holiday Trip (2nd Day) - On the way to MHS

We accidently stopped the car and saw the sign "Thai Southern Food" at the street side shed. We were laughing to drive all the way up to the north and still want to eat the southern food, but that's ok, we needed spices to start up our day and we all satisfied with various curries that morning.

Our journey begins... We took the route#105 along the border and this car was with us half way to Mae Hong Sorn (MHS). It was like a private road...we rarely saw other cars passing by...

This was the road condition during the Mae Sot - MHS route before New Year 2010.

We had lunch at the Inthira Restaurant, Mae Sariang District. We had luck on the food again!...I-Din enjoyed fresh veggies stir-fried while Num was happy with tom-yum fish from Salawin River...Yummy!! This route has beautiful country scenery, but with 1,865 curves!! Num was an excellent driver..he could keep food in our stomach on this curvy road.

We stopped at the most famous cave in Mae La Noi District that late afternoon. The cave is fulled with sparkling "Calcite". We walked down the stairs 250 meters and could feel less air down there. I-Din was fascinating by "lots of diamonds!!" from those sparkling stones. We were not allowed to touch the stones 'cause it will damage the calcite and slow down its growth rate. I believe the guide said it grows 1 cm (or 1 inch) every 30 years!! The video/camera is not allowed in the cave, so it's only in our memory.

We had to take this car up the hill to the cave...personal car is not allowed for safety reason (they provided "mobile stair" too..see this photo), but Num said "I think our car is safer than this one!" Anyway, we arrived MHS safely that evening.

We checked-in the little hotel, Rimtarn Residence, in MHS town, then went for a walk and had dinner at the MHS Night Market. This market is preserved for local MHS vendors only, so you deal directly with the local sellers...many of them are hill tribe people. It was pretty quiet on Sunday night (Dec 20) and we got good bargain of various hill tribes products from this store. The weather was quite cold at night...but so hot during the day!!

This shirt says... throw up (from curvy road) + sleep (from sleeping pill) = Mae Hong Sorn (MHS)

New Year Holiday Trip (1st Day) - Mae Sot District

Five people (myself, I-Din, Num, Nunda and her mom) got in our blue Toyota Tacoma Truck (it's called "Toyota Vigo" in Thailand) and left for 9 days trip to the north of Thailand on Dec 19, 2009.

We took the main highway up until Tak Province, then turned left to head to Mae Sot District (Thailand-Burma border). On the way, we stopped at the "Moo Ser Hill Tribe Market". There were many fresh veggies which you never see this price with this freshness in Bangkok. We wish we could bring them home and cook right away!!

We stayed at the Centara Mae Sot Hill Resort on the 1st night. There was nothing much to see/do on the night walking street, so we went back to the hotel to take some photos. I-Din was exciting with the big Christmas Tree, but also got tired of me taking photos, so she posted "napping".

I-Din's New Year Day 2010

It's Num's Family tradition that the whole family (his Mom, Dad, Sisters & In-laws, and all the kids) have to be together at his hometown in the Northeast of Thailand, Nangrong...Buriram, on the count down night and to pay merit on Jan. 1 to start a wonderful New Year together. This year was special 'cause we had a chance to pay "BIG" merit together... here what we did..

1. To pay merit to the monk by giving them dried food and money in the morning with hundreds of people at the City Hall. Usually this is the only thing we do.

2. We went to a temple nearby to bury this golden ball for the new praying building of the temple. It's the Thai Buddhist believe that your life will be blessed from this activity. Grandpa was teaching I-Din on how to attach the golden pad to the ball.

3. Num was helping the kids to release the birds from the cage. I don't know if these birds will get caught and re-sell, but at least we teach our kids not to hurt/retain animals.

4. The kids are holding the monks clothings. We donated these clothings (and some other essential stuffs) to the monks at the temple.

5. Final step, we held hands and prayed to our ancestors for them to live happily in the spiritual world. Water is used as a communication channel between human world and spiritual world.

2010 New Year School Performance

We had to shorten our New Year holiday trip because I-Din insisted in joining this 2010 New Year School Performance. We had to wake up at 5am to take I-Din to the hair dresser/make-up. We arrived the school at 7:30am...just in time to pay merit to the monks.

The performance was outdoor, but fortunately, it was at 9am, so it's not too hot yet. It was more like a monkey performance..hahaha..but they're all very cute. G1 kids performed the northern hill tribe dance. We took hundred of photos, but got only a few good ones...as usual!

I-Din was upset at me to (allow the hair dresser to) put make-up on her. She said her homeroom teacher said that she had a choice not to put it on. I think the make-up (only little and no lipstick 'cause she started crying at the hair dresser) was just right on her, but she doesn't like it and kept whining about this issue for a few days after. Let's see what she says when she's a teenager...

My 2010 Wish!

I told one of my good friends that I will try to find time to create my own blog as well as to continue updating my (and I-Din's) precious memory here... Hope you will enjoy reading our updates!!

Special thanks to Kim Brown, a wonderful lady who lights up my idea about the diary blog.

Happy New Year and hope you had a great holiday!!