June 19th, 2013 - Destiny loaded!

Desinty did finally get loaded the afternoon of the 19th. Frank had a rough time of it and so did our boat. He is exhausted. I will write more later as he relays his experience to me. I had a very long trip home and hate being so far away from them. Frank took footage for me - the wind was a real problem for them. My nerves would have been shot watching this live.

June 17, 2013 Shipping Destiny…Loading Day!

This is really happening! The skies are clear and the seas calm for the first time in ages. The ship is here, Destiny is first to load in about an hour - Whoop! Whoop!

We thank God and any of you who have been sending prayers and kind thoughts our way for this amazing window of good weather.

Well just as we got close to the ship the wind kicked up now it's blowing like crazy - too rough to load so they're moving the ship hoping to find a calmer spot.

Destiny did not load after all. We were nearly to the ship, they were preparing the deck with our cradle and then the winds began howling, seas kicking up and it became too rough to load. We circled for a couple of hours but it worsened and storms came along. They finally called it off around 1:00, telling us tomorrow will be worse than today so not to expect to load before the 19th.

I'm in a hotel room at the new little Nai Yang Beach hotel, just by the airport market until 9:30 tonight. I fly home tonight at midnight. My poor little mom is fading and I have to see her. I'll meet Frank at Marmaris in a few weeks. Frank is stuck on the hook by the beach outside Ao Pao, and will have to move to the deep water port (Panwa??) on the 19th to load. Then he'll stick around here for a week and take it easy before heading on to Turkey.

Oye! What a world - huh? Love this cruising life - it makes great stories :)

SevenStar was going to feed everyone but obviously there were no others out there today so when they aborted, they dropped off 8 sandwiches for him! They told me I had to leave then and there or be stuck on the boat until the 20th! So I got a hotel room for 8 hours near the airport to wait.

June 16, 2013 - No ship yet

We have been told the ship will be here tomorrow. Destiny is to be at the ship at 9:30 to begin loading. I'm flying out tomorrow night for Texas. Our plans of a trip to Hong Kong have been cancelled. I have to go home and take care of personal family matters. My parents’ home has to be put on the market and my job is to clean out 40 years of accumulation. They are not capable, as they are both in a memory care facility now.

Frank will be staying around Phuket for about a week before flying on to Turkey to meet Destiny on her arrival there.

The weather here is absolutely dreadful - we now get massive storms every day that bring very high winds and hard rain. Three of the yachts to be loaded require fairly calm conditions for the straps to be attached, so the loading process here may take a fair amount of time as they dodge the storms. Destiny is scheduled to load first. Fingers crossed - and lots of prayers going up for everyone on this shipment.

June 6, 2013 – More Venting & Another Visa extension to Singapore!

We are having real problems here. Boats only get 6 months in Thailand before they have to be "imported". Destiny's 6 months runs out the 20th, so if we aren't gone by then I don't know what we'll do.  Most of the other cruisers booked on the transport are European and have flown out to their respective homes, leaving 7-Star to hire captains to load their yachts at 7-Star's expense. There is no way we are going to leave the sealing and  loading of our boat to anyone else.

We are so disappointed and a bit angry - have spent beau coups $$$ fooling around with the darn visa extensions, and only had until June 11th on our final one. Now the ship is not due here before the 16th. So we were trying to figure the easiest and least costly way to extend from that date. We found that the minimum cost (just a couple hundred $) would be if we rent a car and drive to the Thai border, take the boat to Burma (again), but will only get 15 days, and that is a horrible trip. We never want to do that again! Meanwhile the others who are really griping and making a fuss are getting all kinds of things paid for, such as extended marina fees and so forth, by 7-Star. We really don't know what amount they are getting but do know that paying for a captain to load their boats and paying their boat fees here in Phuket are not cheap.

That's not our style, but finally we told the local 7-Star Rep. about our issue with the visas. She called Frank and told him they had a surprise for us for my birthday. They said they would pay for our air ticket to fly to Singapore to get our passport stamped for 30 more days. That was a very sweet gesture and one that we appreciated, but if we had done it ourselves, we were just going to fly to KL, in and out in one day. We want to spend our money on a trip to Hong Kong on the way to Turkey during our 3+ weeks off the boat while it's being shipped.

7-Star booked the plane ticket for us (we did not get a choice of where or what airline or date - probably b/c they were looking for the cheapest airfare from Phuket). They booked us for an overnight stay - out on the 5th and back on the 6th. Frank asked if they were going to pay our hotel, airport transfers and meals and they said NO.

For some crazy reason we had a real hard time finding a hotel for one night in Singapore - everything was booked or required minimum 3-night stay, except for some backpacker hostels in Chinatown. We finally found a room at the Swissotel. That plus meals plus all the airport transfers ended up costing us over $500 (and we used the train - no taxis!!!). The air ticket that they paid was under $300 for us both on Tiger airways. We have never been on a plane with seats so small. Frank's knees would not fit into the back of the seat in front of him because his legs were too long! He had to sit sideways. Our ticket was not upgradable or refundable. He was NOT HAPPY.

I know they were trying to be helpful and in spite of the frustration, we did have a good time (at least I had a nice birthday), but Frank grumbled the whole time about this being our most expensive visa extension and not what he would have planned. Frank said my present from him was the hotel. Now we are back in Phuket waiting and waiting. I sure hope that getting to Turkey is worth all of this because right now, we are ready to ask for our money back. It would have been so much cheaper and less stressful if we had sailed back to Penang that second week of May and sat out the season in the nice marina there, where at least I could do my own laundry and be in walking distance of groceries, etc., which was our original 6-month plan. But then we thought we would have been shipped between the 14th and 25th of May too.

OK, so we did really enjoy our quick trip to Singapore. Enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the Singapore River. Our room had a nice river view, and we visited the astounding Botanical Gardens before returning to Phuket.

views from our room of the river

travel docs for Singapore

May 20-30, 2013 – Growing Frustrations/waiting /killing time

Our projected ship date came and went with a shrug and sincere apologies from the reps at 7-Star. It appears the vessel that had been contracted for us was making unscheduled stops along the way to pick up cargo and not moving as quickly as promised. The agreement with our transit company was that the yachts were to comprise the entire cargo because we were paying for the entire ship. No one really understood what was happening but nonetheless we all stood at the ready for the yachts to go. Meanwhile our Thai visa was about to expire.

Have been given a new date of before May 25^th. Monsoon season starts soon here so we are a bit anxious to get this done. Our Visas are running out soon.

Phuket Friday, May 24, 13 Another Visa extension

It is raining pitchforks and devil babies here nearly every day now. Yesterday we went to immigration to get the visas extended. We were hoping not to have to do this again and that the ship would come before any of this became an issue but time is not our friend here. My unexpected hospital visit last week affords us an opportunity to ask the doctor for a medical extension since I am due for a follow-up on Monday (27th). He only wrote 15 days on it and apparently didn't "tick" the correct boxes on the form so we had a real hassle with it but eventually got the extension - the stinkers charged us the 30-day fee ($65.00) anyway.  He must have stamped our passports 10 times each - I have no idea what all those stamps are about. I'm just happy that is over - and happy we never have to deal with Thai visas again!

We are marking "paid" to Thailand and are ready to move on. Because of all the hassles it hasn't been our favorite place. I'm wanting to get the blogs caught up and it is a stretch to write about it in a positive light. Maybe it is because we have spent so much money on the boat here although it is purported to be the cheapest place to get boat work done but certainly was not. Or maybe it is because of the tremendous number of tourists here - literally thousands and about 80% are rude, nasty ugly Russians, or maybe because the traffic is insane and it takes us over an hour just to go to the grocery store, or maybe it is because crime, drugs and Aids are so rampant here. Take your pick…

May 25^th – more delays

The transport ship was due to arrive here the 24th, but that has already been pushed back. We don't have a load date and probably won't until it actually arrives in Thailand. The company told us not to book any airline tickets until Destiny is on that ship. We need to find somewhere to go for two weeks, which is the anticipated amount of time that it takes to get from Phuket to Marmaris, Turkey. Where we go while she is being shipped is kind of up in the air because it will all depend on what kind of last minute air fares we can get to somewhere between this area and Istanbul. It is so weird literally flying by the seat of our pants. We are told to be in Marmaris a week before the ship arrives so we can work out the import/immigration/customs clearances, etc., with the shipping agent at the arrival port. It is all a little exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

There is a lot of red tape involved in shipping a vessel, and then all these rules about how long we can stay in the country, etc.

May 30^th  - Invited to a group dinner with all yacht owners due to ship; something smells fishy!

Well we now understand why 7-Star invited us all to dinner tonight - it was to soften the blow of bad news! And this way they could tell us all at once instead of emails flying around.

The ship, MPP Shield that was/is to be our transport is now telling 7-Star that they will not arrive here until June 8th.

Chris, the lead 7-Star contact said that the ship and his company are having a bit of a row. Several reasons were thrown out - there are mechanical problems, the ship wants to take on more cargo in Singapore and is waiting for a full load (or some such nonsense), and they are Russian and therefore liars and untrustworthy (according to Chris).

Great.

Chris said we are stuck in a difficult situation now because they are trying to get another ship to replace this one in case it doesn't come through, but the replacement cannot be here before June 15th.

We are seriously not wanting to use the original ship now after this mess up but we are over a barrel and have to wait to see what happens.

May 9 - 19th, 2013 - Getting Ready and Quick (fruitless) trip to Burma

We needed our sails repaired and a visa extension.

We once again rented a car and set off for the Rolly Tasker sail loft with our sails to be restitched. What a massive place! While there we picked up country flags for future ports in the Med and dropped off the sails.

Rolly Tasker Sail Loft

While we had the car for a few days we did a bit more shopping and stocking up and marveled at the crazy moped drivers on the freeway holding babies in their laps or out to the side riding down the road. No wonder so many die in traffic accidents here!

Since we are not going to Malaysia we have to leave the country to get a 30-day visa extension somehow. Zara at the marina office told us to get a bus to Rangoon and take a water taxi over to Burma, get our passports stamped and we will get 30 days. She forgot to tell us not to go until the last day of our current visa. We were looking at this as an adventure and were excited about the trip. Off we went at 4 AM on a miserable, hot and long bus ride to a filthy village where you can tell you are going to get ripped off so you just hold your breath and get ready for the ripoff. We were immediately set upon by helpful locals who wanted to take our money in order to show us where to go. Turns out it was only 2 blocks away but we paid anyway. Then we got in line to get our passports tamped and then another queue for a ride on one of the rickety little boats bobbing in the small harbor. There were so many open planks in the bottom of the boat I nearly broke an ankle. It was so creepy, we almost felt as though there was something untoward happening. Arriving at the Burmese border we were scrutinized by the scowling officials and told not to look at them or smile. I snapped off a couple of photos before being told that was illegal and I might lose my iPhone!  We then walked through a dirty village toward the customs office where, we were told to hire an agent. We paid a man who was standing around to get our passports stamped and then paid him to escort us back to our awaiting boat. Back across we went to Thailand where we stood in yet another queue to get stamped back in. To our horror, the Thai customs official only gave us 7 days! He said the extension starts today, not on the day our current visa expires, AND you now only get 14 days at this particular border crossing. OMG. We are in a world of hurt and frustration. We sulked back to the bus stop where we waited until 6 pm for the return bus, arriving back to Yacht haven late, tired and quite upset.

beckoning us aboard - had to step around prop!

Rangoon wharf

official pointing at me and yelling b/c I'm taking photos

Burma (Myanmar)wharf

dreading this wet and rough ride back!

April 26 – May 8, 2013 Return to Phuket and Surprise Decision to Ship Destiny

Back to Phuket and Yacht Haven to complete the unfinished work on Destiny by the canvas maker. Since deciding to stay another year in Thailand we had arranged a berth in Penang and were eager to get back there, hunker in for the rainy season and enjoy the wonderful food and sites of that city again. BUT we were hit with a big surprise hearing that more of our friends here were shipping their yachts to Turkey. Even Scallywag with whom we had planned to spend the summer months announced that the only yacht transit company left on this route, 7-Star, was adding a May shipment from Phuket departing around the 16^th, and they had decided it was time to move on. We have missed out on so much having had Destiny stuck to the dock in Yacht Haven that we didn’t want to leave yet. They asked us to think about shipping Destiny, warning us that the deadline was within a few days. Many considerations weighed on us in making this decision and I felt a real tug to get us closer to home to my daughter, grandson and ailing parents. The cost was just around $50,000 cash, which meant that we would have to liquidate some investments to make this happen. Eventually we decided to go for it and on May 8^th we signed the contract within a hare’s breath of the deadline. Frank blogged about it, detailing our many reasons for deciding to ship the boat.

We spent as much time as possible with Ute and Hans (Taimada), rented a car to provision the boat with all of our favorite Thai products. Paul and Glor wanted to hit the beach at Patong, hearing that it was a do not miss. Well, we did and found that there is every reason that it is called “A paradise for Hedonists”. Teeming with a pretty disgusting lot of  international visitors. Anything goes here – so use your imagination. Glor and I walked along behind the boys laughing & watching them try not to stare at the eye candy.

More to come…meanwhile some interesting photos, including Thai rubber trees, sunset over the beach at Phang Nga and some humor.

April 22- 25, 2013 – Bangkok, Thailand

We met Pauline and Martin at the airport. They had flown in from Sydney, us from Cambodia. What a wonderful reunion!

Although Pauline had recommended we stay in the city center, we had already taken someone else’s insistent advice that we would want a quiet luxury spot with a river view and booked a self-catering apartment at Chatrium down the river from the center that offered free water taxi service. Big mistake. The water taxi ran on a schedule that didn’t exactly coincide with ours and didn’t take us within walking distance of most places we wanted to go and so we ended up using taxis and the sky train. Side note: the river view room that we booked turned into a view of a demolished building with a slice of river view if we stood in a remote corner of the sitting room. Will we ever learn? Probably not.

OK, so we’re over that. We set out to explore Bangkok with friends who actually knew the place. We came to enjoy and dislike Bangkok on many levels.

The highlights of our group holiday:

Having a delicious dinner at the funky restaurant, “Cabbages and Condoms”, where instead of after dinner mints you are given a condom.

Walking curiously and timidly down the short sleazy red light street just to get a look at the rumored young girls/prostitutes and Lady Boys who would perform bizarre sex acts inside the bars (that we were unwilling to enter for because of a deep-seated, guilt-ridden southern Bible Belt upbringing). Many of our cruiser friends had submitted to curiosity and had gone to the sex shows in Phuket.  None of us could get up the nerve to go in for a show, pay the $60 each for a watered down drink to watch a girl shoot darts, ping pong balls and strange slithery creatures out of her private parts. As we emerged onto the main drag at the end of the street we felt slimy and in need of a shower.

Parking the men at the Hard Rock Café while shopping with Pauline and running all over town together to the Jim Thompson Museum, the huge malls with outrageous fashion designs, visiting trendy hotels where Pauline can charm us into looking at rooms as though we are considering hosting an event there someday, having girl-time over coffee, getting lost and just laughing like kids because we enjoy each other’s company so much.

Because Martin and Pauline had been here many times they told us to take a riverboat tour and go see the palace while they took care of some personal business. We did, and after several stops had grown weary of the temples and Buddhas. Finally arriving at the stop for the palace, we walked a country mile to the entrance only to be told that we were at the wrong entrance and also that the palace was closed for a special event but due to reopen in an hour. A little man in a taxi cart told us he would take us around to the entrance side. We got into his cart and off he dashed through town taking us on a long and confusing drive. The entire time, I’m leaning up into his ear insisting that he was going the wrong way, and that the entrance could not possibly be this far! Frank was punching me and telling me to relax. I kept saying we were being hijacked. Eventually, the driver stopped in front of a jewelry shop and told us to go inside. Frank jumped out, and I grabbed his arm saying, “This is a hoax! I don’t want jewelry, this guys is scamming us!” The little man became very angry with me and started pushing us along saying we must enter the shop. I went in, used the bathroom and walked back out to the taxi cart. The man was livid that I didn’t look at jewelry. Frank is meanwhile playing peacekeeper, accepting a cup of tea inside the shop. I insisted that the man take us back to the palace. He refused saying we owed him more money but if we go to see the giant Buddah and take his tour then he would return us to the palace. Frank said OK; I fumed. We were driven even farther into the belly of Bangkok to a religious site with a giant Buddha. We got out, trying to be nice snapped some photos and then I said we were ready to go back to the palace. He refused again. So I hailed a cab. We paid a fortune to get back to the palace. The cab dropped us at the same spot we had departed from over an hour earlier where we were immediately set upon by more people telling us the palace was closed...yada, yada, yada. We were so hot and annoyed we walked back to the boat dock and caught the tour boat back to the hotel. Later that night I read my friend, Judy’s blog and found that they had also been taken for a “ride” in the same manner. Should have read her blog beforehand.

We flew out the next day ready to leave Bangkok but not ready to leave Pauline and Martin. We said our teary goodbyes and boarded our return flight to Krabi (Phuket).

Feb 22 – March 14, 2013 - A Little Bit of Cruising Phang Nga Bay and Another Aussie Guest

Not long after Jo and Lex left, Will (from Chiang Mai), called to say he was dropping into Phuket on his way back to Australia…and could he come sailing with us? Oh boy – time to crack the whip getting our generator working and the canvas finished.  We somehow managed to get the canvas fitted in time for his arrival the next week. We were sweating bullets over the generator though and couldn’t figure out why we were going through impellers so often.

Famous monoliths in Phang Nga Bay

Leaving the James Bond Island in our wake

Will arrived, and off we went to finally cruise the famous Phang Na Bay. It was getting a bit late in the season, yet tourists were still pouring into all of the favored spots by the boatload.  By this time, Frank and I were ready to see what all the others had been raving about. We visited Ko Hong, James Bond Island and several other beautiful anchorages. Our fun and frolicking was a teeny bit overshadowed, however, by recent reports of theft. Some fellow cruisers had anchored their yachts in various popular bays to go off exploring the hongs or to head to shore in their dinghies, leaving their boats locked up tight for a few hours. Sadly some locals had come by in a Longtail boat and had broken into yachts, taking everything of value: money, passports, phones, electronics, iPads, jewelry, etc. How devastating! Because of this we decided that we would always leave someone on board. This makes it a bit of a drag if you all want to go somewhere together, but Frank and I decided that we would have opportunities to return so I generally stayed aboard while Frank and Will set off in the dinghy. One of these times while I was down in the galley I heard the sputter of a longtail’s engine approaching. It got louder and louder until it was nearly on top of Destiny I watched it from one of the portholes as it approached and began circling around our boat. It was getting much too close for comfort so I popped up the companionway to check it out. I must have scared the heck out of those guys because as soon as they saw me they sped off. I was a little disappointed about that because I had hoped it was prawn fishermen coming to sell me some of the famous local jumbo prawns. Sadly it may have been one of the thieves checking to see if the boat was available for a surprise visit. A short while later, I noticed several longtails riding around and eventually one of them did stop by to try to sell me some old dead fish and prawns that had been sitting out in the sun a bit too long for my taste.  We did eventually manage to score some of those beauties though before Will left us and they were outstanding.

By the third day out in the bay our beloved generator quit on us yet again. We managed to conserve fresh water and with the use of our solar panels and the main engine, kept the batteries topped up. Unfortunately, however, we had to cut short our tour of Phang Nga Bay. We made a u-turn for Yacht Haven Marina, which seemed to make Will quite happy. He didn’t care much for the work of showering on board (you know: turn water on to get wet then off while you lather, then back on for a quick rinse, then squeegee the entire shower afterward), and was thrilled to head up to the marina’s showers for a nice long one when we got docked. We literally spent the next two days on board working on fixes, and sent Will off to Nai Yang Beach for some fun relaxing in the sand before he returned home.

We managed to get everything working again in time to head back across Phang Nga Bay to Krabi Marina where we would leave Destiny safely tucked away while we made a land tour of SE Asia.

February 11 – 21, 2012 – Guests Aboard and Finally Cruising Around Phuket

Jo Van Os and Lex Silvester had sailed to Thailand from Darwin on their yacht a few years ago and had since returned home to Darwin. They had loved sailing through Indonesia, Malaysia and around Phuket and were a fantastic resource for us throughout our journey to Thailand. We were thrilled when they at last decided to join us here in mid-February. Their impending arrival gave us plenty of fuel to light a fire under our canvas maker, imploring him to get our dodger and bimini completed so that we could take them sailing.

Our friends arrived early morning, February 11^th. We had dinner plans that first night with several of Jo and Lex's old friends from the marina, at our very favorite local restaurant called Coconut, owned and operated by a beautiful Thai woman named Pen. Her food is out of this world and very inexpensive. It is so good in fact, that I ordered several meals from her to take with us so we would not have to cook in this heat.

Muzza, our canvas maker had promised us the work would be completed and everything installed by the morning of Feb 12. Morning came and went – we got a call…delayed but still coming. We dined again with Nick, Zara and Roger for lunch at the Living Room here at Yacht Haven, while waiting for the tide change and for our canvas. Somehow it turned out to be a good thing that Muzza was running late because we had a little problem with a stay sail at the last minute causing Frank, Lex and Roger to scramble for a shackle. The canvas arrived in its dress-rehearsal form to get us going but would have to be returned for final touches. Everything was ready and looked great! But, Uh-oh! Something didn't look right. The zip out mid portion of the front windshield was made upside down. After all this time, we just could not believe this. We didn't have time to fool with it and, therefore, decided to just get going and deal with that after Jo and Lex's departure, so off we sailed for the south end of Phuket.

We caught terrific winds that nearly got us to our destination, but with the late start we barely made it to an anchorage a few miles shy of our target of Au Chalong before dark. We anchored, warmed up Pen's delicious prawn red curry and feasted on the back deck, watching the swell rock the boats about.

Up and at'em at dawn the next morning we made a stretch for the Similan islands, directly west of Phuket, in the Andaman Sea.  We arrived at Koh Miang's eastern side, managing to grab a spot in the swelly but stunningly beautiful anchorage that was teeming with tourists and loud powerful speed boats. The next morning we crept around to the western side where the waters were much calmer and the bay was very large but again, brimming with tourists; day-trippers from all over. The massive speed boats carrying 3 to 4 large outboards come roaring in, disgorge dozens of tourists who pour out onto the beach like army ants and set up shop for a couple of hours of swimming and roasting in the searing hot sun. This tiny island must see around 500+ tourists per day. It is unbelievable! We went to shore for lunch at the little beach café that serves a delicious fried noodle with chicken dish, and while the boys were enjoying an after lunch ale we noticed that the majority of the tourists are Russians, Chinese and Koreans. They loved posing with and on our dinghy for photo-ops. I'll bet "t/t Destiny" is in a lot of Facebook pictures. The anchorage quieted down around 4 PM when the tourists departed, leaving us to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Swimming here is like diving into an aqua blue pool with a limestone bottom. The sand is so fine and soft it feels like flour between our toes. We are enjoying this so much after being tied to a dock for 2 months. For dinner we enjoyed Pen's aromatic and absolutely yummy green chicken curry by starlight with a little Jimmy Buffet playing in the background.

Next stop was Koh Similan where there are no cafes but plenty of tourists. The anchorage is even more beautiful than the one at Koh Miang. We stayed two days swimming and enjoying the beach. There is a popular hike to the top of the hill where many wander to watch the sunset. Surprisingly Frank's knee had done quite well on the cortisone, and he actually made the hike with no problem. We had feasted on our final meal from Pen – her outstanding seafood penang curry the previous night so tonight Lex treated us to his own special green chicken curry. True to his word it was wonderful!

We made for Phuket's Nai Yang beach on the 18^th for Jo and Lex's final night with us, we were delighted to find many of our friends anchored there and happily introduced everyone, reintroducing some of them who had met Jo and Lex in Darwin. The best surprise of the night and a sweet way to end their trip was a visit from Mark and Laura of s/v Sabbatical III. They drove over from the Royal Phuket Marina to meet us for a very nice farewell dinner on the beach. Early the next morning Jo and Lex left. Unfortunately our generator had quit on us (again, argh!!!), so we made a quick two-day trip back around the island to our favorite berth back at Yacht Haven Marina.

Below:Mark, Jo, Laura, Frank, Lex, Barb - our last night together in Phuket

Jo, Barb, Lex Frank having lunch at the beach

Frank and Lex "reading"!

 Koh Similan

January 2013 – An amazing and busy month in Phuket and Chiang Mai, Thailand Part 2 (Chiang Mai)

We had originally planned just the three nights in Chiang Mai to meet Jeff and Jeri Lyn on their way from Myanmar via a three-day stop in Chiang Mai. But Pauline and Martin hooked us up with an Aussie friend of theirs named Will Willis, who had moved just north of Chiang Mai. During an email exchange between them, Will invited us (sight unseen) to be his guest for a few nights, so on that recommendation we flew into Chiang Mai a few days earlier. We did the old, “… send me your photo so I’ll know what you look like”, exchange with Will and he picked us up at the airport, transporting us to Chez Willis where we met his Thai wife named Toy (pronounced “Doy”). I’m sure he took some ribbing on that – a Thai Toy! She and her two daughters, In and Som are absolutely adorable! We told Will that if they have a third child, they should name her “Nia”!

Will and Toy have carved out a garden of Eden on their acreage there in the countryside, where they have planted a few small crops of vegetables and fruits, carving out a tranquil haven for themselves and a beautiful place for visiting friends and family. The entire property is laced with Jackfruit trees, Mango trees, Banana trees, Papaya and they have planted an orchard of Mulberry Trees and even a rice field. They built their home as two separate buildings in an “L-design” with large porches across the front of each, overlooking a beautiful pond/pool. We felt as though we were in a B & B with a private villa. During the day, Will drove us around lunching along the rivers and into the mountain areas, very reminiscent of our own Colorado foothills. We even spent a morning in the natural hot springs pools at the nearby park. We really enjoyed some laid back time in the fresh country air. Being very cool at night we ended the evenings warming up at the fire pit in the back yard. The day of Jeff and Jeri Lyn’s arrival, Will, Toy and the girls made a family outing of driving us into town.

After they headed off, Frank and I went for a walk around, stopping for a delicious lunch at The Duke steakhouse and then we hit a gourmet grocery store around the corner, picking up snacks and drinks to have with Jeff and Jeri Lyn when they arrived. The city of Chiang Mai is incredibly multi-faceted. The old city is walled and was originally surrounded by a moat. We were just across the river from the historic old section. Our hotel, Rimping Village, provides complimentary bicycles to all guests, which we intended to use to go exploring the next day. Unfortunately Jeff and Jeri Lyn’s flight was running very late, so we killed even more time hanging out at the pool and then finally going for dinner. It turned out that snacks and drinks were a perfect way to greet them when they at last arrived much later.

The next morning at breakfast we made a plan – first ride into the historic old town for massages, grab lunch and go exploring. We found a spa that was advertised as one of the top recommended by Trip Advisor: Fah Lannah or something like that. The entrance and lobby were attractive and the prices were amazing! I think it was under $10 for an hour aromatherapy massage. All four of us were led into a room with mats on the floor and pillows, separated by curtains. At first we thought it resembled a hippie commune! Jeri Lyn and I were put next to one another – told to strip naked and lay facedown. They didn’t even close the curtain between us. It’s a good thing we’re close friends. They did close the curtain between her and the next pallet where they placed the guys. At first the massage was wonderful, but then the attendants began pulling on and twisting our arms and legs into positions they didn’t want to go! We could hear grunting and groaning coming from the men’s side of the curtains. It was really hard to relax and enjoy our own massages without giggling at their painful grunts and moans. It sounded as though they were being tortured over there. Toward the end of the massage, the lady got behind me, and laid down with her knees up into the middle of my back, literally bending me backward over her! Now this did hurt. I’m no limber lassie anymore! That is when I groaned as I could hear my spine cracking. Apparently this is their traditional Thai massage. It hurt like hell, nonetheless I felt pretty good when it was finished. The men were very displeased and it showed in the end when Jeri Lyn and I sat down for a foot massage they both practically ran out of there saying they were heading for a drink to assuage their pain. We didn’t see either of them again until dinnertime.  She and I left, riding around the winding streets just enjoying the sights, and sounds of the old town – not so much the smells! We lunched at a small open-air local spot, having some delicious but un-nameable dishes, followed by some serious browsing and window-shopping. We returned to the hotel close to 5 PM to find our men happily sipping drinks while watching something sporty on the TV.  We all freshened up before heading back into town via Tuk Tuk for an adventure at the night market and dinner in Old Town.

The night markets in Chiang Mai are a treasure trove and a tradition. We had a wonderful time buying silk scarves for next to nothing. I picked up a long black skirt and some trinkets and fun things to take back to our grandson, Trace. Jeff and Jer stocked up on gifts – they even had to buy a suitcase at the market to put their purchases in to get them home. We mentioned street food to Jeff for dinner, but he was having none of that. We ended up at a wonderful Asian Fusion restaurant overlooking the main street.

The next day we hired a driver to take us to the hot spots of Chiang Mai. He first drove us through the district where we visited the silk factory. The visit started with a display of live silk worms eating the Mulberry leaves then spinning the cocoons. Next the cocoons are soaked in liquid to soften them so that the silk thread can be loosened from the cocoon where it is spun in one long string onto a spinning wheel. The threads are then dyed with natural pigments by soaking them in the juice and various essences such as leaves, barks, herbs, etc., from which the colors have been extracted. The colored threads are then placed into a loom and hand-woven into the gorgeous fabrics on display in the shop. These fabrics and prints were very beautiful and so well made. They sold here for a fraction of the price of what we would pay back home.

We next toured the umbrella factory where the decorative bamboo umbrellas and other bamboo articles are made. Next was a lunch buffet stop at a place where we dined with several hundred of our closest tourist friends, finally realizing these drivers have a set routine whether you pay for the private gig or take a group tour you get thrown in with the masses. We didn’t have a lot of choice, however, we did choose to pass on several of the recommended stops, such as the jewelry shops, the snake farms, and creepy creatures.

 the silk worm eats the mulberry leaves

then it spins the cocoon of silk

silk being unwound from the cocoon

weaving the fabric
Our next stop was the Elephant kingdom where we watched a most amazing show of elephants performing feats we had never before seen. They played basketball and soccer. They threw darts at balloons with their trunks and actually popped them. There were several circus acts as well but then the best of all was when several elephants were set up with easels and paints, then holding a paintbrush with their trunks they each painted amazing pictures. Afterward the pictures were available for sale. People flocked to them so quickly they were sold out before we could get to one. 

The paintings by elephants.

After the elephant show we had one last stop on the agenda, which was the Tiger Kingdom/habitat where we could actually get into the cage and pet live tigers. It was a bit pricey but we were definitely all into this. As a group we got into the cages to visit the juvenile and medium size tigers where we were allowed to individually sit with some of them, but could only touch them on the back half of their bodies. They didn’t want us getting too close to their heads. We seriously enjoyed this. The tigers are absolutely beautiful and as soft as a kitten to touch. What an amazing treat this was!

Jeff, Jeri Lyn, Frank, Barb

 By the end of the day we were hot and sweaty beyond bearable, so we returned to the hotel for a rest and shower before dinner. We ventured back into the old section of town to a place Jeri Lyn and I had spotted on our bike outing. It offered excellent fresh Italian. We were “Thai-fooded-out”, and hadn’t had good Italian food in ages. It actually was surprisingly excellent. This was our last night together and we just didn’t want it to end, but the Martins had a very early flight out in the morning, and so we sadly bid them goodnight knowing we would not be getting up with them at the crack of dawn to see them off.