A Mega-Wat Experience - Chiang Mai, Thailand (November 3 & 4)

There are more than 300 temples (known as “Wats” in Thai) in Chiang Mai.  Add that to what we saw in Bangkok.  That’s a lot of Buddha statues.  We have just passed the 50-day point on our journey. What better way to mark the occasion than to get a blessing from a monk? 

The blessing from the monk was at Wat Phrathat, Chiang Mai’s holiest shrine.  No pictures of that to share, but it’s safe to say that it was a very enlightening experience.

The next day was Annie’s birthday.  We were all supposed to ride elephants (a typical tourist thing to do here), but when we got there and saw how really touristy it was – Annie changed her mind.  We fed them a lot of bananas instead.

We also took a bamboo raft ride.

For Safety Sally, this was really pushing the envelope.  Did anybody see how narrow that raft is? And, this was our safety plan. Michael actually got hit by a branch and fell off his seat at one point (thankfully he stayed on the raft).  We were all really happy to get back to shore.

After a rough start, the birthday got back on track with a visit to an orchid farm….

…where we got to release butterflies.  How awesome, right?  Now we’re talking!

After a fun dinner at “Whole Earth” (thank you, Emily, for the great recommendation) and some cake and wine back at the hotel (Beth and Melissa, you gals are too much – thank you) Annie’s 47th birthday was a wrap here in Chiang Mai!