Rock Climbing at Crazy Horse

Sunday I decided to go rock climbing and repelling. My friend Megan who had been to Thailand 3 summers ago said it was one of her favorite parts of the trip. So I found the best company and booked a trip. It was amazing but I was VERY TIRED after. I signed up for the beginners course because it has been several years since I had done any climbing. It ended up being really great because there were only three of us in the group with two guides, so we got to go at our own pace. The other two people in my group were about the same age as me and from Australia. They got me extra excited about visiting in a month!

In the morning we learned to tie the knots, how to belay someone and the other basics. We got to try climbing and belaying twice. Then we hiked to the top of the mountain to go repelling back down into a cave.

 View from the top.

 

 

 Daniella went first and then it was my turn. Her boy friend David went last so he could take pictures of us. :D She has some pictures of me coming back down into the cave that she is going to email me when she gets done.

After lunch we went climbing again. The three of us were pretty tired so we only did three more climbs before heading back. 

 

Crazy horse

 

Zoo

After 4 days without my internet it is finally fixed. I even got a new clip on the end of the cord too so now when I move computer it doesn't lose internet.

Last Tuesday we went to the zoo for our project and one of our new friend Keung came with us. She has a spinal cord injury and uses a wheel chair so we asked her to come so we could see how the staff helped and such. We discovered that the zoo was VERY HILLY!!! It was more like hiking than a trip to the zoo. Overall it wasn't accessible for a wheel chair but the staff was incredibly helpful. Also the you can actually see all of the animals which is a big differences from many American zoos. And none of the animals were enclosed behind glass. Instead usually there was a BIG ditch and a big hedge between us and the more aggressive animals. Other animals were could almost walk into their enclosure.

 

In  Chiang Mai if you have enough money (and you use a wheel chair) you can buy an adapted motor bike. This is Keung's she has given me several rides. The first time it was a little weird b/c I sit on the regular seat but there aren't handle bars to steer or hold on to.

 Feeding the elephants!

  Pandas!!! The biggest attraction at the zoo. You have to pay an extra $3 to see them.

Khantoke Dinner & Cultural Show

On Monday night when the visitors from DPI were still here we went to a popular tourist event - Khantoke Dinner & Cultural Show. Basically its dinner with a show kinda like the fabulous dinner shows in Myrtle Beach haha but it is Northern Thailand themed.

Khantoke is actually the type of platter they serve a family style meal on. There was an interesting assortment of Northern Thai food and farang food: fried chicken (supposedly its Korean too), sweet crunchy rice, tomato sauce, green pepper sauce (actually wants spicy), friend pork skins, beef stew kind dish, vegetables, and pumpkin fries (which were my favorite on the platter). Seating is usually on the floor but you can request a table which is what we did.

Part of the way through the meal the dancing started. They preformed 5 or 6 dances that were based in the Lanna Kingdom tradition. Chiang Mai and some of the surrounding area did not start off as part of Siam. It was originally part of the Lanna Kingdom, but instead of being colonized by the French or British it sided with Siam.

 The fingernail dance.

 

 A dance based off of Northern Thai martial arts.

 Then we all were invited onstage to preform the  circle/friendship dance. Its basically just walking in a circle with some hand movements.

Then we went outside for the Hill tribe dances.

 The same boy from the sword dance above played the drums while the other boys held it. He would use the mallets as well as his elbows and knees. The one on the right is a stick dance done by kids. I think I learned something like this in girl scouts when I was little.

More Wats

The next day, Friday, we went to two more wats.

The first one is Wat Phra Singh. It was really hot!!! I gave in and wore my running shorts to walk everywhere and then put on my long skirt when I got to the temple. Most of the tourists or farang (said falang) walk around in tube tops and short shorts so I decided that longer shorts and a shirt probably won't be to offensive outside of the wat area.

We attracted another guy that wanted to practice his English. He had just gotten licensed to be a tour guide but wanted to practice more so he could get a good job through a tourist agency. We also went back to the wat when some of the people from DPI came to visit.

Garden with some Budhist proverbs....they lose a bit of their meaning when they are translated into English

 This is the Royal Pagoda which is also a chedi. In order to be called a chedi it has to hold a relic from Buddha. From what I have understood so far that means that there has to be a bone of "the lord buddha" in the chedi.

A reclining Buddha. Usually they face the chedi or pagoda, but this one faces the main gate of the city to warn of enemies. 

 The old assembly hall and buddha inside of it. It is currently being renovated so you can only look in the door.

The ordination building. Previously women were not allowed in this building, but now they are. There are still some areas of temples where women are prohibited to enter.

We went to lunch a pizza place that is completely accessible and employs people with disabilities. Then we visited Wat Chedi Luang. This is also the temple where the parade/festival ended on Sunday. It was a week long ceremony for the beginning of the rainy season. It was still going on when we visited.

The new assembly hall. 

 The buddha inside the new assembly hall and a building where women can't enter.

 The ruins of the chedi back behind the assembly hall.

 

A reclining buddha facing the correct way. 

 

 At the end of the day some random Thai people stopped us and took a picture of us.....The didn't seem to speak English and didn't even bother to say hello in Thai. Just sat day and made the man with them take a picture. So of course I passed my camera along as well.