There are many stray dogs in Chiang Mai and this does not stop at the gates to the university. Dogs can be seen in virtually all areas of the campus: lounging on second floor hallways, barking and growling in parking garages, sleeping in the middle of the street and yes, even in the classrooms themselves. […]
Read More…Today, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Traditionally, this calls for gifts of iron in the US (or sugar in the UK). Although we’d love to have a cast-iron frying pan or a wrought-iron gate, those gifts aren’t too practical at the moment. So, instead, we celebrated by getting a high iron content in our […]
Read More…We awoke Sunday morning and took a song taew (red shared taxi) to the airport, where we checked in with relatively no hassle. We hadn’t realized it at the time but we were given “hot seats” on Air Asia, which cost extra because they are the exit seats with more leg room and this meant […]
Read More…Just to refresh your memory, a “song taew” is a red truck that acts as a shared taxi. This is a very popular way of getting around the city. Today, however, we witnesses two accidents, both involving a song taew: The first accident occurred as we were being shuttled home from the Elephant Nature Park. […]
Read More…In Thai culture, some people follow a strict color dress code, having a specific color to wear for each day of the week. It is said that starting the day off by wearing the “right color” is the smart thing to do.Ligeia was wearing all purple last Friday and was told by an elder in […]
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Ever wonder if going to the movies is the same everywhere? Well, here’s what it’s like in Chiang Mai, Thailand: First, you go to one of these several counters to purchase tickets. For the matinee is costs 130 Baht each (about $4.30 US). When at the counter, you select your movie (we chose Ted, which […]
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Mindy and Ligeia were so excited to go to their first soccer game in Chiang Mai and it was Mindy’s first soccer game ever! Even before entering what is called the 700 Year Stadium we met their mascot, a tiger… …who, much like we were used to at other sports events, seemed to have fun […]
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We have been living in Thailand for 4 months now and from what we’ve learned so far, we are of the strong belief that Thailand would cease to exist without three very important items: staples, padlocks and rubberbands. What are they used for you ask? The easier question would be “What are they NOT used […]
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Desperately in need of some forested scenery, and an escape from the concrete jungle of Chiang Mai, Ligeia and Mindy went for a hike through Doi Pui National Park to visit the Huay Kaew Waterfall. Amazingly enough, the entrance to this National Park is only 1 km away from Chiang Mai University, where Ligeia works. […]
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We awoke a little earlier than usual, ate breakfast, checked out and hit the road, once again enjoying the countryside and this time with the destination of the Pai Canyon. From the parking lot, the trail began like this: …but very soon graduated to this: It was easy to keep going in the canyon because […]
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Our extra long weekend trip to Pai is nearing its end, and on our second-to-last day here we enjoyed sleeping in, and taking a couple longer motorbike rides through the countryside. Our first drive brought us to this beautiful temple. Unfortunately, we don’t know the name of it, but it was extraordinarily ornate. For the […]
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We began our day in the usual way: sleeping in and having breakfast on the water. Just as we were about to go for a motorbike ride, it began to rain so we scurried back to our bungalow and hung out, relaxing… …and watching the rain: Once the rain stopped, and the roads dried, we […]
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We began our day by sleeping in. We woke up periodically to hear the faint sound of monks chanting at the temple not far way, fish jumping out of the water in the pond out front and a variety of birds chirping and singing. We ate breakfast of toast with peanut butter, hash browns, tomatoes […]
Read More…We had heard tales of the windy, curvy road that connects the picturesque village of Pai with Chiang Mai. Highway 1095 is described in travel guides as one that can induce motion-sickness on even the strongest of stomachs. So, needless to say, Mindy (who gets motion sick from the peaceful sways of a hammock!) was […]
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Mindy and Ligeia decided to take a day trip to Mt. Inthanon National Park. We signed up with a tour (mostly for the transportation but also because they knew where to go). Our first stop was a Karen hill tribe village, where 30 families live: Some homes are raised so that their livestock (pigs, buffalo, […]
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Northern Thai clothing is very beautiful. In general it seems warmer than its’ southern counterpart. Sarongs are a common component of the Thai style clothing as well as tops with 3/4 sleeves such as the pics below. Here is Ligeia modeling some of the clothing that she wears to work (you can tell she likes purple!): […]
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Ligeia went with the English department at Chiang Mai University on a field trip to a village about an hour away called Mae Kam Pong. This village is an eco-tourism village and it’s main sources of money are coffee (seen below), tea and tourism: There were several locations for meditation including Buddhist temples and lots […]
Read More…Considerably later than Ligeia, Mindy heads off on her walk to work at about 8:35am, and heads in the complete opposite direction. She stays in the small streets of their neighborhood, passing by homes, apartment buildings and restaurants (the blue and white tarp covers it up this early in the morning!)… …and small fruit stands […]
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