Judy is a die-hard Redskins fan, and they had a game that would determine whether or not they made the playoffs. It was happening on Saturday night in the States, which meant Sunday morning in Thailand. Ever resourceful, Judy did some research and found an Irish pub in old Chiang Mai that would be showing the game and serving breakfast. Jeff went with her, and the rest of the family, plus my cousin Anna, went to the zoo.
Our first stop was at the flamingos.
We could explain to Vivian why the flamingos were more white than pink, but whenever we told Elena they were flamingos she looked at us like we were nuts. The ones in her toy zoo at home are bright pink, so there was no way the white birds could be flamingos. She did better with the elephant, even though she was a bit afraid to help feed it bananas.
She did even better with the giraffe.
But the favorite for both girls were the hippos. It was feeding time, and you could pay 10 baht for a basket of carrots to feed the hippos.
Vivian decided she was a hippo queen . . . or something similar.
Dad was brave and stood near the Emus, even though I told him that at Safari World there's a sign saying not to get too close or they'll peck your eyes out.
The best part of the zoo though was the pandas. We've seen the pandas at the National Zoo in D.C., but they're far away from the observation area, and they don't tend to move around very much. In contrast, the panda here was easy to see, and something was itching him because he was walking all around, scratching, and then stopping to eat some bamboo.
After a couple hours of animal fun, we headed back to the house. We met up with Jeff and Judy who was in celebration mode since the Redskins had won. We left Young and the girls at the house and went out to lunch to celebrate.
Mom had read about a place called Ugo Bar and Restaurant. The food was good, but the most important thing was that they had mango smoothies, Mom's favorite thing to drink in Thailand. They had a yummy coconut one too (my favorite).
After lunch, we dropped the men back off at the house. Jeff went to find a massage, and Mom, Judy, and I set off with a taxi driver for some shopping. We hadn't really done much research, so we just asked him to take us wherever he usually took people. We ended up at jewelry store, where things were much too expensive for us, but we liked the part where we could watch them carve jade.
Across the street from that, we learned about carpets.
The owner had an interesting story. He was originally from Persia, but he used Thai silk and hired Thai families to make his carpets using Persian designs. He also showed us how to tell a quality, handmade carpet, from a synthetic, machine made one. My mom and sister had seen this type of demonstration before, but I hadn't. First, he held a lighter to the carpet to prove that it was silk. Synthetic fibers, he explained, would catch on fire. Next, he took a big pair of metal shears and slashed at the carpet without damaging it. Handwoven carpets apparently have tighter knots than machine woven ones, so the shears couldn't cut into it. Finally he took a stool and banged and ground it into the carpet to show that it left no impression. It was quite an impressive display, and even though we didn't end up buying a carpet, I've stored the lessons learned for future carpet shopping.
It was getting late, and stores were closing, so we went back to the house to meet up with everyone and do MORE shopping. On Sunday nights, Ratchadmnoen Road, one of the main streets in old Chiang Mai, is closed to traffic from Wat Phra Singh, near where we were staying, all the way to the Tha Phae gate. This makes a mile long walking street market full of crafts, food, and live music. I wanted to make sure Young got to experience it too, so we brought the girls along for the first bit. Elena's stroller actually worked to our advantage, because we could use it to carve some space in the pedestrian cluster.
The girls lasted about 30 minutes, and then they headed home with Young. Jeff was there to help out with bedtime. Shopping and being surrounded by a mass of people are two of his least favorite things, so he had opted not to come to the Sunday market with us.
My dad had read in his guidebook about a restaurant called Huen Phen, and he really wanted to try it, but there was a ridiculously long wait, and we were hungry, so we pressed on. Eventually we stumbled upon a restaurant called Hot Chili with a red tent and flower decor theme that was impossible to pass by.
We only had to wait about five minutes for a table and the food was good, so we were pleased with our find. It was another good day in Chiang Mai.
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