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Category: Chiang Mai

Lovely creature: the downside of sending your child to a Buddhist school

Lovely creature: the downside of sending your child to a Buddhist school

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While living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we’ve been sending our son to a Thai school. Like many schools in Thailand, this one works on Buddhist values with the children. Our son’s been learning mindfulness and love of creatures. This love of animals is something we try to do at home as well. A lifelong arachnophobe, I’ve had to get over my initial reaction to spiders (“KILL THEM, KILL THEM. AND IF YOU CAN’T KILL THEM BURN THE HOUSE TO THE…

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Snake in the garden!

Snake in the garden!

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I’ve been in Thailand for nearly 6 months now, and am starting to feel very comfortable here. However, the feeling of being very far from home never quite goes away. Sometimes it’s distant, other times it hits me without notice. Coming back from Vietnam and finding a 2m long snake in our garden was one of those times. Karl was out of the house and the kids were asleep, so I was alone. I saw a cat coming into our…

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Sticky Waterfall, Chiang Mai
Sticky Waterfalls, Chiang Mai (Bua Thong Waterfalls)

Sticky Waterfalls, Chiang Mai (Bua Thong Waterfalls)

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Today we visited the Bua Thong Sticky Waterfall (Nam Phu Chet Si). We visited the Mae Sa waterfall a couple of weeks ago, which was a big hit with Jack. He turned 3 today. What better birthday present than a family trip to another Chiang Mai waterfall? The Bua Tong waterfalls are called ‘Sticky’ because you can walk up them. And yes, when I say ‘walk up them’ I do mean like Tom Cruise climbing up the wall in Ghost…

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Hidden Village Chiang Mai
Hidden Village Dinosaur Park, Chiang Mai

Hidden Village Dinosaur Park, Chiang Mai

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We found out from our Thai nanny about the new Hidden Village dinosaur park in Chiang Mai. With a 3 year old boy there was really no question of whether or not we’d go. There’s a pretty spacious car park in front, with cows grazing in the field opposite. After a few minutes of convincing Jack that the park would also be as fun as watching the cows, we entered. Admission fee for Hidden Village was 200 baht per adult…

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Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Chiang Mai
Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

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Our nearly 3 year old, Jack, loves animals so it was a no brainer to go to an Elephant sanctuary. There are many ways to see Elephants in Thailand, but some are less ethical than others. It’s common to people riding elephants in Thailand (we saw some on our drive out), but thankfully now Thai tourism is turning away from such practices. I’ll go into detail a little later about the history of elephants in Thailand. We opted for a…

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Markets in Tachileik
Doing a ‘visa run’ from Thailand to Myanmar (Burma) with kids

Doing a ‘visa run’ from Thailand to Myanmar (Burma) with kids

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Last weekend we did our first ‘visa run’ to Myanmar. We’re on a 6 month, multi-entry visitor visa to Thailand. When entering Thailand on this visa you get a stamp with leave to remain in Thailand for 60 days. We had the option to pay 1900 baht (£44/$58USD) at immigration for a 30 day extension. However with 4 of us it would get pretty expensive. You have to pay every cost (visas, visa extensions etc) per passport, meaning that our 11…

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Yee Peng Festival - Sky Lantern release at Nawarat Bridge
Yee Peng Festival of Lights (Yi Peng), Chiang Mai

Yee Peng Festival of Lights (Yi Peng), Chiang Mai

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In Chiang Mai, the Loy Krathong festival is coupled with the Yee Peng festival of lights (also known as ‘Yi Peng’). The celebrations occur over a 3 day period around the day of the full moon in the 12th month of the Thai Lunar calendar. Loy Krathong is celebrated around Southeast Asia, but Yee Peng is unique to Chiang Mai. Read about the Loy Krathong Festival opening ceremony here Yee Peng Festival Sky Lanterns The main event of Yee Peng…

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Loy Krathong ‘Floating Basket’ festival opening ceremony, Chiang Mai

Loy Krathong ‘Floating Basket’ festival opening ceremony, Chiang Mai

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The Loy Krathong festival is one of the biggest events of the year in Chiang Mai. It is a Siamese festival, that is held in Thailand and many of the surrounding countries. It is usually held sometime in October or November, on the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai Lunar calendar. So in the Western calendar the dates differ each year. Loy Krathong festival Loy Krathong means ‘decorative floats’. Floats are traditionally made from banana leaf with…

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Nana Jungle market grilled fish stall, Chiang Mai
Nana Jungle market, Chiang Mai

Nana Jungle market, Chiang Mai

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Today we visited one of Chiang Mai’s fantastic Saturday Markets – Nana Jungle Market. Nestled into trees on the edge of Chang Phueak, it’s a beautiful, secluded spot for a market. As you drive up, you pass lakes, streams and rice paddies. The mountains of the Doi Suthep National Park can be seen in the distance. The market itself is nestled into a wood. There’s a great variety of interesting, high quality stalls there – clothes, bread, food, crafts, coffee….

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Cauliflower 'chicken wings' at Vegan Heaven restaurant in Chiang Mai old town
Vegan Heaven in Chiang Mai old town

Vegan Heaven in Chiang Mai old town

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Yesterday we went into Chiang Mai old town and happened across ‘Vegan Heaven’. Although we’re not Vegan, we do like the food, so thought we’d try it. Vegan Heaven restaraunt, Chiang Mai old town The restaraunt was nice, although it was definitely aimed at proper vegans, not wannabes like us. It had lots of quotes from famous vegans on the walls. I’m sure they would have been very inspiring for actual vegans, but they just served to make us feel…

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