CHIANG MAI FINAL DAYS

Our last couple of days in Chiang Mai were spent shopping at the night market. You can find just about anything there! Our best purchases were backpacks (we bought 5) and pirated DVD's. Kasey was obsessed with buying a new piece of luggage and Shelby was determined to help her get the best deal. They went back and forth to different vendors at the market, haggling for the best price. In Thailand it is customary to bargain using a calculator. You can tell the guy what you're willing to pay, then he hands you a huge calculator and you have to enter the amount you wish to pay. He then feigns shock over your price, and proceeds to enter his amount in the calculator and passes it back to you. The bargaining continues as the calculator is passed back and forth. Shelby met his match with a guy who was not about to lose the sale. As Shelby and Kasey were walking away, the man grabbed Shelby and pulled him back into his shop, calling him "My friend, my brother, my homey!" hahaha the next thing I knew, here comes Shelby walking down the street wheeling a new suitcase behind him.......Wesley's favorite purchase was a package of "trick" chewing gum that is intended to shock the person who takes a stick of the gum. It was obvious to me that it was not a real package of gum, I KNEW it would scare me or make me jump, but I was not prepared for what happened next. Wesley begged me and begged me to please take a stick of gum, he bugged me for so long that I finally gave in against my better judgement just to get him to leave me alone (the things we do to humor our children!) and that thing shocked the pee out of me! No kidding, I wet my pants! It hurt! Wesley and Kasey were rolling on the ground they were laughing so hard. Glad I could make their day.......

We took some photographs with us and had some local artists do pencil drawings. They were AMAZING!!!

This is what durian fruit looks like. Durian is called the "king of all fruits" and you can smell it from a mile away. People either love it or they hate it. The smell is so offensive that it is forbidden on most public transportation. It smells like stinky feet! No, I have never tried it, nor do I plan to. I loved the fresh tangerine juice here, and Wesley drank gallon after gallon of fresh lime juice. Kasey made the mistake of ordering a bowl full of fresh strawberries, thinking they were sprinkled with sugar-but instead they sprinkle the berries with a sugar/salt mixture. yuk.

We ate a lot of Thai food here and also found a tex-mex restaurant called Miguel's which was the best mexican food we've had since leaving Texas. We ordered enough food for an army and the margaritas were good, too!

At the night market

Doing our best to bargain

Red Bull and Coca Cola t-shirts in Thai

These two guys work at Haagen Dazs and are students at the University of Chiang Mai. We had fun talking to them, and went to Haagen Dazs five days in a row just so we could see them (and eat ice cream!) One day we walked in and I asked "how are you?" to the guy on the right, to which he replied "Nineteen!" It was so darn funny, his friend cracked up and we all got a good laugh out of it. :)

This sign was at the counter at Haagen Dazs.

Another 4 person scooter sighting and we're still shooting for 5!

The one hour family foot massage was to die for! I think we all enjoyed it except for Wes. Foot massages are a big business here, all up and down the streets. A one-hour foot massage cost the equivalent of $6 US dollars. I also had a 2 hour traditional Thai massage one day at the spa and remind me to stick with swedish massages from now on. That gal folded me up like origami!