Chiang Mai
Saturday, June 30th, 2007We were picked up this morning from our hotel by our tour guide Kay. We went to the Doi Suthep Temple which is on top of a hill overlooking Chiang Mai. This was a beautiful temple that contained a relic of the Buddha which was denoted by its four parasols. The temple is considered a royal temple and the royal family visits at least once a year. Chiang Mai “New City” used to be the capital of the north.

After this we stopped at the Jolie Femme silk factory. We got a quick tour and explaination as to how silk is spun by the silk worm. It was also amazing to see the workers weave fabric. An average worker making a basic weave (no pattern) can produce about 10 meters per day. I got measured for my first custom made shirt from 100% silk. Pretty nice!
We headed back to the hotel and then for a walk around the city. We ended the evening with one last trip to the night market, but were unable to find a local ping pong show
-Allen



we saw the Great Hornbill, Gibbons, and claw marks on trees from bears. We stopped at a lookout tower with a beautiful view of the landscape, but no sign of wild elephants (just giant elephant dung). We continued through the park and ran into a tribe of Macaques. They were fun to observe as many carried their young. They didn’t seem to mind that we were there. We also saw a scorpion and water monitor keeping themselves warm on the pavement. There were two waterfalls that we visited, but one of them had a limited view as they were filming a movie in that location. This sight was also used in the movie “The Beach”.
After the cave, we traveled to an open field in front of a mountain where there was another cave. At dusk, more than 1 million bats fly out and leave their day time home in search of food at the National Park. Before we walked out into the field we noticed a millipede which we picked up and it wrapped itself around my wrist and made a Thai bracelet for me. 
Here we traveled through klongs (canals) by boat while people sold flowers, fruit, spices, clothing, and meat from their boats or shops on the water’s edge. We tried local fruits and a local favorite, noodle soup. Some of the fruit that we sampled included
The Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The figure is actually made of Jade and has 3 different outfits. These are only to be changed by the King. Currently the Emerald Buddha is wearing his Summer outfit and in the beginning of July he will change to his Rainy Season outfit. These outfits are made of gold and precious gemstones.