Monthly Archives: November 2017

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I’m an especially big fan of the traditional Thanksgiving food.  Since Ryan and I have been traveling, this has been a little more difficult to find.  That doesn’t mean we haven’t been able to find it.  So far we’ve been successful in Ecuador, Mexico, and now Thailand.

This year’s Thanksgiving adventure began with a preliminary brunch stop at a pie shop just around the corner from our apartment in Chiang Mai.  We’d never been there but I’d been eyeing the place for the past month.  Now it was Thanksgiving and I finally had an excuse to go!  I ordered a slice of mango cream pie (whoop!) and Ryan had a slice of banana cream.  They were delicious!

We spent the day driving around and enjoying the beautiful countryside.  We visited a few temples and returned early for dinner.  A restaurant at the Maya Mall had been advertising a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  We’d purchased tickets the week before and we showed up to enjoy our scrumptious meal of Cesar salad, soup, rolls, turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie!

After dinner Ryan took me to see Murder on the Orient Express.  We got the good seats at the back, which are reclining love seats, and enjoyed the movie.  Afterwards I was craving apple pie so we snuck back to the pie shop we’d visited that morning.  Ryan enjoyed a slice of strawberry cheesecake while I devoured the last piece of apple pie they had (apparently without remembering to take pictures first, so I borrowed these off their Facebook page).

I already had so much to be thankful for–more than three years of exciting adventures with my loving husband was definitely at the top of my list–but that day I could add three slices of pie to the list as well!  It turns out Thanksgiving can feel like Thanksgiving anywhere as long as you remember to count your blessings and you eat your fill.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Ryan and I recently went to visit the Bua Tong “Sticky” Waterfalls located about 60 kilometers from Chiang Mai.  I often enjoy riding around on our scooter almost as much as I like seeing whatever it is we went to visit in the first place.  The countryside around Chiang Mai is beautiful and the cool breeze feels great on a hot and sunny day.

When we reached the falls I was thrilled to discover that they were even more spectacular than the scenery.  The rocks are “sticky” from mineral deposits that give them a sort of grip.  Ryan and I climbed right up through the cascading water barefoot without any troubles.  Although we were walking in water, the rocks had the same grip they would have if they were completely dry!  I felt like a super hero.  It was awesome!

Some of the sections were relatively steep and most of them had a rope to assist, but in other areas, we were on our own.  Still, it wasn’t difficult in these areas.  We made our way (carefully) up and down three series of different waterfalls and had a blast!  It was slightly overcast but the water was a nice temperature.  At the bottom of the third waterfall, there was even a place where we could go and stand beneath the falling water.

Ryan and I had a wonderful time exploring the Bua Tong Waterfalls.  It was probably one of the coolest things that I’ve done!  My parents are coming to visit in a couple of weeks and we’re definitely going to take them there to try it out for themselves.  Get ready to get your grip on, Mom and Dad!

I’m not ashamed to admit that Tangled is one of my favorite movies.  This is probably one of the reasons my husband knew that I would be thrilled to attend Chiang Mai’s Sky Lantern Festival.  Sure it was noisy, crowed, and chaotic–making it just the type of event I would normally avoid–yet as I watched thousands of paper lanterns light up the sky, only one word came to mind.  Magical.

Throughout Thailand, and in many parts of the world, it is considered good luck to release a sky lantern.  It is widely believed that doing this is symbolic of problems and worries floating away.  In Thailand, these lanterns are often made of oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame that serves to suspend the flame source and keep it away from the walls of the lantern.  Ryan and I bought a medium-sized lantern and a lighter for next to nothing so that we could participate.

Once we lit the flame source, we had to wait 3-5 minutes while the the lantern filled with hot air, making sure the paper didn’t catch on fire in the process.  It was crowded and we had to manage this while other people lit and released their lanterns all around us.  We even had to dodge a couple that were released too early, which caused them to drift horizontally for a time, before making the vertical climb.  It made for a wild and exciting time.  Unfortunately, not all the lanterns made it.  This one even plunged off the bridge to its untimely death.

I’m happy to report that Ryan and I were sufficiently patient, and once we’d made our wishes, we released our lantern and watched it float quickly up into the sky to join the thousands that were on their way to some unknown destination.  The sky was beautiful and I watched the show for much longer than Ryan expected.  (I usually enjoy fireworks shows for about half-hour before I’m ready to move on.)  The paper lanterns were different.  Ryan practically had to pry me off that bridge.  I could have watched them all night long.