Christmas Around the World (Blog #18 11/18/08)

So after quite a bit of hemming and hawing and thinking, we are headed to Thailand for the Christmas break. Initially we were up for beaches and warm sun, but finally decided to head to Chiang Mai in the north. What we found out about travel in Asia is that summers are unbearably hot and winters are either very cold or the monsoon season, so several areas we were interested in beach-wise were not good choices. (If you are planning on vacationing, most places would say April and October are the prime months). We wanted to go to a place where we could stay put for a week and not have to pick up and move around a lot to see the sights. I think Chiang Mai will be perfect. We found a hotel that allowed us all to stay in one room (a big cost-saver, although a bit tricky with bedtimes, although I guess if we all went to bed at the same time, I'd actually be rested!). I think Thailand will be really interesting to visit, a country I think we'll want to return to. Some of the things on our "would-like-to-do" list include:

*A 2 km zipline 80 ft above the ground, connected by hanging bridges (SHUT UP, all of you who know me--I am going to do this!)

*An elephant ride through the jungle to a waterfall, followed by a bamboo raft down the river

*Visiting an elephant "farm" where elephants are raised and trained to do work

*Whitewater rafting

*Visiting temples

*A city tour on mopeds

*Hiking to a village to learn about traditional life and food

*Shopping at the night market

*Oh, let's face it...shopping at any market.
*Arts and crafts where we can learn to do batiks

Surprisingly the kids were less than thrilled about going anywhere. I know we need it, though, but they were pretty adamant about a non-touring schedule. A lot of these activities are 1/2 day so the more energetic can do something else, while others can head to the pool. The weather is supposed to be warm enough for shorts during the day, but cool at night--weather I'm looking forward to now that we're back into this thing called winter!

Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia--all places I would not put on my "I'd like to vacation there" but I'm so glad we're going to have that opportunity!