Merry Christmas (and happy birthday, Jessica)! We spent Christmas day exploring more of Chaing Mai and enjoying our last full day in the city. After breakfast at the hotel we grabbed a red taxi to Wat Umong, which is a very old temple in the jungle. The stairs up to Wat Umong were guarded by these dragons (nagas):
And here is the actual temple:
Also on the grounds of the temple were a series of tunnels dating back to the 16th century. We made our way through the maze, snapping photos:
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Two bats above one of the small outcrops |
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These colorful strips of cloth were hanging all over the building around the temple |
After Wat Umong, we headed to the Chiang Mai Zoo and Aquarium. The zoo was fine, nothing much to write home about except both a cute baby elephant and baby giraffe. The aquarium, however, was really cool. There were great freshwater exhibits with enormous arapimha (absolutely wrong spelling) and catfish. In the saltwater tank they had leopard sharks, black tip reef sharks and huge trevale (again, I can't spell the names of fish). We didn't take many photos except for the small bridge from the zoo to the aquarium site where we saw this strange sight:
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Those are small children inside huge floating hamster balls on a large pond. Apparently this is a fun past time at the Chiang Mai Zoo. |
Starving, we grabbed a red taxi to a place Andrew had been talking about for the last two days - SP Chicken. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived, we realized it was only open for dinner, starting at 6 p.m. Instead, we grabbed a table at a small Northern Thai restaurant on the street that was written up in our guide book.
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Yay, everyone is happy to sit down and eat |
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Woohoo! |
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This woman mixed up a few of our dishes in this large bowl that seemed to be a type of mortar and pestle |
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Mmm, yummy Northern Thai food |
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This is just a cool photo of a truck bed full of jackfruit I took while we were walking around the city after lunch |
We got back to the hotel around 4 and rested a bit before dinner. Of course, we couldn't miss SP chicken, so we set out on a mission, determined not to miss it a second time:
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Success! |
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These chickens were on spinning spits cooking quickly next to the hot charcol |
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Four hot sauces, four beer glasses, four sets of silverware and a plate of cucumbers. What more could you ask for before a meal? |
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A different view of the spinning chickens |
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The chickens were being basted with this sauce. No idea what it was. |
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Finished chicken on the plate :) I would have taken more photos of the meal, but we started scarfing things down before I could get a hold of my camera. |
In search of an after-dinner drink, we walked to the riverside and down a few blocks to a sleek, modern hotel called The Chedi. We had a coupe drinks and called it a night. Tomorrow we're off to Luang Prabang in the afternoon. Sad to see Chiang Mai go, but excited for what Laos has to offer.
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Art shot at The Chedi of my gin and tonic (with cucumber) |
Good Morning and Merry Christmas!!! The Blog and pic's are great. Looks like you all are having a great time. We have opened presents and are about to have breakfast. Cele and Derek say Merry Christmas as well as the rest of the family. Enjoy the rest of your trip. We'll keep following and blog with you soon!
ReplyDeleteLove, Dad
Merry Christmas! It's been so great reading about your latest and greatest travel adventures. Keep the posts coming, the artsy photos are fantastic too. Have a fresh coconut for me! XoXo!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the bday shout out! Trip looks fantastic so far, can't wait to see more. Typing from my new gadget too, thank you guys!
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