SE Asia Trip (Chaing Rai, Singapore, Home)

After Chaing Mai, we took an overnight trip to Chaing Rai in northern Thailand. On the way up, we stopped at a little hot spring and tried boiled duck eggs with fish sauce. OMG- Yum! I love fish sauce with eggs! The drive itself was beautiful. We hurried to get to the Opium Museum before they closed for the day. I'm not typically a big museum person, but the Opium Museum was fascinating. The golden triangle area (Laos, Mynamar, and Thailand's borders meet here) used to be a HUGE growing area for opium. The museum really showed you the impact of opium on the world throughout history and even now. I couldn't help but think about the opiate problem right now in the States.

Two tired girls on the trip to the north.

Can you see the dog out of the window?

Yum! Duck eggs with fish sauce!

Eggs boiled in the hot spring

rolled ice cream with cornflakes and honey

At the triangle there was a temple and some good scenic spots.

The king of Thailand recently died. There are memorials all over Thailand for him. His people LOVED him.

I found it interesting in every temple there are so many ways to make money. You put money in each pot that you hope to achieve.

Golden Triangle - Laos, Mynamar, Thailand

good luck to rub elephant tusks

Zoe was very fascinated by the monks everywhere.

We all look so happy! Love it.

That night the kids fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel. We slowly moved them into bed and decided we'd just eat at the hotel. As soon as we laid the kids down, they immediately woke up with a serious case of the sillies. They couldn't stop laughing and it looked like they were not going to bed anytime soon, so we all got up and headed out to the night market. There was good music, great food, and lots of shopping. It was also Warren's dad's birthday so we had a drink in his honour. He was on our hearts and minds all night.

When we got back to the hotel we all went to bed in our ginormous bed and we all couldn't stop giggling. All four of us were like little kids until we fell asleep. Fun night.

Night market, delicious meal

The next morning we woke up early and took a tour of the area. We saw the clock tower and a cool flower exhibit. We also ate a huge pint of strawberries.

Clock tower

We then went to Black House which was so cool. Awesome architecture.

Our grumpy faces

Next we went to White Temple, or Wat Rong Khun. This place was incredible. It looked like what you would imagine buildings in heaven to look like (if that's a thing?!). It was mind-blowing. Again, pictures just don't do it justice.

Yes, I'm the King Lion. I like it that way...

After our overnight trip, we got back to Chaing Mai and went ice-skating (which the girls were ecstatic about!). I stayed off of the ice and more in the mall, but Warren and the girls had a blast. It started off slow, but they were both determined. We got home late, packed up our bags (again) and got ready to head to Singapore for the final night of our crazy trip).

On Tuesday morning, we flew from Chaing Mai, lay over in Bangkok, on to Singapore for one final night before our early departure to Fiji the next morning. We stayed in a cool hotel with a roof-top pool. That night instead of doing some more typical touristy things, we headed to Arab Street to get our Lebanese food fix. Yum. We LOVE Lebanese food. We were not disappointed. We had a lovely family dinner where talked about opening up our own floating restaurant for the whole meal (girls' idea, not going to happen).

The next morning we woke up and got on a plane towards Fiji. I'm SOOOO proud of my little travelers. The travel bug has bitten all of us and now I cannot stop thinking about what the next trip should be. This was certainly the trip of a lifetime! I wouldn't change a thing.