CHANG MAI!!!!
I'm going to start out by saying, this was truely an amazing trip! We went to the north of Thailand to Chang Mai and surrounding cities from the 17-26th December! It was so incredible!!!
Some of my exchange friends and I spent the night before the trip together then left the next day on a bus. One brought a Christmas tree, so we enjoyed a little Christmas feeling in Thailand!! The next day we spent the entire day traveling on the bus, and did an overnight trip across Thailand where we didn't get much sleep because we were dancing and singing in the aisles of the bus!! Lots of fun though!!
So the first day of or adventures with everone, we went and saw elephants!! They were definately really sweet!!
Here we got to watch the elephants taking baths. Definately entertaining to watch the Thai people sit on them and get washed too!!
Cool close up!
This elephant was the oldest one there. He was walking back and fourth on this one log and even turned around without touching the ground!!
All the exchagne students got the chance to ride these elephants for about a half hour!! It was so incredible! We walked through the forest and it was so incredible seeing the other elephants walking behind with friends on!! :D
Stephanie and I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D SOOO MUCH FUN! :D
The next day we went to a cave in the mountians! It was called THUM PHRANON and went about 360 meters deep. Inside the cave were many things associated with Bhuddism, many shrines, statues, etc..
Some exchange friends and I in the end of the cave and Stephanie and I exploring a little.
That night my friend and I put on a concert for everyone around a bonfire at our resort!! Other Thai people even came and were cheering us on!
We went to this silver factory. It was pretty incredible seeing the things they hand made of silver, and we got the chance to try a little. It was pretty difficult!
We went and saw some temple ruins later on.
Sitting on some temple steps!
We went to an acrylic painting place. Most of it was on umbrellas. It was really neat seenig what they could do.
Everone got all our clothes painted on! These people were really skilled.
We went to eat, and flowers were really beautiful.
Our 2 Japanese exchange students!! Narak!!!
The hightest spot in Thailand!!
At the summit of Thailand with Stephanie!
We stopped at a really beautiful waterfall!!
Almost all the exchange kids sitting on the temple steps!
The top of the temple!!
We went to this really underfunded zoo I guess you could say, there wasn't much life...as you can see by this stuffed animal.
Girraffes were pretty huge, but pretty far away from us.
White TIGER!! Too bad we were REALLY far away from that too!! I didn't get to see the Pandas because the adult with us told my group that they were asleep, which they most definiately weren't, but ohh well...
We went to this Thai dinner and a show that night!!
Women dancing with umbrellas, there were candles, kites and many more things in the dances that night!
This guy danced with knives in his mouth, arms, toes, legs, etc..adn at the end rolled over all of them and flattened them!
At the end they allowed the exchange kids to get on stage and Thai dance with some of the other dancers! This Thai guy said I was really good @ Thai dance..funny..I was just making it up too! ;)
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE!! Where the 3 countries Myanmar/Burma, Laos, and Thailand's borders meet up!! :D Exciting spot to see :D
Some shrines and statues...
These kids kept following everone saying "TAKE PHOTO ME 5 BHAT" "TAKE PHOTO ME 5 BHAT" and on and on..so we did!!! They were cute :D
Next day we visited one of the family of royalty's house, but we weren't allowed to take pictures! then we went to this AMAZING flower garden!! it was really beautiful!
Imagine having this view from your back porch!!!
We usualy take more pictures of ourself than the actual surrounding though! But these are my two really good friends Stephanie and Julian!
This was my favorite part of the trip. We visited the hill tribes! I bought some bracelets from this lady with bells on them, and we were shakign them and she kept tyeing them on my wrist. I was laughin at her behavior, then we just started holding hands and dancing and singing together!!!!! It was so incredible!!
Julian and I bought about 5 scarfs from this lady, it was really incredible to see her working so hard, it just looked so difficult to work like that :-s
I bought some more scarves from this woman too. It just makes me wonder how they can even walk looking at her knees!
I felt so sorry for these woman, they must feel like animals in a zoo having all sorts of tourists come in and just take picture after picture of them. But it is incredible to see, and i just made sure i was as respectful as i could ever be! Before this picture she was actualy smiling with me too :)
Just a view of what their little village with shops looked like.
This little girl sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to us in ENGLISH!!!!!!!! We were so touched, I even had a few tears! Julian gave her a 20 bhat, and she clutched it to her chest then put it in her own little purse!
Visiting the WHITE TEMPLE..it was so incredible looking and looked so perfect and shiny!
Monks going into the temple!
Stephanie and I :)
All the Exchange students together on Christmas Eve doing a gift exchange!
One of my good friends, Chase, dressed up to take away any little sadness peoplemight have!! It really made us laugh and gave us a real Christmas feeling in a way!
Our Christmas Dinner, all the exchange girls here!
4 of us exchange girls got brave enough to buy thai wraps and look rediclious and wear them to dinner!! :D
It was strange to try and comprehend it was Christmas.
Dressing up in black to go to a dance.
Temple Ruins on Christmas, our japanese exchange students are crazy girls!!
A monk praying at this statue and took some sort of offering with him.
Saying bye in the bus station, where us 6 southern exchange kids all split to go to our seperate towns!
Some of my exchange friends and I spent the night before the trip together then left the next day on a bus. One brought a Christmas tree, so we enjoyed a little Christmas feeling in Thailand!! The next day we spent the entire day traveling on the bus, and did an overnight trip across Thailand where we didn't get much sleep because we were dancing and singing in the aisles of the bus!! Lots of fun though!!
So the first day of or adventures with everone, we went and saw elephants!! They were definately really sweet!!
Here we got to watch the elephants taking baths. Definately entertaining to watch the Thai people sit on them and get washed too!!
Cool close up!
This elephant was the oldest one there. He was walking back and fourth on this one log and even turned around without touching the ground!!
All the exchagne students got the chance to ride these elephants for about a half hour!! It was so incredible! We walked through the forest and it was so incredible seeing the other elephants walking behind with friends on!! :D
Stephanie and I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D SOOO MUCH FUN! :D
The next day we went to a cave in the mountians! It was called THUM PHRANON and went about 360 meters deep. Inside the cave were many things associated with Bhuddism, many shrines, statues, etc..
Some exchange friends and I in the end of the cave and Stephanie and I exploring a little.
That night my friend and I put on a concert for everyone around a bonfire at our resort!! Other Thai people even came and were cheering us on!
We went to this silver factory. It was pretty incredible seeing the things they hand made of silver, and we got the chance to try a little. It was pretty difficult!
We went and saw some temple ruins later on.
Sitting on some temple steps!
We went to an acrylic painting place. Most of it was on umbrellas. It was really neat seenig what they could do.
Everone got all our clothes painted on! These people were really skilled.
We went to eat, and flowers were really beautiful.
Our 2 Japanese exchange students!! Narak!!!
The hightest spot in Thailand!!
At the summit of Thailand with Stephanie!
We stopped at a really beautiful waterfall!!
Almost all the exchange kids sitting on the temple steps!
The top of the temple!!
We went to this really underfunded zoo I guess you could say, there wasn't much life...as you can see by this stuffed animal.
Girraffes were pretty huge, but pretty far away from us.
White TIGER!! Too bad we were REALLY far away from that too!! I didn't get to see the Pandas because the adult with us told my group that they were asleep, which they most definiately weren't, but ohh well...
We went to this Thai dinner and a show that night!!
Women dancing with umbrellas, there were candles, kites and many more things in the dances that night!
This guy danced with knives in his mouth, arms, toes, legs, etc..adn at the end rolled over all of them and flattened them!
At the end they allowed the exchange kids to get on stage and Thai dance with some of the other dancers! This Thai guy said I was really good @ Thai dance..funny..I was just making it up too! ;)
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE!! Where the 3 countries Myanmar/Burma, Laos, and Thailand's borders meet up!! :D Exciting spot to see :D
Some shrines and statues...
These kids kept following everone saying "TAKE PHOTO ME 5 BHAT" "TAKE PHOTO ME 5 BHAT" and on and on..so we did!!! They were cute :D
Next day we visited one of the family of royalty's house, but we weren't allowed to take pictures! then we went to this AMAZING flower garden!! it was really beautiful!
Imagine having this view from your back porch!!!
We usualy take more pictures of ourself than the actual surrounding though! But these are my two really good friends Stephanie and Julian!
This was my favorite part of the trip. We visited the hill tribes! I bought some bracelets from this lady with bells on them, and we were shakign them and she kept tyeing them on my wrist. I was laughin at her behavior, then we just started holding hands and dancing and singing together!!!!! It was so incredible!!
Julian and I bought about 5 scarfs from this lady, it was really incredible to see her working so hard, it just looked so difficult to work like that :-s
I bought some more scarves from this woman too. It just makes me wonder how they can even walk looking at her knees!
I felt so sorry for these woman, they must feel like animals in a zoo having all sorts of tourists come in and just take picture after picture of them. But it is incredible to see, and i just made sure i was as respectful as i could ever be! Before this picture she was actualy smiling with me too :)
Just a view of what their little village with shops looked like.
This little girl sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to us in ENGLISH!!!!!!!! We were so touched, I even had a few tears! Julian gave her a 20 bhat, and she clutched it to her chest then put it in her own little purse!
Visiting the WHITE TEMPLE..it was so incredible looking and looked so perfect and shiny!
Monks going into the temple!
Stephanie and I :)
All the Exchange students together on Christmas Eve doing a gift exchange!
One of my good friends, Chase, dressed up to take away any little sadness peoplemight have!! It really made us laugh and gave us a real Christmas feeling in a way!
Our Christmas Dinner, all the exchange girls here!
4 of us exchange girls got brave enough to buy thai wraps and look rediclious and wear them to dinner!! :D
It was strange to try and comprehend it was Christmas.
Dressing up in black to go to a dance.
Temple Ruins on Christmas, our japanese exchange students are crazy girls!!
A monk praying at this statue and took some sort of offering with him.
Saying bye in the bus station, where us 6 southern exchange kids all split to go to our seperate towns!
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Love,
Mom