A blog about stuff we do.
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Doi Suthep
Our last day in Chiang Mai we went to a Buddhist temple up on a mountain. It was beautiful and quite busy with worshipers. You must remove your shoes before entering That night we went to the night market. We got some great food and enjoyed walking up and down the streets shopping.
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Long day to Laos
Doug and I decided we wanted to go on a day tour that would take us up to Laos with some interesting stops along the way. First stop was some natural hot springs. This wasn’t too exciting for us, being from Idaho, but it was pretty cool to see because there were some elderly ladies…
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Elephants, Tigers and Butterflies…oh my!
Our second day in Chiang Mai was really epic. [WARNING: Lots of pictures ahead!] First thing we did was ride elephants through the Thai jungle. I was so excited! I’d never been that close to an elephant before. They are truly amazing creatures. So gentle and majestic. They were just awesome to be around.…
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Chiang Mai
After our lazy and relaxing time on the beaches of southern Thailand, we flew up north to a place called Chiang Mai. We were so impressed with how clean and beautiful the city was. We loved exploring and went on a self-guided tour around some of the Buddhist temples in the area. The city is…
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Koh Pu
After the touristy hustle and bustle of Phi Phi we decided to slow down and head to a more remote island called Koh Pu. So, yes, we went from “pee-pee” to “poo”. We were some of the only ones going there on the ferry. The ferry can’t even dock on this small island. The ferry…
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Koh Phi Phi
Our next stop was another island called Koh Phi Phi (pronounced koh pee-pee; it’s ok, you can laugh). Just a two hour ferry ride away from Phuket, this was a great island get-away. No luxury hotel for us here- we stayed in a pretty basic bungalow. When the scenery is this beautiful, who cares if you don’t…
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Phuket
We left China very early Christmas Eve morning. We had a seven hour lay over in Guangzhou, China (which was an uninteresting airport). After our boredom set in, we played a game called “Spot the Foreigner”. Basically, whoever noticed the most foreigners won. I think we only got up to 9 or so. The second we landed in Bangkok…
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Farewell China
Hard to believe that it is already our last night in China. There are many things we aren’t going to miss: the driving, the cold/unheated buildings, the people selling Chinese whiskey and bread outside our apartment that yell every day, seeing everyone hawking loogies, our bathroom, not being able to flush toilet paper, “squatter” toilets,…
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Kung Fu
Last week my student Bee told me one of his hobbies is Kung Fu. I asked him if he would perform for Doug and I and he happily agreed. He used nun chucks and moved so quickly and gracefully that he made it look really easy. He was really entertaining to watch. Bee asked if Doug…
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Streets of Xiangtan
Take several million people and add bicycles, rickshaws, wagons, mopeds, moto-taxis, cars and buses then subtract all common sense, courtesy for others and a general regard for human life and what does that equal? A typical street in China. At the beginning of the semester I had a lot of students ask me what the…
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