Lazy days are good days!
We spent the next two days in Chiang Mai just taking it easy. The first day we decided to rent bicycles and explore the town a bit better. We ended up at CMU (Chiang Mai University) and spent a lot of time exploring... and then trying to find our way out (no helpful Ring road here!).
Whoa, Schneider Electric really is taking over the world!
Inside a lab. The classrooms are a bit different here. The doors are all open to the outside- like a cheap motel. Labs and rooms are just padlocked shut and I can't imagine how sweltering it must get in those rooms - at least some of the rooms appeared to have air con!
Peter had tons of fun exploring the Engineering buildings and while I had zero desire to explore the Education department I did stop for a picture at the sign :)
Later that night we watched the World Cup final. The fact that the game didn't start until 1:30am our time didn't deter ANYONE from watching or from starting the celebrations early.
Woot Party! We managed find a place to sit and actually watch the game. A nearby restaurant had decided to unexpectedly stay open. When we showed up a small handful of people were there watching and the owner said "only 2 beer left and no food, but sit sit" (the night was going well for her). She ended up calling back her staff or children and they opened the kitchen and went on a booze run. Some staff? were just sleeping on the floor (the game didn't end until after 4am). After the game ended the Thai police had their hands full trying to disperse the crowd. We took a quick video and left while everyone was in a relatively good mood.
The next day we were supposed to join in a cooking class (yes, with only a few hours sleep-not to mention the beer). However, there was some miscommunication with Jim, our guesthouse owner, and we ended up having a free day. Yahoo for lazy days! We spent our day sleeping, eating and wandering around. Later that night we decided to head up to Chiang Mai's Night Safari.
We hoped on a songtaew (which is a modified red pickup truck with seats in the back - it acts like a cross between a taxi and a bus). There are no set stops and you can hire it privately or wave it down and ask if it is going your way.
We're on our way! Here is the view from behind.
Pretty mellow day on the road.
At the safari we got to walk around Swan Lake (just like home!) and look at lot of animals. As we made our way around darkness fell and the pictures stopped turning out. For the most part the animals looked healthy and fairly well taken care of - some of the enclosures had us questioning the safety ... but we survived to tell the tale :)
Peter's favourite! Turtle Power!
Another one of Peter's favourites. This is a deer mouse (too bad it was getting dark) but they run really fast and funny - they were super cute!
Oh, I wanna hippopotamus for Christmas...
After our walk around Swan Lake we hopped aboard the English version of "Savanna Safari" which took us around to see zebras, giraffes, kangaroos etc. Many of these animals were free to come right up to the tram. It was way too dark to get any good pictures and flash wasn't allowed. But they had spotlights and we could easily see the animals. At the end there were elephants that sprayed us with water and did some cute tricks.
Here is a hyenna:
After that was the "predator prowl" which took us close to lions, tigers and bears ... not to mention a lot of other predators that were at a very questionably safe distance. I dont know if a ditch will really deter an angry bear or tiger.
Roar!
