Get Into the Groove

We never seemed to get into our rhythm on day one in Chiang Mai - not sure why. Nothing seemed to go smoothly, most of my photos seemed a bit off, and we had a big scare with our scooters.

Started smoothly enough at Funky Monkey - our guesthouse for the next several days. The kids think it's the best place in the world because of the name, and the two resident dogs.

Even breakfast was nice. Although the kids ate at the Funky Monkey, the grown ups wanted the street food - we started the day with green papaya salad - much better and shockingly cheaper than the ones we get back in Canada.

All raw food is sent to the official taste tester before wider distribution - no need for all of us to get sick.

Shirley and I each rented a scooter today - I much prefer this mode of transportation when it's available - more flexible way to move around, usually cheaper, and always death-defying!!

Our trip today was up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep - a beautiful temple in the hills overlooking Chiang Mai.

But on the way we stopped at a scenic lookout and posed for a few portraits.

Not only was this guy pretty good, he was also very fast and offered free sittings for the kids - he said it was in order to encourage them to appreciate art.

Annie reciprocated with a picture of her little brother in his motorcycle helmet - the guy was suitably impressed.

Finally made it up to the temple and had an 'edutainment' session in and around the Wat.

I even circled the Wat three times and chanted the words just like the instructions said - but I'm not sure it helped me later in the day.

The glazed look in the kids eyes told us that the lesson was over and time to go home. So we spent the rest of the day just chilling and checking out Chiang Mai on the scooters.

It was at one of the street markets where things went a little off course.

We foolishly failed to remember where we parked the scooters, and when we got back to where we (by we, I mean Daddy) were certain we left them, they had simply vanished! Gone.

To make a long story short, we reported the 'theft' of our scooters to the police, and then had to deal with that sickening feeling in your gut when you know you are about to spend a lot of money for nothing.

It was during our ride in the police car that I began to have some doubts about my certainty regarding the area in which we had focused our search efforts. Sure enough, the bikes were about 50 meters from where we were looking.

Commander Korn of the Chiang Mai City Traffic Police Office did not seem to buy my story that 'someone must have moved them', but he was nevertheless a good sport about everything,

But I was in a pretty foul mood by the time all was said and done, and I needed something to make me feel a bit better:

Yes - that's just what the doctor ordered !!