February 28, 2013: Dinner with the Knuths at their brand spankin’ new house! Katie had to explain that we were drinking *adult* grape juice. :)

February 27, 2013: Got to spend time with the Wallaces today and say goodbye before they head back to Asia! I was coming… they were going. Haha!  Gonna miss them, although I did see them more when they were THERE then when they were in Kentucky!

Emelyn was a bit smitten with J.

Matt looks pretty good in Kentucky Blue, eh? :P

February 26, 2013: Macau to Hong Kong to HOME!  Up at 5:30am, ferry ride at 7:30, first flight at 11:30am…. 16 hours from Hong Kong to Newark! Glad I got my upgrade.

So good to be home. :)

February 25, 2013: Sightseeing in Macau! I am supposed to head to Seoul, South Korea tonight but I decided to cut that out of my trip and head home a day early.  Ready to get back to the girls!

Spent the AM sightseeing the ‘old city’, which was a Portuguese colony until 1999. Saw the Ruins of St. Paul, complete with a crypt and human bones.  Also saw the grave of Robert Morrison, first missionary to China. Spent some time at the casino and tripled my money.  Went to the mall, complete with gondola rides throughout. And then tonight I went to the House of Dancing Water, which was a simply incredible show!  Cirque du Soleil meets water.  Great stop in Macau, but now it’s time to head home!

February 24, 2013: Bummed around Chiang Mai with Jim in the AM.  Went to the markets one more time to grab a few final items. Caught a flight from Chiang Mai to Macau, where I was greeted with an amazing welcome at the Conrad Macau, including airport transfer, personal escort to my upgraded suite, and some teddy bears to bring home to the girls!

Walked around Macau tonight, which is basically Asian Vegas. Or maybe Asian #rkoi.  Either way, ridiculous money here. But for me… McDonalds Prosperity Burger! :)

February 23, 2013: Is this real life??!?!?  What a day!  We went to Patara Elephant Farm outside of Chiang Mai, expecting to either be extremely disappointed or extremely amazed.  It was the latter.  So many elephant shows in Chiang Mai are the same… watch the elephant paint and kick a ball, walk up to it and get a photo, maybe ride on the back for a few minutes, but not like a mahout… so we went on a limb and tried a place that ranked very well on Tripadvisor.

SO GLAD WE DID! We joked that we paid to do someone else’s job… but what a blast it was.  We arrived and got assigned our elephant for the day.  I got assigned a female and her 4 month old baby for the day. What a blast! Rather than try to recall everything we did, I just copied this from their website :)  Simply an incredible day with these gentle beasts!

08.15 AM. - Arrive at the farm. Get changed to your training outfit. Prepare for training. 08.30 AM. - Training session includes, hiking to find the elephant in the bush. Learn about elephant farm management and our breeding program. Train to approach and be near elephant. Learn to observe elephant temperament. Introducing to every of our elephants. Morning feed. Daily health care for elephant. Pregnancy test for elephant and care taking for mother with small baby. Train to unchain and walk your elephant to the river. Learn about elephant skin care and bath your elephant in the river. Instructed training to get on the elephant neck with difference technique, sitting on the elephant, basic riding skill and spoken commands for elephant Practice on getting upon and coming down from the elephant. 10.00 AM. - Bare-back riding session. Practice on easy riding trip within the farm and a short trip to visit local temple. Learn about elephant the Buddhism and the believe of the Thais people relate to elephant. 11.00 AM. - Setting up for a long up hill trip to visit waterfall for picnic lunch and refreshing in the water with your elephant. 14.00 PM. - Elephant riding trip back to the farm for evening feed.

February 22, 2013: A morning trip to the markets, followed by some sightseeing around Chiang Mai. We went to a former village that had been flooded/buried around the 16th/17th century… and was just found 10 years ago. Incredible! We walked around Wat Nan Chang, then Wat E-Kang, Wat That Kao, and finally Wat Chedi Lam. All so unique and beautiful.

After a stop at the Royal National Gardens (so lush!) and a lunch at a seedy local restaurant ($.75!), we went back to our hotel for Thai Cooking Classes! We made spring rolls, fried rice, pad thai, and mango with sticky rice. And the fun part… we got to serve to our friends for dinner that night!

After dinner we headed to the market for some banana/Nutella roti (yum!)
 and then found ourselves inside a warehouse watching some muy thai fights.

February 21, 2013: After Tiger Kingdom, we were looking for more adventure.  A dune buggy experience caught our eye, so we hopped into these incredibly hot and snug orange jumpsuits and took off up the mountain and through a bamboo jungle! All was going well until we came across a makeshift bridge over a creek, and for some reason the middle plank was not there.   Jim caught a rock on the side, which popped us off slightly to the left, lodging our buggy on the bridge with the 2 wheels on my side hanging off. Whoops!  We got towed out by the guide and back on our way.  I was having flashbacks of Cabo :)

After grabbing some Red Bull and cleaning up from the dusty ride, we drove to Doi Suthep and Wat Phrathat Tempple, built in 1383.  The temple is on top of the 2nd tallest mountain in the area, with a great view back towards Chiang Mai!

After dinner, we headed to the tailor to get our first measurements for our suits.  $100 for a custom suit? Awesome! Got to pick the fabric, the style,  a pocket on the left side, small details for this lefty :)  What a great first day in Chiang Mai!