A Friday off from School

Hannah overlooking the Valley

Friday (17^th)….It is a religious holiday for Thailand so the school had a day off as well.  We decided to make the most of the day and headed up to the mountains taking a scenic route to a resort that had crafts being made and beautiful gardens etc.  The scenic route was beautiful but very curvy and man did I feel sick.  At one point I thought I was going to loose it and told Steve that if I said stop than do it quickly …fortunately it did not come to that.  

At the top of the mountains there was a little stopping area and we all got out for awhile till Rhoda and my stomachs settled.  Other than the fact that the mountains were covered with tropical trees and bamboo it looked very similar to the Smokies…it was kind of hazy day…actually the first day since we have been here that there was even a cloud in the sky and we even got a few sprinkles.  We spent about 20 minutes having a snack and drink and then hit the road again with Steve doing his best to drive slower around the curves which helped immensely.  

Mae-Sa Valley

Enjoying Mae-Sa Valley

 We arrived at the Mae-Sa Valley “resort” and it was indeed gorgeous.  There was a small river or large stream with a waterfall and bridges etc.  Amazing plants and flowers were all over the grounds.   We had a drink and than started to walk the "valley".  It was a lot of fun to walk around …or course kids don’t really walk…they run and jump and roll.  We found the place where the craft village was but there was no one there due to the holiday…duh…we just did not think of that but it was worth going there anyway. 

Rhoda, Ben, Emily, Hannah and Steve at Mae-Sa Valley

About lunch time we headed on down the road to a place called Tiger Kingdom.  Basically it was a nice restaurant with tigers in cages that you could have your photos taken with etc.  Some people would lay down beside the tiger that was stretched out “sleeping” and take pictures while the trainer would stand guard with a 2 foot stick…kind of funny and I am sure the tigers were well drugged which was not so funny to me.  Rhoda told us that a friend of theirs was there not to long ago and was attacked and bit in the face by a tiger and the place did not even have a first aid kit there…now that is sad.  You could not get me in those cages for anything.  We did have a nice lunch there tho…of course I had my favorite…which you should know by now :) 

Opportunity to touch snake

After we spent a bit of time watching the tigers and all the crazy people in with the tigers…and then an ice cream cone we headed on to a snake park.  I have to say that would not have been on my list of things to do but Hannah and Emily were begging to go.  It was interesting….that is about what I thot…I am not a big fan of snakes…not afraid of them really but just don’t like them.  They had a little “zoo” area with snakes and different birds and alligators, rabbits, turtles etc.  

Emily with Python

Every hour they did a show with snakes which actually was quite good.  They gave us opportunity to touch a snake and hold a python…I passed on that one but Steve, Emily and Roger were brave and held it..yuk!  The girls had fun with some of the birds and the sounds they made and felt as if they were talking to the birds and the birds were talking back.

By the time we headed home we were all pretty tired but happy.  It had been a great day with the Keefer family!!