Today and tomorrow are travel days. We leave our wonderful B&B/Inn-like hotel at noon for a flight to Shanghai and after an evening arrival we leave at noon on Sunday for home. I'll just summarize a few key observations. Our taxi driver in Chiang Mai is well-educated. He actually got his master's and practiced law in Bangkok for a while. His dad drove a tuk-tuk in Chiang Mai. After several years of living in Bangkok, and about 4-5hrs daily commutes, he and h...

Up early in the morning, breakfast at 7:30, we ready ourselves for the Elephant Rescue Park. Long anticipated, we are like little kids on Christmas Eve! We both love animals, and an opportunity to walk and play with elephants is a true gift. Some quick facts, to get those out of the way. At a high level, there are two different kinds of elephants: Asian and African (and within, there are African Forest and Southern African elephants, and there you have your thre...

Today is a long anticipated day, years in the making. Our friend Kory put us on to Yui who runs a cooking class out of Chiang Mai. It fills up months in advance, especially since Gordon Ramsey took this class to improve his Pad Thai. "A Lot of Thai" is a must do in Chiang Mai. Yui picks us up, two cars come together into a larger pickup truck taxi that holds 8 people in the covered truck bed, and once at her home 2 others join us. We are complete. We are British,...

Today we rise, not shine, at 4:25am, which is actually my usual time, so not a problem (for me). Our guide picks us up for watching the sunrise reflect Angkor Wat in the pond on the west side. Much anticipated, we rush in the dark, our path only illuminated by cell phones, over nearly hidden tree stumps and old rocks (tripping disasters waiting to happen) to secure our spot at the front of the pond. We see a pond. That's it. It is dark. It is 5am. Our guide takes...

As we leave the hotel somewhat reluctantly behind, we receive a final offering: a Cambodian silk scarf. What a wonderful for them to continue to give us warmth in the years to come. The day centers around transit. Getting through Siem Reap airport for our flight to Bangkok is a piece of cake. No lines. Getting from our arrival to departure gate in Bangkok, not a problem. Picking up the luggage from Chiang Mai, easy. Getting a taxi, rip off. We immediately know w...