It rained on and off throughout the night. It was nice to hear the rain while the window was open. We slept well - woke up at noon - a good 11 hours of sleep (on top of that 2 hour nap we had!). It was good to sleep in for once, our bodies needed it. Eventually we got up and headed to Chiang Dao Nest 2 for some Thai lunch.
We had fresh squeezed orange juice (which tasted more like tangerine juice) and started out with something called fried pork toast, which we had never heard of in the states. It consisted of battered toast with ground pork on top which was then deep fried. Served with cucumber sauce, it was absoluately
heaven. Very tasty! We then had papaya salad with dried shrimp and burmese noodles with chicken, pea pods, and baby corn. That was pretty good too. We noticed that there are a lot of american and european tourists here. I guess it's good rating on trip advisor helps.We then headed to the Chiang Dao caves to do a bit of exploring. They speak very little english there, but they sure know how to ask you to make a "donation" to this or that. "help the elderly" "pay for electricity" "donate to buddha". We ventured into the big cave which is filled with Buddha and other statues. Also a lot of stone carvings. We then entered into the smaller caves. Here, they require you to take a guide with you because it is pitch black and there are multiple caverns to go through. For
100 baht (but requiring a 200 baht tip!), we got a private tour guide. She showed us various stalactite and stalagmite formations and what they appeared to look like. It was pretty warm in the cave, despite it being slippery and damp from the underground water. We heard some bats while we were down there, but did not see any. The cave was huge, there were a few times we had to crawl through some small spaces which then opened up to another huge cavern. Poor Eric had a hard time squeezing through some openings that were less than 2 feet in height. No problem for shorty over here. She took us to see the reclining Buddha, which was neat. We then headed out and took a break to see the pond outside the caves with their so-called "sacred" fish, which were huge multi-colored koi fish. We got caught in the rain on our way back to our room, but didn't mind. The air smelled nice and the rain felt nice after being in that humid cave. After getting back, we relaxed a bit in our room.
We headed to dinner at the "western" res
taurant. The menu sounded amazing. beef filets, pork tederloins, roast duck, grilled salmon, mushroom risotto, pumpkin ravioli and more! Eric had the filet and I had the pumpkin ravioli. Both entrees were very well made and we polished them off quickly. I got a fresh coconut to wash it all down and we finished up with chocolate cake with chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream on top. Who knew the jungles of northern Thailand harbored such great western food? yum!Tonight is our last night here in Chiang Dao. While we enjoyed our time, I think we're both looking forward to our next resting spot - the Le Meridien Hotel in Chiang Mai. We need to wash clothes and just get ourselves clean!
For the rest of our pictures of the day, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=theresang1977&target=ALBUM&id=5388558874071158001&authkey=Gv1sRgCKOu7PHL7tu5sAE&feat=email
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