Thailand getaway

This is normally what I look like when I walk into a zoo. I hate zoos. They are sad and oppressive and weird to me. The last zoo I went to in America was in St. Louis and I'll tell you that I had a melt down at the gorilla cage. I cried and cried and had to run out, pretending a mosquito had flown unknowinly into my eyes. It was awful. I won't even get started on the zoos in China. It makes the zoos in the States look like a five star hotel.




But this is happy me at the zoo in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Why? Because the animals are all out in the open. This zoo would never pass regulations in the States. The animals are kind of just all over the place. You'll see in pictures to follow that we can get really close to them and feed them and pet them. It's wonderful. The Thai people are about the most laid back people on the face of the earth. Their zoo definately reflects their view of life.



Here's Malachi feeding some animals grass.



Ok, so admittedly the penguin cage was a little sad. "Hey zoo people, it's ok to eliminate some of the exhibits if their natural habitat is the exact opposite of yours. Just stick to the African animal side of things and you'll be just fine."



I love this picture because it very much represents our entire time in Thailand. I went with just my oldest two kids. We were there for a home school conference. But while there, we met up with several friends. The zoo day was so much fun because we had 10 kids and 6 adults. It was fun because both of the families I was with that day had 4 kids. So we all understood exactly what life was like. It was a blast. We laughed and played and had a fantastic time. One of the dads in the group retold a story about when we first met them. He said "I knew we'd love to be your family's friends when your son peed in a fountain and you guys just looked at each other and said 'oh well!'" I love both of these familes.



Sweet Selah bear.



I think these are the rhinos. You could feed them too.



This is one of Malachi's sweet friends. They've known each other since they were 3. They often talk about getting married. We wouldn't mind that, we will love the in-laws! We actually thought about telling our kids that it's normal for Americans to arrange marriages. They wouldn't know any different and it would sure prevent some heart ache in the process.



We took some of the kids to a fish foot massage. It was crazy. These little guys nibble off the dead skin and make your feet feel really soft. We paid for 15 minutes and got about 45. Again, it's a Thai thing. Keeping track of time is overrated. We all screamed at first. It was very much a mind over matter thing. There are fish biting my feet and swimming between my toes, yet I'm supposed to not yank my feet out and scream. It was so funny and honestly, our feet felt so good.



It's crazy to think that just 48 hours ago, we were swimming and hanging out in the sun. Now I'm looking at the polluted white skies and wearing a jacket. Ahh, I'm ready for springtime.




Well, Thailand, you've been good to us, yet again. Until next time...