The Juniper Tree - A group of former missionaries set up a foundation and developed this beautiful and relaxing resort in Chang Mai to be used on a donation basis by those who are in ministry throughout the world, but especially in Asia! I as able to make some wonderful new friends and enjoy some delicious food! I loved sleeping without an air conditioner and waking to the beautiful singing of the birds! It is just a very relaxing location and truly enjoyable!
The main reception area with the Business Office at Juniper Tree.
This was the entrance to two of the cottages. Mine
was on the left side.
Many mornings and late afternoons I would come here
to read and think and relax! It is a beautiful and calming
area around the pool especially when very few are there at the time!
a mangosteen! It doesn't look so nice on the
outside, but once inside...sooo yummy!
Above is another fruit I learned to love! This is the
Jackfruit! Again, not very appealing on the outside,
but inside is a yellow and very tasty fruit!! I am going
to start searching all over Korea for these fruits!
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Masea Elephant Camp and Tiger Kingdom - On Tuesday I had the delight of traveling to these two locations and spending the day with elephants and tigers!! It was so much fun! I loved riding the elephant, but I must say I could not be a Thai elephant trainer and rider! Oh man, I do not know how they ride those huge animals every day! I loved riding up the hills, but when they came down the hills, I thought I was actually going to fly ride out of the seat I was sitting in on top of the elephant and go right over the Thai trainer and the elephant to somewhere unknown!! I loved the bathing of the elephants and the elephant show where the elephants painted beautiful paintings, played soccer and basketball, bowed, and did all sorts of tricks!
These two elephants were quite frisky! I thought the trainer was trying to put the hat on me, but later discovered it was the elephant! The one on the right was using his trunk to inspect most of my body! He actually put his trunk inside the front of my shirt and people watching began laughing very loudly! Then he reached around to my backside and I was just trying to behave! :-)
Here I am coming down the hills! The trainer had just slid off the head of the elephant and was taking my picture as the elephant kept walking! I thought I was going to fly, but I made it!
I was able to go inside the cages of the small tigers and the largest tigers at Tiger Kingdom and play with the tigers. I spent time with 5 small tigers and 5 very large tigers! People have asked me already, "Were they stuffed?" No, they were real. In fact in the large tiger playground, the one tiger let out a huge growl just as I was about ready to get settled down with one of the other tigers. Many people were frightened but the trainers said there was no worry! All settled back down and we all enjoyed a great time with the tigers!
Here I am with one of the small tigers!
I had the pleasure of being with 4 others
but this one captured my heart! Look at
the size of that paw! Isn't he cute?
Then I went to the biggest tigers and had fun with 5
of them! This one was my favorite. Look at his eyes!
He loved it when I rubbed his back and belly!
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A LOT OF THAI - I had a very special opportunity with 6 other people to visit a hoe where a Thai lady and her husband have developed a Thai cooking class. Yui, the Thai lady who was teaching us has written a cook book and has been on several TV shows including one in America called "Extreme Chef" where she was a judge. That was is still to be aired. She was amazing and patient and taught us how to make five Thai dishes. We made them and then ate them!! Oh, you should have been with me! We learned about chili peppers and how to tell which ones are hotter than others... so you can adjust for your degree of spiciness. She also said that not everyone uses the fish sauce that is in most of the Thai food and you can keep it out and it still can taste very Thai! Yui also took us to the market to show us where she buys her ingredients! It was an amazing day - yes, it was all day from 9:30 until 5:30! I was very full when I left, but enjoyed every bite!!
On the right above I am preparing one of the five dishes Yui taught us! This one is Fried Brown Rice with Thai Herbs! I loved all five dishes we made! On the left I am with Yui as she shows the Thai cookbook she has written. She had just autographed it for me.
This is my presentation of Kaow-Pad-Sa-Moon-Prai (Friend Brown Rice with Thai Herbs). It was quite yummy - if I must say so myself! :-)
Here are the six other people from various parts of the world who came to learn and enjoy Thai cooking. We are eating our Fried Brown Rice dish! After each dish, we sat down and enjoyed eating it!
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Above I am with the Riley family! Mike and his wife,
Daniela with me in back. Suzi and Will up front on the
porch of their nice home in Chiang Mai!
Mike took me to the Wawee Himping Coffee
Shop, located on the Ping River in Chiang Mai.
We had a great time catching up with each other
and enjoying some good coffee!
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Chiang Mai - Chiang Mai is a beautiful city. What I loved was that almost every Thai person I met was so quick to smile and show kindness to me! I loved walking the streets of Chiang Mai during the day and at night and observing the people. If you can go to Chiang Mai, you really must experience the Night Bazaar! What an experience! Sooooo many people - both buyers and sellers! It is wall-to-wall people. It was so crowded on the streets that I tripped over a chair and several people! I think I scared everyone, but I was fine; just upset with myself that I had to make an entrance in this manner!
Some of the many flowers for sale at the
Day Market in Chiang Mai! I was told that
the King of Thailand got rid of all of the
opium plants on the hillsides in Chiang Mai
and asked people to replace them with flowers
that they could sell. It has been great and
there are flowers everywhere!
I am about ready to eat my Thai dinner at the Cultural Dinner and Show I attended on Thursday
evening! The food was so good and the cultural dances and show were wonderful!
Above is one of my servers at the Cultural
dinner show! He was great! Notice the great
smile that was always on the Thai faces when
you stopped to talk with them!
This is the beginning of the Night Market! Burger King is on one corner, Starbucks on another corner and McDonalds on the third one. Then the streets are just filled with vendors and people crowding the streets to purchase some of the goods!
I stopped at this dear lady's booth and purchased some
bracelets. She told me that her son makes them so he
can earn some money to go to school.
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Yeongmin and I at the Walker Hill Sunday Brunch! It was great to spend some tie with Yeongmin and catch up a bit. We had a very wonderful Christmas Brunch together! I am so sorry to my choir members at the New Harvest Choir. They had a special Christmas lunch today but I could not attend. I had to get reservations for the Walker Hill Christmas Brunch 4 weeks ago and did not know about the Choir Christmas lunch until 2 weeks ago.
My first plate of goodies! I will not tell you how many
times I returned to fill a plate! But I enjoyed every bite. :-)
This is one of the dessert bars at the Brunch! That is a chocolate fondue machine at the back of the table! I had some pineapple dipped in the fondue as well as a mini pastry!
This was the view from our table! We looked out on
the Han River during Brunch! It was a wonderful way
to begin Christmas week!
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I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being so encouraging and supportive of me as I serve at YISS! It is great to have a couple weeks of rest and relaxation. I will be going into YISS the week after Christmas to work on the After School Activities Project. Administrators only get one week off at Christmas; last week in Thailand was a week where I used 5 days of my vacation time. It was worth it! Thanks again for all you do for me! Please enjoy a wonderful and meaningful Christmas! Happy New Year, too!
Love, Gregg
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