Monkeys and Giant Fish

So I talked with my family for hours about the things to do in Thailand. I even asked about going into other countries such as Burma and China or Vietnam and Cambodia. It seems that going to Vietnam and Cambodia will be very dangerous since we don't know anyone there, nor do we speak the language. China and Burma shouldn't be too bad, however.

In Chiang Rai, northern of Chiang Mai, my uncle owns a house he says we can utilize for our stay in the north country. Apparently near by is a temple where you can feed monkeys that come down to see you in the 100s. The same temple has a huge fish pond with giant fish. Close by is the opium museum created by the queen's mother which catalogs the history of the drug trade.

In Chiang Mai we'll see the long-neck villiage--a villiage of people with rings on their necks. That should be cool.

Perhaps my itinerary is going to be loosely based on:

December 19. fly into Bangkok
20-21. adjust to jet lag and pick Morgan and Brad up from the airport.
22-23. leave for Chiang Rai by plane or train.
24-26. spend time traveling across borders and lookig for monkeys and elephants
27-28. river raft down to Chiang Mai
29-30. spend time in Chiang Mai
31-2. travel to Pattaya beach
January 2-3. spend time in Bangkok.
4. fly home.

That's my tentative itinerary without consulting Morgan or Brad. I'll have to see what they'd like to do as well. I'm just stoked about seeing monkeys that travel on busses.

Side story: My mom told me about monkey's last night. She talked about how she was 7 years old and living in a small villiage in Thailand. The monkeys would ride a train or bus from the countryside and travel to her house. Apparently this is a common occurance and the monkeys are pretty smart. There are quite a number of monkeys that have learned to ride the busses and trains--and I guess it's all kosher. So hopefully, when we're in Thailand, there will be monkeys riding trains with us.

I'm pretty excited about this trip.