Day 26 - December 31st – New Years Eve and Chiang Mai

I get up and pack – some of my things are still a little damp. I apply my lesson learn and my carry-on daypack has all of my medications, our tickets, all adapters and chargers, all electronics and our India guide (our next destination).

We actually are downstairs with luggage loaded and a quick bowl of cereal for the girls and I had some fruit and on the road by about 7:05am. Everyone seems tired and the last 6 days really flew by. Allysha declares that she does not want to leave on the drive to the airport.

We get to the airport and Pam has to search for some change to pay the driver. We check-in and find a pub to grab some coffee and Allysha gets a full American breakfast with 2 boiled eggs – it is funny watching her trying to remove the shell and eat them. Pam gets a club sandwich and Aria gets some French fires and a mango drink. I am not feeling great in my stomach and order a cream of mushroom soup. I get delivered a very very spicy curry Tom Yuang soup – I figure this is what was meant but it does not look like the picture. I eat a few spoonfuls but my lips are burring so much I decide not to finish it – only then they realize they delivered the wrong soup to the wrong table.

We eventually head to the gate – our plane is delayed and we do not even board until after 11 – we are in grave danger of missing our connection in Bangkok to Chiang Mai. There seem to be a lot of people on our flight making the same connection I just decide to not worry but Pam is stressed. She talks to an Australian woman sitting across the aisle it turns out they are making the same connection and are actually staying at the same hotel as us – the Royal Princess. They are traveling as a group checking in on the children their charitable foundation is sponsoring. I think foundations are being established to allow travel to be tax deductible – I might look into that for future travels. We make our connecting flight – I think we are the last ones to board – only because there is a bus waiting to take us straight from the gate we arrive at to the other terminal from which we are departing. We still have quite a hike but we make it.

Another short hop and we are in Chiang Mai. Although I am worried about our luggage it actually all arrives and there is even a shuttle to take us to the hotel.

We check in – one of our rooms is upgraded to a suite but we still have to keep both rooms. We decide to join the news years celebration at our hotel – it is 2400 baht for Pam, Aria and I but they say Allysha can attend for free (normally children are 200 baht). It is a cowboy themed party with a buffet, live band, various games, and a few dancing numbers. There are about 20 attendees and it is on the top of our 10 story hotel.

The food was ok – the entertainment ok- the live band played a lot of the same songs multiple times – I think I heard The Cranberries Zombie played 5 times. I retired to the room for a couple hours to escape the noise and lights. We were sitting with a husband, wife and daughter from Russia – my Russian is very rusty.

Allysha wanted to win one of the coca-cola polar bears they were giving as prizes – she competed in a game to act like a cowboy on the stage – she twirled a fake plastic gun – but did not win – I could tell she was very disappointed, but she handled it well. Eventually during a break she played the drums and was awarded a bear as a prize. I went back upstairs around 11:20. All evening there had been thousands of the flying lanterns released into the night sky – the whole sky was filled with the red twinkling stars – it was very beautiful – I still wonder about the environmental impact.

At midnight we toasted with a glass of champagne and fireworks starting filling he sky everywhere. I have never stood in the middle of fireworks as they detonated. It was quite striking – I was a little concerned on might land on the roof and detonate. The displays went on for about 20 minutes – amazing – we were covered in ashes by the end of the display and I had some particles in my eyes – ouch. We all made it through the New Year awake – it struck me as funny that this same celebration would be occurring in the states tomorrow.

We retired to our rooms and I was soon asleep.

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