Chiang Mai with Erin and Craig

We have had a great time enjoying Thailand with our current visitors, Erin and Craig. This past weekend we met up with them in Chiang Mai and spent a couple nights at a hotel in the mountains. We were excited to experience this part of Chiang Mai since the the last we were there we stayed in the city. Our hotel was located in a very serene and picturesque location in Chiang Mai.

Our first night there we had dinner at a wonderful restaurant on the river, not far from where we were staying. We were the ONLY people dining that night. The northern part of Thailand was very quiet with very few tourists since it is the low season here. Not many people travel to Thailand during the rainy season.

On Saturday Erin, Craig and John went for a hike with one of the resort employees to visit a hill tribe village about an hour away from our resort. I decided that it might be a little too much for me so I stayed back at relaxed by the pool with my book. On their hike they met a few of the villagers from the Karen tribe. The Karen group is the largest of all the minority groups with about 300,000 people who all originated from Myanmar. Many of the these villagers have converted to Christianity with the guidance and teachings from missionaries who have moved into these areas. On their visit Erin, Craig and John learned that many of these villages appreciate the help and care they received from missionaries all over the world. In fact, this village was working to raise money for a new Christian church they were in the process of building. I will have to post some pictures from the village when I download them off John's camera.

That night we decided to sit out on the porch of the resort and enjoy a Singha (not me) before leaving for dinner. While we were all relaxing at our table it began to pour! After about an hour of heavy rain we noticed that the waterfall had changed to a dark brown color and was moving at a very rapid rate. In fact, the part of the porch where Erin and Craig had breakfast that morning was completely submerged under water. I have two videos that show how the waterfall changed from calm flowing to an unbelievable rapid within a matter of minutes. Notice how the table is out in the first video and gone in the second one.

On Sunday Craig and Erin flew out early to head down to the islands and John and I spent the day walking around Chiang Mai city before we had to fly back to Bangkok. We are excited for Erin and Craig to return on Thursday when we will take them to a PVS karaoke dinner. I will definitely post pictures after that night!

At dinner the first night

A couple pictures from the resort

John's breakfast and drinks on the porch with Sam the owner.

When the rain first began.

An hour after the rain had started.