Mall of America

Since we had an unexpected layover in Minneapolis we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and see what we could in our limited time. Luckily the Mall of America is only minutes from the airport.

Sponge Bob welcomed us to Nickelodeon Park inside this massive mall. It was once the biggest mall in the United States, but lost the title a couple years ago… Not to worry, there is a big expansion underway, and they will reclaim the title in a couple months.

We spent most of our time thre riding a roller coaster and log ride in the amusement park area.

In front of lego land

This was interesting also… I guess there used to be a ballpark on the site.

We saw tha sign as we were leaving

That should keep the gun wielding maniacs at bay.

Jamie got a cool watch… He’s modelling it here as we ride the subway to the airport.

I was impressed with how clean the subway was, and would have liked to see more of the city, but we had to be back at the airport for 1pm.

Along the way we also passed Fort Snelling National Cemetary. It was established in 1870 on the site of a civil war base, and now contains the graves of over 208,000 veterans. It was quite something to see… I could not have imagined the enormity of the place, and we only saw a portion as we sped by on the train. There were grave stones as far as the eye could see.

A solemn place, but very beautiful. I read online that the bugle players there have never missed a service due to inclement weather. That is really something given the winters in Minnesota, and gives an indication of the respect that the fallen soldiers command and deservedly receive.

Shortly after we were at the airport and ready for the final leg of our journey.

Khao San Road

 as mentioned in my previous post, we are spending our last couple days in Thailand on Khao San Road. It is known as the centre of the backpacking universe, and while I have not met any backpacking aliens yet, I have met people from all corners of the earth.

At night the street is closed to traffic, and it becomes one massive party. You can find:

• Macdonalds / Burger King / KFC / Subway

• Beer and other alcohol sold out of coolers by street vendors
• Many bars

• Laughing gas sold by street vendors
• Fake IDs sold by street vendors

• Offers to take you to a ping pong show… Ping pong seems to be a very popular sport here because there a lot of these
• A nice selection of fried insects (especially scorpions)

• Offers of massage – boom boom optional
• All manner of souvenir shop
• Silver shops
• 7/11 selling beer and liquor at any hour of the day (except between 2 and 5 pm for some reason… I guess you are meant to sober up in the afternoon so you can be fresh for a new round in the evening)

All goods things must come to an end though… Tomorrow we begin our journey home with a 6:40am flight😔.

One last day in Bangkok… I’d say we were going to make the most of it, but the truth is we are all pretty tired, so it will probably be a quiet one, but you never know… Maybe I’ll try to take in a ping pong match.

Sunday in bangkok

After a long night on the bus, and a short rest, we headed for the enormous weekend market in Bangkok at Chetachakra. The kids were thrilled to find the Lego figurines I promised would be there (phew😓). The place was crazy with tons of people and every kind of offering you could imagine

Once we finished at the market,we headed across town to the Siam Paragon shopping centre to take in a movie: Antman.

It was a great movie in the coolest cinema complex I have ever seen.

And the mall was beyond belief. I couldn’t help but think of my sister in law Wendy as we strolled past one high end boutique after another

Thailand is not a rich country, but clearly there are some people with money here when they are selling rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Porsche, and BMW in the mall

Out of my price range unfortunately, but what an experience.

That’s all for tonight. Tomorrow I will tell you about Khao San Road… Known as the centre of the backpacking universe.

Surely the colonel never imagined he would be overlooking such a spectacle

Sunday night market

The Saturday night market was huge. The Sunday market was even bigger.

The nice thing is that unlike typical flea markets at home where every stall sells the same junk, here every stall seems to have something unique, making it very difficult to settle on what you want to buy. The prices are crazy cheap, but we were able to resist, and stuck to food. Gen and I had some pretty good sushi for about 5$… At home would have easily cost $25.

The boys were amazingly patient, but disappointed not to find the Lego figurine guy we saw last night… Oh well, there’s always the night bazaar tomorrow.

Along the way we saw another incredibly beautiful temple. This one made in teak wood and goldleaf. I have hundreds of photos of temples already, and just can’t stop taking them.

Different temple, with really detailed silver side doors

And another one (Chiang Mai is known as the city of temples, and for good reason)

On another note, we are quite happy in the new hotel, it has a nice view of the mountain overlooking the city. Here is a photo as the sun was setting earlier

We are right in the middle of the action here, steps away from the night market. As much as I can’t wait to get to the beaches down south, I will miss the character and authenticity of the North. Tomorrow is our last day in Chiang Mai. It will be a bittersweet goodbye. I hope to return here one day.

Ron

Well then Saturday night we in the spot, don’t believe me just watch😝

Hey guys it’s Cam, and here is my POV of the Saturday night market

1: So considering me and Jamie are kids, it might get frustrating to stop at a store every 5 seconds ( especially if you’re a boy, it’s like watching the exercist!)

2: we stopped by, and shot some stuff, Jamie was amazing with a rifle and won’t let go his two crappy prizes he shot. On the other hand I was good with a pistol, I had the technique in the bag.

3: after an hour and a half, me and Jamie found something we wanted to buy,

On the left, we have dead pool, marvel’s top mercanery, and in the right, we have green arrow, dc comics’ archer.If you go to Saturday market, there is a ton of stuff you can buy there. I really suggest it.😆

Chiang Mai Saturday Night Market

It is huge. Lots of cool stuff, and many different kinds of foods to sample.

The boys had chocolate waffles that were amazing. Gen and I started with Chinese dumplings that were so good we had to go back for seconds

I have found another dish I enjoy: Papaya salad – very spicy. An ice cold Chang beer on hand to put out the fire.

We found these shooting games and just had to fire of some rounds (only beebees).

I obliterated the bullseye of my target. The boys will post their thoughts tomorrow.

As we were leaving, we stumbled upon this amazing temple complex. First was a standard temple with a big Buddha inside.

And beside that, there was a silver temple that had colourful lights projected onto it. I must say it was one of the more stunning sights I have seen to date in Thailand.

      

Sorry to just dump a bunch of photos without much thought or reflection. It is very late here. I will provide some deeper perspective once we complete this whirlwind in the North, and I have a little more time while lounging on the beaches down South.

We are all doing well and having a great time.