On Thursday, May 22, 2026, we awoke in Bangkok with a nice view of the city.
We had some spare time that morning, so some of us got in some swimming.
The breakfast buffet continued to impress.
Finally, we gathered in the lobby, took a couple vans to the airport, and flew to the fun city of Chiang Mai.
Our hotel was the Yaang Come Village hotel in Chiang Mai. It was modeled after a traditional Thai Lue village in northern Thailand (an ethnic group that migrated to this area hundreds of years ago).
The "Yaang" part refers to the magnificent old rubber tree that grows on the property, and "Come" means "gold", and is used in northern Thailand to denote something beautiful or amazing. So "Yaang Come Village" is named after the "awesome rubber tree."
There was a nice pool that we sometimes hung out by. I went for a swim one afternoon.
The rooms were nice, and like I mentioned above, the buildings were modeled to look like the traditional villages of northern Thailand.
There was a little porch out front, and it felt like we were in the jungle.
There was an outdoor dining area where we had breakfast each morning. You could also order food there throughout the day.
Our main activity that afternoon was a Thai cooking class. It started at the market, where our friendly host showed us a bunch of the ingredients used in Thai cooking.
Some of the ingredients were familiar, and some I hadn't heard of.
Linette contemplates the size of this avacado.
Here you can see oranges on the left, then mangoes (yellow), papayas (yellow-green), and the pink and spiky dragon fruit.
The dragon fruit was especially odd-looking.
We followed our guide to their establishment, and there she took us around back to their garden, where they grow a lot of their own ingredients. She told us about various kinds of basil, lemon grass, etc. She would pick a couple leaves, tear them apart and crunch them up a bit to release the aroma, and then let us smell them.
It was amazing how familiar each of the smells was. ("Oh! That's the flavor I love in coconut soup!")
Inside, we started by chopping up some ingredients for some fresh spring rolls.
I was a little nervous about Sharon's huge cleaver.
We called out a phrase and all ate the spring rolls in unison.
Then we learned to make Pad Thai (a famous, tasty noodle dish).
Everyone got their own burner and went to town.
The guy yelled instructions at us, and I think everyone's went well.
It was so tasty!
Some people made fried rice instead.
Linette made "Pad Kra Praow" ("Pad" means stir-fried, and "Kra Praow" means "Holy Basil")
We also made some soup. I chose the Tom Kha (Tom=soup, Kha=coconut).
For our main course, we made curry dishes. They showed us the ingredients to use, and we chopped them up and then ground them into a paste using a stone mortar and pestle. They said the trick was to crack it hard or it would take forever.
I don't remember what was so funny...
Once the curry paste was all prepared, they went around the room to ask everyone how "sexy" (spicy) they wanted their curry dish (1 to 5).
Jenn and I were on "Team Massaman".
Massaman curry and Tom Kha (coconut soup). So fun!
We were all pretty full by the time we were done.
They also gave us a cook book with all the recipes from that night.
It was Linette's birthday that day, so they brought out some mango sticky rice with candles as a surprise.
We had a fun time at our Thai cooking class!
Below is a 6 1/2-minute video of our experience learning to cook some tasty Thai food.
It was a long day that began in Bangkok, so we were glad to get back to our cool hotel.
There was a little breakfast buffet available in the outdoor dining room.
On Friday, January 23, 2026, we hopped in vans and headed out for another fun day.
We saw rice paddies along the way.
Our first stop was the Buatong Waterfall at Chet Si Fountain National Park.
We hiked down a lot of stairs to get to the bottom of the cascading waterall.
The waterfall is known by many as the "Sticky Waterfall."
The river is uniquely grippy because of the massive deposits of calcium carbonate ("tufa") that comes from the mineral-rich spring water in the area. Because of this, you can walk right up the waterfall in water shoes or bare feet without slipping.
It was a cool experience to walk up a waterfall with such confidence, while water rushed past your feet.
Here is Sharon under one steeper part of the waterfall.
And Roger and others hung over the edge of this part of the waterfall.
Here is most of the group, posing while the water ran past our feet.
The waterfall had a nice slope and went on for some time.
A few places had ropes to help you climb up, just because it was a bit steep, not because it was slippery at all.
Toward the top, it got a bit crowded. Tyler said that this used to be pretty empty, but that it has become popular on social media, so now you have to sometimes wait for a bunch of people in front of you, though it's also often possible to just walk up the waterfall without the ropes and book it to the top. I think Greg & Kelly speed-walked it up so that they could go back around and do it again.
That was an awesome experience, and it was simple but really fun.
Here is a 3-minute video showing what it was like to "hike" up the "sticky waterfall".
Our next stop was at Tiger Kingdom.
We had a nice lunch there, where they just kept bringing out food until we gave up.
I thought the sign for the bathroom was funny there.
Tiger Kingdom has tigers of various ages that you're able to interact with. Dayna and Kelly got to pet the youngest tigers (6-7 weeks old).
Several of us got to play with some that were just a little older. (3-4 months old)
They said to go ahead and pet this one, but it was 'meowing' (?) a bit and I had bare feet, so I was a bit cautious.
It was really fun to interact with the young tigers. They were a bit playful at first, but fell asleep later.
There are persistant rumors that the tigers are sedated, but that is not true. They are not sedated, declawed, defanged or chained. They are acustomed to being around people, don't view them as "prey", and are trained with positive reinforcement, so they are pretty safe to be around.
...especially when they are asleep, which is 18-20 hours per day.
Here I'm holding this tiger cub's paw (kind of a low, sleepy high-five).
The claws are in there though. The worker squeezed the paw a little to expose them.
The white one fell asleep, too.
Speaking of white tigers, Linette hung out with this "young" 6-month-old tiger.
Holy cow! 6 months old and already pretty big!
Here's another one about that same age. Niiiiice kitty....
This one looks like it's about to eat Darren.
The workers were good at giving them things to chew on to give them something to focus on.
I like Valerie's "Oo!" expression when the tiger looks back at them.
Finally, we went in to see the "giant" (full-grown) tigers. They were impressive!
Kelly and this massive tiger seem to be just hanging out.
Sharon "had a tiger by the tail!"
Yep, they really do have their claws and their TEETH!
We had a lovely time meeting these tigers.
Here is a 15-minute video showing our interactions with these amazing animals.
In yet another form of transportation, we rode in this pickup-turned-bus, called a "songthaew" (meaning "two rows".)
Our final stop that evening was at the Thai Silk Village.
There we learned about the life cycle of silk worms. I actually didn't know how this worked, so I thought it was very interesting.
Adult moths mate and lay eggs.
The eggs hatch and tiny caterpillars eat mulberry leaves until they are grown.
Then the caterpillar spins a coccoon of silk around itself.
If left to continue, the caterpillar turns into a pupa and then into a moth, which starts the process over again.
But some of the cocoons are harvested to make silk.
The cocoons are placed in a pot of liquid, and strands from several of them are wound across a wheel. This gal is spinning the wheel with her foot while she pulls the silk thread from the wheel and manages the cocoons with a stick.
She occasionally adds cocoons to make sure there's a stead supply of thread. It was interesting how the cocoons just unravel to release their silk strands without getting tangled.
The raw silk thread is spun by these ladies into silk string.
Then other ladies use a loom to weave the silk into fabric. They controlled the looms with their feet, shooting the shuttle from one side to the other, and pulling a handle to press each thread into place.
They have a variety of dyes to make spectacular colors.
Here is a 6-minute video showing the process of making silk, from moth, to worm, to coccoon, and all the way to the loom (including a couple of slow-motion shots to see how things are working).
With that, we headed back to the hotel, and then we wandered a couple of blocks over to the market area. Several of the guys had custom suits made, so Roger went in for a fitting.
Devaughn had a fitting as well.
There were some pretty things at the market.
Sharon really liked the vibrant patterns of the mango wood.
We went in for foot massages at a place that Tyler recommended.
Meanwhile, some of the gals went to get a pedicure. Lesa hadn't gotten one in many years, because the last time, her feet were too ticklish. She thought surely she could handle it now!
Nope!
She laughed so hard that she made the workers crack up. They were laughing so hard that they had to go get tissues to wipe their eyes.
So funny!
We eventually gathered and decided to get some dinner.
Later, I tried the Ice Cream Rolls. The guy pours the batter on a freezing plate and puts on a show as he rolls the ice cream up into a beautiful creation that is a bit awkward to eat.
Lesa got some sort of dish served in a small pineapple.
There were lots of tasty food options at the market.
What a fun couple of days! The weather in Chiang Mai was a few degrees cooler than in Bangkok, the town was smaller, the air more clear, and we were closer to nature. So we all loved this area.
In the next episode, we have an adventure that we'll never forget...and that just might never forget us!