17 October 2012, by Jaime Teo
The Chiangmai Weekend
If you read my last entry — I mentioned wanting to try the baby leash when we go to Chiangmai. Well, turns out I forgot to bring the friendly monkey bag with the leash (I also touched on my forgetfulness my last post — it is REAL).
Fortunately, we didn’t go anywhere crowded, not even the night markets, because I strictly wanted to REST this holiday. The surroundings were definitely conducive :
Place really is gorgeous — we walked in and collectively said “wow.” Even Renee! My pictures don’t do the place justice — please google “Veranda in chiangmai” and click on Images.
It is a half hour ride from the airport and Veranda is situated in a private valley with rice and tea terraces. It really is a very zen place and that “zen-ness” is in the architecture, the silence and the beauty — you feel it the moment you walk in.
One of the best parts of the trip is discovering that travelling with a bigger group and getting a villa is most value for money! In addition, resorts with a day centre for kids get extra points because I got some me time. I know I ought to be shot, but I preferred renting a bicycle to explore the resort more than the massage I got. My friends look at me like I’m crazy whenever I turn down a massage cos I’m one of the few people I know who’s not crazy about massages… but there’s a chinese saying 一ç§ç±³å…»ç™¾ç§äºº (direct translation: one type of rice, feed hundred types of people), so I’m sure there must be a crowd where the people who like massages are the ‘oddballs’ =p
The great thing about my “me time” was that I didn’t feel guilty about leaving Renee — she was having an absolute ball of a time in the day center. She loved the slide, the drawing area and especially the DVD selection which was a lot of Barney. I think she would have been happy there all day!
(Disclaimer : Kids below 4 have to be accompanied by an adult — I brought my helper along which was another reason why a villa with its extra space is better for us!)
It was just a weekend stay so we pretty much did resort things like eating, chilling, eating, swimming, eating, you get the drift. And we only left the resort once to try our hand at lake fishing. It was a half day excursion (the fishes are released after being caught), but getting them on shore was no joke!
Here is Renee “presenting” us and our catches :
(That expression on my face may look like I was elated, but it was more I got swiped by the fishes’ tail =p)
The only stressful bit about our trip was the plane ride there— Renee cried herself to sleep on Daddy’s shoulders. I felt equally bad about Renee feeling awful and the people who had to endure her discomfort…. So here’s a public apology to those on the same flight as us…. SORRY!
We reminded her constantly when we were in Chiangmai that she must not cry in a plane — seemed to work on the flight back. Might have helped too that we bribed her with all sorts of tidbits =p I’m on the fence about whether or not to pre-empt a child about something. I half think it will make it bigger than it actually is or it will make it smaller. Ok that is not saying much. But seriously, for every action there is sometimes an equal and sometimes an opposite reaction. No? It’s all about how the recipient takes it right?
So that was that for the Chiangmai trip. It feels like a lifetime ago because so much happened after. I KNEW there was going to be a lot happening which was why we arranged for a trip before the madness. I’ll share more about the madness that happened (in my next post), but suffices to say – I’m already looking forward to another holiday =p
PS: I posted a beautiful note by author unknown in my website. It is relating to having child # 2 – Mommies will definitely feel for the note – even Mommies without a #2!
Posted on : October 17, 2012
Filed under : New Mums & Dads
2 Comments
rinko
November 7th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
you should definitely preempt your child for the flight. Perhaps you can even role play with your child to teach them the right behavior that they should display on a flight.
JJ
October 18th, 2012 at 2:05 am
Are u having no. 2? 🙂