So, Thursday we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo. We weren't too sure what to expect but the girls were really looking forward to seeing the three pandas there. None of us had ever seen a panda before. They were a highlight of the day along with feeding string beans to a giraffe and playing on the playground. Overall the place was beautiful and it was a lot of fun.
(I do have to mention though that my pad thai at lunch was covered in tiny, dime sized, freeze dried shrimp. They were fully intact- eyeballs and everything.)
Not every zoo can boast about having a shooting range attached to it.
On our way home we took a taxi-truck home. They are called song taos. Usually they will charge people 20 baht (less than $1). They will pick up people who are going along their route and can get quite crowded with people. As foreigners we can rent the whole truck- without picking up others- for a nominal fee.
Well, it was graduation day at Chiang Mai University which is next door to the zoo. We were stuck in a horrible traffic jam and the song tao driver kept trying to find smaller side streets to avoid the traffic. However, it seemed like the smaller alleys were even more crammed with people. The day was hot and we were really just stuck. At one point we heard a loud boom come from under the hood of our song tao. Within seconds a huge smoke cloud came out from under the hood as well. We thought for sure that the driver would stop. However, he actually kept going and started driving further and further away from our destination. We had no idea where we were going, what was happening to the truck, and weren't sure if we were in danger or not.
Eventually the driver drove out to the super highway (quite a distance from the center of town- where we are staying.) He was going to have us wait in the truck while he tried to fix it. We opted instead to walk to a nearby restaurant and call another cab. In all, it was a memorable day!
That sounds like Thailand, alright!
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