Thursday, March 26, 2015

A Treehouse Adventure

I've been pretty quiet lately in the blogosphere, mostly because in our second year of living in Thailand, we have experienced a lot of second-time-arounds, which generally are not as blogworthy as the first-time experiences. But lately we have had some great new adventures which I am hoping, eventually, to share with you all here, the most recent being our weekend excursion to kickoff the kids' 3 1/2-week long 2015 Spring Break.

We had heard and read about "treehouse resorts" in Thailand and had been wanting to check them out. Turns out there is a pretty great one about 90 minutes drive outside of Chiang Mai so we made our reservations. After a few weeks of air quality readings in the near 200 range, (that's extremely hazardous, for those of you fortunate enough not to have to be familiar with such things) we had our fingers crossed that the air outside the city might be clearer. School was out and the kids were so excited so we packed the car and headed for The Rabeang Pasak Treehouse Resort.

A family owned and run business, the first treehouse on the property was built in 2010 as a vacation home for the owners. The property opened to the public as a resort in 2012 and has expanded to 9 cottages/
treehouses, the most iconic and memorable being Tamarind House.
We arrived late in the afternoon and checked into Coconut House, the newest of the units, so named for the coconut tree reaching tall beside the stair. If you look closely at the second picture below you may see the cuts made into the side of the tree. These form a ladder that the staff uses to climb up and cut down the ripe coconuts. Conrad wanted so badly to climb it himself!
Our cozy little cabin slept 5, starting with a king size bed in a nook on the first floor. An elfin staircase led to a second floor loft.
The loft had twin beds and an overlook down to the nook below. 
Vivienne and Conrad especially liked the loft and the opportunities it presented for picking on Mom and Dad.
Above is a good view of the third tiny room in our cabin, the uppermost pair of windows, with sleeping quarters for one. It is accessed from the loft, up a little ship's ladder but was too far removed from the rest of the cabin for the kids to want to sleep there. They were happy enough in the loft. (Mommy considered locking myself in there with a good book but, well, it WAS a family vacation...) In this view you can also see a bit more clearly the steps cut into the coconut tree.
We had our first meal under the trees and settled in for the night with some games and some books.
The first morning luck proved to be on our side as the air quality had improved tremendously. We unloaded the kids' bikes, borrowed some bigger ones for Heinz and I and headed off, following the map 3 km to the nearby attractions, starting with the Red Sands Field.
The Thai are a superstitious people by nature and the owners told us that this area is often called the "Spooky Sands" as the locals consider it suspicious that nothing seems to grow in this small ravine. The forest floor is of the same red sand for many meters in every direction and the vegetation is thick and healthy elsewhere, except in this patch of 100 square meters or so. The locals blame the spirits in the area. Creepy!
Back on our bikes to find the Bat Cave!
 Wait for me!
 Inside was the strong smell of guano and a very interesting altar.
The sunlit part of the cave wasn't very deep and we couldn't go very far in but we saw some bats, had a snack and headed back to the resort for lunch.
The stream that runs through the property has a limestone bed, fun waterfalls and awesome pools deep enough for me to be underwater up to my shoulders. A swim after lunch was the perfect follow up to the dusty morning.   
Nets and buckets provided by the owners make for an interesting afternoon fishing adventure.
 Pollywogs and tadpoles!
A five minute bike ride down the lane before dinner brought us to Sunset Point.
A recent litter of kittens provided much entertainment for Conrad and Vivienne. Watching them chase each other and test out their "hunting" skills together was great fun for all of us. Cuteness overload.
My soon-to-be 6 year-old lost her second tooth!
The next morning the air quality was improved even on the day before so we got on the bikes again and headed north to the small lake. It was trying at times for the one in the bunch with the shortest legs and smallest wheels but she's a strong little muffin and she soldiered on.
A stop on the shore for a drink and a snack and then it's back down the dusty road towards lunch.
A certain 8-year-old I know loves to slam on his brakes and lay patches of rubber on the streets in our neighborhood. His Mom can tell him until she's blue in the face that it's bad for his tires but most will agree that nothing teaches a lesson quite like first hand experience.
A loud *POP* and someone was left to walk the rest of the way home, his tire flat as a pancake. Good thing it was only a kilometer or so. But a slower pace can be a good thing; it gave us an opportunity to see some fun things like this lizard on a pole as we walked by.
Time for lunch and then to explore some more of the limestone pools. 
 A splash fight is a great way to cool down and clean off the dust.
The owner's daughter, Pinn, was such a fabulous hostess. With a beautiful smile, she is the heart of the place, always ready with answers and recommendations and she was really wonderful with the kids. In the afternoon she had some crafts for them to do. Conrad especially loved the wire art.
A pre-dinner drive down to the Mae Kuang Reservoir; a bit shocking to see how low the water level was.
In the evening Pinn outfitted the kids with gear for night "fishing".
They had such a good time. She helped them find more tadpoles, crabs, crayfish and snails.
She gave them sparklers!
At the end of the long, exciting day everyone was ready for bed. That is, until....
Mr. Praying Mantis decided to make a visit on the ceiling of the loft. Refusing to come back upstairs after Heinz and I shuttled him safely outside, Conrad and Vivienne slept downstairs with Daddy while Mommy braved the loft alone. (Does that prove that I am actually an adult now? I am not scared out of the loft by the bugs? It was a really neat looking one, I have to say!) But alas, all good things must come to an end and the next morning after breakfast it was time to bid a farewell to the lovely Pinn and the staff at the Resort. 
On our way out, we stopped in at the last cave, the one farthest from the resort, which we had missed the first day on the bikes. 
It had some very interesting limestone formations inside, sparkly and white, the kind that take thousands of years to form.
A modern-day Hansel: Who needs breadcrumbs? Is my GPS working??
We are back home now but the discussion continues: next time we go to the Rabeang Pasak Resort, which cabin will we reserve? Perhaps Star Family House?
Or maybe Longan Family House? 
We had such a wonderful time that it's pretty much a given: we will go back!

Maybe sometime soon you can come too! We highly recommend it~










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