Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Hi a lot of jealous people,
Four days ago we went to pat tigers at a place called The Tiger Kingdom. My sister and I could only pat the smallest size (3 or 4 months) because otherwise we would get eaten alive by tigers (interesting experience it would be).When Mima and I patted the small size we realised the fur is like a cheetahs and the black fur is softer than the orange fur.

"Can I get one of these?"

Mom and Dad patted the biggest type as well as the smallest one. When they patted the biggest size tiger, we sat outside and watched a tiger that was in a napping cage. Her name was Summer flower. She was a year and a half old and she kept jumping at the fence trying to eat us. Even a 3 month old was eyeing Mima. Summer Flower was watching a chubby guy in a blue shirt who was crouching down and watching her. When he got up to leave, Summer Flower was jumping at the fence with her claws out.

"Always watching"

The Tigers have a trick that they do when they hunt. They walk back and forth (pacing) as after a while as you watch them you feel queasy. Summer Flower was doing this to Mima and I and then it walked up to a different napping cage behind us and started to stalk us. CREEPY! When the tigers get to the age of two they get too aggressive and strong so they put them in a different cage and will sell them to zoos. They had one ten year old male tiger which we think they use for mating.

Just yawning - phew!

The tigers were one of my Chiang Mai highlights.

Bye, Mattias

photos coming.....

Two T's (one for Trek and one for Tigers)

Hello everyone!
We are in Chiang Mai Thailand (pronounced Chang My.) Yesterday we came back from a three day trek. The activities we did are visiting a longneck tribe, elephant riding, white water rafting, hiking in the mountains and alongside a river, and bamboo rafting!!! My favorite part was white water rafting because you get splashed a lot and it's really fun when you go down gigantic rapids!!!!!! Me and Tias didn't paddle though, we just HELD ON for our lives!!!!!!!!!! We couldn't bring our camera white water rafting or bamboo rafting so we have no photos of that.

About 14 years of 'stretching' to go

Time for a swim

Tiger part now.
Before we left for our trek we went to the Tiger Kingdom. It is where visitors/tourists can pat tigers. Me and Mattias, since we are kids, were only allowed to pat the smallest tigers. Not the small ones, not the medium ones, not the largest but only the smallest. It was very cool. We figured out that the tigers' black fur, like cheetas, is softer than the tawny fur around the stripes.

On the prowl

Being in Chiang Mai has been really awesomely cool.

From,
 Emilia

Chiang Mai

Today we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand, it is our 2nd full day here and I love it. Tomorrow we will go to pat tigers, I am very excited! 2 days ago we flew in from Luang Prabang, Laos and got a Tuk Tuk to the M.D. House which is where we are staying. The M.D.House is very fun it has a swimming pool, wifi, a gym and a computer room! We met another family from Canada staying here. They have two boys and one girl. The youngest boy is 6 and his name is Alex. The older boy is 8 and his name is Mathias (cool name!). Alex seems 8 and Mathias seems 10.  The girl is 9 and her name is Mayelle. They are from Quebec and are also traveling around the world for a year. Last night we all went to McDonalds for ice cream and I realised it was my first time ever in a McDonalds and it was on the other side of the world. We got to go to get some calcium! It is really fun to have some kids that are our age to throw balls at and to have balls thrown at by. We'll have two more days of ball throwing and fun with them.

In two days we will go on a three day trek to the jungle and the hill tribes. I am looking forward to it and can't wait to see the longneck hill tribes. My favourite part that I am most looking forward to is the bamboo rafting.

See I told you I'd write another blog soon.  Bye,

Mattias

SNOW!!!

Hi everyone. We just arrived in Laos the day before yesterday. While we were coming over the pass to get to Dien Bien Phu it snowed!

About the snow - we were right on time to see the snow because the day it snowed was the day we left. Oh, I forgot to tell you it snowed in Vietnam in a town called Sapa. Everyone was outside taking photos of the snow. All of the locals were really excited because it was only the second time in TEN YEARS that it had snowed!!!!!!!!!

We barely made it over the snowy, slippery pass because no one had winter tires so Dad and some other men had to get out of the bus to push. When we started to go down the pass we all yelled at the driver to go into first gear and not use the brakes. It was really funny.

The snow day wasn’t anything compared to the next day when we crossed into Laos on the way to Muang Khua. On that day it was MUDDY! Everyone on the bus except for me, Mattias, and a British woman had to get off to push and pull the bus. Once we even had to get a four wheel drive to pull us out. We crossed a few rivers but not on a bridge. We drove straight through the rushing waters and once it came to the top of the wheels. It was scary. We all made it with all our luggage and everyone was happy but pretty muddy.

Hmmmm???

Saved!

Daddy's feet!

Tug - o - war with a bus

From Muang Kha we took a boat to where we are right now. We are in Muang Ngoi Neua.

A village by the river

Hi,
Today we are in Muang Ngoi Neua. It is a riverside village in Laos and has about 300 people. Most of the kids do not go to school they work in the fields and play games. They mostly play soccer and a game with flip flops and money. The town is only accessed by boat so there are no cars or motorbikes. The town has an elementary school, a soccer pitch it has lots of hotels and restaurants.  

Muang Ngoi Neua

We are staying in a bungalow  called Phetdavanh, they have no hot water and very little electricity but they are made completely out of bamboo and are clean.

Chillin'

It is really fun to play around here and watch the fish jump and look around the only problem is you can't go off any of the paths because of the land mines left from the war. Even some of the restaurants have bomb shells and missile points for decoration. This afternoon we are going to see a cave where people lived for 9 years during the war. We might not go in because you can't see much and they charge you to go in.

Left over from the war

We met four other travelers on our way here and we have been with them for four days. We might split up tomorrow as we will go to different places. There names are Celia from Norway, Mennow from the Netherlands, Dennie and Ben from Germany. It has been really fun traveling with other people because it is nice to talk to and get to know other people besides my family.

...2 days later-  2 days ago I played a soccer our team lost 6-1! It was laos people V.S. Foreign people. Now I am in Luang Prabang  ( still laos) Mennow stayed a day longer and ended up in the same place in luang prabang he said they played again the foreign people won 5-3.

Football!!

Bye for now I might do another one soon!  

Hue

Hi! We're in Hue. Here is how to pronounce it; hway. Anyway, yesterday we went to the Citadel, which is an old palace. It was stopped being used in 1945 and is very intriguing to go to. It is definitely a must do if you come here! Yesterday was our arrival day but we arrived in the morning so we had lots of time for the Citadel. It was a very traditional palace for Vietnam.

Much of the palace is in ruins after the damage of war.

Today was a very relaxing day. First we did math which was really fun because Dad and I did a math game. Then we got a little peckish for lunch so we went out and got Vietnamese lunch. Mine was really good and was something I hadn't had for a long time - cauliflower!  From lunch we had a taxi take us to a natural hot spring. The pool wasn't too natural because they had made the pool but it was still geothermal (heated by the earth). Mattias and I also paid to go into the swimming pool, but was fun but it was really silly that we couldn't dive because it was 2.2 m deep. Shivering, Tias and I got into the taxi with mom and dad to go back to the hotel.

Chillin' in the hotspring

Tomorrow we are going to see tombs and pagodas and then fly to Hanoi in northern Vietman.

Khai Dinh Tomb - a mix of Vietnamese and European influence

Bye, Emilia