It must be nice to be king.

Yesterday alex and got up super early to go to this great elephant conservatory about 2 hours from Chang Mai.  It is really hard to get to so we sucked up the cost and hirred a private taxi to take us.  We drove all the way there only to find out that the kind and queen of thailand were there that day and so no other visitors could go in!!  Ugh! So we then had to decide.... skip the beach and go back to the elephants tomorrow or go to the beach.  It was a very tough decision but we choose to wait and see the elephants.  This is the only conservation park and hospital of its size in the world and we really wanted to go. 

So what is one to do when you are "templed out" and you have a day to spend in Chang Mai.  Go to the spa of course!  For a mere 30 bucks I had a full afternoon of papering.  It started off with a full body - and when I say full body I mean every body part, yikes - herbal scrub.  After I looked like I had been dipped in yellow curry I showered and returned to the table for an hour long Thai massage with lavender oil.  How does one say HEAVEN in Thai?  After cleaning up the oil, I had a long fascial with head massage.  Glorious!!!  While I was having all of this done Alex got a 2.5 hour herbal massage for 15 bucks.  I love Thailand!!!

After our massage we got to experience something truly special.  If you read my previous blog about the monk that died then you know that his public cremation ceremony was last night and we went.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.  I will post a full post about it with pictures and video when I have time to do it justice.  Lets just say it was extremely moving and full of smoke, fireworks and fire.