How bizarre!: Chiang Mai

It was a much-awaited event, the wedding of Teon & Cheryl on 9th June at the Mandarin Oriental Dara Dhevi in Chiang Mai. Apart from being a long overdue holiday with the in-laws (the last time we'd gone anywhere together was 7 years back to Cameron Highlands), hubby & I were excited to take our baby on her first overseas trip and of course, to welcome another sister-in-law into our family.

The two "stars" of the trip. Will upload wedding photos later when we get the professional ones from Cheryl as we were so engrossed in the event that we hardly took any photos

Spending 6 days away from home with a 6-month old was a rather daunting idea to begin with but we thought, what the heck? It's not often we get to go away with the family so why not make the most of it? Moreover, we'll have so many extra pairs of hands to help carry Nat and her tonnes of stuff.

Our princess on her throne at Akaligo Mediterranean restaurant where the buffet lunch was held

The wedding itself was magical to say the least from majestic surroundings and elegant outfits to sublime cuisine and heartwarming speeches. The hotel was easily the most beautiful (although not the most opulent) I've been to so far and service was simply excellent. The magnificent grounds were so spread out that we had to take a buggy everywhere we went. I'm sure the Jim's team (the photographers) had a field day. Teon & Cheryl had a Lanna wedding ceremony steeped in Northern Thai traditions complete with an interpreter to narrate as we went along. Teon even arrived, as regal as a Thai king, on an elephant amidst a procession of dancers, musicians and paraphernalia-bearers.

There was even a wrist-binding ceremony whereby well-wishers tied a piece of string onto the couple's wrists which the couple then had to keep in their pillows for as long as they were married. And no Chinese wedding would be complete without the high-spirited negotiation between the "Chee Muis" and the "Heng Dais" and of course, the requisite Chinese tea ceremony for both families.

The bride resplendent in her "kua"

After the fanfare of Saturday, the rest of our days there were relatively relaxing with the highlight being a Thai culinary class at A Lot of Thai. We all love our Thai food so when Cindy broached the topic, we put in our names almost immediately. The school is run by a very down-to-earth young couple with 2 kids. It was fun, fun, fun! We decided to learn dishes which were native to Chiang Mai so we asked for a tailor-made private class. By the time we cooked the third course, we were all bragging about how our own version was best. Talk about being conceited!

Aprons on

My yummy version of chicken "Kaeng Hang Lay"

I managed to squeeze in 2 sessions of Thai massage but still maintain that I'm more the aromatherapy massage type. The elbow-work is just too scary for me to drift off to la-la-land. Didn't manage to revisit the Raming Tea Lodge and PornPing Palace though.

So what was it like travelling with Nat you ask? Well, for the most part, it was fairly smooth-sailing to my pleasant surprise. Not convenient, but smooth-sailing. I thank God that she was undemanding and allowed everyone to carry her. The only time she fussed a bit was when she was tired. It wasn't too difficult to feed her in public either as I carried the sling with me wherever I went. She was also very good on the plane. Needless to say, she was adored by people everywhere we went. Hubby and I always thought that we think she's cute coz she's our daughter after all but it seems quite a few people share our view too. :) Perhaps it's because of her eye contact with people. The flirt!

Napping on-the-go

However, her routines were disrupted quite a bit and as a result, she became a bit thinner at the end of the trip. All the adults, on the other hand, gained weight. Also, she has also become too used to being carried around so much so it's no longer possible to just lay her down to sleep. My worst fears have been confirmed but what to do?

As for our accommodation at the boutique Tea Vana, the room we got had 2 super single beds so I shared one with Nat while hubby had his all to himself. Since Nat's such a light sleeper, I had to be very careful not to move too much in bed so woke up with a stiff neck every morning.