Last day in Chiang Mai

After breakfast we tackled the chore of packing. Bo had made many purchases and we ended with both suitcases full. We checked out at 11am but our flight was not till 11:55pm. The hotel was nice and gave us a standard room we could use till 6 pm. We heard band noises and were told there was a parade to celebrate the flower festival. We walked across the river and got to the parade. It appeared to be endless. Many bands in colorful uniforms, some floats, and lots of pretty Thai girls. We hired a tuk tuk to take us across town to the Cultural Center, but he could only take us to the edge of the old town because was unable to cross the parade route. We had to walk the rest of the way. We went to a museum of northern Thai history/culture. At least it was cool. Actually, it was quite interesting and well done, with informative descriptions in Thai and English. One of the girl guards also told us how to make sticky rice with mango. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at one last Wat, with Donald Duck right in front. In the hotel, we had an afternoon snack of rambutan, mangosteen, green papaya, jujube, and apple. After relaxing for an hour (2 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond) we walked to an upscale restaurant on the river called the River Market. When we left, it was raining. We walked to the hotel and asked them to call us a cab. After about 10 minutes they told us the taxi had an accident. (There are few taxis in CM because as we were told, the red truck union won’t allow them.) We nixed the offer of a tuk tuk to the airport as it was still raining, and took a red truck instead. Now waiting for boarding ….