Ron and Sally Jo Blog

MCC NEA Retreat

The NEA (Northeast Asia) MCC Retreat was scheduled in Chiang Mai last fall before we arrived in Korea.  The office wanted it during February when MCC work is slower and Chuncheon is grey and cold. They asked to go to some place sunny and warm.  This happened.  We left and returned to Chuncheon with temps in the 30s and 40s and spent the retreat in temps of 80s and 90s!  What was not predicted was the outbreak of the Coronavirus.  Two members of our MCC team were not able to go with us.  (One had medical issues and the doctor said she could not risk the possibility and the other had a sick mother and did not want to take any risks.)  We missed them.

It seemed like a lot of travelling but once we got there, we could relax.  From Chuncheon we took a 2-hour bus ride to airport, 6-hour air flight, 2-hour layover in Bangkok, 1-hour air flight to Chiang Mai, and finally a 30-minute car ride to Juniper Tree, a retreat center where we stayed.  We, personally, had previously been here for a meeting three years before.  It is a lovely spot of shade, and relaxing conditions.  See http://rsjwaltzing.com/?cat=49 for more photos from that visit in 2016.  And we also visited Chiang Mai in 2015:

• Thai Food(http://rsjwaltzing.com/?p=8996)       
•    Doi Suthep and Bhubing Palace  (http://rsjwaltzing.com/?p=9055)  
•    Chiang Mai(http://rsjwaltzing.com/?p=9092)    
•    Mae Ngat Reservoir (http://rsjwaltzing.com/?p=9150)

After a rest, we visited the MCC office.  The Area Directors for both Central & NEA Asia program and the Southeast Asia program live in Chiang Mai and have a joint office.  Our directors live next to the office and we had a nice welcome supper with them.  Khao Soi Gai was served and became a favorite of all of us.  We had it four times during our time.  Khao Soi Gai is a classic Northern Thailand speciality – a creamy soup of braised chicken in a coconut-y curry broth with boiled and fried noodles.  We ended with another favorite – mango sticky rice. Fresh mango with sticky rice and sweet coconut milk and salt over.  Yum!

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The next morning we had a “working” session followed by a fun afternoon.  We went to Taweechol Botanical Gardens.  It is a beautiful area with orchids, ferns, anthurium, palm trees, man-made waterfalls, and topiaries crafted into many shapes (dinosaurs, giraffe, camels, birds, elephant, etc.).  We rented bikes and rode around for about 2 hours. 

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We then went to Sankampaeng Hot Springs.  Two of our team went swimming and the rest of us dangled our feet in the hot stream.  We boiled eggs in the hot springs and ate them with soy sauce.  Quite good.  We ended with a nice supper of Khao Soi Gai.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 28th, 2020 at 5:52 am and is filed under Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.