It was an interesting day to say the least. Given a choice, the kids decided that they’d like to visit Doi Suthep waterfall, and pay a quick visit to the Chiang Mai Flower Festival which has been happening this weekend.

We got to this the waterfall at around 11.30 and had about 3 hours there. The children enjoyed the usual Sunday picnic, ( fried pork and veg made a welcome change to Kaow Pat),coke  and kanom.

Starting at the bottom we found the water to muddy and too much broken glass left by untidy beer drinkers. So after the picnic lunch we made the precarious way up to a group of shallow pools suitable for the children to play in.

The older ones also ventured into the deeper pool with gushing waterfall.

Unfortunately there was glass here too, and both little May and myself fell victim to this unwelcome hazard left by very selfish people. So whilst it is a beautiful place and the kids did have fun, we will probably not return in the future.

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

Travelling into Chiang Mai Old City we braved the traffic queues, which turned out to be not half as bad as I’d expected,and  I parked up about ten minutes walk away from the main Flower Festival site at Buak Hard Park.

As I went to let the kids out of the back they all pointed to young Som who looked very unwell with a widespread rash and swollen eyes and forehead. Immediately concerned about the possibility of Anaphylactic Shock, and with no anti-histamines to hand, our Festival visit was cancelled and we drove to the nearby Suthep Rd Hospital. Thankfully the reaction, although clearly very irritating for Som, had already started receding when we got to the hospital. The nurses were very good and we came away with calamine lotion and liquid antihistamine and I’m glad to report that Som is looking much happier and well again now.

The nurse told us to expect the rash to recede immediately and then return in 2 or three days, so to continue the medical treatment throughout. All the other children have been told about the symptoms of anaphylactic shock and that they are to alert us immediately if  Soms symptoms return.