Good Bye Phuket, Hello Chiang Mai!

Monday, April 25: Day 13
Today we said good by to Phuket. I feel like we could have used one more day to explore Phuket Town, one evening to witness the craziness of Patong (although not really appropriate for small children) and perhaps another full day to spend lounging on the beach and time to give scuba diving a try. But alas, we have to keep trucking. It's nice to know there's a spot in the world that we'd like to explore further. And while some of the parts of Phuket and Phi Phi feel very touristy, other parts are so lovely and relaxing that it's worth going if you get the chance.
We had a 10:35 flight this morning, so just enough time really to get up, shower, eat, pack and go. I haggled a bit with the cab driver over price. He told Joe it was 700 Baht to get to the airport (45 minutes away) in the small car (think Ford Focus) or 800 Baht in the mid sized SUV. I told him we prefer the cheaper option and the small car was fine. He insisted on taking the SUV, started the engine and started loading our bags. I told him no, the small car was fine and that we only wanted to pay 700. I think he just wanted to drive the SUV b/c when I told him (again) we are paying 700, he said, "Ok. 700." If you stop and think about it, it was only $3 difference, but it was the principle of it all. :)
The 2 hour flight was w/o incident, but we arrived hungry. We secured snacks and a cab (360 Baht to go about 40 minutes) and got to our hotel, the Horizon Village Resort, around 1:15 pm. The hotel is part of a large complex, complete with botanic gardens, topiaries, paddle boats, restaurant, pool, petting zoo, sauna, playground, etc.. It is outside of Chiang Mai, but has a free shuttle into town, was a great rate for a large room and seemed like something the kids would enjoy. We walked around a bit after Scarlett's nap and found this pond with a fish feeding area. We bought some fish food and started feeding them. The koi were 1'- 2.5' long and the catfish were easily 3' long. We then wandered the gardens a bit, had dinner and retired for the evening.
Tomorrow- thai cooking school and temples!