Chiang Mai

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Arrived in Chiang Mai after a 5 hour bus ride from Sukhothai. We stayed at the 3 Sis Vacation Lodge which is in the historical district across from the Wat Chedi Luang. Since it was Sunday, the Sunday nite market was in full swing. Several streets are blocked off from car traffic. Lots of junk as in any nite market, but a great time for people watching. We sat for a time on the terrace of he hotel having dinner before venturing out into the sea of people. Did not find anything to buy and went back to the 3 Sis. The hotel was appropriately started by 3 sisters and is a great value at under $50.00 U.S. A beautiful lobby with koi fish, large rooms and a wonderful bed and smiling gracious helpful staff. Did a walk around to look at the Wats, but after the Bangkok Wats, they were somewhat of a disappointment. However, on Monday, it was very interesting to see crowds of people descending on the Wat Chedi Luang due to Buddha Day. They came to sing hymns, buy incense, candles and flowers and walked in procession in prayer three times around the Wat to profess their faith. There is an area where one can talk to a monk about anything which we tried to do , however, he was in conversation with another farang (foreigner) or had disappeared. Damn!

The next day we left for our overnite trek with Panda tours. There were 12 of us on our trek, including a group of 6 French and 4 Aussies., “M” our guide was a kick in the pants. We stopped in an eco village which included homes showing Hmong, Karen, Long Neck and Lihsu. Leona tried the metal neck wrap representative of Long Neck women. She really sympathized with those ladies. It was very heavy. What some women will due for perceived beauty. We then drove to Ma Taeng National park to start the trek. The walk was very demanding up and down hills over tree stumps and under stands of bamboo with a backpack. Rest and water breaks were very welcome. We got to the village where the elephants were kept and where we stayed for the night. Our sleeping quarters were in one room bamboo stilted thatched hut with thin pads and mosquito netting. We weren’t expecting much more but we also got a loud snoring Aussie . After a couple of hours, we said the hell with it and moved our pad, blanket and pillow and slept outside. Still heard the roaring Aussie but we managed a few hours sleep. We also heard the elephants making their roaring sounds at nite. Not a sound you hear at home. We also got to feed the elephants, not that we ruined their diet. We were told a typical elephant eats a 1,000 lbs a day and appear to have a very high fiber diet by the look of the solid waste. We went for an hour and half ride and the elephants are amazing with use of their trucks and can rip almost anything out of ground or break branches. We had a mahoot (elephant trainer) and a mahout in training who must have been under 10 years old. An elephant appears to move inversely proportional to the amount of green vegetation in the area. We did some more trekking after that and white water rafting and enjoyed a calm drift down on a bamboo raft. Both were a welcome relief from the heat. The trip was very exciting and we did a lot. But we both were hoping for more personal interaction with the hilltribes who are originally from Burma and China. This seemed to be more of an adventure trek.

The next day, we did a Thai cooking school at a the Thai Farm. It was located outside Chiang Mai A French/Ameican couple, Australian mother and son and an Argentinean couple joined us. We stopped at a local market to see some of the ingredients such a as the different herbs and rice’s. Probably a lot of stuff will be difficult to obtain at home such as galangal, bitter eggplant, kaffir lime and others. We each made 6 dishes including green and red curry, Tom Yam Kumg Tom kaa Gai, Som Tom, sticky rice with mango. We tried but there was no way we could eat it all.

Next we fly to Luang Prabang in Laos.

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Photos

Karen Tribe
She must have been all of 4 1/2 ft tall

Buddha Day
Scores of monks singing /chanting

Big Ear Tribe
From Karen tribe except for the one in the middle

Long Neck Tribe
This is percieved as increasing one's beauty

Comments

[anonymous]

Never fear, at galangal and kaffir limes are totally available in Fairfield! Maybe the other stuff too. I expect a feast when you return, haha!

[Roxane]

heh heh ...
Oops, I forgot to say that comment regarding ingredients was from me, Roxane! We miss you ..... have played tennis the past two sunny days, but other than that it's been rain, rain, rain. BTW, that whole fish in banana leaves looks AWEsome! Wishing you happy tuk tuk rides, keep the great posts coming.

[karen stickler]

ingredients
You're in luck! We are growing a kaffir lime tree in our citrus grove. You're welcomed to come harvest anytime. And, we have purchased galangal (aren't we the exotic chefs) from a store here in Vacaville. The picture of Leona-the-longneck is priceless!