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Published: April 28th 2011
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Chiang Mai Waterfall
me hiding on one of the bamboo huts lining the water After leaving the beautiful island of Koh Phan-gnan we had a long couple of days of travel ahead of us: taxi, boat, bus to the train station, 12 hour sleeper train (my first train ride ever!) to Bangkok, 2 hour lay over, 12 hour day train to Chiang Mai, the northern hub of Thailand. The ride was beautiful and we passed stunning hilly regions and muddy rivers to arrive in the cultural city of Chiang Mai. Our hotel, SK House II, was fairly cheap and central, with a swimming pool and the most helpful and friendly staff. Our first day in the city we shopped until we dropped - literally - with one break for some tastey noodle bowl dinner pronounced Cow Soy. It was really a strain on the will power not to buy every beautifully designed piece of clothing, jewelery, notebook, hat, bag, box, you name it. Day 2 we booked a one day tour outside of Chiang Mai that consisted of visiting a local Hill tribe to learn some of their daily life activities, follwed by a walk to a nearby waterfall, riding elephants (!!!!!!!!!), and finishing with bamboo rafting down a fairly calm river. The elephants were
Our elephant!
our guide posing with us HUGE, even the babies were so strong that they almost stole Hillary's water bottle with their death grip trunks. The ride was slow and swaying as the strong elephant lugged us and our guide up the hills into the forest. Our main source of entertainment was definitely the baby elephant trying to keep up with the mothers - she was just so clumsy - falling up hill onto her face and trunk, pausing their to regain balance before swaying in between the mothers legs as she slowly kicks the baby out of the way. After spending some time taking pictures and petting the big beasts we headed to the river for a balance test on some, surprisingly sturdy, bamboo rafts. Our guide's modo was "no wet, no fun" and let's just say we had A LOT of fun. After getting comfortable on the river we were soon to stand up and surf down the rest of the way, passing the long stick like paddle down the line to try out steering. Luckily none of us fell in, although we were wet enough by the end of it that you'd guess we had. It was a full day of excitement, but
Hill and the Baby
trying to steal her water bottle for a drink not quite over yet. That night we headed to the local stadium to watch Muay Thai fights for the first time and after doing a bit of kick boxing ourselves we were excited to see some boxing in action. Most of the fighters were quite young, and we were surprised and how hard they were railing into each other with their legs and fists. The bare knuckle fights were the real entertainment though, and it was hard for us to keep our hands from covering our mouths in anticipation and worry for the guy getting beaten. Muay Thai was definitely an experience, but we had the feeling the fights we saw were more of a tourist trap than official boxing. Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent relaxing poolside during the day before heading to a local's house for a cooking lesson. First we headed to the market to learn about eggs, spices and vegetables, and were pleasantly surprised by our guide's fluent english and contagious sense of humour. His house had 8 personal stations with a burner for each, and we all made 5 dishes and attempted to eat the remains. Luckily the dishes were quite easy to
me and the baby
petting her bristly hairs make and everyone seemed satisfied by the Tom Yam soup, Panang Curry, Pad Thai, Cashnew Nut Chicken, and Deep Fried Bananas - we even got our own personal cook books to bring home, so prepare yoruselves for some authentic Thai food family! After 4 nights in Chiang Mai we took a 4 hour mini bus through gorgeous rolling hills and views into a smaller, gulf island-like, town called Pai. It's small enough to walk around and surrounded by the Northern hills of Thailand, with friendly people on every corner. Our plan for today is to use our coupon for free scooters and spend 6 hours touring the nearby waterfalls and temples before heading to the market for some tastey grub. Much love to everyone at home. GO CANUCKS GO!
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