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Published: August 28th 2006
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Getting back into Chiang Mai felt like a breath of fresh air after the bad experience of Mae Hong Son and I immediately felt much happier.
I spent a day doing some further wondering around the old part of the city and visiting a few more of Chiang Mai's impressive wats as well as indulging in the fantastic food available in the city. Along the way I bumped into a girl who I had met on the bus from Pakse to Champasak and who I had then moved on to Don Det with, so I spent a pleasant evening catching up on what she had been upto in the two weeks since we parted ways.
I then attempted to go to Chiang Rai for a couple of days. I got as far as the bus station. I had been advised by my guesthouse that it was unnecessary to book a bus ticket in advance, however the day I chose to make my trip turned out to be Mothers' Day in Thailand which is also the Queen's birthday and a national holiday. After turning up at the bus station at 7.30am the first bus I could get a ticket for
wasn't until 2pm, and by the time I got there at 6pm it would have left me only about 18 hours there before I would have had to come back, so for the second time in three days I cancelled my plans.
I checked back into my guesthouse and spent the next couple of days in Chiang Mai instead. I went up Doi Suthep - a mountain which overlooks the city and is host to the most important temple in the area. The temple was extremely impressive (a rare comment to make after seeing so many of the things) and had stunning views over the city. Also, being Mothers' Day, it was brimming with Thai tourists paying their respects which made for an interesting spectacle.
Being my last stop before heading back to Bangkok I also started doing some serious shopping - spending far more than anticipated at the night market, the huge weekend market and getting another couple of suits and an overcoat tailored.
The following day I took a daylong Thai cooking class, which I had been looking forward to for the whole trip. It was a really good day where I learned an awful
lot and ate an awful lot more. After cooking each of the 6 dishes (Penaeng curry, Chiang Mai curry, sweet and sour veg, chilli and basil fish, spicy noodle salad and black sticky rice pudding) we then ate the dish and compared it to the teachers' efforts so I came away very content and very full.
For the next couple of days I then took part in a meditation course. After an introductory talk we were taken out into the coutryside to a specially made meditation centre. Over the two days I learned and practiced three types of meditation (sitting, walking and lying down), did an early morning yoga session (which was surprisingly enjoyable), gave alms to the monks and had an informative q&a session on Bhuddism. It was a really interesting couple of days which left me feeling extremely relaxed. After spending so much time in Buddhist countries it was good to find out more about the religion and clear up a few aspects which I had previously found confusing. I will definitely attempt to practice meditation at some point in the future although I'm not entirely convinced that it is for me.
I also nervously made
the decision to visit Chiang Mai zoo. Nervous because throughout SE ASia any captive animals seem to be looked after very poorly. The zoo is huge and has a great range of animals which, by SE Asian standards, are looked after very well. This is all relative as there were plenty of animals on their own in enclosures which are too small for them, but I don't think it was much worse than many other zoos nearer to home. My favourites included the hippos and the giraffes but the zoo's star attractions (and the main reason for me visiting) are two giant pandas on loas from China. Although only one panda was there (the female is ill) I still spent a good 90 minutes watching him eating, climbing, gambolling and generally chilling out in the fantastic enclosure seemingly oblivious to his audience. They are such beautiful and graceful creatures that it was hard to tear myself away and I ended up taking about 100 photos!
Another day was spent doing some further wondering, eating and shopping before taking an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok. I really liked Chiang Mai, which is a good job considering the huge amount of
time I ended up staying there. It's just a really pleasant place to stay, and it has loads to do and see and is an excellent place to base yourself if you want to see some of the north of Thailand.
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