Chiang Mai

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Hi all,

We've spent some time in Chang Mai which is Thailand's second city, about 500km north of Bangkok, so I'll give a brief account of some of the more interesting things we've done. The place itself is much smaller and less metropolitan than Bangkok but also more manageable as a result. The old city in which we were staying is about one km square and surrounded by a large moat, with land bridges to get on and off the island.

Arriving late afternoon, our first few choices of hotel were full due to the popularity of Chang Mai with tourists and backpackers but we found a proper hotel which was also surprisingly cheap (300baht) and had nice comfortable rooms and a swimming pool. The pool was of course was our first stop.

To get orientated, we followed one of Lonely Planet's walking tours. Sometimes they are good and other times they are naff, but this was okay and the best bet bit was our final stop at Chang Mai's largest Wat.. This wasn't so much for the wat, but sitting outside in the grounds a young Buddhist monk from Laos who was studying at university came and sat with us and asked if we wouldn't mind talking to him so he could practise his English. We talked about his home in Laos and I tried to ask him some more detailed questions about Buddhism but he had difficulty finding the right words, but we finished off by helping him with some of the harder words from some of his university notes. After several hours, the sun began to set and we were starting to get eaten by mosquitoes so we said our goodbyes and he was grateful for the help. After spraying ourselves sufficiently with Deet, we found the night market and sat in the open air eating fresh chicken green curry with rice for the princely sum of less than 50p each.

As a break from sightseeing, we enrolled in a Thai cookery course with Sompon Nabnian who is apparently a Thai equivalent to Jamie Oliver in the TV chef world over here. We were first driven to a fresh produce market where the guide went around the stall and explained the about all the different items, some of which we'd never seen or heard of. Following that, we went to the cookery school - in the middle of a rather plush housing estate - to get down to cooking. We had to prepare six dishes: chicken and coconut milk soup, pork fried big noodles, fish red curry, fried mixed mushrooms with baby corn, papaya salad and steamed banana cake. We were given a demonstration of how to cook each dish (two by the famous chef himself), followed by doing it ourselves and then we got to eat the results! It was great, although taxing on the stomach eating six fresh Thai dishes within a short space of time. The best bit was we were each given a cook book with all of the dishes we'd prepared and lots more, along with how to make curry paste, and most usefully, good substitutes for hard to find ingredients back home.

Before setting off on this round the world trip, one of Stacey's aims was to visit a Thai elephant conservation park and get up closed to the elephants doing all the Mahoot stuff. We arranged a trip to the Elephant Nature Park which was founded by a women called Lek who rescues badly treated and abused elephants to give them a better life. Until the 50's, logging was a big part of Thai industry and elephants were used as labourers. After logging became illegal due to the near disappearance of the Thai rainforest, the domesticated elephants couldn't return to the wild and were often used by owners to beg for money in Tourist areas amongst the traffic, noise and smog or sometimes worse. We saw some tragic cases including: an eelephant which had been blinded by it's owner for refusing to work; one who was fed amphetamines and forced to work day and night; another who'd stepped on a landmine while working and was missing one foot and several who had been hit by cars when theirs owners had taken them into the city to beg.

The park itself was set in a fantastic location in a valley with a river running through and with the main complex made of bamboo and dried grass. We were able to feed the elephants with large baskets of bananas, pumpkins and melons as well as bathing them in the river which was enjoyable. We also watched a documentary which showed the traditional Thai method of domesticating elephants called 'the crush' which was a brutal ritual designed to break the elephant's spirit and I won't describe it here but the end result is that only 60% survive the process. Other than this, we were free to roam the park, watching the mothers and baby's play in the fields. It was definitely different to the more circus like elephant rides and trick performance that are found at many places, but was much more enjoyable a a result.

Our final day was....wait for it.....a motorcycle trip up to a temple in the hills called Doi Suthep. We rented a mororbike - I can just see my parents cringing as I write this but fortunately I'm safe several thousand miles away. It was a small 125cc Honda but was bloody quick! Renting a motorbike over here is almost insultingly cheap at less than £3 a day but is also the best way to get around. We went to a shop called “Tony's big bikes” which had a fine selection of choppers and sports bikes but decided a small one would be a good place to start since neither Stacey nor I have ever ridden a motorbike before. Fortunately, I'd looked on the Internet at the basic theory of operation (where the brakes and gears were) and decided that this would be sufficient for our 30 mile bike trip.

I put the helmet on, slapped the visor down and after a quick kick start, went on a spin around the block. It was pretty tricky but I got a basic feel for it. Then Stacey got on the back and it was trickier still to negotiate the corners and to support the weight of two people and the bike when starting off. It was in at the deep-end but thankfully we decided that the TV advert that says “do one thing everyday that scares you” totally justified it.

...And so we were off. It was a crash course in driving through the busy midday traffic to escape the city but we managed aright - the general rule of the road being that priority goes to the one that is biggest which put us only slightly ahead of mountain bikes. On the busy roads I was able to do the thing one thing that has annoyed me and has made me most envious when driving back and forwards to work - cutting down two lanes of traffic to get to the front of the traffic lights. It was fantastic and I could feel everyone else's jealously oozing out as they sat it the heat of the day.

After several miles of traffic we reached the base of the mountain and it was time for my second crash course of the day in negotiating the corners and hair pin bends while working through the gears and climbing slowly up the 8 or so miles to the summit. We passed some poor mountain bikers cycling up the hill in the heat and we almost felt sorry for them as this would have been our backup plan for getting to Doi Suthep.

Surviving this, we reached Doi Suthep on the top of the mountain. It was a large golden Buddhist temple, impeccably clean and with fantastic views looking down over the city and the valleys. It was the weekend so it was a hive of activity with local children in costumes performing traditional Thai dances for charity. It was a really nice place, a bit more off the beaten tourist track thanks to our trusty Honda. Setting off again and dropping back down into the valley was another challenge as I worked the brakes and gears hard through the corners, stopping at a few view points along the way. We stopped for petrol at a Shell garage with a difference...

In addition to the petrol being really cheap at jut over 50p a litre, each pump has a team of people sitting there waiting for you, filling up the tank and letting you pay without having to step a foot from your vehicle, Definitely the way it should be ,so I'll be writing to Mr Shell in England upon our return.

Hitting the rush hour traffic, we used our advantage to nip through the cars and get back to the city ring road. We stopped off at the local park and watched the hundreds of catfish swimming through the lake, eating bugs from the surface and saw lots of people doing tai chee and yoga as the sun began to set. We bought some sliced pineapple from a food stand which came with a new delight - chilli sugar - not a concept we'd ever thought of but one that worked well.

Stacey had some bad news that day so I insisted she treat herself to a thai massage (which was another thing that was on top of the list of things to do in Thailand) to take her mind off things. Thai's think of massages not as luxury but as an essential preventative treatment in everyday health. I took the bike for another spin around the streets, able to accelerate that much more quickly and take corners sharper with only one person on the bike. The bike was ours for 24 hours but since we were leaving early the next day I returned it to Big Tony, a cockney expat, founder of Tony's Big Bikes. Since we didn't crash the bike, I got my passport back which had been left as collateral. It was a great first experience on a motorbike so I'll be looking out for a 1.6 litre Honda Blackbird at our next destination (only joking parents).

That evening we ate delicious Pad Thai at the Sunday market. The main street of the city closes once a week and fills with stalls - ready for our trip to the hill region of Pai the following day.

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Comments

[Sophie]

Jealous!
I am sooooo jealous of your elephant experience. I have always wanted to help wash an elephant. Looks like you are having such fun.... Happy Birthday for Saturday Stace.... xx