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Published: February 11th 2008
Thursday 27 December 2007 We arrived in Bangkok from Khao Lak after a very comfortable ride on our VIP24 bus. The bus is named as such because it only has 24 seats (3 across and 8 from front to back on a full sized passenger bus). The seats were almost as big as single beds and reclined almost all the way back (photos). There is a bathroom on the bus, the staff are polite, they also stop for rest breaks and they feed you - this included our first taste of ‘orange juice milk’ (photo). All of this for about 1000 Baht (approx $30 AUD) - bargain! It’s as close as we’re getting to business class on this trip.
Arriving at the southern bus station which is quite far from the city, we caught a cheap metered taxi to Hua Lampong Railway Station in hope of a train to Chiang Mai. We were out of luck because it was Thai holidays so “locals” had fully booked the trains to go home to visit relatives. At the travel agent on the top floor of the railway station we found a bus to take us to Chiang Mai which would take
about 9 hours. We were assured it would be a very comfortable bus.
As we had about 1.5 hours until our scheduled pickup at 8am we had some yummy breakfast from the bakery and then endeavoured to find some accommodation in Chiang Mai. With the internet cafe not opening until 10am and thus no opportunity to ‘background check’ any hotels in our Lonely Planet, we pulled out a pamphlet we had picked up at Private Beach Resort in Ao Nang for a small guesthouse in Chiang Mai. As we had enjoyed Private Beach Resort, we decided to take our chances with this guesthouse. We phoned Green Tulip Guesthouse and booked a room.
Our bus, of course, was running on ‘Thai time’ and so was 2 hours late arriving in Chiang Mai which meant 2 extra hours of Die Hard in Thai with no subtitles followed by very loud Thai karaoke. We suspect the DVD wasn’t “original” as it jumped quite a bit and died before all the baddies in the film died.
Arriving in Chiang Mai, we were warmly greeted by the Green Tulip crowd. Green Tulip has truly been about the best place we stayed in
Orange juice milk
Surprisingly tasty!3 months of travelling. It ticks all the boxes AND MORE! - it is immaculately clean, it has new functional facilities, it is cheap (400 Baht per double), the staff are friendly and honest, it is centrally located in the old city near Wat Prah Singh, the restaurant serves delicious food prepared by the wonderful and charismatic Stella, Nine arranges fantastic tours, and Doug makes sure everything ran smoothly. Stella runs the place with a passion that is unrivalled. She treats the guests like family!
Friday 28 December 2007 We spent a lazy morning planning our stay in Chiang Mai and arranging tours with Nine for the next few days. Originally we had planned to only pass through Chiang Mai on the way to Chiang Rai, the reason being that Chiang Mai had a poor reputation for being too ‘touristy’ and full of touts trying to scam you. When we found Green Tulip House to be so good, we decided to stay in Chiang Mai and leave Chiang Rai for another time. So it’s pencilled in for our next trip. We’ll come back to see Laos some day as everyone we met raves about it and Chiang Rai
is a convenient entry to Laos.
Having completed our planning for the week and booked our tours, we took the rest of the day to wander around the old city.
Chiang Mai is an ancient walled city with a moat around it. It competes with Bangkok for largest number of Wats (temples).
Our first stop was Wat Prah Singh which is the largest temple in the city. It attracts Buddhist monks from all over Thailand and neighbouring countries to study there. We had a nice chat with a monk from Laos. The temple houses a large golden Buddha (photo) and the interior was strung up with offerings for the festival that was being held (photo). The inside walls are covered in carefully restored ancient murals of stories from Buddhist scriptures (photos) with some parts left unrestored to show just how old they are. Outside the temple the columns and statues are covered in shining mosaics (photo) and a large Chedi resides in the complex behind the temple with a curious pulley-system to lift water to the top of the spire to bless it (photo).
Barbara enjoyed a delicious lunch of fish ball soup from a local
Buddha
Wat Prah Singh eatery. Michael, however, wasn’t so keen!
We strolled past the Three Kings Monument (photo) to Wat Chiang Man, the oldest temple in Chiang Mai having been built over 700 years ago. Behind the main Buddha shrine (photo) in a security cage is housed the Crystal Buddha (1000 yrs old) and the Marble Buddha (2500 yrs old). The Chedi is surrounded by ancient elephant statues (photo); elephant murals cover the interior walls of the temple (photo).
Wandering further north we came to the northern gate of the city (photo) and the surrounding moat (photo). Beyond them sits Wat Chian Yuen, one of the oldest in Chiang Mai province. In ancient times, Kings had to worship at this temple before they could become King.
Rounding the North-east corner of the city wall which was brightly decorated for the current King’s birthday (photo) we spotted the strangest round-about that we have seen to date (photo), Chedi Kiu. It is rather strange seeing a religious structure being used for traffic control.
Being Watted-out for the day, we headed to the local markets (photo) outside the city gates to pick up some supplies and then walked around the night-market where we
dined on pad thai noodles (just for a change!). Although, when we first looked at the sign we thought we might be served something a little more adventurous for dinner (photo - we think it is meant to say ‘thai taste’)! Michael said no more fish balls.
On our way to the East gate we spotted - you guessed it! - another temple. But this wasn’t just any old Wat, it was a special Wat. As we walked inside the temple gates we noticed lots of colourful statues of animals: giraffes, zebras (of course all native to Thailand - NOT!) and DONALD DUCK! (photo) Barbara christened the temple “The wonderful world of Wat Disney”.
When we arrived at the East gate we found it decorated in beautiful lanterns in celebration of the King’s 80th birthday (photo).
The last stop before our guesthouse was Wat Pan Tao (photo), which is an ornately carved teak temple that is over 150 years old (very old considering that it is made of wood).
We thoroughly enjoyed our day exploring Chiang Mai city. It was easy to navigate, relatively clean and the people were very friendly - there was also a
shortage of tour touts!
Saturday 29 December 2007 We departed early for our 2 day trek in the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai. The schedule was a little disorganised so that we didn’t really know what was happening and when, but our guide ‘Em’ was always helpful and cooperative.
First stop was the Eco-agricultural Village, a short drive from the city. It was a small village comprising huts where people from various local tribes live and work. It is a very artificial and ‘touristy’ experience but still interesting and enjoyable. We joined in some rice making with the Karen tribe (photos), we watched the Lahu Shi Balah tribe dancing and playing music (photo), Michael purchased a small elephant statue from the Hmong tribe in anticipation of our first elephant ride that would happen the following day, and we watched traditional weaving by girls from the Long-neck tribe (photo).
Our next stop was a local market where we were to collect supplies for our trek. Our guesthouse had ensured we were well prepared so we just took the time satisfy Michael’s appetite and observe the strange sights at the market. For example, they do not have refrigeration for
the meat so they have strange ‘whirly-gigs’ to shoo the flies away (photo).
After a quick lunch, it was finally time for trekking! A songthaw took us for a bumpy ride into the mountains (photo) where we walked to a waterfall for a swim. There perhaps may have been more volunteers for a swim AFTER we had climbed the mountain, but Michael hopped in anyway! (photo) He even shocked our fellow travellers by taking a photo from behind the waterfall - they didn’t know the camera was waterproof, you should have seen their faces as Barbara threw the camera while he was swimming!
Up and up the mountains, we climbed. The mountains were very steep with us often climbing with hands and feet. The jungle was very dense and very humid but also very beautiful.
Once at the top we stopped briefly to catch our breath and admire the spectacular views (photos) and then visit the ‘Bat Cave’. We didn’t find Batman, or any bats at all for that matter, only some ‘fool’s gold’ and one snake that was fast asleep (photos).
A little further along was Pandang village, where we were to stay for the
Mosaics
Wat Prah Singh night (photos). The home stay was basic but clean, comfortable and warm. We rested and admired the sunset (photo) before enjoying a delicious home cooked meal of curry soup, rice and vegetables. After dinner we were visited by a group of children from the village that sang and danced for us (photo) before we went to sleep.
Sunday 30 December 2007 We awoke to the beautiful sight of the sun rising through the morning mist in the valleys surrounding the village (photo) and in the cool of the morning we began climbing down the mountain. It was very steep downhill and the trail was very narrow. We couldn’t quite understand how elephants could walk the trail (photo) but somehow there was elephant dung all over the place! We crossed several streams (photo) - Barbara tested the waterproof qualities of her boots in one of them - passed with flying colours, congratulations to Kathmandu!
When we reached the bottom we found ourselves at the elephant camp. We were introduced to our elephant Singtow and collected some bananas to feed to him. Michael sat on his neck and Barbara and our fellow trekker Petra sat on the bench on
his back. With about 15 minutes and a bunch of bananas, Michael had transformed Singtow from being greedy and misbehaving being well trained and just a little cheeky. Barbara then also enjoyed a ride on Singtow’s neck (photo). Along the trail we also saw quite an amusing sight - a contrast of history and progress, a mahout talking on the mobile while riding his elephant (photo). The elephant camp is a lot of fun. It is very touristy with lots of photos and souvenirs but the elephants are treated well and a good time is had by all (including the mahouts). It was not until the next day, when organising a package to send home that Barbara took a closer look at the ‘tourist photo’ we were sold at the end of our ride and discovered why Singtow was smiling from ear to ear when we weren’t even holding out any bananas for him - Singtow the cheeky elephant had dropped his fifth leg for the camera (photo)!
A short ride across the river in a caged flying fox (photo) took us to the white water rafting camp. We were kitted up (photo), allocated a boat and a guide,
given some basic rafting instructions and then set off down the river. There were some very bumpy sections of the river and we (due to our lack of skill) kept getting stuck on big rocks and had to pry ourselves free. Cheers to Olympus for their waterproof & shockproof camera! Michael got some great action shots (photos). And just when you think you have dodged all of the obstacles in the river, along comes a buffalo! It was so exciting, we got soaked and had an absolute ball!
Drenched, but delighted, we climbed out of our rubber inflatable raft and waded through some shallow water onto a traditional bamboo raft. Michael and our guide steered the raft with poles while Barbara joined in the fun splashing water at passing rafts. Unfortunately she came unstuck when the bamboo poles holding the raft together shifted and her right leg dropped down between them into the river. What made matters worse was that her shock caused her to cry out which made everyone race to her rescue, which shifted the poles again and trapped her knee between the them. She pried her leg free and proceeded to apply emergency first aid treatment:
Buddha shrine
Wat Chiang Man dunking her leg over the side of the raft into the icy cold water to reduce the swelling. Fortunately she came out of the incident only with some rather extensive bruising - no fractures! Michael didn’t get any photos of the incident because both the camera batteries were flat from spending two days in the mountains.
Wet and exhausted, we returned to our guesthouse for a good night’s sleep, only stopping on our way upstairs to thank our hosts graciously for sending us on such a fun adventure.
Monday 31 December 2007 Still exhausted from our two day trek, Barbara spent a lazy morning in bed while Michael set out to climb Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand.
With the post office and every museum in the district closed for Thai holidays, Barbara enjoyed a delicious lunch of Northern Thai cuisine at Huen Phen restaurant which consisted of curried noodles with pork and a side of pickled vegetables. All of this and a guava juice for only 25 Baht (less than $1AUD). All the food on the menu is very cheap and delicious with generous servings!
The Doi Inthanon National Park is a beautiful
forested and hilly area. Our songthaw took our merry group of 4 plus guide to near the bottom of the hill and we looked up at the peak we were to climb (photo). It turned out we were climbing the peak a little to the right in the photo, less than 100 metres lower than Doi Inthanon itself. On the way up through the farm land and then forest, we stopped for some bird watching (of the avian kind). Our guide offered for us to take turns leading up the track (photo), as the leader had the best chance of seeing birds before our noise scared them away. After he declined to lead again, and took several extra rest stops by himself, we worked out that he’d been partying hard the night before and was very hung over. The hill was steep, like climbing stairs for 2 ½ hours. We reached a plateau near the top (photo) where we stopped for lunch, and where scats and feathers told us a leopard and eagle had also dined in the last 24 hours. After lunch we went the rest of the way to the top of our hill (photos) where there’s a
small shrine and the most wonderful misty and changing outlook to Doi Inthanon - very reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The descent was 90 minutes of downhill stairs and scrambling with rainforest (photo), banana plantation and cabbage plots (photo). Next stop was a coffee plantation which is also a flower farm (photo) and holiday resort - people from around Thailand were camping around the lawns among the beautiful gardens. More songthaw travel among paddy fields, road works and water buffalo (photo). The last stops before returning to Chiang Mai were a waterfall which washed away the dirt and gave a firm massage (photos) and a market to get some fruit and beers. After all, climbing is hard work!
After a long hike, Michael returned to Green Tulip to be greeted by a lovely dinner cooked by Stella especially for New Years Eve (photo). We dined on shish kebabs, noodles, prawn cocktails (Barbara ate Michael’s due his prawn allergies but compensated him with her shish kebabs) and cake!
Afterwards, we climbed to the guesthouse’s fantastic roof deck (photo) to watch the New Years celebrations. The sky was lit up with hundreds of paper lanterns which looked like
stars (photo) - it was a beautiful sight. Some of the guests also set off some lanterns (photo). It is quite complicated, there needs to be just the right amount of hot air built up in the lantern to make it fly because if there isn’t enough it will ‘crash and burn’. Also, the swirling winds on the rooftop make navigation a little tricky - you have to make sure you don’t set the neighbours’ house on fire - its bad for neighbourly relations!
Then the midnight fireworks began! (photos) It was nothing like Sydney, where there are designated displays so you find a vantage point and sit and watch. In Chiang Mai, the entire city lights up. There are some official displays at city gates and monuments but, in addition, everyone sets off fireworks. We were standing on the roof spinning around with fireworks going off all around us. The sound was deafening but it was such an amazing sight and very exiting not knowing where the next one was going to come from. What a night!
Tuesday 1 January 2008 For our last day in Chiang Mai, we booked into a Thai cooking class with
Siam Rice cooking school. First stop was a local market where we shopped for our ingredients and learned about different Thai foods and spices (photo). We watched coconut milk being made (photo) as well as Chiang Mai sausages (photo) and special Chiang Mai pork crackle (photo).
We had a choice of dishes so we chose to cook a variety of different ones. Barbara cooked chicken coconut soup, pad Thai, papaya salad, chicken and cashew nut stir fry, green curry that made Michael sweat (drenched is more accurate), and banana in coconut milk. Michael cooked hot and sour soup, pad seuw, mint chicken, fried holy basil with chicken, Penang curry, and mango sticky rice. To Michael’s delight, you also get to eat everything you cook. (photos)
Around noon we stopped for a break and went to visit Wat U-Mong nearby. First we stopped outside the temple at a large pond where giant catfish swim and are fed by tourists (photo). We found out that they like to eat bread, not fish pellets. Then we hiked through the surrounding forest and across streams in search of the elusive Red Bull that supposedly resides there (photos). The floor of the forest
was covered in autumn leaves bigger than your hand (photo) and bull droppings. We spotted many deer, but the only red bull we saw was the one on the poster outside the temple (photo). The temple was very old and very ornate. The temple is constructed as a series of underground passages covered in ancient paintings (photos).
After our cooking class, we travelled just outside of town to the base of the mountain, Doi Suthep. At the bottom, we negotiated a price with a ‘red bus’ to be taken to the top. It was a long winding road to the top of the mountain (photo), so much so that Barbara started getting motion sickness towards the end of the journey. Finally (and thankfully) at the top we were met by the giant staircase (photo) that leads up to What Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple that is over 600 years old. Within the temple grounds are a huge golden chedi (photo), an beautiful emerald Buddha (photo), and many shrines (photo). The sound of bells (photo) and gongs being struck is deafening while you are walking through the complex.
The drive back to the bottom and back to our
NE corner of city wall
Happy Birthday your majesty guesthouse was a little nerve-wrecking as it seems that the standard of driving decreases substantially after dark (photo).
As we were to depart early in the morning, we packed our belongings that night and bid a fond farewell to our lovely hosts at the Green Tulip Guesthouse. We left behind a small token of our appreciation for Stella and her colleagues - in a local market we found (would you believe it?) a set of two small china kangaroos!
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anonymous
non-member comment
thankyou for that wonderful description, two 50 somethings travelling there in September and may follow in your steps.