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Published: February 7th 2023
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You can do some really great day trips from Chiang Mai if, like me, a scooter isn’t an option. 1200baht seems to be the going rate and the standard is impressive.
I asked in a travel agent near my hotel (more of a homestay). I said nothing to do with elephants or trekking, for different reasons, and I wanted to visit some hill tribes. I read some very negative reviews about the long-neck tribes and the experiences were mostly uncomfortable and made people feel voyeuristic, but I thought I could make up my own mind and hopefully find a way of interacting positively and maybe not taking any photos. The agent definitely said they were on the agenda. The rest of the day consisted of 2 waterfalls (look only), a village to see weaving and try local coffee, the highest mountain in Thailand (Doi Inthanon)) and the king and queen pagodas and a Hmong market. Lunch included and a warning that at the top it might be 20degrees. This is beach temperature where I come from. I signed up.
The minivan was very comfortable and I got picked up first. It was useful to get to see the other
parts of the city where I should have stayed, i.e. places with bars and offers of laundry. We were 11 in total and a great group. It was quite a long drive to start but we stopped at a service station and our guide kept offering toilet breaks at very very regular intervals. The waterfalls were pretty enough. We then drove up to the Karen village, no long neck people in sight but the local women we did see reminded me of the Hmong women in N Vietnam, baskets on their backs. The houses were very simple with pigs and chickens running around. It was unfortunate that there were so many minivans and groups of tourists but the villagers really didn’t seem to mind and we did buy stuff from them, coffee, soap, beautifully woven scarves for 250baht which we were told take 3 days to make. Each had a sticker with the name of the woman who made it, so they know who earned what. We walked down to the little restaurant where we and another group had lunch and it was delicious, soup, omelette, stir fried veg, fried chicken, pineapple. There was a local lady at the side
in charge of the washing up, heating water over coals and all the plates were left to dry in the sun. I asked if I could take her picture and she was very smiley about it.
After lunch we went up to the highest point and it was FREEEEEEZING, considering it was 19degs, we all went a bit blue as we walked around. It had been 6degs that morning. A bit lower down there was a walkway built through a cloud forest, birds, amazing trees with moss, the cleanest air. It was lovely. Then we went to see some pagodas belonging to the king and queen surrounded by beautiful gardens with familiar flowers, foxgloves, snapdragons, all very manicured. The last stop was to a Hmong market with strawberries, avocados, nuts, fruit wine etc but all wrapped in plastic and very much a tourist thing. Our guide was very informative and fun, we all agreed it was a brilliant day. And no long neck women, that was not included so the travel agent had obviously said what she thought I wanted to hear. I’d kind of been dreading that part so it was a bit of a relief to find
out late in the day that it wasn’t happening!
Once back I rescued my laundry from MM Laundry and Wash the Shoes (didn’t try the shoe service) and went to a noodle place to try khao soi, noodles in coconut curry sauce. It was really good and only 130baht including a large can of Chang.
Today was cooking school. I’d looked for somewhere online during lockdown and booked the Thai Secret Cooking School before I came, again 1200baht. They had good reviews and are very active on social media with videos etc so it was easy to check them out, There was a visit to a market first and we didn’t actually buy the ingredients but May gave us loads of information about them and was very funny. Then we drove out to her farm in the countryside, surrounded by rice paddies. We picked herbs from the garden and got given a menu with 3 choices for each course. A lot of the preparation was done for us to save time and it was really well organised. We ate each course as we cooked it and May’s husband took photos and videos which you can see on Instagram
and YouTube. At the end of the day we got a certificate and a recipe book and it was a 45 min drive back in the songthaew through fumey traffic. I really recommend doing this day. May was great and we all had fun in the group. You will not need to go out for dinner afterwards!
Tomorrow I’m getting the Green Bus (VIP) to Chiang Rai. Right now I can hear very loud music coming from somewhere, which is very irritating as it’s been so quiet here at night. I hope they shut up soon.
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