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Published: February 2nd 2008
Chiang Mai - Wat Chiang Man
The oldest temple in Chiang MaiChiang Mai
We arrived in
Chiang Mai at 6:30am after spending the night on the overnight train. We got a much better sleep than the night before on the overnight bus! The air was cooler here, but felt nice. We decided on a trek itinerary which would leave in 2 days for 3 nights and we also booked a Thai cooking course. Both ended up being really good choices! In the afternoon we walked around the walled city of central Chiang Mai visiting some temples. When we were walking down one of the small side streets we saw a guy pass on a motorbike and Travis said "Hey, that's Paul!!" Paul was one of Travis' co-workers from Japan! Michelle didn't believe him, but then for some reason Paul turned around and Travis was able to flag him down. What a strange coincidence! We chatted with him for a few minutes and continued on our way - it really is a small world.
We noticed that the Irish pub near our hostel was having a quiz night that night, so we thought it might be fun to join. The crowd was made up of mostly men between 40-60 years old -
Chiang Mai - Wat Chedi Luang
This temple was damaged in an earthquake and contains an Emerald Buddha. In the picture a monk makes his way to class at the nearby monk University. expats living in Chiang Mai. They were all on teams of about 5 people and Travis and I were up against them all, just the two of us. We paid 100 Baht to enter (about $3) and the winners get some prize money. We should've known we weren't going to do so well when they gave us the hand-out round and it was a quiz on movie sirens - 12 pictures and we had to match the names (Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth etc.). We got 4 out of 12 and the rest of the groups got all 12! I think we lost most of the rounds, but almost started to get some sympathy points when we started putting some of Travis' witty answers. When asked what the capital of Sierra Leone was, Travis wrote "the letter S" - he announced that in front of the whole bar and it got some chuckles! In the end, we came dead last but there was a "Try-ers Prize" a free pitcher of beer to the last place team. So, we didn't do too bad after all!!!
Cooking Course
Our second day in Chiang Mai was spent learning how to cook some
of the delicous Thai foods that we've been enjoying over the last month. We were joined by a German couple - Andris and Diana who we later found out would also be on our four-day trek. We got along with them really well. Our teacher, Visutt, was so great he made the course worthwhile for us! Not only is he an excellent Thai cook, he was very entertaining. He had a very specific way of talking that had us laughing all day. We took a few videos of him so we could remember how he talked a year from now! We started the day by choosing which foods we wanted to make and then we walked to the local market to buy all of the ingredients we needed. Throughout the day we made many dishes such as pad thai, green and yellow curry, chicken with basil, coconut chicken soup, hot and spicy thai soup, spring rolls and two Thai desserts: bananas in coconut milk and mangos with sticky rice.
All of the recipes tasted so good and were easy to make, but the best part was how fresh everything was. For example, Michelle made the coconut milk herself by
squeezing a freshly grated coconut soaking in water to get the coconut cream and milk out. Travis also used a mortar and pestle to make the green curry paste which we used in the green curry. At the end of the day we were given a 72-page Thai cookbook and certificates for completing the course! We are looking forward to trying out the meals again when we get home. The books are a little heavy so we sent them home from the local post office.
4 Day Jungle Trek
Our travelling companions were our guide Na Rong Date (Dat), Andris and Diana from Germany, and a family of five from Utah - Eric, Elizabeth, and their kids Anna (13), Laura (11) and Reece (8). Everyone was fantastic and the kids were remarkable considering some parts of the trek were gruelling.
It is going to be difficult to convey how great Dat is in text format. When he hears an English word he doesn't know he asks "What is this?" and writes it in his little notebook. He constantly had a smile on his face and whistled or sang while he led us. When we arrived in each village
Chiang Mai - Encounter
Talk about a coincidence! We ran into Paul, Travis' fellow teacher from Japan, down a Chiang Mai back alley. Craziness! it was obvious how much the locals liked him. And he loved to make us laugh or tell us something interesting about the animals or plants that we trekked by. Everyone on the trek agreed it would not have been such a great experience without him. We feel like we struck gold having Dat as our guide! Dat asked his friend Na Va to assist him with guiding the Trek. Na Va didn't speak English but also always had a smile on his face!
Day 1: We began the adventure with an Elephant Trek which was really fun. Our elephant's name was Jaronay and us two sat up on a bench on the elephant's back while the driver sat on the elephant's head. Just as we were starting to get used to the swaying motion the driver jumped off and disappeared around the corner. Suddenly our elephant made a beeline off of the trail to snatch up some tall grass with his trunk and sit there munching! Nearby was a steep cliff so we were like "Uh what's the Thai word for 'WHOA'?" We saw the driver a little while later walking behind us so we guessed (hoped) he
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Visutt tells us what's up with some Thai veggies while Andris, Diana, and Travis look on. was able to control the elephant from the ground! The elephants walked very gingerly, testing the ground with their large footpads before putting their massive weight down. At one point our elephant stopped to scratch its trunk against a rock and it sounded like someone sawing wood! Their skin is so thick! It was a great experience.
We continued with a 5 Km walking trek over some beautiful mountainous terrain into the
Karen Hill Tribe territory west of Chiang Mai. It was amazing first to see the outlying houses and rice farms and then arrive at a Karen village. At one river crossing we took our shoes off and Michelle - stepping up onto the riverbank - plunged her entire foot into a fresh cow patty! Luckily she was still standing in the river so she could wash it off!
We arrived at our destination in the Karen village called Maythalaglang where we would be spending the night in one of their houses. Our host family had a seven year old boy named Bo Ne Ne whose face lit up when he saw Reece. As per Dat's suggestion, we brought many small packs of chocolates and candies to give to
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Travis attempts to keep all fingers intact the kids of the village and it was so nice seeing their faces crack into huge smiles when they took them. At one point Bo Ne Ne got a hold of our camera and took about 50 pictures of Travis, a dog from behind, a bowl of bananas, the side of a house, his feet, the sky and anything else he thought was picture worthy. After every picture he took he laughed amazedly at how the picture appeared for a few seconds on the back of the camera. It was hilarious. The worst part of sleeping in a Karen village is the roosters! They don't know what time it is! They all start their cock-a-doodles at 3 am! It's like dude, it's not even close to dawn yet!
Day 2: We awoke to French toast, hot chocolate and coffee around the campfire and were handed banana-leaf wrapped lunches that we had to carry for the four hours until lunch. We hiked for about 5 Km over more beautiful and mountainous terrain and then sat in the shade to enjoy our leaf "lunch boxes". Dat handed us all chopsticks made from stiff fern plant stalks so when we were finished
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Here Michelle squeezes shredded coconut soaked in warm water to make coconut cream. Visutt thought the way she squeezed it was funny. The first time it's squeezed makes coconut cream, the second time makes coconut milk. eating you could just throw everything onto the ground - a completely biodegradable "green" meal! After 5 Km more of trekking over the mountain we arrived at our destination - another Karen village called Maythalathai. This village was much more populated and had a swift flowing river flowing through the centre. Feeling a little dirty from 15 Km of trekking and no shower for two days we waded to the middle of the river and bathed while townsfolk watched along with chickens, cows, dogs and pigs, one of which tried to eat Travis' flip flops! We had to respect the Karen modesty so Travis had to wear his bathing suit and Michelle a Sarong over hers. It was so refreshing.
Dat and Na Va prepared another amazing meal and afterwards we played charades by candlelight. Dat tried to get us to guess Spiderman by dancing like a spider and it made us all laugh so much that it became a running joke for the rest of the Trek.
Day 3: We awoke to omelettes and rice and were sorry to see something that no Trekker wants to see: Rain! Booo! We rounded up enough plastic bags to keep
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Proud students display their dishes. Michelle holds her basil chicken and Travis his Pad-Thai. most of our packs dry and set out, realizing that within minutes we were going to be soaked through! We had about 7 river crossing and everyone was feeling a little miserable with the 10 Km hike in the rain ahead of them. The rain was making the trails muddy, slippery, and tough. The one positive was our Keen sandals - they really were incredible on the entire Trek especially on the rainy day and river crossings. Dat remained positive saying "It's relaxed and rain is good so it's not hot yeah?" He's got such a simple and positive outlook on life and you can tell how content he is which we realized is not something you often see. He was also so knowledgable on the flora and fauna, stopping to pass out some leaves from a tree saying "this is Red Bull leaf give good energy!" or passing around some freshly picked guava or other fruit that we weren't to familiar with.
We arrived - ahead of schedule - at our accomodation for the 3rd night: a small house beside the river that Dat called "Rafting Camp". When Dat yelled out "Hey EVERYBODY WE HEEE-YER!" you could see
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Believe it or not, that flower is a tomato that we cut! On a lettuce bed with cucumber vines. We also made these spring rolls from scratch. Delicious! everyone's spirits lifting. We quickly lit a fire and soon our clothes were drying around it. Dat and Na Va prepared another amazing meal and had Michelle, Reece, and Andris load several sticks of bamboo with sticky rice. Later he roasted them on the fire and when they were done they tasted so good!
Day 4: Another morning of omelettes and rice around the campfire before beginning our favourite activity of the trek: bamboo rafting! It was amazing. About 15 bamboo poles 30 feet long were lashed together forming a raft. Each raft could take 5 or 6 passengers. The rain from the previous day made the river faster. Travis had the priveledge of steering one of the rafts and really enjoyed the experience. As the raft sped down the river it would bash against the rocks, sometimes loosening the lashes. At one point his raft passed over some rocks and two of the poles pulled away from each other. Before he knew it his foot slipped through and he was sitting on the raft with his leg wedged between two poles, the top of his foot dragging along the bottom. Meanwhile the raft was speeding along the top
Chiang Mai - Chilli Club Cooking Academy
Teacher and proud students:
Travis, Michelle, Visutt, Diana, Andris of the river. The first thing he thought was "Oh I can't lose my flip-flop!" which in hindsight was ridiculous because the thing costs 2 dollars. He was able to get his leg free (and save the flip flop!) with only a few scratches. Later we realized he was REALLY lucky that there were no rocks underneath and no broken leg! Whew!
We had a 1 Km hike to the sawngthaew that drove us for 2 hours to lunch, then another 1.5 hours to
Doi Inthanon National park where we saw Vachiratharn waterfall. From there it was another 2 hours back to Chiang Mai where we had to bid Dat and our other Trek companions a sad goodbye. We really enjoyed getting to know our trek-mates. There was a lot of time for talking and getting to know each other while hiking or sitting around the campfire. Diana and Andris were really nice, friendly and funny! The Jacobsens were also a lot of fun - we enjoyed playing lots of games with them and chatting about different travel experiences. They have decided to travel around the world for 7 months with their 3 kids. We think their adventure sounds great and have
Jungle Trek - Day 1
Our elephant's name was Jaronay. been inspired by them that maybe we can do the same thing one day with our kids!
Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent relaxing, getting a good sleep, doing laundry, emails etc. We also treated ourselves to a one-hour thai massage ($5) and a movie ($2). It was nice to have a day off before we left Thailand. Right before the movie started, Michelle said to Travis "Stand Up!". Suddenly the national anthem was playing and everyone in the theatre was standing! Another example of how much Thai people love their King.
We leave Chiang Mai on the 31st, a 5 hour bus ride to the Thai-Laos border. We will stay there overnight and leave the next day to cross the border and then enjoy another bus ride, this one 7 hours! We will arrive in Luang Nam Tha, Laos sometime in the evening on Feb 1st. Hope all goes smoothly!!!! Our friends from the trek, The Jacobsens are also travelling to Laos on the same day so we're planning on seeing them at the border for a mini-reunion!
We spent most of January travelling in Thailand and really enjoyed our time here. We're excited
Jungle Trek - Day 1
Elephant Trek - Hey! Where'd our driver go?!?!? to see how the culture, food, people and places are different in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia where we will be spending the month of February.
Love Michelle & Travis
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Kevin
non-member comment
Amazing
All I can say is WOW. That ride on the bamboo rafts looks soooo fun, and pretty. But I guess it wasnt fun when Trav got his leg stuck between two bamboo poles....It must have been really hard to steer those things because they are so big. The banana leaf idea is cool. I wanna try it! Is there really a University specially for monks? As ove said every time I talk to you guys...Wish I was there. Love, Kevin