Day 4 - Chiang Mai

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Day 4 began with an early morning train wake-up. The overnight train was very cool. Our bunks felt like little forts and we both slept pretty well. My mosquito net gets a big thumbs up; I awoke with not a single new bug bite! Victory!!! Innis family, you'll be happy to know that Thai mosquitoes don't like me (and the deet I've been sporting) very much. I only have a few bites and have had zero crazy bite reactions.

Back to waking up on the train. We enjoyed our grocery store breakfast fixin's while chatting with a very friendly Dutch family. We were awake for about two hours before arriving in Chiang Mai. The area outside Chiang Mai city is very rural. We passed several tiny towns/villages and saw a lot of countryside. We even saw rice paddy fields with people working away. The view of the rice fields and workers in pointed straw hats was almost like out of a movie and I couldn't help but think, "Wow, we are really in Thailand".

Around 10:00 a.m. we arrived at the Chiang Mai train station. We were picked up by Kem, our guesthouse owner from Vanilla Place Guesthouse. Yes, the guesthouse does smell like vanilla (due to delicious candles) and the walls are painted vanilla color too! Kem and his wife, Kat, sure can stick to a theme! They are also two of the nicest people we have ever met. They served us breakfast, gave us a wonderful introduction to the city and marked up a map for us with all the places we want and need to go. The warm welcome from Kem and Kat made us feel so at-home. Our room is on the fifth floor of the boutique guesthouse. It is simple, clean, and comfortable. Mike really picked a winner with this one - thank you, tripadvisor.com!

After a nap and a little unpacking, we explored the area around Vanilla Place and found a great outdoor lunch restaurant/cafeteria/street vendor. The restaurant was owned by a Muslim family and we thoroughly enjoyed their understanding of vegetarianism! We picked a Chiang Mai specialty, called Khao Soy (noodles, veggies, and chicken) and they made it for us with fake meat...nice. Our entrees were 30 baht, less than $1, each. AMAZING. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand (Bangkok is #1) but it is much smaller than Bangkok. We immediately appreciated the slower place and smaller area of Chiang Mai. There is no metro system and you can walk to most destinations within the city. There are hardly any crowds this time of year (low season) and people are very friendly and helpful. It is a university city and is surrounded by countryside inhabited by many of Thailand's hill tribes. Chiang Mai is a breath of fresh air after the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

The afternoon brought our first rainstorm of the trip. We considered ourselves pretty lucky to have had three sunny days in Bangkok and set out to walk around the old town section of Chiang Mai with umbrellas. Kem is so awesome he gave us a huge one to borrow in addition to our teeny travel umbrella. It poured for the entire afternoon and evening. We got quite soaked but enjoyed a break from the heat we experienced in Bangkok. The rain also scared away many other farang (foreigners) so we experienced the Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Market without any crowds. The shopping was wonderful! This market is unique because all the goods are local crafts sold by local people. The prices are extremely low and the products are really beautiful and well-made. We did a ton of Christmas shopping and had some more positive street vendor food experiences: pad thai, blue sticky rice (it's like a crepe made out of rice dyed blue by some type of native flower plus a little sugar and cocoa - yummy), and dessert sticks of coconut and peanut rolled up inside banana leaf. Everything was tasty and we felt very Thai with our dinner choices. After dinner we were exhausted and walked back to our guesthouse with wet, swollen feet. We drifted to sleep for our first night in Chiang Mai.

Oh! I totally forgot to tell you about our "map and river mix up". This is another good story to tell in person. It involves two canals, two very lost Keats, and two beers somewhere in the middle.

Here's a sneak peak of Day 5: Elephant Nature Park

-learning more than we ever hoped about elephant conservation in Thailand
-fun,fun,fun with our "big friends"
-first experience in Thailand rainforest
-huge veggie lunch buffet
-making friends with some young, hip Brits

Thanks for reading,
Beth and Mike

-BK

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Comments

[Ginette]

Fun!
Your descriptions are awesome! I feel like I am there, but without the jet lag and mosquito bites. Stay safe and have fun! I will post you updates on the Keat Kitties when I see them. Love you both!