I <3 Chaing Mai

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We arrived in Chiang Mai on Thursday 1st November after the gruelling train we decided to get a tuk tuk from the train station straight to the hotel. We checked in at The Small Hotel, a (small!) nice hotel on Tha Phae Rd - it has a pink pool!! We spent the first evening chilling out and got some veggie food from the first place we could find. We were starving from the train journey! We explored the area and had a little wander after food. Chaing Mai has a hippy kinda vibe (a bit like Hebden Bridge for those who've been there...), lots of veggie places to eat (WAAHOOOO!!!), all kinds of tourists, varying types of temples, monks wandering about the place, lots of local handicraft items/markets and friendly locals. We love film no matter which country we're in so we got a tuk tuk to a local mall, wandered around the shops, lots of beautiful shoes here but they don't go up to my size 😞 and later we watched the new Bond film: Skyfall. Have you seen it yet? I enjoyed it. K thinks it has a lot of echoes with The Dark Knight. Now he's mentioned it, I agree. Included with the trailors for upcoming films was a short film with emotional singing (in Thai), the message "Please stand up to pay respects to the King" or something along that line flashes up and everyone in the auditorium stands for the 2/3 minute segment. It's really quite nice. Thai people have a lot of respect for their King, who will be 85 this December - would probably have been a good time to holiday in Thailand with the celebrations. Maybe next year...

Friday afternoon we met up with a friend who lives in Chiang Mai, Charlotte. She speaks Thai so is a great help! We had lunch with her and her friend, Mark at a local veggie place called Taste from Heaven. We ate about 90% of our meals during our stay in Chaing Mai at this place. It's THAT good! 😊 Charlotte told us about some of her experiences with Thai people and children. She explained that Thai social etiquette is different to what we would expect back home - this conversation was brought back to my mind a few days later when a Thai man outside a temple suggested I go to a shop for a face scrub to get rid of my spots! 😞

During our time in Chiang Mai we chatted with Roy, the owner of Taste from Heaven a few times. A very nice man and profits from the restaurant go to an elephant (aka eleflump!!) camp. On Saturday we met up with Charlotte and a group of others, then we went to an elephant camp. It was quite a far drive, all cramped in the back of a pick up truck. Leg room was not a given... but "it was an experience!" Haha... that's becomng quite the motto for K and I. We arrived at the camp about an hour later. There were 5 elephants here, all differing in size and age, including a family, Dad, Mum and Baby. After washing and scrubbing them down for a little while we each took turns in sitting on an elephant 😊 I tried to climb up and kept sliding down. K had to lift me onto the elephant! My friend Charlotte and I were on Dad elephant. Once we were on, he decided to take a walk and wouldn't listen to any commands that were being given by the guides. EEEEEK!! He strolled away from the group and the water heading for a hill! I confess ... there was a bit of squealing coming from me at this point! I thought maybe I was going to have to spend the rest of my days on an elephant!! After 5-10 minutes Dad was coaxed back to the main water area and Charlotte and I had to slide down his trunk to get to freedom! Phew!! I was happy to be back on the ground again 😊 Baby (10 years old) was trained to do some tricks and would spray people on command. I copped for this a few times! After elephant fun we hiked to a waterfall through a forest, wading over a river or two and inching across tree bridges. Fun stuff! We were pushed for time so didn't have chance to swim in a lagoon beneath the waterfall 😞 But there's always next time!

Saturday evening we went out for Charlotte's birthday - after the football game! Man United won... I'm sure you know?! We went to a club called Infinity. There was a Thai band playing and it was a bit surreal as we didn't really know/understand many of the songs but there was a nice vibe to the place. It got really busy quite quickly. Later we made our way home in a tuk tuk, when the driver pulled up we realised his toddler child was asleep on the back seat! The toddler woke up and played High 5 with us as we made our way back to the hotel. I gave him sweets I had in my bag.

Sunday was a chill out day. We slept late, got some washing done, went for an oil massage, had italian for dinner (garlic and chilli spaghetti is a new favourite for me!) and wandered around a market called Sunday Walking Street. We bought a few items and made our way home when it started to rain. Monday morning I got up at 6am to give food offerings to monks as they pass on the street, a sign in the hotel said the hotel would provide the food when I asked at reception at 6am they said I had to go and buy from the shop. Doh! By the time I would have gotten to the shop and back there would have been no more monks passing! Lol. I figured they wouldn't have need for the couple of cans of coke and a snickers in our hotel room! I went back to bed for a few hours!! We had brunch (@ Taste from Heaven!) and made our way around a temple walk in the guide book. We saw some beautiful temples, varying in styles and size. IT WAS SO HOT!! When you visit the temples you must dress "politely" shoulders and knees should be covered. I have a top that has become my "religious top" for these purposes! We made our way to Chiang Mai womans prison, our plan was to get a massage but unfortunately they were very busy with a waiting time of two hours and we had a cooking class booked in a little over an hour. But ... there's always next time! We went back to the hotel, freshened up and went for our cooking class.

Our cooking class at Taste from Heaven lasted for 3 hours and we cooked NINE dishes (mostly...) from scratch. You choose which items from the menu you'd like to cook, we asked about veggie/tofu burger but unfortunately couldn't do those. Items we choose included fried and fresh spring rolls, crispy money (a soy protein dish - kinda like chicken nuggets!), garlic and pepper tofu, sweet and sour, pumpkin and green curries, kao soy (egg noodles with tofu, mushrooms and crispy noodles) and DEEP FRIED ICE CREAM!! We were under the impression that after the class we would sit with staff and even the chef to eat the food but it was just us two. No matter how much we tried to coax anyone to share! We gave some food to another couple eating in the restaurant at the time so they could try some different dishes. We managed to clear 4 dishes or so and got the rest of it packed up to give away. We left the restaurant and went to a nearby temple in the hope that we could give them the food. They told us that they don't eat after lunchtime and could we give it to them in the morning. I was up at 6am (again!) the following day. Giving food is one of the oldest rituals in buddhism, the monks leave the monastry early morning and walk single file with the oldest first. Each monk has a bag/pot that they carry and laypeople sometimes kneeling pass food to this pot, women are to be careful not to touch the monks and the monks usually do not speak or even say thank you. It's considered to be a spiritual connection, between the monks and laypeople and reminds people to not be greedy. When I got up to do this the street was soooo quiet and empty other than the odd monk. There were only 2 other people that I could see on the street giving food, I hung around watching them and the Thai lady beckoned for me to stand with them and to pass food. I put a bag of food into the pot, the Thai lady put some dried noodles or something in and then we stood back as the monk chanted something. I didn't understand a word but it was kind of nice and soothing.

We saw a few LARGE rats in Thailand - one of them could definitely have carried off a small dog and eaten it later I reckon. Shudders... There were lots of cockroaches too. More than once I stopped in my tracks and literally let a cockroach make its way across. Rather that than have it scuttle over my feet. EWWWWWW!!!

We had our laundry done a few times whilst in Chiang Mai, it was so cheap... 30 Baht for a kilo. Less than a pound! The first lot we had done, when we got back to the hotel K realised he was missing a pair of trousers, he asked me if anything of mine was missing and I said no. When we returned the laundry ladies gave us K's pants and a pair of mine that had been mislaid! I would never have noticed! Haha. The second time we came away with an extra pair of jeans (H&M), we returned the jeans to the ladies in the afternoon - much to their confusion as to where the pants could have come from!! K made me laugh as we walked home, he said "It's a bit of a gamble with that place really, you never know what you'll end up with!!" A day later we returned for massages and were told "the man come back for his pants, he say he kill me if we not find...." I had a foot massage at this place which was very good and I almost fell asleep, apart from the tickly bits 😊 We also had massages here which weren't so good, one of the ladies even answered a call on her mobile while massaging K!!!

On the last day in Chiang Mai I had a pampering princess day! I went to a salon, had my hair cut and a hair sauna (rich mask to repair hair...), had a facial, dinner by the river and later went for a body massage at an AWESOME place called Zabai Thai Massage and Spa just off Thapae Rd, Lane 1. First they soaked our feet with lime and something else that smelt amazing, they cleaned our feet, massaged and dried them. We were guided upstairs for the massage, they leave you in a booth and you strip down to just underpants/knickers, they return a few minutes later and the massage begins. This was one of the best and yet strangest massages I've ever had. Most of the massage was routine, the usual Thai thing of them climbing onto the bed and me wondering where their feet are (!!) but then there was some stomach/abdomen work that was basically poking fingers into parts of the stomach and it was almost painful at times but then kind of nice too?! At the end of the massage this dainty Thai aging lady climbed onto the bed again, pulled me into a sitting position, braced herself behind me and was bearing my weight while swinging me sideways telling me to "Rewax!!" Haha... I wasn't very relaxed! I thought I'd send us both toppling! After the massage we had a cleansing cup of tea with ginger in it and finally they guided us outside and helped us release a lantern. In Thai culture a released lantern will help dreams and hopes come true...

The next day we checked out of the hotel, had our final meal at Taste from Heaven 😞 and made our way to the airport for a flight to Bangkok. When we got back to Bangkok late afternoon, we went straight to the hotel and organised our luggage for the final stint to Australia. For dinner in Bangkok we had our usual safe veggie meal... Pizza Hut! I may never eat pizza hut again!! Thursday morning we were up early and to the airport for our flight to Singapore and then on the Oz. We were almost there!!! 😊

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