Advertisement
Published: March 23rd 2005
Edit Blog Post
After a 90 minute flight from Kunming, China, where the temperature had been a very cold 4 degrees C we landed in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand which was a very welcoming 30 degrees C!
Chiang Mai is famous for its trekking opportunities, its handicrafts, Thai cookery schools and traditional massage. We spent the first few days taking in the local sights and wandering around the night bazar, which is basically a large street market selling everything from fake jeans to fairy lights. There was even an 'English' pub the 'Red Lion' where I managed to get a refreshing but overpriced pint of cider.
On the saturday we booked ourselves in for a cookery course, a silver jewelry making workshop and a sightseeing trip north of the city. We then relaxed with an hour long Thai massage which made bones click that we never knew existed!
Sunday morning was the first Grand Prix of the season and we decided to treat ourselves to a full English breakfast at an Aussie cafe called 'The Outback'. We watched the race whilst munching on REAL pork sausages and crispy bacon, we even had marmite on toast! This may not sound particually special
Back in the classroom!
The 'Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School'. but you try finding a proper English breakfast in Asia!
That afternoon we visited the weekly street market which pretty much sold the same as the night bazar but had the addition of some interesting food stalls. One inparticular was selling fried maggots, grasshoppers, cockroaches and other unidentifiable bugs. When I asked if I could try a crispy maggot the woman selling them stearnly told me I would have to buy a bag. Unfortunately I had had a big breakfast and didn't think I could eat a whole bag so decided to walk away. Becky and I did however partake in a honeybee omlette!
Monday was spent making curry pastes at the 'Thai Cookery School'. The food was supprisingly tasty considering we cooked it ourselves, but the biggest supprise of the day, other than Becky not giving anyone food poisoning, was the black sticky rice pudding which looked like a big bowl of bugs but actually tasted fantastic.
On the Tuesday we went Jewelry making where once again we were shocked at what we could produce in such a short time with minimal skill. The following day we went further north to visit a waterfall and go
A taste sensation
The moment of truth! to the highest point in Thailand, where we saw a sign saying 'The Highest Point in Thailand' surrounded by a forest of trees and no view!
That night we headed back to Bangkok where we stayed for a few days before going to Kanchanaburi, home to the famous 'Bridge over the river Kwai'. We managed to get a floating room on the river just down from the bridge itself. This was great until a speed boat went passed and the following waves sent you crashing from one wall to the next! For those who don't know, the bridge was built during World War 2, where approximately 16,000 POWs and 100,000 to 150,000 Thai, Burmese, Malay and Indonesian labourors died during the construction. It was an integeral part of what is now commonly called the 'death railway'.
That afternoon we got a taxi to Wat Pa Lunangta Bua Yanasampanno Forest Monastery which is the unlikely home to 12 tigers. It originally started when local villagers found an orphaned cub that was bearly alive. Not knowing what to do with it, they took him to the monastery and handed him to the head monk, Abbot-Pra Acharn Phusit (Chan), who hand
Jewelry making at 'Nova'
The mastercrafts woman at work! reared him back to health. Word spread about the monastery and soon unwanted tigers were turning up on the doorstep, owners unable to cope with their overgrown pets. The monastery now has many adult tigers and a breeding pair who have given birth to three cubs to date. The monks allow visiters to come and visit the tigers, its one of the only places in the world where you can get so close to these fully grown cats. All the money raised from the admission charge goes towards the ongoing building project which is creating a better environment for the tigers and other animals in the grounds. They hope to get to the stage where new cubs can be trained to live in the wild and eventually released. It was a great day out and one experience we shall never forget.
We were planing on staying a second night in Kanchanaburi but first of all we didn't realise that the river was tidal until Becky had to wade through a foot of muddy water whilst visiting the toilet in the middle of the night. This on its own may not seem such a bad price to pay for a
well positioned room but followers of our journals will note that Becky's fear of spiders has been well documented, so it didn't help that on her walk to her morning shower she was bitten by one on the toe. Needless to say we were packed up and sat in the bus station within the hour!
Our next destination was Krabi on the west coast. We found a beach resort called Raileh East where we could get a room for 250 Baht and decided to stay for a few days. Theres not much to write abour here as we didn't do anything except eat, drink, lay on the beach and swim in the sea. We did go on a boat tour of some of the local islands including my favourite beach in the world so far 'Maya Bay' which is also where they filmed some of 'The Beach'. I can't describe how beautiful it is so you'll just have to look at the photo!
Having topped up our tans we're now heading down to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia then onto Sabah for some more beach life!
B & R
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0255s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb