Winter Holiday Part 3 - Chiangmai

Asia
February 18th 2010

Published: February 18th 2010

This was the house that Aor lived in with her father - downstairs an the main floor was her furniture business, which was a bit slow as she said young people don't want wooden furniture any more.

Chiang Mai in northern Thailand was our third stop of our winter holiday. We hired a taxi from the airport to take us to our guest house that again, we had booked on line. Driving down the back roads that got smaller and smaller, we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. When the driver stopped in front of a ‘rustic’ looking wooden gate, we were both concerned, but we had a real treat behind the gate.

A wonderful Thai/Chinese woman named Aor owned an antique furniture/restoration business. The house that she lived in with her 81 year old father was 154 years old and just beautiful. She had added 4 Thai style bungalows in the large yard and started a guest house business 3 years ago. The area was more expensive than the old town where the young travellers' guest houses are, but it was still very reasonable. It was on the other side of the river from the old town and had many elegant old houses, beautiful courtyards as well as some trendy restaurants and art galleries. It was great to meander around finding temples, local restaurants, bakeries, freshly squeezed orange juice. Yumm- good food.

We unfortunately

Our bungalow

Our bungalow was one of 4 - complete with air conditioning, hot and cold shower, nice comfy bed and a few mosquitoes. Aor would be up to serve you breakfast - either bacon and eggs or one day some great soup that she had just made for she and her father. The fridge was always filled with water, juice, yogurt.

had only booked 3 nights here; when we asked for 3 additional nights, she was full. Nice lady that she was, she located us another place - a small hotel operated by some friends of hers close by - included a swimming pool too! She even drove us over with our packs that morning.

We spent our first day in Chiang Mai visiting the Doi Supeth temple and the Royal Palace gardens. We had been told that it was worth it to hire a taxi for the day have them drive you, but that was a waste of money - the bus or tuk tuk would have been better and more fun. One thing that surprised us at the gardens, was first, the great looking pants that Rick had to rent because he was wearing shorts, and second the flowers. The majority of the plants there were something that I could and would grow in Peace River- geraniums, snap dragons, impatience, roses, lillies - more that I can't remember. The trees were great though - giant bamboo, huge red and white pointsetta trees.

We also rented a motorcycle one day, and had a great day exploring the

Hillside tribe girls

The hillside tribes are a real tourist draw, but it is so sad to see that being a tourist attraction was the only way they can make money. Many tours travel to the tribes but it is certainly not a true picture of how any of them actually live. These girls were among several at the temple.

area. Gail had wanted to see an elephant camp, but the first one we came across was very expensive and would have taken all the money that we had for the day. So we ventured to the second one and ended not finding it, but putting on 200 km travelling the Mai Pin valley, well past the tourist section to a small town named Samoeg. The road was very winding and steep going over several hills where you could see local people farming and working the land. Truly a paradise too look at, but such a lot of work to live here at a local level- back breaking work in the intense heat. (Later we spoke to some people who had done the same elephant camp and they said it was over priced and not very good, so we were happy with our decision. )

While in Chiang Mai, we had the luck to be there on Sunday night for the main night market. What an experience - we have been to a lot of markets both in China and in our previous two stops, but this was the something else. Both inside and outside of the ‘old

Doi Supeth

Doi Supeth is a landmark in Chiang Mai and Thailand. It is one of the highest mountains in Thailand. This elaborate and very long staircase at the top leads up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple that is one of the most holy Buddhist sites in Thailand.

town’, which is about surrounded by a moat and parts of a 13th century wall, comes alive with almost every square meter filled with stalls, entertainment, dancers, beggars, food, massages, tourists. The biggest problem was finding our way out. There are only 4 gates to exit the old city, and they all looked the same after a while. Then we didn't know if we were inside or outside, it was all the same and so much happening. Eventually we found a couple of familiar sites and took a tuk tuk home- tired and full on delicious street food.

The next day we did a Thai cooking course- who can come to Thailand without doing this?? After a stop at a market for the instructor to buy some supplies, 8 of us were transported to a small farm just out of the city. It was a beautiful place where they grow most of their own ingredients - so we had a wonderful tour of their garden first. Fresh lemon grass, kafir trees, tamarinds, thai ginseng, herbs and so much more. Everyone had their own cooking station and we did 6 dishes each. They were so organized - you can

Royal Gardens

Nice pants, Rick! These rentals are available to all who don't fit the dress code. The gardens were very pretty, but not spectacular. We loved these trees though.

tell they did this a lot!

Rick and I chose different dishes to have a variety and were happy with everything except the spring rolls, which turned out very greasy. I think it was because we did not roll them very well and the oil got inside when they were cooking. We have 'the recipe book' though, so will have to try to find some of the ingredients here.

One of the women at the cooking class had just come from a homestay that sounded fascinating. She spent a week with a hill tribe living in very basic conditions and helping in the fields. Not your typical holiday, but the pictures she had were amazing and the the stories were very appealing to someone wanting to travel and get out of the tourist trap. This was second person that we talked to who had done a homestay in northern Thailand , the other being a couple our age from Denmark. All of the money that you pay for this volunteer work went directly to the farmers, so it sounded like a good operation

The rest of the time in Chiang Mai was

Monks

After visiting the temple and the Royal garden we stopped at a waterfall for a cool off and hopefully a cool drink. These monks were hiking up to the water fall also, but were more adventurous and soon after I took this, they climbed up and through the bushes. A bit more uncoventional approach than anyone else.

spent eating, exploring, sitting by the pool- we had a great 6 days here, but Bangkok and Rick’s doctor’s appointment were next on the agenda. We had originally planned to take the train from Chiangmai to Bangkok, but there ended up being no sleepers available and neither of us wanted to sit up for 12 hours so we decided to fly once again. Nice to be old enough to have the options!

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