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Published: June 12th 2006
Chiang Mai is Thailand's second city, and while it's very spread out, it still maintains a small-town feel. Even more so than Khao San Road in Bangkok, it is very backpacker oriented with plenty of activities and tours to lighten the wallet.
First challenge was a day at a Thai Cookery school, where we started at the local market to pick out the ingredients, by the end of which we were connoisseurs of sticky rice, noodles and eggplant. Handed a meat cleaver, chopping board and a wok, we set about our task, and 6 dishes later (and some serious pounding of chillies to make the green curry paste) we were rolled out of the school after eating the fruits of our labour.
Being in Thailand, it was almost compulsory to attend a Muay Thai boxing extravaganza, and we duly complied. While we had been warned that the competitors start quite young, nothing prepared us for the viciousness at which the 7 year olds attacked each other in the ring! However one had to applaud their enthusiasm and skill, which were lacking in the older, more experienced fighters (all of 70kg) that came later (although the spattering of one fighters
blood on some members of the audience was a little gruesome!). We did notice that the Thais in the audience, and more especially the women (!) were very vocal in their support/abuse and at one stage, I was sure one of the mothers was about to tag herself into the ring!
A sedate visit to some of the temples/Wats showed how big religion is here in Thailand, however the most ardent of worship by the locals was to the King, who was celebrating the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne. We were lucky to be in Chiang Mai for the celebrations, where every Thai was wearing a yellow t-shirt which said "I love the King". We discovered a little known fact that the King was in fact born in the USA, but we didn't think that gloating "The King is a Farang" would go down well with the mobs! (Farang being the Thai word for foreigner).
Next was a 2 day trek into the jungle and mountains of northern Thailand, which included a quick dip in a local waterfall (yes, Timotei ads all the way!), and where we stayed with a local "Karen" tribe, from which
our guides were members. With our trousers tucked into our socks, and copious amounts of insect repellent, we were on the lookout for leeches. When they (inevitably) appeared, we were quite disappointed with their size - only about 2 inches long and 3mm thick, more wormlike than slug like - however they were quite cunning, and moved up your shoe almost like a slinky down a stair! Our 2nd day included an elephant ride, and some white-water-bamboo-rafting where I was surprised our raft managed not to disintigrate on us.
I have gotten a little addicted to the local sweet pancake, Rote (tastes like Russian blini), which is laced with condensed milk and sugar... 3 a day seems to be the norm at this stage, although I was warned by the locals that I was asking for an extra 2 inches on the waist with my addiction.
Spent our last couple of Thai Baht lying on a leather recliner having a foot massage, while watching the opening game of World Cup on a TV between us...bliss...until we headed back to the guesthouse to find we we had a new roomate - a cockroach had managed to sniff out the
empty bag of Lays Chilli crisps - so Thomas had to duely perform pest control.
Heading to Luang Prabang in Laos tomorrow - decided to avoid the 3 day "experience" via dodgy bus/slow boat and opted for the flight with Laos Airlines....one of the few airlines that doesn't bother with a safety procedures talk before take off...flight no. is QV645 if you don't hear from me in a while!!
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Gareth
non-member comment
...
With all that Fight Club training, were you tempted to jump in the ring and show them a few scoob moves? The Henrik Larsson crane kick!!! :) Your very fetching in your apron Scoob.