Charming Chiang Mai

Flying in or out of Chiang Mai, you notice lots of rice paddies. You also see lush, green mountains and the clear, blue water.

This city is a mix of old and new. Around every corner, you find another wat, or temple (over 300 total!). There are remnants of the wall that once surrounded the city, along with the moat. But you also find some American staples (like Starbucks!) and several bars and clubs. There are several nice restaurants along the river. My pictures are lost, but the ones Zack took with his iPad might give you an idea of some of what we saw.

The most impressive wat is actually located a bit outside of the city up in the hills, and it's called Doi Suthep. Here's a picture of me taking a picture (that was later lost), and below are a few other ones Zack captured.

And here's a video Zack got of the main area of Doi Suthep...

While in Chiang Mai, we didn't just visit temples. Of course we had our day with the elephants, and we visited the huge night market, tried different restaurants, got lots of cheap massages, and hung out at bars and watched fire shows in the evening.

We also took an evening cooking class with Thai Cookery School. It was so much fun (I wish I had the pictures!). After a stop at a local market, we made fried rice, a few types of curry, fried bananas, and more. I'm not sure I actually learned anything about cooking, but I did get some useful information about Thai ingredients. We definitely didn't go home hungry, but we did go home with a recipe book so we can recreate some Thai deliciousness in Melbourne!

One evening, we went to a muay Thai boxing match. There were actually several bouts, including ones with little kids, girls, and one where a Swedish guy went against a Thai guy (the Swede won, but we think it was rigged). Some of the matches were pretty hardcore; Thai people were calling out bets and cheering for their fighters who delivered some pretty swift kicks and punches. Other matches were just for fun, including one where they blindfolded a bunch of guys and set them loose in the ring (hilarious!). I'm so sorry the pictures are lost!

A funny sign outside our hotel.

Anyway, I would definitely put Chiang Mai on my must-do list when visiting Thailand. It's a completely different experience than life on the beaches near Phuket, but it's amazing in its own unique way. The temples are varied and incredible, the elephant day was something I'll never forget, the cooking class and muay Thai boxing match were much more fun than expected, and the price of massages, food, drinks, and souvenirs is unbelievably cheap. There's something for everyone, and we loved our three days in Chiang Mai!

A Day with the Elephants

So life has been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I've been teaching all week in Bentleigh, a suburb which requires me to take a tram, then a train, then a bus to get to the school. I've been in a Grade 3/4 classroom, and it's been good. I just haven't had much time to do blog entries when my commute is over an hour each way. 

On top of that, one of our camera memory cards has an error, and it's currently being fixed (hopefully), so we can get our missing pictures from Thailand, including the amazing temples in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Until then, I'll be doing random posts, but they won't necessarily be in order. This first one will be about our day with the elephants in Chiang Mai, which is in the Northern part of Thailand.

We spent a day at Thai Elephant Home. This is something I booked online before we left, and it was one of the activities I was looking forward to the most. It didn't disappoint. A van picked us up from our hotel in the morning, and we drove up into the jungle/mountainous area outside of the city. We changed into our snazzy blue outfits and Joe, the owner, taught us a little bit about elephants (Asian vs. African, physical characteristics, etc.). We also learned a few commands, but that would prove pointless, as the elephants only really listened to the mahouts (their trainers).

After our briefing, we said a short prayer to the elephant god and fed the elephants some bananas. I guess this was so we could get comfortable with them. We were each assigned an elephant and rode around the grounds in three circles before heading out on the real trail.

They bend down nicely so you can climb on!

We rode through the jungle on our assigned elephants, passing through a shallow river and going uphill. Zack had the biggest elephant of all, and he was first in line. I was right behind him on a normal sized elephant. It was kind of like riding a big horse. I tucked my legs in behind its ears, pressed my palms on its head for balance, and it was all good!

We stopped somewhere in the jungle for lunch, which was pad thai wrapped in banana leaves. It was still warm. Yum! And we got to feed the leftovers to the elephants; those animals like to eat!

After riding a bit more, we stopped at a mud pit and spent some time covering a few elephants with the black goop. They loved it! I guess it's like a spa for them...really good for their skin. They just flopped right over and let us dump the mud all over them. They kind of got it all over us as well!

Zack's big elephant and the beautiful jungle.

We bought bananas and sugar cane along the way to feed our elephants.
Here's my view when mine was wanting a treat!

My favorite part of the day was next. We went back to a deeper part of the river, and we got to swim with our elephants! They loved it too; they were splashing and ducking their heads underwater and playing around. Doesn't my elephant look like she's smiling in the picture below?

After playing in the river, we got back on our elephants for a bit more riding back to the camp. We got some rainy downpours, but we were wet anyway, and it kind of fit in with the jungle atmosphere, so we didn't mind at all. Back at camp, we took showers, ate fresh pineapple, and soaked our feet in herbal water before they drove us back to our hotel. What an amazing day and an awesome once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Full disclosure: As incredible as our day with the elephants was, my ankles did break out with these strange (extremely itchy) red bumps the next day, which we have since determined must be mite bites that I contracted from my elephant. Both ankles (which were exposed and tucked behind the elephant's ears) were affected, and I have one bite on my wrist. Zack has a couple on his legs as well, but I definitely got the worst of it. Nearly three weeks later, I still have about thirty big nasty itchy scabs that won't go away. Oh well; my day with the elephants was worth it!