Ironically enough, although I did not get sick once in India I fell ill in Chiang Mai and we had to take it easy instead of going to an elephant sanctuary. However because of my trusty pharmacy that I have toted around with me much to Josh's amusement, I was back to health quickly enough. We certainly haven't been as diligent as we were in India since we have been eating street food but I was still surprised and disappointed!
We essentially did a walking tour of Chiang Mai with the goal of finding some cute cafes and we really enjoyed seeing the old city which is surrounded by four gates which are really imposing in brick and interesting to see. Chiang Mai is a funny city though because it seems that the city has become touristy not because there is much to see or do in the city but just because it is the biggest city in the north. There are many attractions surrounding it with adventure parks, elephant safaris, and snake farms but within the city itself there is only a smattering of temples.
We took in a few temples and I always enjoy seeing the monks. In Thailand it is customary for a male to become a monk if only for a short while before he marries. The monks are highly visible wearing orange cloth that they have bound around themselves, shaved heads, and no shoes or flip flops. Women are supposed to be courteous and try not to touch a monk (some even cross the street to avoid a happenstance encounter) and even if a woman needs to hand something to a monk, she would do it through another man or lay the object down. Women can also take a vow but they will never have the esteem that a monk has and generally their duty is to take care of the temple. These women also have shaved heads but wear white cloth instead of orange and they are a more rare sight.
At one of the temples a woman showed us to a table covered with a blanket where she had tiny baskets underneath holding birds that we could pay to release for good luck. I love how these things are done under the guise of religion and I certainly did not want to encourage that practice. One tiny basket must have had over ten birds in it! I am not at all sure how capturing and imprisoning birds relates to Buddhism but there it was. I am also sure that my karma will be more intact not supporting this vile practice than receiving good luck from it!
The next day we headed to Chiang Rai by bus. As always, ask and you will receive in Thailand as it was absolutely no problem to simply show up, arrange a ticket, and be on the next bus. The bus was fairly nice and roomy and it was lovely to watch the scenery out the window. The smaller towns looked very quaint with their bungalow style houses on stilts and if you were lucky you could catch a glimpse of someone with a broad hat tending to their rice fields. Mountains appeared quickly and the lushness of the trees was really beautiful.
We arrived at our hotel and the first thing I did was double check my reservation as I thought surely this place cannot be this inexpensive? Chiang Rai obviously has less inflated prices than Chiang Mai as our hotel (or resort really) is very nice although to be honest it is not really our style and we are not likely to meet other travelers being the only foreigners here. Nonetheless Josh was pretty excited about the included buffet breakfast! Thai breakfasts are a little hard to stomach in the morning being mostly stirfrys and rice but they are absolutely delicious and well balanced to start the day. As long as I get my black coffee, I am happy.
Regretfully listening to Lonely Planet's advice, we tuk tuked into town and went to the so called "happening" street. Well it was clear from the get go with the old men on the prowl, the young Thai girls dancing in the street, and the disco lights, that we were a little out of place being the happily married couple that we are. We did sit and watch the scene unfold for a drink or two and although I am not prudish, it was still a little uncomfortable to see these fat, hairy, balding white men with these beautiful Thai girls hanging off of their arms and their every word. Leaving that iconic scene behind, we stumbled across a fun place run by a Dutch woman and her husband with live music belting out Guns and Roses and CCR which obviously drew Josh in right away. The rest of the evening was saved!
After enjoying our delicious breakfast, we rented yet another motorbike and we wanted to drive out to the Golden Triangle where you can see Laos and Burma from that point. More importantly, we hoped to go to this elephant camp and potentially go on a trek. Driving proved no more difficult than usual and with the luxury of being the passenger (thanks Babe!) I was able to really take in the scenery and do some pretty great people watching. The scenery became more and more beautiful as we continued north and the thickness and richness of the forests were amazing. Everything was so green and not just regular green but that deep, inviting forest green with hints of all other shades of green in between. It was positively striking.
Eventually we found our destination which was an elephant camp in a hotel. We were quickly disappointed since we didn't realize the camp was only for guests and there was no option to pay independently. They did however offer us a room for the night for around 42,000 baht (over $1300!!) and assured us that the price also included one activity with the elephants. Needless to say, we happily declined.
I was disappointed in truth because we had missed our opportunity in Chiang Mai which is more known for elephant sanctuaries. However before I could feel too sorry for myself I gave myself a little perspective and moved on. If anything, it will be an excellent excuse to return to Thailand again some day! Having more time, we headed back to the Golden Triangle and enjoyed the temples around the area and the views of other countries. I can honestly say I have never seen three countries at the same time before and the concept was neat!
We decided to take a short boat trip to each country with a special stop in Laos. I was nervous because we didn't have our passports but the area was considered a special economic zone and must have some exception status. The visit was a little disheartening though and slightly reminiscent of India as children aggressively surrounded us saying their only English words, " hello, five baht" or "only five baht." We were then shuffled to a shoddy looking market full of liquor bottles containing snakes and scorpions and knock off purses but you have to appreciate their enterprise. The boat trip itself was fun going down the Mekong and we were able to take some nice photos.
With our stomachs rumbling we discovered a fabulous family run restaurant with amazing food! Surprisingly a lot of food in Thailand is deep fried and with the language barrier, it is difficult to ask what you are getting so we were glad to have healthy food. I am not sure how everyone stays so trim except for their constitution but I suppose they don't eat these things every day. Yesterday we ordered a red tilapia stir fry and literally had a mound of deep fried batter shaved onto a plate with nary a fish in sight. The scenery was beautiful too with the long tail boats floating down the river and the lush mountains behind them.
It was an adventure to find our hotel with the language barrier and our map having only Thai street names. We knew we were close by however it turned out we were unable to find our hotel since darkness had fallen and the sign to enter the little road to get to it was only in Thai! It is obvious that Thai people have a lot of heart though as they are always full of smiles and eager to help with whatever English they have and if they have little, they will find someone that has more and eventually (an hour later) we succeeded!
Josh has it in his head to do something adventurous tomorrow so we will see what he comes up with! :)
We essentially did a walking tour of Chiang Mai with the goal of finding some cute cafes and we really enjoyed seeing the old city which is surrounded by four gates which are really imposing in brick and interesting to see. Chiang Mai is a funny city though because it seems that the city has become touristy not because there is much to see or do in the city but just because it is the biggest city in the north. There are many attractions surrounding it with adventure parks, elephant safaris, and snake farms but within the city itself there is only a smattering of temples.
We took in a few temples and I always enjoy seeing the monks. In Thailand it is customary for a male to become a monk if only for a short while before he marries. The monks are highly visible wearing orange cloth that they have bound around themselves, shaved heads, and no shoes or flip flops. Women are supposed to be courteous and try not to touch a monk (some even cross the street to avoid a happenstance encounter) and even if a woman needs to hand something to a monk, she would do it through another man or lay the object down. Women can also take a vow but they will never have the esteem that a monk has and generally their duty is to take care of the temple. These women also have shaved heads but wear white cloth instead of orange and they are a more rare sight.
At one of the temples a woman showed us to a table covered with a blanket where she had tiny baskets underneath holding birds that we could pay to release for good luck. I love how these things are done under the guise of religion and I certainly did not want to encourage that practice. One tiny basket must have had over ten birds in it! I am not at all sure how capturing and imprisoning birds relates to Buddhism but there it was. I am also sure that my karma will be more intact not supporting this vile practice than receiving good luck from it!
The next day we headed to Chiang Rai by bus. As always, ask and you will receive in Thailand as it was absolutely no problem to simply show up, arrange a ticket, and be on the next bus. The bus was fairly nice and roomy and it was lovely to watch the scenery out the window. The smaller towns looked very quaint with their bungalow style houses on stilts and if you were lucky you could catch a glimpse of someone with a broad hat tending to their rice fields. Mountains appeared quickly and the lushness of the trees was really beautiful.
We arrived at our hotel and the first thing I did was double check my reservation as I thought surely this place cannot be this inexpensive? Chiang Rai obviously has less inflated prices than Chiang Mai as our hotel (or resort really) is very nice although to be honest it is not really our style and we are not likely to meet other travelers being the only foreigners here. Nonetheless Josh was pretty excited about the included buffet breakfast! Thai breakfasts are a little hard to stomach in the morning being mostly stirfrys and rice but they are absolutely delicious and well balanced to start the day. As long as I get my black coffee, I am happy.
Regretfully listening to Lonely Planet's advice, we tuk tuked into town and went to the so called "happening" street. Well it was clear from the get go with the old men on the prowl, the young Thai girls dancing in the street, and the disco lights, that we were a little out of place being the happily married couple that we are. We did sit and watch the scene unfold for a drink or two and although I am not prudish, it was still a little uncomfortable to see these fat, hairy, balding white men with these beautiful Thai girls hanging off of their arms and their every word. Leaving that iconic scene behind, we stumbled across a fun place run by a Dutch woman and her husband with live music belting out Guns and Roses and CCR which obviously drew Josh in right away. The rest of the evening was saved!
After enjoying our delicious breakfast, we rented yet another motorbike and we wanted to drive out to the Golden Triangle where you can see Laos and Burma from that point. More importantly, we hoped to go to this elephant camp and potentially go on a trek. Driving proved no more difficult than usual and with the luxury of being the passenger (thanks Babe!) I was able to really take in the scenery and do some pretty great people watching. The scenery became more and more beautiful as we continued north and the thickness and richness of the forests were amazing. Everything was so green and not just regular green but that deep, inviting forest green with hints of all other shades of green in between. It was positively striking.
Eventually we found our destination which was an elephant camp in a hotel. We were quickly disappointed since we didn't realize the camp was only for guests and there was no option to pay independently. They did however offer us a room for the night for around 42,000 baht (over $1300!!) and assured us that the price also included one activity with the elephants. Needless to say, we happily declined.
I was disappointed in truth because we had missed our opportunity in Chiang Mai which is more known for elephant sanctuaries. However before I could feel too sorry for myself I gave myself a little perspective and moved on. If anything, it will be an excellent excuse to return to Thailand again some day! Having more time, we headed back to the Golden Triangle and enjoyed the temples around the area and the views of other countries. I can honestly say I have never seen three countries at the same time before and the concept was neat!
We decided to take a short boat trip to each country with a special stop in Laos. I was nervous because we didn't have our passports but the area was considered a special economic zone and must have some exception status. The visit was a little disheartening though and slightly reminiscent of India as children aggressively surrounded us saying their only English words, " hello, five baht" or "only five baht." We were then shuffled to a shoddy looking market full of liquor bottles containing snakes and scorpions and knock off purses but you have to appreciate their enterprise. The boat trip itself was fun going down the Mekong and we were able to take some nice photos.
With our stomachs rumbling we discovered a fabulous family run restaurant with amazing food! Surprisingly a lot of food in Thailand is deep fried and with the language barrier, it is difficult to ask what you are getting so we were glad to have healthy food. I am not sure how everyone stays so trim except for their constitution but I suppose they don't eat these things every day. Yesterday we ordered a red tilapia stir fry and literally had a mound of deep fried batter shaved onto a plate with nary a fish in sight. The scenery was beautiful too with the long tail boats floating down the river and the lush mountains behind them.
It was an adventure to find our hotel with the language barrier and our map having only Thai street names. We knew we were close by however it turned out we were unable to find our hotel since darkness had fallen and the sign to enter the little road to get to it was only in Thai! It is obvious that Thai people have a lot of heart though as they are always full of smiles and eager to help with whatever English they have and if they have little, they will find someone that has more and eventually (an hour later) we succeeded!
Josh has it in his head to do something adventurous tomorrow so we will see what he comes up with! :)
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