Rich and Cat's Travels: Chaing Mai

Our flight from Japan to Thailand was long but smooth and once we got our bags we proceeded to check in to our next flight, up to north Thailand and the city of Chaing Mai. Our flight there wasn’t as smooth as there was a thunder storm and strong winds. As we were landing meaning the pilot couldn’t land and we had to abort the first attempt and try again after 20 minutes. The first attempt was scary enough as the plan tilted from left to right quite violently before the pilot slammed on the engines and we went shooting back up. What made it worse was that we had no idea about the storm or what was going on until, what felt like 10 mins, after the first attempt. For the second attempt the whole plane was silent and the air was tense. For this attempt the pilot kept the plane steady by thrusting the engines but following the last attempt we were not sure if these thrust would mean we were aborting the attempt again. However after a tense few minutes we were on the ground and the plane gave the pilot a round of applause.

Afterwards we managed to get to our guesthouse, which was stress free, and check in before going off in search of a well needed beer. The following day we were up early and ready to start exploring so we went into old town and looked around the many different temples in the area and we did a bit of shopping before heading back to our guesthouse to head out for our evening cooking class. In the class , where there was only us two and one Japanese girl, we learnt how to make various dishes including, panang curry, green curry, pad thai, hot and sour soup and papaya salad. We also learnt how to make mango sticky rice which is our new favourite dessert. After cooking each course we also got to eat it which meant by the end of the night we were stuffed. We did have lots of fun and it was interesting watching the Japanese girl struggle with the spicy food. Following the class the driver dropped us at the night bazar where we did a bit more shopping and walking around before heading home.

The next day we decided to try and get to a waterfall as the temperature was rising and a cooling swim would be just what we needed. So off we went with Rich directing us, to the wrong place apparently, so that we could get the bus. After walking for 2km in the wrong direction we got a taxi to the bus and headed up the mountain. Once we got to the halfway point we jumped out and we finally realised that the waterfall was nearer the bottom but there was a nice temple with great views so we walked around the temple for a while before getting a bus back down to where one of the waterfall was. Once there we walked up the path to the series of waterfalls but as we are here just before monsoon season the river is not very big and so all we could do was sit on one of the ledges where the water cascades down. It did cool us down however and after a while we decided to head back to town where we walked in the walking Saturday street which was a market on a street they close to vehicles. We ate lots of street food and walked around watching all the mayhem. It soon got busy though so we decided to head home feeling full, again.

The following day we headed to Elephant Nature Park which is a conservation park for Elephants who are tame as they used to work in the different industries in Thailand which are now illegal, for example logging and street begging. This is the only park in Chaing mai which does not use the elephants as a show but instead tries to let them lead as normal life as possible, although it does allow people contact with the elephants but on their terms. First we got to feed the elephants fruit and then we walked around the 300 acre park to see the elephants walking around and we got to stroke a couple of them and get up close. We also had some free time at the park where we were able to go and visit some of the other animals they rescue which include lots of cat and dogs and some water buffalo. As you can imagine we spent most of the time with the cats who were lovely and loved attention and to play. After lunch we went to the river were we were able to help wash the elephants, although the one we were washing was soon bored of that so headed off into the river to wash herself and her friends soon joined her. It was great to watch them rolling about in the shallow river and enjoying themselves. After that we walked around the park a bit more and saw some of the younger elephants at the park who can be a little boisterous and therefore we had to keep our wits about us and move out of the way when they came our way. Once we had finished at the park we headed back to the accommodation before heading out for the evening which started by going to get a famous Thai massage (not the kind with a ‘happy ending’ though!). After being walked on and elbowed a lot we felt somewhat better and headed to the Sunday walking street which was similar to the Saturday walking street but bigger. After walking for a while we had some dinner and went to have an ice cream which was made in front of us by mixing the ingredients we chose and spreading it on a freezing metal disc and mixing it up. Once frozen it is peeled off the metal using a peeler and served in rolls. It was really good and definitely a different way of eating ice cream.

The following morning we are again at the airport heading back to Bangkok, and hoping for a smoother flight, for one night before leaving Thailand and heading to Auckland for a couple of nights before going to the Cook Islands.