Elephants and eating in Chiang Mai
Falling behind on our itinerary we almost didn't make it to Chiang Mai - lying out of the way in northern Thailand it seemed like an obvious exclusion. Fortunately though we managed to find some cheap flights from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and then from Chiang Mai to Phuket. The way the flights were priced meant that we could only afford to have 3 days in Chiang Mai (the discount we got would not have applied if we'd have left a day later), but we did at least manage to fit a lot in.The most popular thing to do in Chiang Mai is to go on a jungle trek in the nearby national park. We signed up for a one day tour that proved to be less of a trek and more of an all-round adventure day.
The day got off to a great start when our cheeky tour guide Tom (apparently like a Thai Tom Cruise but not as good looking) told us that whilst we had paid 700 baht (10 GBP) the rest of our group had paid 1000 baht. We speculated that he might have said this to everybody on the tour but didn't like to test our theory. Tom was great fun and actually very informative about the national park and the inhabitant tribes. He also kept us entertained with, amongst other things, stories of elephants stepping on landmines. Even his anecdotes of death were followed by a boyish giggle.
The actual trekking did not take more than an hour and a half, but in the heat and humidity that was probably enough. We walked up a steep windy path to the top of a hill where there was a small tribal village. The village was a bit disappointing as we had seen less developed communities in Cambodia, but it was nevertheless interesting to find out about how they lived and their position and role in the Thai society. The scenery was spectacular too, and we got to walk over a great Indiana Jones-esque bridge.
Our next activity was elephant trekking at the nearby elephant sanctuary. We had bypassed a few opportunties to ride elephants in Cambodia because they always looked so mistreated. The only problem with the elephants in Chiang Mai was that they proved to be quite mischevious. We decided that this was probably something to do with the fact that visitors are encouraged to buy food for the elephants and feed them in order to "make friends". I'm pretty sure that our elephant, who seemed particualry 'emo', did not have friendship in mind, and was really just interested in filling his stomach. Indeed every time we stopped he would swing his trunk back at us, and sometimes he'd stop for no reason but to get food. If we didn't feed him he'd blow air at us from his trunk, behaviour that was made particualry disgusting by the endless mucus in his trunk. It was much worse though for our cigar smoking mahout who, sitting on the neck of the elephant, quite often got hit by the trunk as the elephant searched for food. The best part of the ride was wading through a river after going down a 45 degree embankment. We also saw a mother and baby elephant which got Emily reminiscing about the Jungle Book.
After a surprisingly tasty and filling lunch stop we visited another tribal village on the way to a rather spectacular waterfall. Then came our final activity: bamboo rafting. We weren't entirely sure what bamboo rafting entailed until we reached the riverside at which point a raft of 4 teenage Thai boys sailed past, completely out of control, eventually crashing of a tree and out of our sight. Looking at each other in excitement and slight horror, we noticed the pile of bamboo with which our raft was being constructed. Made with 9 pieces of bamboo, the raft was about 6 metres long and just over a metre wide. Once built ee boarded our raft and set off down the river along with Christine and Joel from Texas, and our captain who was armed only with a long and thin piece of bamboo. We cruised down the river about half an inch above the water as the captain manouvered us around rocks and debris (including bits of other boats). Towards the end I helped to steer from the back and managed to fall in twice, once when our boat was ambushed by 4 Thai kids in the water, and once when I failed to steer around a rock in time. With the majority of our group soaking wet (not Emily though, she was sensible enough not to try and steer) we returned to Chiang Mai after a brilliant day.
Chiang Mai is supposed to be the best place in Thailand to do a cooking course, which is something that we'd both been looking forward to. We chose to do a full day course based on an organic farm in the countryside. On the way there we stopped at a food market on the outskirts of town where we received a short lesson on some of the most important foods and ingredients in Thai cusine. When we arrived at the farm we were taught how to cook different types of rice before taking a tour of the farm at which point we were introduced to the many vegetables and fruits that they grow on their farm. Then it was time to cook.
Throughout the day we made several dishes: green curry (after labourously making a curry paste - that will be a job for Tesco in the future!), tom yam (a soup) with shrimp, a chicken and oyster sauce stir-fry, and bananas in cocunut milk. We also made some very delicious spring rolls to take home. Whilst Emily was in her element, I managed to show my complete lack of practice in the kitchen. This was not helped by the fact that most people on the course seemed to have some cooking experience, including a dutch guy who was actually a professional chef. Still, the hardest part of the day was forcing our growling stomachs to wait for lunch, which we weren't allowed until our first 3 dishes were complete - it was worth the wait though, even if I do say so myself.
During our short stay in Chiang Mai we also hired a couple of bicycles so that we could see more of the town and some of the many temples within it. We visited the apparently world famous night bazaar too. But even though we managed a lot in our three days there, Chiang Mai is probably the one place where we didn't have long enough. Still, I guess there is always next time?
Chris
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