Thailand: Chiang Mai

We took a train from Lopburi to Chiang Mai, an overnight trip with sleeping booths that converted back to a 4 seat berth for the morning part of the journey. Looking out the window we saw endless plains of rice all lined up in rows, shaped for good irrigation no doubt.

After a surprisingly comfortable and relaxing ride on the train we arrived in Chiang Mai, a must on the backpacker's list of places to visit. Below are some pictures of the place we stayed at; Royal Guest House.

This place was really good value - It even had a pool! Our room was something like NZ$12 and it had its own bathroom, balcony and a fan. Replacement bedding every day too.

We took over the room, in no time it was a mess like all our other accommodation has become...



Check out our library - this is just ridiculous.

Most of the books belong to Princess, who has an innate fear of not having enough to read, therefore overcompensating by making sure she has a MASSIVE collection of books at all times. This might be the maximum we (or any other traveler!) has carried. We started downsizing after taking this picture - Princess' pack was just too heavy...

We even had an old phone in our room. We were trying to work out how long it had been since either of us had used a phone like that! Toolman thinks that NZ had the numbers in the middle of the holes so the could wear out. (Nice one Telecom - another revenue stream)

The view from our balcony was awesome, we had the most amazing view of Chiang Mai itself and the hills surrounding it. The second night we were there, a huge storm rolled over at sunset - it looked even better in person and was quite spectacular!

The hills you see above in the distance have a Wat at the top, slightly to the right of either picture. This is lit up at night and is quite spectacular. We'll show the pictures from Wat Phra Doi Suthep later.

Buddha enjoying the view! This was a travel present from Princess' Dad (Thanks, Chris) As part of the weight cutting measures, Toolman decided to send Buddha on to London with the clothes box we ended up posting to our pal Mark in London. It seemed somewhat fitting to part ways in the land of Buddha; he is now making his way towards Mark..

Being a tourist mecca, Chiang Mai has a good selection of restaurants catering to farangs. We found a really good one, that had picked Tin Tin as its theme - the owner was apparently French. The food here was divine and the Tin Tin ornaments cute, so we ate here several times.

Snowy: "Woof woof", or as the French say, "Wooa wooa" - its just a difference y'know?



So we hired a scooter - again. I was tempted by Dang(!), but we ended up just hiring it from our own accommodation. The first big attraction we visited was Doi Suthep. This is a 1676m peak named after the hermit Sudeva who lived on the mountain's slopes for many years. Near its summit is Wat Phra Doi Suthep which was established in 1383.

The road leading up the mountain is incredibly windy, so most farangs probably hire a taxi-ute to take them to the top; we (aka Toolman the hoon) decided a scooter was the way to go though, so up we went!

Just beneath the Wat were a lot of farang- focused stalls. The hats above were being sold at one. They are kind of cool, but seriously, who would want to own one? Cans are used to make all sorts of trinkets: mainly wallets and models of all sorts: tuk-tuks, trains, planes, cars...

There were A LOT of stairs to reach the Wat; 300 to be exact. You can take a tram up, but we decided to walk. Check out the dragon banisters - pretty amazing!

The view from the Wat was absolutely incredible. Chiang Mai is a beautiful place!

The Wat itself is pretty spectacular. In the centre of the complex there is a copper-plated Chedi which is topped by a five-tiered golden umbrella. Apparently this is one of the holiest Chedi in all of Thailand.

The rest of the Wat is no less ornate. This is a building that backs onto the square building surrounding the Chedi.

There really is a wonderful feeling of peace and serenity up there. It is a mystical, magical place and we really loved it.

And Toolman enjoyed the scooter-hoon there and back..



Chiang Mai has lots of other Wats, so we went for a tour around them. The gold Dragon is an awesome sculpture...



..that Princess had to have a closer look. We do go inside most Wats we visit, but its sometimes not appropriate to photograph. If you look at the complete photoset, you might see the inside pictures of some.



We found this interesting structure at the back of one of the Wats.



Full size! All our dealings with elephants over here have been so positive - they are such gentle and hardworking animals; it's no wonder that Thailand love them so much!



If you think those elephants were big, check out this one. This is a large structure.



This is the ruins of a grand Wat, and it impressed us very much. Surrounded by a moat, the square building rises up with a Chedi in the middle. You can see a little of one of the gold Buddhas below, with one on each side facing north, south, east, west.



The closeup of the elephants which have been incorporated indicating how important the are, and have been for a long time.



This particular Wat has a program in place to look after stray animals, and indeed it did have a more then normal collection of animals lying about the place. Princess spent a bit of time giving the love to the doggies and kitties that are lucky enough to be tended by the monks. It should be noted that we do say hello to the other strays, as long as they look friendly.



It also had a Monk Chat program, so us farangs could come along and talk about anything with the monks. It also serves as practice for English for them so its a great exchange.



Monks can't touch or sit next to women, but they are allowed to talk to them. We asked all sorts of questions about the life of a monk. They get up around 4am, meditate for an hour, then go out to the streets to collect food from the locals. In this way, the locals are supporting the monks, so they get merit to hopefully lessen the impact of Karma.

The monks only eat twice a day, and most are studying much like you would in normal schools or collages. We wonder if some monks join mainly for cheaper education (as well as to earn some merit for their family).

This particular Monk was actually from Laos, and so we asked him about his family, and unfortunately touched a sore spot - yes, we managed to make a monk cry... We were both so sorry for reminding him of something painful, we felt awful. A reminder that so many people have it tough; this guy is giving up a lot (his family) for monk-hood and education.



This Wat is made from Teak, a hardwood found in Thailand and neighboring countries. Its actually illegal to cut them down in Thailand; there is apparently roaring trade buying Teak from Myanmar across the border.



All around the Teak Wat are sandcastles, made from weaved bamboo rings. the ones above were about 2 stories high...

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... but the one at the back dwarfed Princess! That would win the beach sandcastle competition I'm sure.



Here is another golden Chedi. Very pretty.



Around the Wats lots of English students hang around looking to talk to farangs - mainly for class exercises and such. Our interviews were recorded, so we might be famous in some classroom.

The next day, we hired a scooter again and headed up to the Mae Sa elephant camp.



We got there just in time to see the elephants go for their daily scrub and bath in the river. Elephants love water, and to be scrubbed down. These were some happy elephants!



They were all rolling around, and as they have built in snorkels, they can immerse themselves pretty well. Check the grin on that elephant above.



After their bath, they put on a show for us. They painted, kicked footballs, played the harmonica, played darts, curtsied and bowed. They are so smart, and listen to their mahout (trainer). It was very good, without feeling coerced or tacky.



Look at the result of their painting! These were really drawn completely by the elephants.



Afterwards we went up for a closer look. The welcome was inviting, to say the least...



Toolman got a cuddle / squash from the elephants. Yes they are strong! Our next stop was Chiang Mai Zoo - can you see a pattern?



The big cats are awesome, especially this Jaguar.



and this white kitty! Who wants some go-cat?



Of course this is an alive tiger! Any suggestion that it is stuffed is complete rubbish...



These monkeys are quite good catchers - we found some berries on a tree, and Toolman could throw them to the monkeys who would catch and devour them. Very funny.



Macaque! These are pretty and smart birds, but were a bit shy when we were there.

The main attraction (and extra ticket cost) at this zoo was the Pandas. We had a hard time deciding if we wanted to spend the extra, but it was definitely worth it.



We got into the enclosed environment just in time to see the feeding. The temperature was a chilly 18 degrees - cold when you are used to 30ish outside! The pandas are fed bamboo (as shown in the blue tubs), and chew through it like cookie monster would - messily!



They really love their sun lounger seats, and walked straight up to sit on them. So cute!



There are 2 there, separated from each other. This is one was show boating in front of us, rolling around hoping for a treat to be tossed her way. Just like a huge teddy bear!



We saw the orangutan, who reminded us of Mark (you hairy ape). He was alone, and seemed a bit sad or bored. His island was large though, and waving didn't seem to distract him from whatever he was doing.

The zoo had lots of other animals, including Koalas, which we found a bit out of place. We had a fun day wandering around.

That night, we went to a traditional Thai dance evening. We didn't get many pictures, but this gives an idea of what it was like:



A buffet dinner was brought out, while Traditional dance was onstage. The dance involves complicated finger movements, and the ladies wear long brass fingernails to accentuate their movements. Our seats were at the back, so later in the evening we moved to the middle so we could see better.

After the embarrassing part where they got some drunk farangs on stage to try and emulate the intricate dance (yes they did awful) we headed outside to a different stage, where a dozen different local hill tribes all did their unique dances and chants.

We decided to do a one-day trek up to the hill tribes and have a look around in the wilderness.



This is our guide, and a Spanish couple who came along with us for the trek. The first leg was done on elephant.



Thailand has lots of elephants!



We were coaxed into buying bribes for the elephants ("so he likes you"). The trunk would come up and start sniffing around hoping you'd feed it. They can knock back bananas like kids with candy.

Next off, we trek up past one of the hill tribes (Karon), and stop to watch this kid with his spinning top. He was happy when he could get it to go..



We stopped here for a swim at this waterfall. It was very refreshing, but the water flow was so fast that you'd get swept down if you ventured far off the banks. But when you are hot, its still awesome to cool off in!



Next we ventured up to a (Hmong) hill tribe village. Their buildings are built up off the ground, whereas the Karon hilltribes were more nomadic and so had easier to demolish buildings. And yes, they did have a TV dish - goes to show whats important, huh?



There were ladies doing manual loom work for all these beautiful cloths, mainly for sarongs and the like.



We both felt a bit voyeuristic, coming in and looking at the hill tribes. Its hard to interact with them (language) and so looking and pointing can feel a bit odd. Still was good to visit, and interesting to learn about how they are trying to keep their heritage, whilst still progressing. (Though Toolman wonders if getting TV really is progression?)

Our trip ended with a bamboo ride down the river.



This is a picture of the river that we went down. It was prety gentle on our long raft, but Toolman was at the back, and thats the end that tends to hang out a bit on these kinds of things. A few bank twigs came very close to collecting some Toolman...



This is what they looked like - about 5 meters long! The raft guide had the job of dismantling them and piling them up in a ute to transport back up the river for the next lot.



As the ride was wet, we got no photos; the scenery was lovely, although the water is brown - now we understand why NZs waterways are so treasured.

We both really loved Chiang Mai, and there is so much more to see. Next time...