The Land of exotic food, spices, countryside, elephants and smiles.

    Bangkok Airport

Although I could have stayed in Bangkok longer, it was time to move onto our next adventure in Thailand, Chiang Mai, somewhere new to me. I was very excited to visit this area because it is more rural, quiet and spiritual. I anticipated interaction with Monks, elephants and locals, via tours, cooking classes, as well as public markets.

The Anantara Riverside provided us with transportation to the Suvarnabhumi Airport for our flight North to Chiang Mai International Airport. The flight took only about an hour on Thai Vietjet Air.

We had chosen a Boutique Hotel withing the walls of the ancient city in Chiang Mai, “Chala 6”, who had sent a private car to the airport to meet us. I can’t say how important this is to arrange, especially in a strange city where you don’t speak local language.

Arriving at Chala 6, I was blown away by how ornate and traditional Thai it was. Staff in traditional dress, extremely polite, and antiques everywhere. After check-in we were led to our room, a King Suite on the ground with direct pool access. A surprise feature was the fully stocked “Mini-bar”, of which we had free access to.

     Our Poolside Room.

The main reason we chose this hotel was the ability to walk out the front doors, and be in the safe walled ancient city, with it’s charm, restaurants, shopping and sites.

We unpacked, changed into swimwear, and headed out to the pool to relax with a cocktail or two, before heading out into the city.

Among other adventures we had booked here in Chiang Mai, we planned to be here on Sunday later in the week, specifically for their famous “Sunday Market”, which was supposed to be a “not to miss” adventure.

So we headed out to the streets to just do a “walk about” and get some food, which is never an issue here in Chiang Mai, or Thialand for that matter. Of course, tomorrow we would be attending “Grandma’s Cooking School” in the countryside, and “Elephant Nature Park” the next day. Our plan afrere quite a busy time in the “Big City” Bangkok, was to be casual in the north, with lots of relaxation, get massages, and enjoy food and local lifestyle.

The following day, the “Grandma’s Cooking School Van” picked us up at our hotel at $8:30 AM. We went directly to the outskirts of Chang Mai, about a forty-five-minute drive to the school location, where we were greeted by the staff. 

The first thing we did was get our straw hats and a tour of the gardens where they grow their own vegetables and fruits for cooking.

 We all have our own cook stations

 We watched closely as she taught us how to prepare each dish

 Say hello to my new “little friends” the Bird’s Eye Chili. Hot Hot Hot !

 My cook station

   Seriously spicy hot shrimp coconut soup.

This is where they introduced me to what is called a “Birds Eye Chili”, a tiny red pepper that would shortly kick my ass!

   Pad Thai from scratch ! Ummmmmm Good 🙂

We all surrounded the chef while she taught us how to prepare each course of the meal we would make ourselves. I appreciated the fact that we each had our own cooking station, and created our dishes along. after we made each course we would take our dishes to a table and eat. I also appreciated the beverage cooler that contained bottles of ice cold Singha Beer :), especially when I made my soup dish, which the Chef advised ading a couple “Birds Eye Peppers”, and I added five !

   Used in our Thai Cooking Class….wonder if I can find these back in Belize ? 🙂

This class was a half-day class, which I felt was enough, and we learned a great deal about preparation and herbs to cook Thai with. I will tell you, when I returned home from this trip, I brought with me not only a bag of “Birds Eye Peppers” but also seeds for many specific Thai herbs to grow in Belize. I suggest attending this cooking class if and when you visit Thailand.

  Not quite the transport 🙂

 Famous streetfood restaurant cooking meats in these clay pots, we had “crispy pork belly”

  Dinner was awesome

We were driven back to Chala 6 and decided to do some exploring in the city, maybe do a little shopping for the afternoon, before going to dinner.

The next day we had booked a half day at the “Elephant Nature Park” situated about an hour’s drive from city center. Their van picked us up at the hotel, and we got to enjoy some countryside views on the way to the park.

 Keeping an eye on this female 🙂

Let me say that I spent quite a bit of time researching “elephant parks” to visit while in Chiang Mai months before the trip. There are many “so-called” “ethical elephant parks” to choose from, but they are not what they claim. Elephants should not be ridden, not bathed, and, as a matter of fact, not have any physical contact except with their handlers.

  Mom and Baby….pretty cute.

They offered none of these things at “Elephant Nature Park,” but we got close to these magnificent animals, even a young baby born there. We learned about the cruelty these elephants have endured and that most of the 150+ elephants in their park had to be “purchased via donations” from owners to get them out of danger. Very Sad. While researching the parks to choose from, I saw so many reviews from tourists that said how they loved bathing with them or riding them, which is very bad for their backs. I guess the old saying “ignorance is bliss” is still valid.

 The elephant “food prep” area, thousands of pounds eaten, every day.

 Elephant’s and water buffalo live together quite well.

After walking in the heat at the park, and I mean heat….we were driven back to the hotel, where we enjoyed a cocktail or three and then headed out for lunch.

In the evening, most temples hosted “food courts”

  Sometimes “hard decisions” had to be made 🙂

After lunch, we decided it was time for a relaxing two-hour massage at a massage parlor we had found while walking the previous day. Now understand, in Thailand, there are “massage parlors,” and then there are “massage parlors” offering “special features.” I had already experienced one offering “special features” in Vietnam, so decided to go with a “Traditional Thai Massage” here.

   Yup ! It’s that easy, but remember this…You get what you pay for !

Unlike the U.S. and even my Thai Massage Lady here in Belize, in Thailand, they wash and massage your feet first in a separate room, then take you to your private massage room. After two hours of deep and total body massage, I wasn’t sure if I could walk back to Chala 6, but I did.

   Street Market’s are quite fun

The Chiang Mai Sunday Market” is pretty famous and one of the biggest in Thailand, and the next day, we got to evaluate that ourselves. We caught a “Tuk Tut” to the entrance of the market, late morning, with plans to explore a while, have lunch there and explore the rest of the market.

 Marsha couldn’t pass up a ice cold Thai Tea on a hot night.

Let me explain something first about our stay at Chala 6, the free buffet breakfast. Every morning, we enjoyed a professional cappuccino, along with eggs of our choice, fresh yogurt, bread, and much more. It’s the best way to start the day.

 Remnants of the original wall surrounding the “Old City” centuries ago. Sadly, many buildings inside the city were built from the original wall bricks.

There was certainly a lot going on at the Sunday market, with the majority of items I would like being things we would have to ship back home, so needless to say, we purchased a few things but not much. It was pretty impressive though.

 Marsha’s vendor who sold me my sacred amulet.

We did find an awesome small Thai cafe to have lunch and relax.

 Sweet place to grab lunch 🙂

 Of course….spicy soup and a Singha 🙂

The next night was exciting as it was the “Chiang Mai Night Market” which was on the streets in front of our hotel. The street was closed down for vehicle traffic, and late afternoon all the vendors came, and I mean hundreds, to set up their booths. It was nice not having to travel to get to this market, and we actually had fun shopping.

 The best way to get around Chiang Mai…..and donate to Rotary 🙂

After a while, I got separated from my wife Marsha, and when I caught up with her, she was deep in conversation with one of the vendors. They talked about his collection of religious amulets, which was quite interesting. In fact, it was so interesting that I purchased one.

 Markets everywhere 🙂

When you purchase something from vendors in Thailand, you realize how thankful they are and what it means to them because many are supporting large families.

 The great thing about our hotel, we could walk off the street market out front, and enjoys a cocktail in open air.

The final adventure in Chiang Mai is something “unplanned” and suggested by my wife for our last full day here, and I am glad she did. We always try to experience the local communities, outside the relm of tourists, so we decided to hire a local driver to take us outside the norm, to areas that locals might go to get way.

 We got out of the van, and started walking down into the village

Our driver had an excellent comfortable travel van and after a time 🙂 he understood what we wanted him to do. He suggested traveling about an hour or two north into the mountains, where locals have “discovered a village” and built many small roadside homes, shops and food alleys. At the top of the mountain there is a waterfall hike, which turned out to be pretty cool.

Yup…even up in the hills, you could still get a “buzz”.

This proved to be quite the adventure, especially the tight one car curvey road (with 2 way traffic), but the sights were extraordinary.

 The view below from the coffee shop

One thing I told him was that I wanted to experience true Northern Thai sausage, or “San Qua” as it’s called. Northern Thailand is quite famous for this long coil of sausage, with herbs like lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, cilantro, garlic, extremely hot and toxic Thai peppers and more. My kind of sausage 🙂

We drove up past the village to the waterfall path and checked that out. Honestly, not the most spectacular waterfall, but locals like it and many do wedding photography there.

 Yes…there really was a waterfall

We slowly coasted back down to the village and stopped at a quaint cliffside tavern where we enjoyed the view of the valley speckled with “tiny houses” below and had Thai iced coffee. He then drove to the beginning of the village, where the driver left us off to walk the town ourselves and would meet us in the center.

We checked out the little Monk Monastery, and a bunch of small shops, and met up with our guide, who led me to my “prize”, “San Qua”. It’s quite interesting how the barbeque over charcoal in large coils of sausage, then cut in small slices, put in little bags, and you eat with a toothpick, snack like.

Finally got some of those San Qua Sausages to snack on…..Ummmmmm Good and spicy hot !

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a large jewelry manufacturer and another stop at an Umbrella Shop.

We had a tour of the jewelry making process, which was very interesting, and ended in a very large display ( and purchase) store. Marsha looked at every piece of jewelry in the place with the sales woman of course, but purchased none. The last isle caught both of our eye, necklaces and amulets for men and woman, quite traditional in Thailand.

Marsha had a elephant scene hand painted on her purse.

I purchased a Jade Tooth necklace :).

Of course, as Jade is pretty cheap here in Thailand, we bought small Jade figures for our two grandchildren. Then I spotted the little Jade Buddha :). Yup…got that.

Next and final stop was the Umbrella store, which i actually was happy we stopped at. We experienced how the make them, but best part was, we watched how each umbrella was actually hand painted. after viewing the process and the store full of beautiful Umbrellas, I surprised Marsha by purchasing one for her. Her response was,

“How do I fit the Gong you bought and this fan in my luggage”? 🙂 I had not doubts, as she is my “Pirate Packing Queen: :).

After a awesome Thai dinner, we enjoyed a good night sleep, and would head south of Bangkok to the stunning beaches and islands of Thailand, known as the best in the world.

Hope you enjoyed, see you in Phuket, Thailand.

Gary….The Pirate.