Woke up bright and early after 9hrs of sleep. Wandered around Old Chiang Mai, it is laid out as a square and has a moat around the city, it's quite large, which can be complicated if you want to get out on foot. There are 12 foot bridges, but no crosswalks and A LOT of scooters/cars. If you are traveling by vehicle there are only 5 bridges you can cross. At one point I hailed my first songthaew (a multi-passenger pick-up truck used as a shared taxi, cheaper than a tuk tuk if you are going to a specific landmark. It's used for passengers traveling in roughly the same direction and may stop along the route to pick up other passengers headed the same way) and bartered from 150 baht down to 50 (less than $2!) for both Jen and I. These rides will only take you well-known places and we were headed to the train station so I wanted to have the experience at least once. We purchased tickets back to Bangkok for $21 each then walked around for miles and finally hailed a tuk tuk to the outdoor Saturday Market. The market was massive, my favorite part was obviously the food, constantly stopping in awe of all the neat and different cuisine. Blind musicians played every few feet down the middle of the market, we thought that was really wonderful.
Had breakfast at our boutique, Sathu, dropped our laundry off for cleaning (48 baht = $1.45), walked through an indoor market and meandered around the city checking out all the Wats. There are so many here in Chiang Mai and it's been a treat to see all of the monks walking around in their orange robes, we learned the color comes from a natural vegetable dye found in the jungle from roots or trees. In NE Thailand they use heartwood from the jackfruit tree. They also never wear shoes. Soon after we got 180 baht ($6) Thai massages at Saija, the BEST massage I've ever had might I add. During which I had an overwhelming feeling that my passport was no longer in my possession. And it wasn't. We tracked it down at the train station where we had bought tickets the day before (and the annoyed woman helping us forgot to give it back after scanning it), queue the biggest sigh of relief in my life. We hit two more outdoor markets, where the merchants were bartering FOR Jen without Jen even hesitating to pay what they asked for, it was hilarious to watch. I've had NO problems bartering, it's natural here and you don't go anywhere without seeing it. It's actually been quite fun, they barter back with a smile on their face. On the walk back to the hotel we tried Thai whiskey (yuck!), picked up our laundry, ate half our dinner at a place where we saw rats and curled up to Thai TV in our adorable hotel where each room is named after a Thai flower with a cute description drawn on chalkboard next to each door. Ours was Bua Tong, similar to a sunflower.
[wat chet lin]
[wat buppharam]
Up, ready and on the road before the sun came up as we had engagements with feeding and bathing ELEPHANTS. The sanctuary we initially wanted to visit that we'd heard nothing but great things about from others was sold out, so Ritthichai (our cooking instructor) hooked us up with Baan Chang Elephant Park; everyone here is so nice and willingly helpful. The drive into the country was lush and beautiful and once we arrived we went straight to feeding. The elephants here were smaller, Asian elephants, with only one finger on the end of their trunks and mostly female. They ate sugar cane and bananas, skin on and by the bushel. There were at least 20 to be fed and one of their ankles were chained to the ground with some leeway to protect the guests, as well as each other from fighting. The feeding was incredible, we were allowed to pet, hug and take pictures with them. Cham Poo was the elephant I felt an immediate connection with so naturally I spent a lot of time with her. Afterward they taught us commands for getting on/riding the elephants, I opted to not ride as throughout my trip to Baan Chang I found their practices inhumane and quite sad. I laid out on bamboo hammocks in the perfect shade surrounded by acres of undisrupted land and once the group made it back, they bathed the animals. Jen actually got in the water and swam around with the elephants, it was really quite amazing how gentle and obedient these large wonderful creatures are. They fed us lunch and dropped us back off at our boutique. This was our last night in Northern Thailand so we wandered around the last corner of Old Chiang Mai that we hadn't explored yet. I bet you can guess where it landed us... with another Thai massage. ;)
Day 9
Last day in Chiang Mai, feels like perfect timing since we've just about figured out and explored nearly the entirety of Chiang Mai. It's been fun to recognize and know where we are without a map. I cannot stress how bad the exhaust is here, Jen and I felt a consistent high every time we stepped onto a busy street. My throat has been very sore and I've never been more excited for my lungs to get away from a busy city. It's bittersweet. A few good, bad and weird things I'll take away from this city: 1) All the black and white cats have mustaches! We saw over a dozen and all except one had a little black mustache on their cute white faces 2) The power in all of our hotel rooms (including Japan) had to have the room key plugged into a socket before any of the electricity worked 3) In the last two boutiques we stayed, the shower was completely open in the bathroom and sprayed almost directly above the toilet 4) The gas prices are just under $1 per L 5) Everywhere we went we'd hear terrible remakes of adult contemporary music.
[chedi luang varavihara temple]
[chedi luang varavihara temple]
[chedi luang varavihara temple]
[chedi luang varavihara temple]
Took the overnight train to Bangkok, where they give you a towel as a blanket and crank the a/c full blast, we arrived as icicles and on veryyy little sleep at 7am. From the train we took an underground subway to a bus to a ferry to a taxi to our resort on the island of Koh Chang. 28hr journey from start to finish. We ate dinner at the resort and promised each other to never do what we just did again.
