Chiang Mai, cont. – andermeesh.net

A big highlight for us was the awesome cooking school we attended. The class was held on an organic farm right outside Chiang Mai. The setting was beautiful and the food was amazingly delicious. It was the best Thai food we have ever tasted, even in Thailand! We first took a tour of a Thai market and learned about the basic ingredients for making a Thai dish.

Curries for sale at the market where stopped off before heading to the farm.

A delicious Thai snack below (just kidding, those are deep fried bugs!)

Cole made some pretty professional looking deep fried spring rolls. Note the large jackfruit in the window behind Lena.

Mango with sticky rice!!

The next day we went to Doi Suthep, a large Buddhist temple on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai. It was a Sunday and it was crowded with Thai people there to make offerings, prayers, and get a blessing by a monk. Rob and I both bought bracelets that were ‘blessed’ by a monk. He sprinkled holy water on us with a lotus flower, saying, ‘happiness, happiness, good fortune!’.

So MANY Buddhas

In Thailand, you must always bow before a Buddha and press hands together in silent prayer. You may also not turn your back on the Buddha, or point your feet at it. They are fairly serious about respecting the Buddha’s image.

The blessing station, felt kind of gimmicky, even though it’s not for tourists whatsoever.

That selfie stick inventor must be a billionaire.

Chiang Mai below.

The large bells of the temple (they all have different tones and are quite loud!).

Another temple in Chiang Mai. There were so many of them. Some are big and some are quite small, nestled in between stores and houses, easily missed if you aren’t looking.

Thai Massage

Let’s talk about Thai massage a bit. Rob and I had 4 different massages while in Thailand. The first night we went to a $5/hr hole in the wall massage parlor next to our hotel. After two hellish days dealing with delayed flights and 16 hours of flying, we both had serious cricks in our necks.

The massage was, shall we say, vigorous. There were a number of moments where my main thought was ‘Spine, it’s been nice feeling you’, as I was pulled and stretched in ways that I thought were clearly not how the body was meant to be positioned. Including in the picture on the right below.

However, I will say the the cricks were all gone, and we felt quite good (and rather lucky, like we’d dodged a bullet). Regardless, that was the last $5/hr massage we had on our trip (well there was that leg massage but that doesn’t count).

The other two were at spas and I have to say that they really know how to do spa in Thailand. The smells in the rooms were incredible, the Thais have an incredible array of products and essential oils that make you feel and smell like a million dollars. Even the fancy spa we went to was a deal compared to prices here in Oakland.

Elephant Farm

A once-in-a-lifetime trip that we took while in Chiang Mai was to the elephant nature park, a conservancy effort started by one Thai woman. She started with one elephant rescued from a Mahout (that’s an elephant keeper, usually using elephants for logging or tourism). Many elephants used for work are abused and suffer from mental problems. Some of the elephants she has rescued had severe injuries, from stepping on landmines or traps. There are now nearly 70 elephants at the park and the week we were there, they had rescued (meaning purchased from Mahouts who could no longer keep them) 4 or 5 more.

Part of the program was to learn about the park, feed, bathe, and interact with the elephants. There was no elephant riding, only of two places in Thailand that doesn’t allow riding, as riding is quite abusive to the elephants. It was a magical experience, to be able to actually get out and feed, touch, watch, and interact with these loving, gentle, giants.

The countryside:

Feeding the elephants

You can see how close we got to the elephants

Bath time! We got in the river and helped bathe the elephants (with buckets of water) which they loved. One way they show happiness is by flapping their ears, which is really adorable.

The baby boy, messing around

There is a 2 year old boy who was born in the park, and he was so playful and silly. Such a delight to watch his antics. He ran all over the place, and you would have to dash to get out of his way. Especially because his nanny would often coming running up behind him.