Our First Few Days in Chiang Mai

We've been here in Chiang Mai for about a week now, and so far things are going MUCH better than in Bangkok (well, aside from waking up yesterday to look out the window and see a tuktuk driver trying to steal the windshield wipers off our rental car, ha). Here's a picture overlooking the Mae Ping River and the Mountains - you can see a couple red pick-up trucks with benches in the back ("songtaos"); they (along with tuktuks) are the main form of public transportation here since there are very few buses or cabs. You just hail one down that's going in your direction, and jump in the back!

We arrived last Thursday afternoon, and in the evening made our way down to the large Night Market, where we bought one of these nifty lampshades (see pic) for our kitchen. Shopping seems to be THE favorite pastime of the Thais - there's always a market going on somewhere! Some are permanent markets, primarily utilitarian, while others are street markets, where crowds of people just stroll along, looking, shopping, and eating. Thai masseurs also set up comfy chairs for cheap foot massages on the side if your feet need a break from all the shopping!

The next morning we headed out to the Friday morning Hilltribe produce market (see pic), where members of the indigenous tribes come down from the mountains to sell their crops and meats. We saw a lot of odd root vegetables and animal products that we would probably find revolting even if we weren't vegetarian, like these gray chickens (see pic). Afterward we checked out the Lam Yai Market and the Wororat Market before taking a tuktuk over to the Chiang Mai National Museum (which covers Ancient Lanna culture), and grabbing a songtao back to the B&B.









The next day, we got up early for our vegetarian cooking course at May Kaidee's Cooking School (see pic), which began with a trip to the market, and then continued with an intense 4 hours where we each made ~15 Thai dishes, ranging from salads to spring rolls to curries to pad thai and even mango sticky rice! I have never been a huge fan of Thai food, but finally being able to cut out the spicyness myself has opened up a whole new culinary world for me. :) The food was fantastic, and we left there exhausted with our bellies stuffed and many full to-go containers. That evening we hit up the Saturday Market, where we partook in delicious street waffles and watched numerous blind street musicians sing karaoke or play various instruments up and down the street for donations. Some were quite good, but there were a couple that I wondered if maybe they were deaf too. :-P

On Sunday, we decided to get brave and rent a scooter to tool around the countryside (see pic), which was easier said than done since a) no one follows any sort of road rules, b) people here drive on the left (when they aren't barreling down the middle!) and c) I don't know how to ride a bike, so Brian had to cope with all my wobbling on the back. But it all turned out well - we only ran off the road once, and since we were on a scooter it wasn't a huge deal when we ended up driving on the wrong side a couple times. :) We ended up riding east of the city out to San Kampaeng Hot Springs, a park popular with locals. There's a hot springs stream to soak your feet in (see pic), and even a hot pool to boil eggs in (see pic). The eggs seem to be the big draw, as there's a huge egg statue in the middle of the gardens (see pic).

Brian on scooter	Boiling eggs
People enjoying the hot springs	Hot springs garden

That evening we returned to town and headed to the Sunday Walking Street Market (see pic), which stretches all the way across the Old Town section of the city. Brian had tired of markets by this point, but I went on to purchase a few more gifts (on a side note, we ventured to the Post Office today to mail all of these purchases back - even sending them on the 3-month boat, I think it negated any cost savings from buying things over here, haha).

The next day we took a group tour out to the Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary for abused elephants. This has definitely been our favorite day in Thailand so far. We were able to feed the elephants, including a female who was blinded by a logging industry employee when she refused to work after he had killed her baby, and we helped bathe an elephant with a broken back from forced breeding and one whose foot was blown off by a land mine. We saw many more with injuries on their heads from the hooks used to give rides at the other elephant camps in the area, and we watched a video on the horrible "training" that these tourist elephants are forced to endure. I even got a kiss on the cheek from one of the elephants! It was nice to be able to help the elephants instead of just exploiting them, and we were really really glad that we had chosen to come to this sanctuary instead of the other elephant camps. I would encourage anyone visiting Thailand to do the same. It's astonishing how cruelly the Thais treat these creatures that are so revered in their culture. Later on back in Chiang Mai, we were out walking at night and saw a couple of men taking a baby elephant down the street soliciting donations - the elephant was terrified, and the men kept pinching its ears to get it to squeal for entertainment. At least the elephants at the shelter are finally living a better life. :) Here are some pics from our day at the Elephant Nature Park:

Ready to eat!	Susan feeding elephant
Bathtime!	Brian washing elephant
Elephant injured by land mine	Elephant with broken back
Elephant kissing Susan	Baby elephant