Chiang Mai - from a once bitten, twice shy trekker.

Chiang Mai - has as many temples as Bangkok, and has 2% of the population..... an interesting fact, which was obvious once you couldn't take two steps without coming across yet another Wat. I admit to powering past most of them (in search of coffee, mostly) with a "seen one, seen 'em all" attitude, but a few were pretty impressive to go inside (once you got past the swarms of "you want tuk tuk lady?" and "I guide" out the front, that is).

The best bit about Chiang Mai though - is it's forgiving climate. Nestled at the foot of the mountains, and 300m above sea level - it was a welcome, welcome relief from the hot, wet season in Bangkok. Divine.

I was surprised Air Asia let me on the flight, given I was sneezing, coughing, sweating and slept across four seats for the entire journey. In true "Thai safety standard" style, no one gave a shyte, I can assure you. When my pick-up from the guest house I booked FINALLY arrived - I can honestly say that I was surprisingly pleased with the accommodation, and never been SO happy to get into bed in my whole life - and it was only noon. I then discovered the restauant at my guest house is reponsible for making the best coffee in Chiang Mai (yes! score!) and meals for about $2 delivered to my room.... so that was it for me for the day.... I've not really used this blog to review accommodation, but I think this one is worthy of a mention. Stay here in this guesthouse in Chiang Mai! Only 12 rooms, great service, nice guests, great cafe downstairs with coffee and food and breakfast (inlc!) and set in a gorgeous little garden for $30AUD a night! http://www.charcoa.com/ I was sad to leave.....

Charcoa was in the old town (ie within the old city wall), but close enough to the action around the East Moat.... both shown below in this brilliant photograph by yours truly....

Anyway, let's take a look at some temples..... I admit that I got lost and thought I was looking at something I wasn't, so these first few are just your bog-standard-unremarkable-sites-of-buddhist-worship.....

Elephants feature heavily......

Every temple worth it's salt has this method of collecting donations - it's also good luck to put coins in all the little buckets, and it makes a nice sound.

When you walk in, your head is not allowed to be higher than the main image or statue of buddha. Fine for the tiny Thai, but even I in all my 5 foot 4 inches glory had to duck most of the time and scramble inelegantly around.....

OK, so now we're getting to the "real temples" - as far as I can tell the difference is they are older, with bigger buddhas, more buddhas, and more gold....... and usually there are bona-fide monks in them all the time....

So, after seeing 5 or 6 temples I was beyond knackered - and sick of having people cross the road to avoid my sneezing, coughing self so I had a spell for the rest of the day - refreshed myself on the Alien movies, and got the ktichen to bring me the HOTTEST chilli prawn concoction I've ever eaten - which I think cured my cold, at least temporarily.....

Trafford's fiance had told me when we were hanging out in Bangkok that Chaing Mai Zoo had just had a baby panda and I had to go - it seemed like a good idea, as everyone was talking about it, and when I mentioned it to those in Chiang Mai their Thai faces would screw up and they'd all say "Baby Panda! Baby Panda! Ahhhh!" which bought me no end of amusement.... Trafford of course, killjoy that he is made a point of saying I'd better hurry to get there as generally mother pandas eat their young, and though panda was now 5 weeks old, there was still time.....

So here's the shot of the Mummy Panda appearing to eat her baby (which I made Trafford promise not to show his fiance) - and this was the only shot of the baby panda - contrary to Trafford's claim, the mother is very protective of the baby (though, I've since found out if it's twins, she does leave one cub to die as she can't care for two.....)

I found great joy in watching the Daddy Panda for a long time. It was fascinating seeing how such a large creature could do so little for so long - stuffing his face with bamboo was really his only concern for the entire day. There is method in the madness though....

First, you get the whole stick of bamboo, and start at the bottom, snapping off the leaves.....

...until you get to the top, and then you throw the branch away....

....by this point, you should have a mouthful of leaves all facing the same direction (this appears to be very important).....

....and then, you take them out of your mouth, hold them in your hand, and eat them like a Chico roll.

Rinse and repeat all day............

..........until you are a fat Panda.

And yep, that's the shot they don't show you in National Geographic. Naked pandas are ugly. If I was a girl panda, I'd be happy to never have a baby panda......

I don't really like zoos, and particuarly given I've now seen most animals in their natural habitat, I don't really need to. But, the best bit about the zoo was the gardens...

The zoo was just full of orchids, and they were some of the best I've seen.....

At this point - I thought I'd seen temples... but I hadn't seen nuthin'. Doi Suthep is a temple complex perched on a hill, and is about 12km from the zoo - up a windy windy (once again I've forgotten English - a really steep curvy road) - and is the most sacred temple site in the North of Thailand. Bangkok and Chiang Mai used to be different Kingdoms, so a lot of the architecture was different in Chiang Mai - Lanna Thai style (which now explains that restaurant in Melbourne!). I met up with some Thai's who were on a pilgrimage to Doi Suthep and we shared a Sountheaw (glorifed ute - TAC would not approve) up to the top.

I clicked pretty quickly when I walked through that most people were there on a pilgramage, and there were only a handful of tourists... there were lots of people selling flowers, incense and other offerings, like this guy. I felt like a bit of an imposter though as I had no idea what to do with any of it, so chose to observe rather than participate...

The golden pagoda.....

Elephants and jackfruit - ahh, Chiang Mai.....

I scrambled awkwardly into this temple (being 5 foot 4 and all) to take a look, and ended up accidentally as part of a prayer ritual - a string tying ceremony that is meant to bring good luck and safe travel to travellers... I was covered with water by a monk and then had string tied on my wrist (which I suspected I wasn't allowed to remove -I just have to wait for it to fall off - and this was confirmed yesterday). I think this is a good thing - Trafford wanted me to take his .45 with me to Laos, but of course string will be just as effective and far less cumbersome than a firearm, while still ensuring safe travel.....

The urge to ring these bells was almost overwhelming. I think I would have ended up in jail though.

More buddhas.... naturally.

I struck a deal with my friendly soungthaew driver, and he took me to Bo San and another nearby village a few k's out of Chiang Mai for a look. I was looking forward to it but really, it's a must miss. The umbrellas they make are pretty, but this is an example to the Thai government of how to take a good idea and waste it by over touristifying....

NOT a village!

2.5 broken ribs and a cold didn't deter me from taking a trek - that was after all mot of the reason I came to Chiang Mai. However, after walking for 6 hours uphill in the pouring rain, I was rather beginning to ask what the point of the whole sorry wet affair actually was.... Still, the jungle was cool and beautiful, and the little villages along the way were charming.... But by the time I got home 10 sorry hours later, I just got in the shower, fully dressed, shoes and all because I didn't know where the mud actually finished and where my clothes (or me for that matter) actually began..... as the mud washed away, so the clothes came off...... I shampooed my trekking shoes, but I still think they'll never recover.....

One of the villages - and pretty much the hill I walked up, and down, and up, and down......

Piglets. Oh, how I wish to become a vegetarian....

Oh yeah, we got your swine fly right here....


And your bird flu, and your swine-and-bird-flu combo....

I could have stayed the night in the village - the guide told me that if I had, one of these chickens or pigs would have become dinner..... and I would have had a choice....

Luckily it didn't come to that, as I went back to Chiang Mai, and joined a cooking school the next day - we went to the market, but luckily all the produce had been slaughtered and cleaned up, and I wasn't responsible for choosing which animals life got to end that day.

Cooking school was the best. I'm so glad I did it. I was with a great group of people, and we cooked about 7 dishes each - from beginning to end, individually. And unlike Morocco, beer was flowing freely..... I learnt alot - even though I'd cooked some of the dishes before - this one is highly recommended by me! (and only about $30 Australian for the whole day, with more food than you could ever possibly eat....). The trip to the market was great as well - who knew that there were so many different eggs, rice, mushrooms, noodles....

Here's old mate Perm - our chef and teacher. He pulled this face for the picture, but he was actually a normal person.... actually no, he was barking mad but a lot of fun....

And yes, these flames are intentional. This is how you get that smokey Thai flavour in stir fried vegetable dishes... yum. I was terrified though, and very glad that the roof was 15 feet high and corrugated iron..... Cannot wait to get back and cook this one for Sarah and Brett at 109 Lincoln Road! I think their kitchen can handle it.

See! It wasn't just me!

These guys were awesome...

I wasn't going to post pics of my dishes but I had a special request. Here are some....

Chicken with Cashew - easier than you think, except for the setting-alight part.

Pad Thai - noodles suck to cook with. Yummy though.

Red curry. Now I know how to get it creamy - my life has changed forever.

Tom Yum. My favourite. Will blow your head off though. Farking hot.

On my last day, I managed to track down the temple I should have been looking at when I got lost....

This isn't the temple, but the pagoda out the back was awesome. The bottom is carved elephants.....

I found some monks inside running a service, and took some shots sniper style (they didn't seem to mind).....

Nor did these school kids praying....

This is how gardens are watered in Chiang Mai. I think we can all learn something about efficiency from this.

Another unremarkable temple, but I liked these angels.....

Outside the old city, Chiang Mai.....

My international Laos Airlines flight to Luang Prabang was of course, delayed, and was in a twin prop type arrangement that had me more nervous than the Arusha - Zanzibar flight.... arrived in one piece though, with an assurance that the Vientiane - Bangkok flight will be in a larger "aircraft"....

After slinging my backpack in the back of a ute - and following it - my "taxi" (LOL) took me to my guesthouse in Luang Prabang, where even though I could wave a piece of paper that had my "confirmed reservation" - I wasn't actually booked... all's well though, and I love Luang Prabang.... but that's another story.