Northern Thailand with elephants

Yummy...fruits
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Arrival And The Food Market

Seeing Chiang Mai by airplane is a bit different than seeing it in person. Chiang Mai is a province more than just a city. The province is located northwest of Bangkok and is much more lush and green than Bangkok. That’s what one would see from the plane. Actually driving through Chiang Mai was a bit different. 

Chiang Mai Markets and Mae Pang River Fun

Kinn’s friend, Add, picked us up from the airport and drove us around the entire time. Add is the only person amongst Kinn’s friends that spoke English. So out of necessity, I became friends with her quickly but actually Add is one of the most open and sincere people I know and an international friend I hope to keep.

More types of shallots at the Chiang Mai market than I've ever seen in my life.
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When driving from the airport and into the town, I began to see the smaller neighborhoods of Chiang Mai. Most of the neighborhood blocks were of small shops or restaurants (more like merchants streets).   I realized later that is true thoughout Chiang Mai (and actually for most of Thailand from what I saw). There doesn’t seem to be a street that is just a residential street. Most of the buildings in Chiang Mai have not been well maintained unfortunately and the streets have not been paved.   Most of the city seems poor and a bit dirty but definitely still worth visiting. There are areas where nice hotels are which are cleaner but the real parts of the city are where the poor live.

Elephants doing their show biz thang'
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We’re on vacation, so of course it was time to eat again! We also met up with Kinn’s cousin and friend to go to the restaurant called Pallad Tawanron. It has one of the best views of Chiang Mai. I actually had to go through the restroom for the best view. It was my first taste of Chiang Mai style food which Kinn says is different than Bangkok style.

After lunch, we walked through the fruit and vegetable market. I was really looking forward to the mangosteen, jackfruit, and maybe longan. These were fruits that I was familiar with from Hong Kong. I was even looking forward to durian for seeing but not fore eating. As you can see from the pictures from this market, the food in the market are abundant with color and fragrances. The food colors and the fragrances help a visitor to ignore the dirtiness of the streets.

Elephant trekking through Mae Ping
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I also have never seen so many varieties of shallots / garlics, and chilis in my life. Durian and mangosteen was not in season so I was a bit disappointed but still had my share of jackfruit and longan. I also discovered a lot more fruits than I had in Hong Kong, including the apple custard that I really like. There are lots of cars / scooters weaving in and out within the marketplace so my local guides made sure my eyes were on the road while I was trying to eat fruit and walk at the same time.

Steps to Doi Suthep
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That night, we had dinner at Khan Khantuke. Khantuke meant the water float lanterns. It’s a beautiful restaurant with very interesting statutes and settings. They had girls sitting in the front of the restaurant weaving khantukes and making fruit salad bowls that looked beautiful. The girls sat there (with their legs behind tucked behind them for 3 hours) as guests of the restaurant came and took pictures of them and their work. My local guides told me that children in Thailand are all required to learn to make khantukes as part of their education.

Lighting up the sky with our lantern
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We hung out at the Good View Restaurant and Bar the rest of the evening. I listened to Thai singers singing rock songs as Kinn and her friends chatted away in Thai. I just smiled back whenever I thought they were looking my way. Hmm, maybe I should have learned a few more phrases before I left for Thailand.

Life Along The Mae Pang River

The next day, we went on the elephant trekking, rafting down the Mae Ping River, and Ox cart riding tour.

When we got to the elephant camp, we were treated to a show displaying the various talents of the elephants, including standing only on 2 legs, dancing, and even painting! Riding the elephants up and down some hills was very cool. The elephants weigh around ~200 Kilos and have to eat ~2 Kilos a day. The ride was about an hour. Two people sat behind the elephant driver / trainer on an elephant. Kinn talked to our driver in Thai and he told her that the drivers only get 2000 Bauts ($50) a month and will be fired if the elephant starts to lose weight as it shows the trainer not doing their job. The trainer has to spend many hours walking the elephants to areas with food. We spent 20 Bauts many times to buy bananas and sugar cane for the elephant that we rode on but I think theses were just considered his hourly snacks. Elephant trekking will be one of the most memorable vacation experiences that I will have. 

Sending my khantuke down the river
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On that very hot day, we continued on our tour by riding on a river raft down the Mae Ping River. It was pretty unmemorable except that I dropped my new camera and my sunglasses in the river. Luckily, I was able to grab the camera out of the water but not my sunglasses.  My friend who gave me the camera also thought that was a smart move.  :-)  Ox carting was also fairly uneventful. We got to see more about the conditions which the local mountain people lived in but the ride on the cart was pretty rocky and I was going to get motion sickness if the ride was any longer.

Jackfruit
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We also went to the Orchid Museum afterwards.  It's a very small place and the most interesting thing was the Butterfly room.  So basically skip everything but the elephant trekking. 

Loi Krathong Festivities

This is the festival that happens in mid November of every year.  It is considered an important festival by the locals.  I was told this is when the Thais pay homage to the river (Mae Ping).  As a part of this tradition, they send little personal banana leaf boats down the river.  A person would make a wish right before sending their float down the river.  The other ritual is sending a paper lantern up into the sky.  It's a paper lantern with a piece of wax at the bottom that you light up and the lantern will then float with a light glowing inside it.  You would also make a wish right before you send it up.  Usually more than 1 person holds the lantern before sending it up into the sky.   My friends also told me that you can only send latterns up only after a certain time of night so it doesn't affect air navigation.   By releasing the banana leaf floats and the lanterns, one is releasing the bad thoughts or things you did for the year. 

Doi Suthep - Buddhist statues
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Doi Suthep (temple)

On the next day, we went to the Doi Suthep, which is the must see temple in Chiang Mai. I was reminded again not to wear sleeveless shirts to temples and wear socks if possible. The temple is large and because of Loi Krathong, there were many visitors to the temple. My local guides warned me of the staircase that consisted of 300 steps to the temple and they kept encouraging me to take the elevator. But I took the staircase and it was a well worth it and it was pretty easy.  We also bought many snacks from the various vendors along the staircase which made the trek up worthwhile. This temple had many monk statues and places to chant and pray.   I felt the spirituality throughout the temple.

Vegetables at the Chiang Mai market
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Just when you thought it was safe, it's time to eat again! They took me to a restaurant that actual locals go to. It was called Kara Faec Do Ngam. It was definitely somewhere tourists wouldn’t find but I did see an non-Asian American with a Thai woman there. She seem to do all the ordering – yes, I was people watching. The food was great and it was the smaller portions that Kinn had warned me about. Apparently, the other restaurants had given us westernized sizes for dishes.

It was again time for a massage of course! Kinn’s friend took us to one that locals went and we paid about $7 for a 2 hour massage. I was told that due to tourism to Chiang Mai, the massages actually cost more in Chiang Mai than in Bangkok. At the massage parlor though, I saw one of the masseuse flirting with the customer like it was the sleazy massage parlors I had heard about in various parts of SF.

More Loi Krathong Festivities and Night Bazaar

On that evening, it was when Chiang Mai had the Loi Krathong parade at the center of town.  Went went to a restuarant on Charoen-raj Road in to see the river and the lights.  I went with Add and others to get our banana floats.  I got a paper one and that's why my sped down the river.  Kinn got a relatively large beautiful flower and banana leave one and it looked like it was about to tip over. 

Add and I walked the Night Market as that's the only place to see the parade but actually I didn't see the parade and instead we walked around the Night Bazaar.  More interesting to me than the fake branded purchases and handcrafts was a street vendor that sold cooked bugs.   The Night Bazaar did have hundreds of merchants selling their good and is a bit pushy.  Along with local handicraft, there were many merchants pushing fake branded sunglasses, purses, etc..  For bartering, Kinn's advice is to start at 50% off the merchant's first price and then you can barter upwards from there.

While walking from and to the Night Bazaar, I saw a streetful of people lighting up the paper latterns and also many people with fireworks.  The noise can be deafening and sometimes if you are not careful, something could fall on you.    But it was very exciting to participate in Loi Krathong festivities in Chiang Mai.