I arrived in Chiang Mai in the evening, so there wasn’t enough time to head to the city. Instead, I rented a motorbike from my homestay to explore a local market fifteen minutes away. In the distance, I could watch the sunset behind a downpour. First time I’ve simultaneously seen a storm and a sunset in the same spot. The local market was filled with a myriad of different produce, meat, meals, and local treats. Unfortunately, my stomach still isn’t ready for local market food. It was nice to see the local people go about their usual evening at the market. I think I may have been the only non-Thai there.
The next morning, it was time for a Thai cooking class. I was most excited to learn how to cook Pad Thai and Sticky Rice with Mango. I also learned how to make curry paste by hand (the most difficult thing I made), and a shrimp soup. We started the morning by going to the local market and buying many of the ingredients we would need. The rest would be picked in his garden. After cooking for about an hour and a half, I ate my creations. I think I could replicate the sticky rice and Pad Thai on my own, however, the difficulty would be finding the correct ingredients in Vietnam where everything is labeled in Vietnamese.
Thailand is very much a Buddhist country. In fact, there is a sign at every immigration booth stating that it is against the law to use Buddha as a decoration. That means it is illegal to buy a Buddha head or get a tattoo of him. In the Old Town of Chiang Mai, you are never more than thirty seconds from a temple. I don’t know if there are more mosques in Istanbul or temples in Chiang Mai per square mile. It would be an interesting study.
The most famous temple in Chiang Mai sits on top of the closest mountain about forty minutes from the city center. The ride to Doi Suthep on the motorbike was fun on the switchbacks up the mountain. The temple offers beautiful views of the city, while providing a place for prayer for thousands of Buddhists everyday. After an hour visit touring the different sites around the temple, I descended the mountain on my bike to meet my friends from Vietnam for dinner and explore the Night Bazaar.
The next day started at 6:45am with a morning ride back to the city to catch the tour bus for the Sticky Waterfalls. I had no idea what to expect. On the way, we visited a cave about two hundred steps up with a massive Buddha statue and a clear pond meant to bring good fortune to those who splash the water on their face.
When we arrived at the falls, we were told there are two ways of going down. You can take the stairs, or you can climb down the waterfall using the ropes tied to various trees and rocks. Not sure why the built the stairs to be honest. It took about thirty minutes to climb fully down the waterfall. We had a ton of fun.
After some lunch at a local Thai place in the country, we headed back to Chiang Mai. I visited a few temples in the Old Town before driving back to the homestay for an early night. I did get a Thai massage back in the countryside. Those massages are not for the faint of heart; they really kick the crap out of you.
I spent my last day in Chiang Mai venturing out into the country again to feed and bathe some elephants, hike, and go bamboo rafting down some rapids. After feeding the elephants hundreds of bananas and cleaning them, we hiked an hour around the countryside and into the woods to a nice waterfall. There we ate some lunch. I think they have come up with the perfect solution to using less plastic bags. My lunch was wrapped in a giant leaf that acted both as a packaging device and a placemat.
Once I finished lunch, I hiked to a local hill tribe where I learned a bit about their culture. In a small settlement of three hundred people, they rely on everybody doing their part to keep the community going successfully. Most of the people work in the rice fields that surround the houses.
The last leg of my journey was spent on a bamboo raft sailing down the Monkey Rapids. One man stood at the front and another at the back pushing the boat with long bamboo sticks. They used the bottom of the river and nearly trees and rocks to guide the boat. There was no paddling needed. At one point, since I was sitting in front, he let me try guiding the boat. Thankfully, he took over before the rapids started again.
Once we finished on the bamboo boats, we drove back to Chiang Mai. I was dropped off at the Saturday Markets. Here, they close down a long road and quite a few roads branching off of the main road. In two and a half hours, we hardly covered all of it.
Chiang Mai is a beautiful place to visit. During the dry season, it would be a great place to come do a trek in the mountains south of the city. It would also be worth it to take a motorbike to Chiang Rai or Pai.