We caught a cheap Air Asia flight to Chiang Mai for some more culture, too see a bigger city and of course to go to the Elephant Nature Park. I'd booked our hotel on line after some reviews on trip advisor, I crossed fingers it would be ok. It turned out to be a really lovely little place run by some really beautiful Thai people. We were picked up in an even more luxurious mini van from the airport, it even had leather recliners for Mark and I. We checked in, unpacked in the room then had a yummy late lunch at the hotel.
We left the hotel and went for a walk to the river and to have a little look around the city. It was so different from the touristy places of Phuket. This is a working city with lots going on plus tourism as well. It was pretty warm so we headed back to the hotel. Later that day we went and had dinner at the night markets and did a bit of shopping.
We booked a driver to take us out of the city for a look around. We went to the Bhubing palace, a lovely place with gorgeous gardens filled with roses of all things and many more gorgeous plants and a pretty specie water feature. It used to be used by the royal family a lot but doesn't get used much these days, more of a tourist attraction.
From their our driver took us to see the Mong Hill tribe. A small traditional village that sells its handy crafts to tourists. We had a lovely time wandering around and buying a few bits. We watched some of the local ladies stitching their crafts. We explained to the kids how much time and effort went into each piece and then they were sold for a pretty small price by our western standards, considering the effort put in. We ate some fresh strawberries we bought from one stall, they were really tasty. Wasn't until afterwards that I thought about us getting upset stomachs, luckily we didn't....must have been ok.
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Charlotte 'negotiating' with the store owner
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We went to the Doi Suthep temple, a really well known temple...mainly for its position on the mountain, up 300 steps. It sounds bad but it actually wasn't. The steps were fine, lots of little stores selling food and gifts. I was once again stunned by the beauty of the temples here in Thailand. We even got blessed by a monk. Probably my favourite of all the temples we've seen in Thailand.
The next day we hired a driver again and went for another adventure. We stopped at the Botancial gardens. A well maintained picturesque garden with hot houses, water features and some interesting plants. It was a little strange though, we were the only tourist there for most of the time. We kind of felt like we were trespassing on someone's private garden.
Then we went to see the long neck hill tribe, they are refugees from Burma who are supported by the Thai government due to the tourist money they bring in. But the sad thing is they aren't allowed to leave their small village, as they are refugees. It was such a unique part of our trip to Thailand, so so interesting to meet people of other cultures. We were allowed to walk through their village and one house, to see how they lived. We had fun with a local man and his cross bow gun, trying to hit the targets. I loved watching the ladies making all the crafts, and I must admit I did buy a fair few pieces, just to help and show support of course! The ladies were all lovely and seemed to love seeing our children. One lovely lady ran after us as we were leaving and gave the kids some bananas. Was very sweet. We had a really good guide who was so helpful and explained so much to us.
From the villages we drove to the Mae-Sa waterfalls. A series of cascading waterfalls in a lush green jungle. Was really pretty, so nice to be away from the tourist mecca of Phuket and the busy city of Chiang Mai. The kids and I walked through to number 7 waterfall but it was pretty hot and they'd had enough. Mark kept going of course, he had to reach the end!
We also made a stop at the orchid farm. The number and variety of orchids was amazing, so so beautiful. I couldn't decide on my favourite though, too many to choose from.
Now onto one of my favourite parts. Shopping in the handi craft area. We went to the Celadon shop and I bought a fabulously beautiful teapot set. Which I got wrapped well and carted in my hand luggage the whole way home without it breaking! I could have bought the whole shop....I especially wanted to buy a whole dinner set but alas that really wouldn't fit in the hand luggage.
We went to the umbrella shop. They hand make the umbrella and then paint beautiful pictures on them. They have artists there and they will paint anything you like. Charlotte got a pretty little bird on the back of her ipod and Jake had a dragon painted on his hat. They were really wonderful.
We also went to a wooden craft shop, laquer, silver and a silk craft shop. We enjoyed seeing all the crafts at these places but weren't really interested in buying much. Except Mark who wanted all the wooden pieces, especially this gorgeous bar cabinet. I did find it really interesting seeing the different stages of how silk is produced by the worms.
The kids favourite place in Chiang Mai, the 3d Art in Paradise. Its these amazing rooms that have been painted to make 3D art, then you put yourself in the piece and take the most amazing photos. The kids didn't completely get it until I took a photo with them in it and then showed them on my camera. After that it was hours of kids screaming take my picture this way and then grabbing my camera to see how it worked out. It was such a fabulous place we really did have such a great time, lots of laughter!
We went on a river boat cruise that took you up the river to a 'farm'. It was really interesting to see Chiang Mai from the river. You could see the wealthy house, and western influence, then you'd see the poor house and very basic buildings. It was a relaxing way to spend a few hours. Then we stopped off at a farm, but I use the word loosely. It wasn't much of a farm, a few plants and animals, not so clean either! They had a restaurant there and we were booked in for lunch....came as part of the package so how could we refuse. I had the Khao Soi, a noodle soup famous in Chiang Mai. It was pretty tasty, I'm getting braver with food or less stringent with my standards, I'm not sure!.
In between our time exploring Chiang Mai we chilled out by the pool at the hotel or had a nice meal in their restaurant. Was a pretty quiet part of the city. We just had to head down a lane way (unfortunately favoured by the locals as a short cut on their motorbikes) and we were at the river and heading into the main part of the city.
One of my favourite parts of Chiang Mai was doing a cooking course with Charlotte. We had a lovely Thai girl called Kimmy take us to the local market. She explained all the produce and what it was used for. We then walked to the school and she taught us a few traditional dishes. It was so much fun and the food was delicious!
We weren't far from the night markets so we went a few times. Did a little shopping and found some great places to eat. And of course had a few more rides in the tuk tuks.
More rides on public transport....and another restaurant. I think it was our favourite restaurant, called Lemongrass. It was a quirky interesting place and the food was absolutely delicious. We may have gone their a couple of times.
Chiang Mai is famous for its temples and its walled city. We spent a fair bit of time exploring the temples. The buildings are amazing, the craftsmanship and artworks are just superb. These buildings would have taken years to complete and the maintenance on them would be incredible. Mark and I loved looking at all the temples but after being to a few temples the kids kinda had enough! They did pretty well considering the heat and boredom factor.
Another day was spent at the Chiang Mai zoo. It was a pretty ok zoo, I wasn't expecting much but if you don't compare it to Western zoos, it was pretty good. We hated seeing the elephants on display, and tried to avoid them, especially after seeing them at Elephant Nature Park, very different.
We had time for one last stop on our last night back at Lemongrass. The kids had fun writing on the wall. Hopefully its there is we ever go back but I have a feeling they whitewash the walls every few months!!
And to finish with a few pics of Rimping Village where we stayed. Small but well run establishment. The staff were always friendly and willing to help. Especially Nanna Hu who took us to the airport and smothered the kids in hugs!
