First thing we did was happen along our two German friends eating breakfast (at 4:30pm) as they'd also enjoyed a raucous News Year's Eve. Ever notice how sometimes you try to organize somthing or meet up with people and it never happens? You realize that you just missed each otehr or were one day apart. And then there are other people you are destined to happen across despite different schedules and modes of transport. Such a couple are Fritz and Hildegarde (as they are to us - we prefer pseudonoms as they sound more mysterious)

Chiang Mai has a ton of lovely wats - but as we've seen our fair share of wats we chose just one to explore - the 14th century Wat Phra Singh (Temple of the Lion Buddha), and ended up being there on a big celebration of the New Year along with a throng of others, mostly locals. Monks blessed individuals with water shaken from branches and strings tied around writs, who presented offerings with money hangings, candles and small banana leaf boats of food with flags. Novices walked with a lavishly decorated float. Outdoor stalls served food, sold handicrafts and did foot massages in big chairs on the grass.




We booked a two day trek, which started most inauspiciously with a requisite vist to an orchid farm





our hut for the night:





After we sat by a fire, listened to our guide play the guitar and sing American oldies (his favourite song is "every rose has its thorn" so much that he had it tattooed on his arm, except that he was roaring drunk and found out the next morning that it had been incorrectly spelled "every rose has it's thone" - we saw the proof) and watch the stars wheel in their orbits, reflected by twinkling lights in settlements far below.
What goes up must come down and we had a steep, slippery trek down the next day. Halfway another waterfall presented itself - remarkable how these waterfalls seem to appear at the halfway point
- then finished at the elephant camp (can never have enough time with elephants)
before getting back down river by inflatable rafting (it was a hoot - actual white water this time) and bamboo rafting.
Another memorable day was an all day cookery class.
We were picked up by tuk-tuk, then taken to a market to buy ingredients before arriving at the farm, where we each had our own flame and pot and could choose what 5 dishes we wanted to cook, including red, green or yellow curry paste, red, green or yellow curry with chicken, tom yam soup or coconut soup, pad thai or spring rolls, bananas in coconut milk or sticky rice and mango, chicken with cashews or chicken with basil. We we were two, martin did one set and I did the other so we could share and compare. Fresh and simple, as spicy as we wanted it, it really was about the best Thai food we'd ever had.

Our last evening (still stiff from our trek) we took a boat ride on the ping river, shared with a large bottle each of water and Chang Beer. We drifted past the night market, which was a lot smaller and more repetitive than we had expected, lonely bars and nightclubs, and restaurants with only one or two tables filled - there really do seem to be so many fewer travellers, or maybe it's because it was after new years.



Another memorable day was an all day cookery class.



Our last evening (still stiff from our trek) we took a boat ride on the ping river, shared with a large bottle each of water and Chang Beer. We drifted past the night market, which was a lot smaller and more repetitive than we had expected, lonely bars and nightclubs, and restaurants with only one or two tables filled - there really do seem to be so many fewer travellers, or maybe it's because it was after new years.
2 comments:
M&J,
I am honoured that you would choose my mother's middle name as your German friend's pseudonym. But don't tell anyone about my mother's middle name - it is a secret!
Shriny
Can't wait to enjoy your thai cooking when we next see you.
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