Unlike the last overnight bus we took, the one to Chiang Mai arrives on schedule and at a reasonable time.
We find a place to stay and begin wandering around, trying to figure out what we want to do over the next couple of days. The opportunity for organized activities in Chiang Mai is mind-blowing and all of the guesthouses seem to be one-stop shops.
The first activity we decide to do is go see a Muay Thai fight.
I keep mixing up the name and calling it a Mai Thai fight and Eric points out that although they’re very different – one is a Thai kickboxing match and the other is a cocktail – in both cases, you’ll probably wake up the next morning with a headache.
When I was in Thailand in 2005, I went and saw a proper Muay Thai fight at a stadium in Bangkok, so I had a certain expectation in mind. However, when we arrive at the “stadium” it turns out to be just a bunch of bars surrounding a Muay Thai ring. It’s obvious these fights are scheduled for the tourist benefit and despite my initial reservations, we see some great fights and have a fun evening. And as a bonus, we get entertained in between matches by a bunch of “Lady-Boys” performing Abba, the Village People, Cher, etc. Again… one-stop shopping.
The following day we take part in a Thai cooking class. There are lots of options for learning to cook in Chiang Mai and we sign up for the “Chili Club” which is run by Mr. Vissut.
Mr. Vissut has been teaching Thai cooking at our guesthouse for over ten years and when we watched him with another group the day before, we could tell he really enjoyed his job. His enthusiasm seemed contagious, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. And since the class takes place right outside our bedroom door, how could we say no to the convenience of it all?
There are four of us in the class – Eric & I, obviously, and two ladies from Australia. And wouldn’t you know it – they’re vegetarians… and we all know how Eric feels about vegetarians. Luckily, Mr. Vissut is a genius when it comes to modifying recipes to suit both omnivores and herbivores and he comes to our rescue.
We start off by picking the dishes we would like to cook.
The first two we choose are dishes we’ll learn together as a group - Thumb Yam Goong (Hot & Sour Prawn Soup) and Kow Nee-ow Ma-muang (Mango & Sticky Rice).
Then we each get to choose two individual dishes.
Eric chooses Pat Pet Moo (Stir-Fried Spicy Pork) and Geng-garee-guy (Yellow Curry Chicken) and I choose Pat Pre-au Waan (Sweet and Sour Chicken) and Pat Paneng (Stir-Fried Curry). We also learn to make Yam Woon Sen (Spicy Glass Noodle Salad), as if there isn’t going to be enough food already!
After choosing the menu, it’s off to the market we go, carrying our little woven rattan baskets. I have a good chuckle watching Eric skip down the laneway with his basket.
At the market, Mr. Vissut explains the various produce we see and collects the ingredients we need for the day. Once we have all our supplies, we head back to begin cooking, grinning ear-to-ear.
We cook and we cook and we cook and then, we eat.
And boy do we eat – I’m stuffed by the end of the day!
Let’s just say Eric and I are in heaven considering both of us love to cook and haven’t cooked anything – not even toasted a piece of bread – for over 3 months.
The next morning we wake up bright and early and head to the bus station… we’re going to see elephants!
Elephants are a huge part of Thai culture and with the exception of a brief glimpse of them in Ayutthaya, we have yet to see any – so it’s off to the Thai Elephant Conservatory we go!
For generations, Thailand used elephants for everything from agriculture to logging to construction, much the same way we used horse and oxen in North America. But since technology has become more accessible, the role of the elephant has significantly changed. They are no longer in demand for work and unfortunately many of them have been abandoned. As a result, Thailand created the Elephant Conservatory to take care of them. It has a hospital, a nursery & breeding center and rehabilitation centre, which they open to the public in a great mix of tourism and conservation.
We’re very excited to go, so we grab a local bus heading south along the highway to Lamphun and with the help of a nice mathematics professor, we let the bus driver know where we want to get off. About 1 ½ hours later we reach our destination and he pulls over to the side of the highway. We hop off...
… and are immediately “greeted” by about two dozen policemen and military personnel, all waving at us, telling us to get back on the bus. Eric and I look at each other confused and give the nearest policeman a bewildered look. Through the help of our trusty phrasebook, he informs us that the Conservatory is closed and we need to get back on the bus.
But since we don’t want to continue to Lamphun, we tell him we need to go back to Chiang Mai. He waves the bus onward and then escorts us to the opposite side of the highway. We’re still not sure what’s going on and why the Conservatory is closed, so we ask him why and he points to a banner at the entrance of the park. It has a picture of a woman who we think is the Queen. In unison we say, “the Queen?” and he nods.
Ah… I see.
So now we’re on the side of the highway, waiting for a bus. We begin to notice an eerie silence settling around us and all of the police officers and military “folk” are now standing at attention.
So Eric and I also stand at attention.
We notice the traffic has been stopped about 1 km away from the park entrance in both directions.
We hear voices rising from the forest behind us.
A procession of official-looking cars crosses the highway and enters the Conservatory.
And to make things even stranger, hundreds of people dressed in traditional Thai clothing suddenly emerge from the forest and come down the hill behind us.
All we can do is say “sa-wat-dee ka/kap” – which is “hello” in Thai – because I imagine two foreigners standing at attention at the side of the road looks as strange to them as this looks to us.
After about 20 minutes traffic starts up again and an officer hails the first bus that goes by and sticks us on it. Never mind that it’s full and we have to sit in the aisle – the officers want us out of there and who are we to argue?
We make our way back to Chiang Mai and finish off our day visiting the night market and scoping out the shopping potentials.
The next morning we wake up bright and early and head to the bus station again… we’re going to see elephants!
After learning the Queen has visited, we’re even more curious and this time we catch the early morning bus and arrive without a hitch.
We start off watching a demonstration of the elephant’s skills… dragging rocks, lifting logs, playing music and painting. Yeah – that’s right… playing music & painting!
We then move on to my favourite part of the Conservatory – visiting the elephant nursery and getting a chance to feed the baby and mother elephants. It’s awesome – we get to feed them and pet them, though one of babies wasn’t too impressed with me for running out of food and let me know.
You’ll see what I’m talking about in the next article.
We really enjoy our time there and head back to Chiang Mai early afternoon.
As we are walking back to our hostel, weaving our way through the city from the bus station, wouldn’t you know we stumble upon a road block with about a dozen police officers. They instruct us to take a seat at the side of the road and we wait about 15 minutes before we’re allowed to continue our walk down the street. As we are walking past a very institutional looking building, who do we see?
Yes, you guessed it.
The Queen.
Again.
Seriously – she’s really starting to cramp our style!
We finish off our last night in Chiang Mai by visiting a local haunt for some Chiang Mai noodles and making some purchases at the night bazaar… Eric finally finds the Yoda T-Shirt he’s been looking for.
Tomorrow we’re off to Laos!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment