Chiang Mai – Going up north

From temples to cooking classes to mud-bathing with elephants, Chiang Mai, Thailand was a tremendous experience.

Arrival at the airport

Just the airport experience was hilarious. We had to hire a taxi from the airport going to our hotel. Upon getting a price on our makeshift receipt at the airport kiosk, we headed outside of a relatively small airport. As soon as we stepped out of the doors, we are lost in the crowd of people, all seeming to be searching for something, not so sure what yet! Trying to figure out how we magically convert the receipt into a working taxi, we find the answer through another Thai tourist. Kind enough to explain to us that we need to look for a lady, barely 5ft tall, in the thick of the crowd who will give us a taxi number. #139!! The magic number. Just watching her work, giving out new waiting numbers for the other, newly-arrived-still-lost-westerners, to calling out arriving taxi numbers for already waiting tourists. Only in Asia! The loud shrill voice coming from her was mismatched from her petite stature. And she smiled as she worked under what seemed like stressful environment to an outsider. The laughs coming from the crowd was almost an applause of encouragement for her to continue her work with vigor and enthusiasm. We must have waited for about 20 minutes and finally the magic number was heard again. “Number 139!!! Go Go Go…This here….this your taxi! Go now!” No time to be wasted.

Anchada Chiang Mai

The hotel was a bit outside of the old town and after having driven about 20 minutes, we were now familiar with the life story of our taxi driver. A rice farmer from Udon-Thani, he worked as a taxi-driver in Chiang Mai until June, after which he would return home with hopes of good weather, the right amount of rain, and a successful harvest. Our hotel called Anchada Chiang Mai, a bit in the middle of nowhere, was comfortable to a large extent. After hero-Ueli kills a few spiders in our room upon a humble request from Alisha, life is good again! In order to satisfy our hunger, or just to recover from airplane food, we begin our hunt for food, a late-night dinner. The area surrounding our hotel seems quiet, non-touristy, off-the-beaten-path kind of place. Not 200 meters away, a small restaurant built in the garage of his house with two white tourists. Taking this as credibility, we sit down to eat. As friendly as the owner is, he comes over to chat. His brother, whose day job consists of working as a government officer, is our chef for tonight. With little English that he knows, he explains to us his life, his desire to learn, his two children playing video games to learn English and his desire to continue learning. Ok!

The next day!

The next day has in store for us a Thai cooking class. How exciting! We get picked up from our hotel. I must say, the neighborhood surrounding our hotel looks a lot different during the day. A lot less intimidating!

• Cooking class – local market

Our day starts with a tour of the local market, a fresh fruits and vegetables market that we wouldn’t have gone to otherwise. That would have been a shame! A market bustling with locals, grandmas mostly, and other alike. We tried authentic foods (desserts, sticky rice types, traditional Thai ingredients..). The mysterious smells and taste that we had experienced so far while ordering Thai dishes in restaurants finally had a source, a name, and a shape. Our class for the day consisted of a few Americans, who weren’t willing to disclose where in America they were from (weird) as people might. All part of small talk, no? Further, another Swiss couple and us. Our chef teacher for the day preferred to be called “JJ”, a norm I have noticed in Thailand. The locals, maybe to save us tourists form butchering their names, prefer to be called by single syllable names such as “Bo” “Aye” “A” “J”. JJ was of the Akha tribe, descendants of whom are spread out in countries such as China, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

• Cooking class – ready to cook

With a gentle voice, a kind face, and lots of enthusiasm, he starts the class, teaching us dishes like spring rolls, papaya salad. I expected many powders, curry pastes, pre-prepared concoctions since, as per the schedule, we had to prepare eleven dishes. However, to my surprise, everything we prepared, we made from scratch, using fresh ingredients that we tasted, smelled, and saw at the market earlier that morning. Aha! It makes sense now! Altogether, we learnt spring rolls, papaya salad, green curry, masamman curry, pad Thai, sweet and sour prawn soup, chicken and coconut soup, akha salad, sticky rice with mango. I know one thing for certain, I cannot handle “Thai spicy”. With a sense of shame each time, I had to request the least spicy of ingredients from JJ. A request he fulfilled with ease and a grin on his face. Ueli, on the other hand, was managing level of spice at least a few notches above mine. By the end of the cooking day, we felt that we had eaten for the next few weeks. A feeling that lasted for the rest of the day.

Cooking class, Chiang Mai, Thailand

• Night Bazar, Chang Mai

Having bid farewell to our chef JJ, we made our way to explore the old town of Chiang Mai. The night bazaar of a massive scale was next on the agenda. I would think just calling it a “night-bazaar” doesn’t do justice to the size. Several kilometers of small stalls lined up one after another, all selling a combination of clothes, bags, speakers, and handicrafts. Ueli and I are working on our bargaining skills, each time becoming better negotiators. At least we think so! Walking away with a few items of clothing and feeling proud of ourselves for having scored some good deals, it was time to end the day. Another adventure awaits tomorrow.

Elephant tour day!

January 24^th was dedicated to elephants as we booked a day with the Discovery Elephant Keeper. Beginning at 9:00am, we arrive in the jungles, at the foot of the mountains. Surrounding are small villages, far from the city boasting a different way of life. To truly capture the experience, we have to dress as a mahout would. No elephants yet! We have to learn the basic commands to bond with the elephants; “Bonn” meaning open mouth, “Deedee” to convey what a good boy/girl the elephant is, “Hoaw” in case the elephant gets too excited, meaning “stop”, and last one “Maah” in case we want the elephant to follow us. I was sure I would not be using the last command at all. Something about a massive, weighs I-don’t-know-how-many-tonnes creature following me makes me a bit uncomfortable.

• Meet the elephants, morning session

It was finally time to go meet the elephants. And what a first meeting. Equipped with a basket of bananas and a shoulder bag full of cut sugar-cane to offer for great first impressions. We caught the first glimpse of the beautiful but intimidating giants. They come running to greet us, or maybe our bananas, I am not sure. Ueli, calmly starts feeding the gently giants with no fear showing in his eyes or his body language. All I noticed was admiration, fascination, and general appreciation for the elephants. I, on the other hand, couldn’t get past my fear. I mean they did weight 10000 pounds I am guessing. As much as I tried to runaway or hide, they would follow, almost as if they knew I was scared and wanted to play around to get a kick out of it. Cheeky little things. Or, cheeky massive things! After the initial meeting, we walked about a kilometer, deeper into the jungle, now to feed them sugarcane. This time, the fear melted a bit. The elephants, with their thick leathery, wrinkly skin, covered in dried mud and hair that felt like hard bristles. We fed and watched the elephants until it was lunchtime.

• Lunch time

For lunch, it was fried rice, fire cooked bananas, boiled sweet corn, and rice cooked inside of a bamboo served with chili sauce. Our tour group consisted of a young German couple, a Swiss-Australian family of four. After lunch, we helped prepare a special vitamin diet for the elephants. These creatures eat up to 200 kg of food each day. The mahouts, some of whom had been learning the skill since they were 15 years old seemed to be familiar with the characteristics, perks, likes, and dislikes of the elephants and it was easy to see a very pure bond of friendship between the human and animal.

Face to face!

• Meet the elephants, afternoon session

Once lunch ended, it was time for a mud-bath for the elephants. Splashing water, splashing mud, playing in the water was on the agenda for the afternoon. A memorable afternoon spent with the elephants after all. An unexpected lesson was of resourcefulness. The mahout shared with us an issue he was having. An issue of failing at catching chickens! According to him, the chickens were just too fast. So with the help of another tour guest, he built a trap made of just bamboo and wood. And let me be clear! The trap worked. A simple yet effective machine to help him catch the “too fast” chickens! As we bid farewell to the elephants and mahouts, there is a sense of gratefulness and appreciation. Gratefulness towards the mahouts for caring for the elephants with such passion and appreciation for the elephants.

As we close our Chiang Mai chapter, next on the list is Koh Phangan for exploring and off to a dive trip to Koh Tao.

To be continued…!

Alisha

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Chiang Mai – Cooking class

Chiang Mai – Elephant day