Chiang Mai, Thailand: 11/19/15

Today we did a half-day cycling excursion with Click & Travel all around the outskirts of Chiang Mai. We joined a group of ten Belgians, since it wouldn't be feasible to run a trip for only two people, and set off on an ~18 mile adventure. The company has bikes for women and men and provides helmets and water. My bike was pretty decent, a mountain bike with multiple gear options, but after 5 hours your butt gets really sore! We rode along the Ping River, which runs throughout the city, and they break up the ride with a few stops to give you a little rundown on the region and culture. Our first stop was kind of weird, at a former leper colony turned rehab center for disabled people. They make and sell crafts at this shop, but I can't imagine anyone but these bike tours comes to it. We then continued along through the beautiful orchards, landscape and villages, and visited temple ruins and an active local village temple. We stopped for lunch at a small little restaurant off the side of the road which honestly was not very good. The plainest pad thai ever (I think they were being too cognizant of foreigners' sensitivities) and fruit. We then rode all the way back to our starting point at the Belgian group's hotel. Overall, it was a fun activity and a way to see random parts of Thailand outside of the city. Jeremy particularly enjoyed it as he is an avid biker. Though it was a leisurely ride, we were definitely tired after!

After the ride, we went back to the hotel, packed up and got ready to go to the airport for our final stop - Bangkok!

Chiang Mai, Thailand: 11/18/15

Today we went on a full day group excursion to the Patara Elephant Farm. After being driven up a huge winding mountain, we were greeted by 3 elephants - mother and 2 kids. One was only a few months old and was absolutely adorable. The elephants were extremely friendly and the baby was especially playful. She was going right up to people, nudging them the way a dog would for attention, and then actually rolling onto them playfully.

After we all took a bunch of pictures, we were briefed on the camp mission and the activities for the day. The camp prides itself on their elephant farm management and breeding programs, and made it very clear that this was not about seeing elephants do tricks. Rather, it was about helping rehabilitate elephants in need and setting them back on track. 

We each were assigned an elephant and became its caretaker for the day, along with the dedicated trainer. First we fed them sugar cane and bananas, gave them water and rinsed them off. Then we learned commands in Thai and actually rode them for an hour down a crazy path with rocks and trees and all kinds of obstacles. Let me tell you - it was hard! You have to sit on their neck so their shoulder blades don't throw you off when they move their legs and rest your knees on their ears. You have one rope loop behind you to hold and then you can rest the other hand on their head. My arms and inner thighs were shaking after and so sore the next day! 

After we got to the river, they had a wonderful lunch spread set out for us including fried chicken, several types of rice packaged up in banana leaves, tons of exotic fruit, and a bunch of fried desserts like fried banana and coconut patty cakes. 

Next it was time to bathe the elephants in the river. We used baskets to splash water all over them and scrub their skin with a brush. It was actually really fun to play with them in the water. There was a photo opp moment for each couple and they had the elephants spray us with water from their trunks. 

We then returned back to the camp and concluded the day. It was such a fun, interactive experience for us and we were in awe of the gentle nature of these giants.

Chiang Mai, Thailand: 11/17/15

After a 1.5 hour flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai, we were picked up and taken to a village in the rural part of Chiang Mai. We went to the home of the Raunkaew-Yanon family for an intimate and unique cooking experience. We were greeted by the head of the household with lemongrass welcome drinks, customary in Thailand (not necessarily lemongrass, but some type of drink offering), and given a detailed explanation of his family history and a tour of the houses on the property. His family has been there for 150 years, 3 generations, and their original teak houses still stood. He taught us about some Buddhist customs and beliefs - such as odd numbers are good luck and the stairs to a home and the head of a bed should always face east. 

We went into the house he actually lives in now, further back on the property, which was so interesting to be exposed to a real Thai home. 

He lead us out back into his "garden," which is actually 45,000 square meters of land containing thousands of plants, herbs, fruits, vegetables, and rice fields. It was absolutely incredible to see. He led us through part of it, pointing out all of the different plants and explaining the different benefits or uses for all of them. He was also picking herbs along the way to be used in our lunch. It was all so fascinating that this sprawling garden exists on what looks like a normal street in a village and is completely maintained by him and his family. 

We came back from the garden to begin preparing our meal. We chopped the vegetables and made a chili paste using mortar and pestle. 

We then cooked 5 dishes with various combinations of chicken, pork, eggplant, tomatoes, lemongrass, herbs, and chilies, and then clear broth tom yum soup (no milk, traditional for the northern region) and banana and fresh handmade coconut milk for dessert. We were able to customize the spice level since of course we can't tolerate nearly the level of heat the natives can. Everything was so fresh and delicious and authentic - and we ate until we were uncomfortable. 

We both loved this experience so much. The family was so welcoming, kind, informative, and interesting. It is so rare to go to a foreign country and actually be able to see how someone lives there. We of course acknowledge how rare it is to have this type of family history and massive property that they basically live off of and we know that most people in Thailand definitely do not live this way, but it was still extraordinary and special. 

That evening, after we checked into the Tamarind Village hotel, we took a walk to the "new city" part of town to check out the night market. Along the way, we must have seen at least 100 massage places, with Thai women sitting outside the shop trying to lure you in. Massages were so cheap, it actually felt wrong - a one hour massage runs you the equivalent of about $4- and these places were gross so I actually had no interest. There were also many bars lining the streets, all small with a couple of tables, and hooker-looking Thai women outside also trying to lure you in. People had told us that Chiang Mai was a cool city, and very inexpensive, but no one mentioned how kind of skeevy it was. We got to the night market area, which is several blocks lined with vendors selling various types of cheap crap and Thai craft items. It was cool to see, but neither of us where really into buying anything. We found the food court area which we hoped would be more like the one in Singapore, but it was rather disappointing. We got a few different items from different stalls and walked around a little more and then decided to call it a night.