This is our final destination in Thailand. We have loved the friendly people and the delicious food and will miss them both. We have particularly become street food junkies. Of all the many night markets we have been to in Thailand, the Sunday night market in Chiang Mai was by far the best for street art and crafts.
We visited several of the many temples – wats – in the old city of Chiang Mai. Our first one was Wat Chedi Luang, which houses the city pillar, with its historic relics. Unlike other wats we had visited, this one had both ancient and modern buildings; parts of it were erected in the 13th century. Also, at the time we were there, the monks were holding an outdoor prayer service.
Next we went to Wat Chiangmun, which is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai. It houses the crystal and marble buddhas.
Then we met Pon, our very friendly tuk tuk driver, who insisted we go outside the Old City to visit Wat Suan Dok, as it was nearing sunset. He insisted it is the most beautiful temple with the sun low in the sky; he was correct. Ii is also the burial ground for many of Chiang Mai’s and Thailand’s royalty.
Our final temple on the day was Wat Pra Singh.
After all the sightseeing, it was time to hit the bar for happy hour.
We had arranged with Pon that he would pick us up the next morning in his car and take us out of the city to the temple high on the hill overlooking Chiang Mai: Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. This is probably the most famous temple in Chiang Mai because legend has it that the elephants carrying the buddha relics chose the spot for their resting place.
Pon then took us to an orchid and butterfly farm.
After a delicious buffet lunch at the tiger kingdom, Pon then took us to the Thai factories where jewelry is hand made as well as jade carved and polished. But the factory we liked the best was the silk factory. There they had the worms actually making the silk as well as the women extracting the silk threads, spinning it, dying it and finally weaving the silk materials.
The next day we took a break from touring and spent the day indulging in that quintessential Thai experience perfected like no other: massages! After a day lounging and lapping in the luxuries, we had another quintessential Thai experience and visited an elephant park. We chose one that is a sanctuary in which all 80 current elephant residents are rescue animals as well as their numerous water buffalo, dogs, cats, and horses. We spent the entire day there, including a fantastic vegan buffet Thai lunch.
And for our final day in Thailand, the final quintessential Thai experience: a cooking class. We chose the Baan Organic Farm Thai Cooking School. Phoy picked us up at our hotel and took us and the only other couple in the class (visitors from Argentina) to the local market. There she taught us how to recognize the ingredients that would go into our dishes. She then drove us out to the organic farm where we picked our own fresh herbs. We each individually made 5 dishes: a soup (Eric:Tom Yum; Me: spicy pork), an appetizer (E: fried spring roll; Me: papaya salad), a stir fry (E; chicken basil and chili, Me: Pad See Ew), a curry( both Masaman), and a dessert (E:sticky rice and mango, Me: fried banana). We learned so much, and it was all so delicious!
We are sad to be leaving Thailand, but on to Laos!
Jo & Eric's travels 